Hockey Canada has invited 42 NHL players to attend its national team's orientation camp, set for August 26th to 28th in Calgary. It's the first step on the road to creating our Olympic men's hockey team, which will feature NHL players for the first time since 2014.
According to Hockey Canada's website, the list includes three players who have won Olympic gold medals, 12 who've won gold at the World Championships, and 13 who have won gold at the World Juniors. It also includes 19 players with Stanley Cup rings, and 24 players who were on Canada’s Four Nations Face-Off championship-winning team.
Not too shabby.
What Canada’s orientation camp does not have is representation from the Ottawa Senators, at least as far as skaters go.
But maybe it should.
Of the 26 forwards invited to this camp, almost half of them were outscored in the NHL last season by Senators winger Drake Batherson. Batherson had 68 points for Ottawa, which was more than 12 players who did get an invite to this camp:
Connor Bedard (67), Seth Jarvis (67), Mark Stone (67), Tom Wilson (65), Macklin Celebrini (63), Bo Horvat (57), Quinton Byfield (54), Carter Verhaeghe (53), Sam Bennett (51), Brad Marchand (51), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (49), and Zach Hyman (44).
Points don’t always tell the whole story, so let’s tackle the potential arguments against Batherson.
Play Away From The Puck
These are some very skilled players who could all help Team Canada, but if Batherson isn’t being considered because of his play without the puck, it’s only fair to point out that there are a few players on that list above who no one will mistake for Selke Trophy candidates.
Hockey Canada Ineligibity
Another consideration might be that he's still awaiting clearance from Hockey Canada, which essentially said in 2023 that every single player on its 2018 World Junior team can't play internationally until further notice. That ban kept Batherson from joining some of his Senators teammates at the World Hockey Championships over the past three seasons. He helped Canada win a silver medal in 2022 at the Worlds, when he and Dylan Cozens finished second and third overall in scoring.
With the recent conclusion of the 2018 World Junior trial, it’s been assumed that everyone on that team would eventually have their international playing eligibility restored. However, there has been no official announcement. But that announcement may have just quietly been made by Hockey Canada when they invited Cale Makar to this camp. Makar was also on the 2018 World Junior team, so it's clear that the team-wide sanction is over.
Running It Back
Finally, Batherson didn’t play at the Four Nations Face-Off, and there’s a clear strategy from Canada: don’t fix what isn’t broken. All of the coaches and support staff are returning, and literally all 24 Canadian players from that tournament have been invited to this camp. So if you weren’t on the Four Nations Face-Off champions, your only path to making this team might be as an injury replacement.
We’re not suggesting that Batherson should make Team Canada’s final Olympic roster as one of our best eight wingers. But when the topic is which 26 Canadian forwards should be invited to a prestigious orientation camp, Batherson should very much be in that discussion.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News-Ottawa
Image Credit: Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images
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