OverDrive - Armstrong on Canada's Olympic roster, process of building and the style of the team

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

Hockey Canada Olympic GM Doug Armstrong joined OverDrive to discuss the selection of Canada's roster at the Winter Olympics, the style of the team and the elements for success, Macklin Celebrini's progression, Jon Cooper's impact, the process building the team, and more.

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Doug, thank you for joining us today. It's going well and thanks for having me. Absolutely. Big day. You know, when you look at it, are you happy to have the announcement kind of out of the way after months and months of deliberation? Yeah, it is nice to have this portion behind us. I know the work that the general I work with have done over the last, you know,

certainly three months, but even longer than that, to prepare for it. So it's great to have, go from pencil to pen with these names and start preparing for the tournament. So, Doug, we've obviously a lot of reaction to your choices around Canada today. And, of course, we always focus on this day before we get into the big picture of the games about the snubs. I mean, what's been your reaction to the reaction so far? I understand it. I was just thinking about this before I jump on the call. If we had a name 30, we'd still have snubs.

And if we had a name 35, we'd still have snubs. So I think that shows the depth that we have in Canada. And also more than that, the passion that our fans in Canada have for the team. And, you know, I love that. That's what makes this special is how much people care. And what we talked about when we named the team is that really the people that you're talking about, they didn't play their way off this team, this group of 25 played their way on, and we believe this gives us the best opportunity.

But I understand the angst of the fans around the country that their favorite players should be on because I understand their passion. Well, what factors kind of weighed into the final decision for you guys? Was it, you know, a situation where you were trying to build out, you know, a team of the best players, the best Canadian players, or was it one where you're sitting there and you're thinking, okay, can we build the best team and who can fill what role? Like, how did that process go about? Yeah, I would say that we want a little bit of both the best players that can build the best team. if you look at the points per game I think we have 12 of our players in the top 19 in scoring

and one of those players that is Braden Point who's a 50 goal score so I think we have a lot of skill in this group we just want to make sure we can give the coaches the proper tools when we need to kill penalties when we need to close games out six on five or when we need, I'm sorry, score six on five or close it out five on six. You just want to make sure you have all the elements that build a hockey team

and we believe we've done that. One of the things that we wanted to do is make sure we could play inside the goal scoring areas and that's where a player like Corvette, I think he's got 22 goals now, scores in different ways came into the equation. So it's a balancing act and this is a group that we felt most comfortable with. so Doug we were interested in sort of how you weighed sort of looking at the seasons guys have had to this point you know October November December versus the legacy and the sort of track record in big moments of players because obviously Sam Bennett comes to mind a guy who ripped up the NHL playoffs last year as the reigning con smite guy

scored a big goal at four nations in the final against the u.s maybe had a slightly slower start leading into that December 2nd meeting you talked about but, like, how much, how difficult was that to kind of parse between what this guy has done in big moments versus what he's doing at the present moment? Yeah, I'll talk more in general terms with all of our players. You have, you have guys that resumes are deep and long. You look at a guy like Sidney Crosby, he could be sitting here with four points and still be on the team because of who he is and what he does. And then you look at have, you look at someone like Celebrini who has a 14-month resume and is on the team. So you try and balance out the resume with current play

and with how we believe they'll fit into a team and come up with a roster that you're happy with and we believe we've been able to do that. Well, you talk about Macklin-Celliburini and he's had an unbelievable season. Obviously, he's now named to Team Canada here. Like, were you surprised at how easy of a decision he made it to include him on this roster at just 19 years old?

Yeah, I would say yes. Yes, obviously I watched him last year. I was very impressed with how he played, but it wasn't on a highly competitive team in San Jose. Then he goes to the Worlds, and that team, he was a very good player in that team, but that team didn't reach its goals either. Then he comes back this year, and he's a top, top-producing player on a team that's overachieving now

and in a playoff spot or right near a playoff spot, So that was really impressive to me that he's dragging a group along with him and that's hard to do in this league. So he's earned the right to be on this team and you could see in early November that what he had done in the past, it wasn't a mirage.

And not only, like he didn't plateau, he's continuing every day to get better and to push his own game and he became a very easy choice for us. Doug, obviously, you know, We see John Cooper as the head coach of this team candidate. I'm wondering, how much do you give the coach the leeway to make some choices or have some say in who you put on this roster?

Because we all know there are a lot of coaches in the NHL that want to be general managers that want to kind of pick their own players. And there are a lot of general managers who say, hey, you can't let the coach pick the players all the time. What's that push and pull been like with Cooper? It's been excellent. John is passionate. He has a great, obviously, understanding and knowledge of the game and now of these four-nation players.

And, yeah, as a manager on this team, at least, and working with Steve Eisenman, seeing how he worked with Mike Babcock in 2010 and 2014, and how I had the opportunity with Mike Babcock in 2016 at the World Cup, you want to make sure that the players on your roster from 1 to 25 have the coaches trust and so when you get down to a certain number of players you say how does this player fit into your mindset of how you would use them, where would you use them and some people fit in like a glove

and others you have to debate more on and so it's very important to have the coach's opinion on this and ultimately you know you know, managers, manage, coaches, coach. But in a situation like this, in a tournament like this, you want to make sure that the synergy is there between the head coach and the manager. With Doug Armstrong, the general manager of Team Canada,

the roster was announced earlier today. And I'm curious, when you look at the position groups here, Ford's, defensemen, goaltending, which would you say was, I guess, the more difficult decision decisions you had to make? I would say that our depth of forwards is greater than any other area and so there was quite a bit of positive strong debate on different players there

yeah so to me and I think probably every manager might see a little bit differently but I just kept looking at the depth of our forward group and try and that's where you get into the coaches how would you use this player what what synergy did you like at the four nations that you go back with what didn't have, you know, the best laid plans of mice and men, you know, what didn't work out at the four nations and how can we improve that? And so the forwards had it probably provides us with the most options, which made the decisions the most difficult.

Doug, you talked about at the press conference today about having, you know, essentially a taxi squad ready in case of injury and those players that are going to be in that situation to have to continue with the IOC. mandated testing that needs to be kept up to date. What's the uptake for that? Are there players who are not interested in that, or do you find that if you ask a player, hey, can you stay in the testing program

in case we need you, they're amenable to that? I've yet to have a player asked not to be tested, not to be part of the process. But also, if they go that direction, I certainly understand, you know, they have young family some of them they want to make plans for three weeks but right

now the players that I've talked to and other guys in our group are talking to over the next couple of days want to be part of it and you know I respect the decision either way but we hope they do stay there because as I said and you look at the

cadence schedule in the NHL injuries are a reality and we'd love to have the opportunity to pick the best of the of the rest. And so far, everyone wants to be part of that group. Really quickly, Doug, you know, obviously we're all hoping that you guys end up going to play, but there was discourse, you know, regarding the rink. And Scott Salmon today talked about how there's a contingency plan if the arena

and rink isn't in place. I don't know. The contingency plan, is that mean that maybe there's an alternative non-NHL roster, or is that just in terms of different buildings that you guys are going to go? Like, is it a lock that the NHL at this point is going to the Olympics now? I don't want to be evasive to that question. But for me and my role, that's just white noise. My job is to select and prepare a team to play. You know, I'm probably naive in some fashion.

There's likely billions of dollars at stake, so I'm sure they're going to find a way to get these venues ready. And I'm preparing like they will. If they don't, then quite honestly, this will be somebody else's issue. I'm preparing NHL players and rosters and NHL coaching staff to be ready to go to the Olympics. Well, best of luck, and hopefully, you know, you can bring home a gold medal for all of us sitting here north of the border. We appreciate your time, Doug, and best of luck the rest of the way. Guys, I appreciate being on, and happy New Year's to you and all your listeners.

Yes, happy new year to you as well. Doug Armstrong, general manager of the men's national team for the upcoming Olympic Games. I'm Dylan Playfair. And I'm Tyler Smith. We're putting loneliness in the penalty box by talking to some of our favorite athletes about the importance of friendship. This is bromance. Bromance is brought to you by Charm Diamond Centers, proudly Canadian-owned and operator. Charm has been part of your love stories and bromances for over 15.

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