The Hockey PDOcast - What Our Team Canada and Team USA Rosters for the 2026 Olympics Look Like Right Now

Episode Date: November 10, 2025

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Thomas Drance to go through what our rosters for Team Canada and Team USA at the upcoming Olympics look like right now. If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Regressing to the mean since 2015, it's the Hockey P.D.O.Cast with your host, Dmitri Filippovich. Welcome to the Hockey PEOCast. My name is Dmitra Filippovich, and joining me here in studio for another edition of the Sunday special, my good buddy Thomas Trans. Tom, what's going on, man? No, I'm much excited for this one. This is going to be a good show. it's a timely show there's some stumping some things that need to be stumped for some stumping to do i'm not stumped but we will stump on this on this program i'm very excited there's like some some points i really want to make some things that i think are clarifying over the course of the first six weeks of the season and you know not to not to step on your lead in but we're going to be talking olympic teams yes and one thing that's interesting about the

return of a regular flow of best on best hockey, right, is it's been a while. It's been a while. So, four nations face off, we got a lot of players. We got a little taster. We got a little taster, but from the perspective of the national programs, we got this sort of like outpouring moment where players who'd been denied the opportunity to compete in this forum finally got a shot. And by the way, their effort level and intensity exceeded.

our expectations throughout, you know, a randomly thrown together tournament that ended up meaning so much more to the players competing, to everybody watching, to sponsors, to television executives. I mean, what a tremendous showcase for the league. So hat-tipped all involved or stick-tapped all involved. But in terms of player selection, right? There was a, I think, an element in the assembly of those teams. And I think Canada did a better job than the United States did of having an idea.

and identity for how they wanted to play, right, and sort of fitting players within that niche, whereas with Team USA, there felt like a lot of incumbents, right? A lot of incumbents. And by the time you get to the final, and a lot of my thought process is sort of based around how does Canada stay ahead of the U.S., how does the U.S. finally get that one more goal they needed in an overtime period in which they outplayed Canada. And so a lot of it's really focused on that sort of cold war of sort of hockey takes. And the dynamic I can't shake is, was that tournament went along or as that final went along, Team USA's forecheck and forward speed was playing and then some against especially the depth pair that Canada was rolling out in that game, which was

Sanheim and Pareko. But you could throw Doughty into the mix, too, if you didn't have Thomas Harley. Like Canada's need for speed on the back end, I thought, was really accentuated if you remove the result of that final game and sort of look at how the game flowed. On the other hand, Canada had all these depth forwards who were able to hang at just a higher pace than what Team USA was able to. Team USA ended up

effectively with three full forward lines because they decided to scratch Kyle Conner. Matthew Kachuk only played a few minutes. They barely used Crider. They barely used Trocheck, and they barely got over the offensive blue line with Brock Nelson on the ice. So they really ended up with like eight forwards capable

of hanging. Even J.T. Miller looked pretty out of place in that tournament. But at least in that final game, he was at least able to find his game and, you know, you weren't nervous in his shifts the way I think you were with a lot of other Team USA players. Point being... Tom, you don't call him

on a day-to-day basis anymore. You don't have to... I'm not even being polite. I'm just saying he was fine in that game relative to... Relative to the other stuff that they had. He was one of the eight that could play a regular shift. And the truth is that with all of the talent that the USA has right now,

there's no excuse to be playing a final game against Canada and have a full line and a half of forwards that you're not comfortable using as the game gets going. Like they need to be really ruthless, I think, in selecting their forwards. Just like Canada, I think, needs to be ruthless about going younger and going faster in a lot of key positions here.

I'm not going to lie, you had me in the first half there because I was worried you came out, you said the word stumped at least seven times. I know, I'm sorry. I got stuck on it. Then you got going and you really delivered one of the top monologues of these Sunday specials. We're coming off an unbelievable weekend. I celebrated my 34th birthday.

On Friday night, you and I went out for delicious steaks at Kobe's, which isn't even a sponsor of this show, although I really wish it was because I love it that much. Then that was followed up by a phenomenal late slate on Sunday night. I thought the abs just absolutely put the boots to the Oilers. There were four really fun games in general to close out that day of hockey. We're currently in the midst of this process where we're seeing, this kind of next-gen takeover in real-time, right with Celebrini, Bedard, and Carlson,

not only producing and sitting atop the league in scoring, but also generating wins and really going on this impressive stretch where these three organizations are all of a sudden having a lot to feel very good about. After we're done recording, you and I are going to go watch As Canucks Live because we have to see the greatest show on ice,

aside from the Ducks right now, the Colorado Ablange and what they're doing at teams of 5'15. How excited are you to see Gavin Brindley? I'm excited to see at all. It's going to be unbelievable. I'm absolutely Jones in right now. We have, as I'm sure the listeners can tell, probably more juice than we usually have because I'm just so fired up about it.

But first, as we teased on last Sunday special, the two of us are going to hang out here over the next hour and we're going to talk about our prospective rosters for the North American Olympic teams at least, right? I've got some notes on Team Sweden as well. I'm not sure if we're going to have time. We'll see it at the end. But listen, we're three months out still. So I think there's plenty of wiggle room for changes either due to performance or

injuries. There's some question marks, certainly of guys we have on our list that haven't played yet. At the same time, though, this is an event that we're so eagerly anticipating for all the reasons you cited coming off of the Four Nations, how excited we were watching that brand of hockey and then breaking it all down on the show. We're going to be doing that for the Olympics again this year. And I think this is in particular a fun way for us to kind of take stock of where we're at right now, right? Like what's going on in the NHL and just sort of, it's a nice little litmus test or benchmark, I guess, for who's performing well, where we're at with everyone, and where they slot in on these teams.

Let's start with Team Canada. So we both put together our list for teams. I feel like my honorable mentions list is longer than the actual team itself for these two clubs. So there's going to be a lot of guys for us to discuss. We're framing it through the restrictions of 14 forwards, eight defensemen, and three goalies for each team, right? Adding up to a roster size of 25. How do you want to go about this for Team Canada?

Do you want to just go through the forwards? Because obviously, I think there's like seven or eight, just absolute locks, of course, and then you get into some really fun conversations about who's playing well right now, who belongs on this team, who's going to get sort of deference, either because of experience

or because of their participation in previous events for Team Canada, and whether some of these young guys were excited about can finally get that call and really play a role in this as this tournament goes along. So the incumbency thing I was talking about, right? what you see from European countries, European Soccer Federations, right, teams that have this regular flow of national, international windows and League of Nations and World Cup and Euros and there's a cycle and a rhythm and they're used to it. And you know what those teams do? When you have a 17-year-old winger who happens to be Barcelona's most dangerous attacking player, they say, we're going to play that guy.

Yeah. We're going to play that guy and we're going to play them a lot. And I'm curious because we're at this moment, this sort of inflection point where we're going to be on this regularized international schedule for hockey. You can see, I mean, just look at the Team Canada World Championship roster this past year, the one that fell short to Latvia, and you'll get a really good sense of how interested, how engaged the NHL's top players are in terms of wanting to be on. these teams and right now i don't envy you know uh dug armstrong and their staff because atop the scoring leaderboard are a 19 and a 20 year old player in their second and third years respectively who probably do detonate at least to some extent more one than the other the frame of reference that Team Canada probably thought they'd be looking at their lineup through. But the fact is, is that Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini should both be on this team.

And I think you have to start there because there's all sorts of fallout in terms like, once you decide that that's clearly correct if you're trying to build and assemble the greatest possible collection of Team Canada talent, once you decide that that's correct, I think there's a lot of ramifications for that in terms of how you build the roster and where they play and how you sort of try to go about, you know, insulating young guys, putting them in a position to succeed, making sure that, you know, like, let's be real. At the end of the day, we saw Team Canada struggle to score against Team USA, struggle to generate shots. They had, what, 25 and 27 shots against Team USA? We're talking about, you know, attacking guys like Jacob Slavin on the rush. We're talking about

beating Connor Hellebuck. We're talking about, you know, defensive minutes in which they're throwing both Jack Eichel and Slavin and Brock Faber at you. I mean, this is a really hard opponent to break down. You can't leave any attacking juice at home. And these guys, I think, on a, what's the greatest possible team candidate you could build, I think both Celebrini and Badarra on it. And I think they both represent interesting cases or, I guess, like potential paths to contribution on this team right because i think you could certainly argue if you're picking one i would give putting my kind of self in the shoes of team canada's brain trust i think you'd have to give the edge to celebrini right now because of some of his off puck habits

and stuff he's already put tape in the first whatever 100 games he's played in the NHL in terms of the takeaways the winning battles how he already uses his body to protect the puck um being able to potentially play in a lesser role, at least to start the tournament, and then work his way up the lineup if he takes off from there. Bidar's an interesting one because I feel like we've seen him hit a lot of the checkpoints that we were craving in his first two years in the league. And in particular, the past handful of games or so where he's really gone nuclear here and pretty much averaging three points a game.

He's doing like these little things where, I mean, one of them was on an empty netter the other night, but at the same time, like the way he received the puck, while he was almost skating backwards, he put it between the defender's legs, put it into space, went and retrieved and then finished it off. Obviously, the steel he had against the flames, getting his stick down and spinning it around. Yeah. The shot making that you mentioned, having to go up against the best goalie in the league and having to beat him and not necessarily being able to bank on the fact that you're going to be able to get into the interior all time, being able to make shots from a distance. And then what he's been doing, I mean, how,

How happy do you think Tyler Bertuzi is right now? Getting to serve as this guy is just human backboard, just basically standing at the backpost, and Bidar just firing pucks off of him and into the net on the power play at will. So he's got so many paths offensively, I think, to making a big difference, even if it's in a limited role in terms of ice time, right?

Because for both these guys, at least off the top, we're not expecting them to play the types of minutes they're playing on their current teams. At the same time, though, even if it's for a couple shifts here or there, there's this element of like instant juice or instant offense where they can come in and just make a high skill level play that could tilt one of these really close games that are probably going to be decided by just one goal. I think also you have to be honest if you're hockey Canada's brain trust about a few key facts that clearly not held back but were just evident as that tournament went along. And one of them is Canada didn't really find the fit for Connor McDavid.

It's not as if they're, I mean, we like Point and McDavid together, I'd say, but I think also in Team Canada's minds, the best possible version of their team probably has point at center. And, you know, I mean, Marner and McDavid, excuse me, obviously connected on that historic overtime winner, but there were moments in that tournament where, whether it was Reinhart, whether it was Mark Stone, I mean, it just felt like guys didn't know exactly how to compliment Connor McDavid. David and vis-versa. And so, you know, why not bring as many genius-level players as you possibly can? Because it's not like you have the answer. It's not like we know, this isn't the, you know, 2014 team where you knew that Crosby was going to be playing with Bergeron and Coonitz or something, right? I mean, we're not sure what this looks like. We don't know who's going to find, you know, the right chemistry or have the brain to support McDavid or what have you.

you. I just think bring as many talented pieces as possible because you might need them. Well, especially because they're not necessarily even going to slot into your immediate plans in terms of being in the starting lineup for the opening game, right, as the round-robin process goes. Because I do think the Baderd discussion is different than the Celebrini discussion, whereas Celebrini, I think can fit, like, I think Celebrini, because of his off-puck game, the stick lifts, some of what we see, I think you can look at Celebrini as being like, well, he's edged out Travis Kineckney. Whereas I think, I think, think Bedard you have to make space for in a different way and what I'm saying is his

performance warrants making space for. Also both have such unique offensive traits where I would love to see the game gets scaled up in terms of quality of teammate as well. Getting the opportunity to skate into shooting situations where you necessarily wouldn't on your current club because if you're the Macklin Celebrity on the Sharks, you probably have had to do most of the heavy lifting just to get the puck there in the first place and the defense is kind of set against you. Now all of a sudden some of that stuff we talk about with is catch and shoot and stuff in transition, all of a sudden you've got one of the best players in the world

is passing the puck over to you. These guys are going to be able to turn a lot of those looks into goals. So I think that's incredibly exciting. I had both guys on my list. Me too. The obvious ones are also, of course, Connor McDavid, Nathan McKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Braden Point, down the middle, right?

I mean, personally, I have both Point and McKinnon playing the wing. Right, I'm just saying as they're in natural positions that they play for their clubs. then you've got on the wing you've got locks in Brendan Hagel, Seth Jarvis Mitch Mariner and Sam Reinhardt, correct?

I sort of have Jarvis in a group with Horvatt like Suzuki, Horvatt, Marchand, Wilson and Jarvis I think it's just like

you can take what any four of those guys and I won't disagree too strongly I think Seth Jarvis has to be on this team he looked yeah he certainly looked apart the last time we saw this tournament and since then as we've talked about he's gotten much better like he's gotten faster he's using a shot more he can score in all situations i feel like he's the perfect kind of glue guy for a tournament like this where he can play with anyone and he can make something happen yeah even if it's in 12 minutes um next on my list why johnston and nick suzuki who obviously weren't on this team previously but i think have played their way into it with their performance at the start of the season we can talk about both guys a little bit here but were they on your team?

I didn't have Wyatt Johnston, no. But I obviously understand the case. Wyatt Johnson rocks. I just think he provides a lot of versatility. Because as you see when you watch the stars and he's done this, I know he struggled last postseason, but previously in his first couple postseason runs, his ability to create offense through different avenues, right?

If there is more space to move in transition against an inferior opponent, he's devastating off the rush, but also in a half-court setting, he's able to kind of either through himself or setting up a teammate, get the puck into the high danger area off the wall or behind the net. And then some of the net front stuff on this team as well, right? Because on the Four Nations version, I think the idea was that Mark Stone would play a lot of this based on what he does in Vegas,

right, kind of being around the goal line, being a facilitator, but also if you give him too much space, bringing it out front and kind of just causing havoc around the net, why Johnson does that on the stars. Like you watch it on that PV1 right now, which is carrying them this season and the tips. the one-touch pass is how he unlocks a lot of that stuff on the interior. I feel like he's just so valuable on a team like this.

So I think he's not a lock necessarily because he wasn't on the Four Nations team, but I feel like, and he's been so productive this season. And then Nick Suzuki, I mean, we've spoken a lot about obviously what he's doing on the top line in Montreal and the playmaking ability. And also, you know, just because of the state of the haves, I know they made that five-game cameo last year in the playoffs. But when we've seen him previously as well earlier in his career, like he's a guy who I think will elevate his game to an occasion like this

and make big plays when Team Canada needs it. So I think Suzuki and then guys like Horvett and Shifley for me are interesting knock-off considerate, or sorry, knock-on considerations based off of... Did you build a team of 14 centers? More or less. Yeah. But more than anything, what I'm convinced of is that we've seen,

like I had this thought going into this tournament that I was, you know, if you'd ask, me in the summer, what should Hockey Canada look like or what should Team Canada look like? I might have suggested to you that, you know, one thing that I thought held them back at the Four Nations was not hitting the ground running with Connor McDavid. He wasn't their most dominant piece at the tournament. And back in the day, what did Hockey Canada do to make sure that Sidney Crosby was the best player at every tournament?

They brought him Chris Kunitz, right? They slowly but surely developed his chemistry with best buddies like Bergeron and Marchand, right? And obviously that worked. then some. And I, you know, I had this thought that ideally you'd be able to do that with McDavid. You've got Hyman, Ryan Nugent Hopkins, you've got Bouchard. I mean, you can basically bring his power play unit with the exception of Leon Dricidal, or at least one of those guys to, you know, give him a running mate and make sure that you have chemistry from the jump

when you, when you start the tournament with Connor McDavid. Watching hockey this season, though, I've flipped to thinking that it's less. about creating an environment for McDavid to do the stuff he does at the NHL level, but for your international team, and more about you've already got that infrastructure with McKinnon, because you're going to have Taves and McCar. And isn't McDavid just the highest possible end version of NACIS? I feel like they got to, I feel like they got to try those guys together, just playing attacking hockey at a hitherto unknown speed.

I think you have enough juice on other lines, especially with Celebrini, with Marner, with point, to still have guys driving through the neutral zone, even if you load up the two best neutral zone puck carriers in the league on the same line. I want to see it. I would like to see it as well. Yeah. It sounds pretty fun. I want to see it. So I've got 12 forward is already off my list. So I've got two left here.

So yeah. So the way I've done it here, I've got 10 guys that I consider like solid locks at Point McDavid. McKinnon, Celebrini Crosby, Marner, Hegel, Bedard, Reinhardt, Canadian hero, Sam Bennett. That's my 10. Yeah, I didn't have Bennett on my team. I had to have him on my team. Yeah. And then...

I had a superior Panthers player as one of my final two guys. Really? Yeah. Brad Marshine. Well, sorry, so then I have... Marshan's been awesome this season. I agree with you. He's carrying the Panthers.

And then I'm taking three of Suzuki, Marshand, Wilson, Jarvis. Yeah. most likely Suzuki, Marshan, Jarvis. But that's sort of, and that's how I'm thinking about the, you know, my ideal fourth line, I think, is Bennett, Suzuki with Jarvis, because I've got a righty and a lefty to take draws. I've got Jarvis's speed in, and I've got Marshand on the team for vibes. And because if at the end of the day at any point you have Brad Marchand in your lineup,

you're still like, well, we have one of the great winners in hockey history, who's also, you know, this awesome teammate. uh so yeah i mean that that would be my 13 forwards okay well we've got 14 guys you're going 14 yes okay um 13 plus 9 no i've got 14 and 8 14 and 8 okay well then great i can bring all my guys yeah tom wilson welcome to the olympics i had brad marshan as number 13 and i had tom wilson as number 14 so we both bring you tom wilson i'm glad you said that because i thought i was going to have to do the the meme of the guy standing up in court bravely saying something like Tom Wilson should be on the team.

Yeah, I think there's this perception that it represents everything we hate about the way Team Canada has operated in the past in terms of like trying to pigeonhole guys with specific skill sets and being like, we need to be tougher and more physical. And he certainly has that element, but man, like he's gotten so much more talented offensively and he's going to be able to just do stuff around the net to go along with all the other stuff, of course, that I think Team Canada is going to value. So I think certainly as the games go along, you might just realize like, all right, but Arden-Cellebruny both need to be playing.

And then all of a sudden, we don't necessarily need him in the lineup. And I think that's fine. And you just have them with you there. But I think if you're in a pinch, I think he's going to be able to do something here or there over the course of these games to either change the momentum or make a big play happen. And so Tom Wilson should be on the Olympic team. I don't think there's any question about it. Now, my honorable mentions, Sam Bennett, as he talked about, I had Rob Thomas, who I think, I think there was a lot of momentum as we talked about coming out of this orientation camp

heading into the season with the way the blues year has gone and he missed a bit of time with injury. Yeah. I think other guys have just leapfrogged him. And honestly, I think that sucks for Dylan Holloway, too, who was like a difficult omission for me just because the way that he stunts on guys, I mean, I really wanted to stump for a Fantilli, a byfield, a Holloway, or a Gunther tier player on this argument that what hockey Canada needed coming out of the Four Nations final was like an American,

an answer to what the Americans have in Matt Boldie, right? Like a big, rangey offensive forward. Which is so evident they were lacking in the Four Nations. Right. And unfortunately, I just don't think any of those guys have truly made the case where I want to sort of bang the table. Certainly not in the same way where I think Bedard has performed to a level where you just have to make space for him, regardless of what, you know, your optimal plan was. Yeah.

So I also obviously, Anthony Sorrelli was on this team. Yep. Previously, I didn't have him. I didn't have, I thought about Bull Horvatt, because I think his skill set would actually be quite nice as a connector and this type of... Horvatt. Horvatt is, like, probably my last omission,

just because he's fast he attacks, he can win draws for you. I mean, there's kind of no place you'd feel uncomfortable with him playing. I mean, if he ends up being, your like top line left wing, you wouldn't be shocked by it. If he ends up being your fourth line center, you wouldn't be shocked by it. And he can do everything well, while also being, you know, basically unflappable in pressure situations. Yep.

I had Mark Shafley as an honorable mention, and then Dylan Gunther, who you referenced. And I would have thought certainly before I started this exercise that he would have been a lock, because as we spoke about it, right after Four Nations included, he is the perfect type of prototype and skill set that this team was lacking. And I don't think he's done anything wrong necessarily. But I just think some of that shot making and size. They're going to be able to fill elsewhere, particularly on the shot-making front. And so it was a tough cut, but he was my top honorable mention.

All right, want to get into the blue line? Yeah. Do you got pairs? No, I didn't necessarily. I did it by hand in this and tried to go four by four. Yeah, me too. I got pairs. McCarron Taves, obviously.

That's the lock of the century. Thomas Harley. And who do you have him with? I have Thomas Harley with Noah Dobson. Yeah. Yes. Let's go. Yeah, this is why we're best by it.

Okay, third pair, lefty. Well, no, let's not move past this. No, no, we have to. Third pair lefty is the one. No, let's talk about No Dobson real quick. He's been so good this year. So good. And he has completely rejuvenated Mike Matheson.

When he's on the ice with that Suzuki line, their numbers are preposterous. They're just scoring at will. Yep. He does so much stuff, both off the puck, but also quick-uping it, getting involved, joining as the trailer, like all this stuff is that's going to scale up so well to a tournament like this. So he feels like, he feels like, you know, 95% of the connective stuff that Bouchard does without the bomb, but also without the, you know, let's keep both teams in the game turnovers.

And that's an appealing proposition to me. Third pair, Josh Morrissey, on the left? No. He wasn't even on your team? No, he's on my team. But I think you got this one wrong. Well, it's either him or Shady, Edward. I know you're going to say Matthew Schaefer.

It's Matthew Schaefer. It's Matthew Schaefer. looking at me. It's got to be. Yeah, I had him as an honorable mention. It's got to be. I couldn't get there quite yet, but. He's too good?

Yeah, I mean, he's unbelievable. He's too good. Not only should he be brought on the team, but he should be in the... Featured? Yeah, featured. I mean, you know, I think the, again, when Team Canada was in its golden era of best on best and won, you know, two straight Olympics, they had zero compunction about bringing Drew Doughty.

And that was a really ballsy call by Steve. Weisman and absolutely the right one. I just don't think you can ignore what Matthew Schaefer has done. I mean, the way he moves, the size, the overall hockey IQ. I just, you know what, we saw last year, we saw last year that you can build whatever D you want and two games into the tournament, it's a mess. Yeah. You know, it's like, say you lose a top four guy, like a real top four guy, or two.

Especially one who's going to be relied upon to get the buck out of the zone. Which is something they just completely cratered at. And it's like the fact that they were able to call up Thomas Harley and he was not just good, but really one of their best defensemen, saved them, save them in that tournament. I mean, I think if you're bringing, now, you know, at the end of the day, you're still bringing a Shay Theodore if you don't bring Schaefer. Well, who are you eight? So Morrissey would be my other L.D. behind Schaefer. and then I'd bring Montour

Oh man I really wanted to put him on here I think he rocks so hard And he's so cool On a setting like this Yeah I think they should just bring him Yeah

And then and then I think you bring Doughty Well they're definitely bringing Golden Prakow You think so? Yes We don't need to do this again Okay But yeah okay

Well I mean I'm Perako or Doughty is fine by me I personally would just bring Doughty And this is it I think this is the way bring Doughty and Marchand and go super young. Bring a couple guys who have that golden aura from, you know, Team Canada's heyday, you know, they can still contribute.

I mean, Perrako is obviously better defensively, I think, at this stage than Doughty, but I don't think it's, it's by degrees. It's not a totally different world, right? I don't think you're going to be uncomfortable if you end up in a, in a do-or-die game single elimination. with a third pair that's Matthew Schaefer and Drew Doughty. In fact, that sounds cool as hell. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm with you. I mean, just the way Schaefer's moving right now, his offensive instincts. I mean, someone sent me this, like his penalties drawn right now because you can just tell that opponents, he's just got them in the torture chamber, and they just have to hook and hold him to slow him down a little bit because he's just moving faster than everyone. Yeah. And he knows exactly where he wants to go. And so, yeah, that would rock undoubtedly in a game in a tournament like this.

Also, two, three years ago with Matthews, Eichel, the Hughes brother, You know, we were in this world where it felt like, for real, you know, Team USA was catching up talent-wise, you know, like this was, and now it feels like this window that's opened where, you know, the talent gap between Canada and the U.S. is not that wide might be really short-lived because of what we're seeing through the first six weeks of this season from Bedard and Celebrini and Matthew Schaefer. I mean, this is potentially a historic run. Not only can these guys help now, but I think bringing them, even if they end up in depth roles, even if Schaefer ends up playing behind Morrissey, I think bringing them in depth roles matters because, you know, whether you win or fall short, like having them go, having them get that opportunity to share, you know, sit beside Drew Dowdy at the Olympics, right, who played with Scott Niedermeyer, who, right, getting the opportunity to have Celebrini

and Crosby play on the same line with, like, Mitch Marner or what have you. I mean, that's going to matter down the line as Team Canada continues to just wipe the floor with the rest of the world in Best on Best Competition. Should we quickly put a couple names in the hat and pick the three goalies? Oh, I have a strong take on the goalies. Yes, I know you do. I firmly believe that there are three guys who should be going. Yeah, of course. Yeah, it's Bennington?

No, it was not one of my three. Okay. Well, I think at the end of the day, we know that Team Canada works, where if you've delivered gold in the last tournament, you must be unseated. But we're not, the point of this exercise isn't, we're not trying to predict what Team Canada is going to do. No, but I still think. You and I are trying to create our favorite slash best rosters. No, but at the end of the day, at the end of the day, Bennington among Canadian goalies who've been workhorse starters over, you know, a large sample has been average or better for, longer than any of his compatriots. Like, I think on merit, recognizing how poorly he's performed this year,

Jordan Bennington should be on this team. Yeah, he's been catastrophic this year, and in particular in ways, which I think would make you queasy in a tournament like this with the puck handling errors and the softies. You know what? Jordan Bennington and that throughout the Four Nations tournament made me queasy until he made four of the most important saves

in the history of Canadian hockey. Yeah. I think Logan Thompson has to be on this team. team. Agreed. 16 goals against in 10 games. Now, if it was based purely on merit, he would have been on the Four Nations team as well, based on how he was playing last year.

So I'm not expecting him to be on this one necessarily. And then... He needs to be, though. No, no, no. I see whether or not, like, the truth is that Canada doesn't have good enough options. And they cannot afford to leave a goaltender who is performing the way that Logan Thompson has,

you know, through last season. Because of the playoffs, this season. Yeah, no, you just, you got to give people a chance to grow up. up, especially when you don't have other good options. And Team Canada needs to bring this guy. They don't have, they don't have a good. I saw an NHL network graphic detailing the five goaltenders under consideration. And it featured Scott Wedgwood the other day. Like this is, based on this year's performance for sure. Right. But I mean, that's terrifying. Can we just bring

the Colorado Avalanche and have them represent Canada? I mean, I'm okay with it, but I think some of their American-born players. Brock Nelson might have something to say about that. Anyway, I think Brock Nelson would just be happy to be part of this tournament. I think Logan Thompson should be a lock. And then third goalie, okay? So Canada had that luxury in previous Olympics where you had ultimate chemistry guy, Mark Andre Fleury, who if your third goalie appears in a game in the Olympics, by the way,

things have gone so badly for you. Like, which I think is a possible outcome in the scenario. Agreed. So, but you have to really consider like, what's it going to take for the third goalie to be in there? And it's like, probably an injury, right? And then they probably come in when you're already down two or three goals in the first period of a single game elimination. Yeah. And it's like, so what do you need from your goaltender in that moment, in that moment to, you know, make sure he doesn't allow another goal come in, you know, at the darkest hockey.

hour that your country has had and help you turn the momentum of a game. That's how you have to think about who your third goalie should be. And Mark Andre Fleur, he was like the perfect guy to do it. Great practice goalie. Great teammate. He comes in. Everyone knows like, okay, like we can still win with this guy like this. You know, Canada doesn't really have a vet like that anymore, but they do have a jet.

They do have an airplane. How dare you? It's time to call in Jet Grieves. Jet Grieves should be Canada's third goalie. He's been Canada's best goaltender since the calendar flipped to 2025. It's not a huge sample. It's like 30 games, but this guy's been phenomenal in Calder Cup playoffs. Like at every level, this guy's just cleaned up.

He doesn't have the pedigree. He doesn't have the international experience. I don't care. All the Canadian goalies with that experience are playing poorly this year. Yeah. This is the only guy who if, you know, Hellfire and Brimstone has rained, down upon you in Milan and in a dark moment you have to turn to somebody it's like let's at least turn to the guy with the 9-18 let's at least turn to the guy who's dominated at every level across

the last two and a half years and is on some unholy heater um jet greaves he should be the third goaltender i think this is open shut yeah i just hate that you're coming on here and now all of a sudden you're becoming the jet grieves guy after everything i've been through a jet but that's i'm calling it operation top gun i'm working actively to convince i mean the promoting emotional material for this tournament with jet grieves involved is just endless send in the jet yes um he's played a one game this year i do think mackenzie blackwood is upside though yeah is interesting there's as i said three months before this tournament and he's back now obviously wedgwood's been playing so well that he's getting the lion's share of the work but he's going to have a chance to

prove himself that he can stay healthy because he was so good down the stretch team in that series they lost of stars. And I just think his athleticism is unlike anything else that these other options really can provide. And so I feel like from an upside perspective, you're bringing three, a guy who could just get hot and play really well for you. I feel like I would go with him. But I think the director of your stuff is very interesting. Grieves or Blackwood, but give yourself an upside option like that because let's be real with the state of Canada's goaltending, you really might need it. True. Although, you know what's interesting? Like goaltending, it's such a small sample size thing in a way, right? Where it's like, for a lot of this stuff, you don't want to get too carried away,

even though we did just make the case for Celebrini Bedard and Schaefer based on 15 games of them looking the part. But for goalies, sometimes that's all you need, where it's like, this guy's played well for five games. He's seeing the puck really well and stopping everything. Let's just hope he can carry that over. I don't necessarily need a guy who was good four years ago. I don't think that has anything to do necessarily with how well they're going to perform in this tournament at this position. So, yeah, I think that even a guy like Jake Allen has played so well that he'd be interesting, but we'll see. All right, let's, uh, is that all for Team Canada or do you want to take a break and then jump over to Team USA?

Let's do that. Okay, we're going to take our break here. You're listening to the HockeyPedio cast streaming on the Sports Night Radio Network. We are back here in the HockeyPedioCast, joined by Thomas Drans, doing our Sunday special. We're doing our prospective Team Canada and Team USA. rosters before the break. We did Team Canada. Let's get to the U.S., Tom.

Let's do the same format we just did. We'll go through the forwards, go through our 14 guys, the locks, the honorable mentions, the guys who are on the precipice and we can talk ourselves into them. I'll give you the four. Sure. So Team USA, as I've said, I think they're a real contender to win. We know their strength and goal. We know their strength along the blue line.

Right? And that's the strength and goal thing especially. I mean, it's such an embarrassment of resources relative to the conversation we were just having about Team Canada. Yeah, I had 10 guys that I'd be very happy with being the number one for Canada. Oh, would kill to have be the number one guy for Canada. Now, the thing is, again, I think Team USA's got to really balance the sort of it feels like they're at this moment

where they've really got to have some balls in terms of moving past an era of players who were great in their day and we would have loved to see compete wearing Team USA colors in Pyongyang, right? Or in Beijing.

But for whom, as we saw at the Four Nations, they couldn't keep up. Yeah. So, you know, this is the, this is like the Rangers coded section of this. But, you know, for sure, Trocheck and Kreider, right? Like, if you weren't comfortable playing him 12 minutes in that Four Nations final, I think that tells you a lot, even though he's...

I do feel bad, including Greider there, because he was obviously hurt last year. Right. As you can see how he's looked this year. He's just moving so much better. Yeah. So it wasn't necessarily representative of, like, what he was as a player. But they should have known that. they should have known that and and I think they're going to have to be navigating this again right I mean we know that Matthew Kachuk's on the team I mean he was in that short list right they've already named him to the team and it seems like he's going to I haven't seen a recent report but it seems like the plan is he's going to be back around the new year and he'll have at least a month or so to ramp up and so right and I imagine if everything goes well with that and I hope for us as hockey fans that we get to see Matthew Kachukh doing hijinks being a badass and making plays from down low the way we love to watch Matthew Kichuk play hockey even as people

people with Canadian passports. That said, you know, there is a chance that it's not a hundred percent Matthew Kuchak. I mean, how many times, like, we saw this last season. He needs an isolation for sure. We saw this for the first two rounds of the playoffs, even, where he like played himself, he played so long hurt that he got healthier again. Yep. You know, it was.

And so, you know, I think they have to be accounting for that, too, in terms of, in terms of deepening their roster. Anyway, I've, I've talked around it. But I think the locks have got to be at this point. Gensel, Matthews. Yep. Hughes? Yep. Jack Hughes, yep.

Yep. Well, sorry, Jack and Quinn Hughes, but Jack Hughes, because we'll start with forwards. Both Brady and Matthew Kachuk. Yep. Dylan Larkin. Of course. And for me, I think Cole Cofield's in that tier two. Those are the seven guys that I would say absolutely must be on this team.

And then I think it gets interesting. Yep. all those guys. I agree with Caulfield completely. His goal scoring has been immense this year, and a lot of the stuff in particular around the net on the side of it, so nifty. And I think that's a no-brainer. And perfect for challenging weak goaltending. You know, I mean, Caulfield just, I suppose as a Canadian, I'll just, I'll just tell you now, my biggest hockey fear is Team USA brings and features Cole Caulfield prominently. Team Canada doesn't bring Bedard, and we rue that as we watched those two teams, lock horns, and hopefully

the gold medal game. So sorry, you had Eichael, Matthews, Jack Hughes, and Larkin as the four centers, right? Yep. And then you had Jake Gensel, Cole, Coalfield, and the Dukuk Chucks. Yeah. That's everything you've gone through so far. That's the, that's... And Matt Boldie.

And Matt Boldy. And Matt Boldy. Those are my locks. Yep. I agree completely. I don't think we need to expand on any of those guys. Although, you know, Larkin was so good in the Four Nations and some of the stuff he's been doing for the Red Wings this year with like just single-handedly improving their penalty kill by going out there winning a draw and getting off the ice. That's so valuable in a tournament like this.

And the draws, I mean, the only team USA centermen doing better in the circle than him's J.T. Miller on the season. But, you know, Team USA has a lot of like fast, interesting upside options to bring as a fourth line center that would keep their team a little bit faster. And so I think Larkin's emergence says this, you know, cold-blooded, you know, like Ryan O'Reilly type in terms of having that skills you need to win. You know, play them is your third line center. And I think that can maybe allow you to not bring a grinder fourth line if you don't want to. And I think that's going to be critical. Like I honestly think Team USA, the size of the threat that Team USA will offer to Canada, outside of the very real possibility that they just have better. goaltending and win, or that these teams were evenly matched and this time they'll have Quinn

use, right? Like, the biggest thing that would boost their chances is having the guts to bring a skilled fourth line instead of, you know, trying to do the hockey Canada dogged thing. Yep. I have one more center on my list for Team USA. Who's a lock? I don't think he's necessarily a lock, but he's on my list. Yeah. And it's Logan Gully. Yeah, I agree. He's on my list, too.

I think all the traits we've talked about how what a powerful skater he is the gear he has to separate from defenders I just feel like it's too tantalizing for a lot of the things we said for the young players on Team Canada the wingers are interesting I wonder if we're going to have some disagreement here

because as I put together my list I was like I love this team I don't see any universe where these are the wingers they actually do wind up bringing beyond Boldie and Gensel I think we can include Kyle Connor Even though He obviously didn't get to play

When it mattered most I've got Jason Robertson And I know There's going to be some concern About the pace My rebuttal So that would be one They're playing this on NHLIs

And two Even though he doesn't move fast He's shown and down playing with Rupa Hints that he can play with fast players because he's so intelligent. He's so good defensively in terms of positioning. I hope they're not short-sighted in looking at his production right now, and it probably will normalize and regress by the time they pick this team, but he's been so unlucky this year as a finisher. He's always been a well above average, if not elite finisher in terms of governing his opportunities into goals. He just hasn't yet this year, but he's been

playing really well. He looks healthy. He's been creating a ton. So I have him. And then I went with the All-Shore team, including Cole Calfield on this list. I've got Alex DeBrenkett, Clayton Keller. Yeah, I like the Keller inclusion a lot. So, yeah, I think the Robertson one is tough for me. I can see the argument both ways. I also think the Connor argument is tough because if you know you won't use him, you know,

like if Sullivan knows bone deep that like backs against the wall I'm not going to use him then I do think it makes more sense to bring an Alex tuck or a you know a player like that who you're going to be more comfortable dressing um again they dressed it's not just that they scratched Kyle Connor but they dressed multiple guys who they weren't comfortable playing a regular shift ahead of him and an injured guy in Matthew Kach who wasn't able to play shifts before you know by the end of the first period so to me that's a like a red indicator light beyond the normal scratch that's like you have to have an honest conversation about whether or not you'll even use him if you bring him before bringing him in my mind um i like a lot the um the keller pick i think keller should go personally he's he's on

my list i think logan coolly has to go and he's a little bit hard to rock roster because you've got so many shot volume guys on Team USA in some ways, right? Like you, at some point, it's not like you can play a line with Cutter, Gochay, Austin Matthews, and Brady Kachuk on it, right? I mean, there's only so, there's only one buck to go around, but I think. Yeah, but Cooley's value as a transporter is, I think, immense for this team. 100%, 100%, but so Cooley, though, would be one of the guys who I'm talking about where you've got the distribute. I'm sorry. I meant Cutter Go Chase.

Okay, yeah. Cutter Go Chase the guy. Yeah, Adam has an honorable mentioned despite the fact that he's scoring. I think he scored again. He's not even playing tonight, and he scored since we started talking about. I think he's got to be on this team, and I think Matthew Nice has got to be on this team. Yeah, and that's probably what they will do. Yes.

I certainly, I mean, I think Alex De Brinkett has been phenomenal this year, and that's why I included him. I just wanted to pay respect to what he's done, but there's certainly no way they're going to bring to Brinkett Keller and Caulfield. No. So, yeah, honorable. I mean, I was sad that Tage Thompson's on on this list, but he just has not been good this year. And part of it has been, he's been a bit unlucky as a shooter.

I don't know if he's banged up or not. He's just not moving well. There's been so many awkward sequences where, like, stopping and starting, he just does not look right. And it's really tough. He obviously scored the game winning goal of the World Championships for Team USA, and maybe they'll factor that in. But last guy is, I do think Connor Garland,

not just because I cover him in Vancouver, but I do think Connor Garland, and they should seriously consider bringing him. Yeah, I don't want to honorable mentions, but. Yeah, I think he's, his emergence now is a P.K. guy, too. He's been awesome in that spot in Vancouver. I just think, at the end of the day, it's going to be really hard to find more,

like a fourth line option for your team who offers something more different. Like, you know, at the end of the day, I think, too, if you're bringing J.T. Miller, I expect they will bring J.T. Miller. I think putting him with, you know, like coolly on the left to help transport and then a guy like Garland to help drive in zone, I think helps you get the most out of what J.T. Miller is still good at, winning draws, playing simple hockey down low, protecting the puck without skating very quickly. And that can work on a fourth line. You know who would, well, in describing that, you know who would unironically rock in that role?

Who? Josh Stone. Yeah, you're not wrong. I think they're going to give Shane Pinto a lot of consideration. Yeah, they should. Because of how well he's played and some of the PK utility. There's a lot of wing options here, certainly. I think talk would be awesome in an environment like this, no doubt.

I think Troy Terry would absolutely rock as well. Yeah, Cutter Gochie would be an interesting one. If he keeps scoring at this rate, it's going to be undeniable. I think he's got to go. Yeah, I mean, that shot making is just. And then, you know, his teammate Troy Terry probably deserves some consideration too. Yeah, I mentioned. Okay, you got any other notes on the forwards, or do you want to do the team?

Yeah, let's move to defense. I've got four locks. Okay. Quinn Hughes, Zach Wrenski, Jake's Anderson, and Jacob Slavin, assuming he's going to be healthy. You don't think Brock Faber's lock? He wasn't on my list. What about Charlie McAvoy? I did because of hand in this.

And honestly, for me, it came down between those two guys. McAvoy's been healthy and playing well. I mean, Faber looked great in that tournament, and they were leaning on them to play heavy minutes. And I think the handed isn't important as well, because I think you'll notice the four locks that I mentioned are all lefties. Yep. And so you get to a point where you need some right shots.

I also had, I had Lane Hudson. Yeah. Even though he wasn't at the orientation camp, as far as I can tell. And I'm not sure if that's going to play a role. in guys who are eligible for these teams. Adam Fox. You have them on? I do.

I think he should be. But are they really going to bring him over John Carlson? I think they should, yeah. I think they should do, but I don't know if they will. Yeah. I know he just got hurt. He was playing so well the start of the year, though. I know.

And in terms of chemistry, I think based on merit, assuming he's healthy, Brett Peschi should be on this team. I don't, you know, I think he should play with Jacob Slavin. Yeah, I mean, Pesci's been incredible for the Devils. I just think if I'm Team USA, I'm rolling out Jacob Slavin and Brock Faber again because they were so suffocating in those minutes. Yeah, but you put me or you with Jacob Slavin and we're going to be suffocating.

Maybe. I don't think I'm going to be, but you may. I'd stick with Werencki Sanderson. Sanderson played well on the right side for Team USA at the Four Nations. That pair was really good. I see no need to modify it, and that leaves me with Hughes and McAvoy, and that also sounds insanely cool. And that's my six, and I'm pretty confident that I have the, I actually think I have, if not the best,

I at least have the deepest defense corps in the tournament. Oh, undoubtedly. And, of course, we didn't get the sequin Hughes of this tournament at the Four Nations. Yeah. And so that'll be really fun. The Honorable mentions are interesting. Oh, yeah. Once again, I have so many lefties on this list.

And that's ultimately why I didn't include them. I think Mikey Anderson taking hand aside deserves to be on this team. I agree with you. Because he could actually, he's like one of the few guys in the world that I would trust to keep up with. I'm like David or McKinnon one-on-one if they have to defend them off the rush. Yep. Jackson-Lacombe. Yep.

Luke Hughes. Jackson Lecombe should probably be there, man He's so good Yeah, Luke Hughes also I mean, look, you can go 40 names deep And you're still looking at guys who I'd be like, yeah, that guy could help Team USA win for sure Yeah, Seth Jones, Noah Hannah-Fin

I think Yondra Miller would be great in a tournament like this like I actually think, I mean, Seth Jones Yeah, Seth, maybe you bring Seth Jones and Lane Hudson to 7-8 or something Yeah, but I mean, it's, it's, this is a hard team to make a hard blue line to crack. So the goalies are going to be Connor Halibuck and Jake

Onger for sure. Do you think the third is going to be Jeremy Swateman again, or do you think there's a case that Spencer Knight can work his way into this based on just how unbelievably good he's been this year? Yeah, interesting. I didn't even include That Tramco, because I just assume the Canucks are going to be like, please do not bring him. Yeah,

I mean, he, the team I don't know if you followed the teams saying that he's not day to day, but he's not going to play on Sunday. I followed I followed Adam Foote's deranged Presser, but... Your word's not mine. Yeah.

Um, yeah, I mean, Spencer Knight's been sensational. And he's, you know, a long-term, you know, dude in the program. So do they bring the developmental guy, you know? Uh, I could see it. I could see it. I could see Demco, too. Demco's been great. Um, I mean, this list is absurd.

Dustin Wolf. Yeah. Joey DeCord. Anthony Stollars. Realistically, they're so loaded. Yeah. If it's going to be Ottinger, Hellebuck, bring a developmental guy. bring Wolf or Knight, pick one of the two, and bring a developmental guy.

That's what I'd do if I was them, but I mean, you can't go wrong. If you're like, should we bring Swayman, Demko, or one of our sick developmental goalies, Wolf or Knight, I think you're laughing. Yeah, one hell of a team. Man, this is going to rock so hard. So hard. I don't think, yeah, we didn't run a time to do Team Sweden, even though I did put together my list. My one thought on it, though, just to tie a full circle around this episode, I've been thinking about this, and Leo Carlson's play this year is such a godsend for them because that team Sweden team was obviously very game

at the four nations, but I think with the state of Alex Pedersen, Mika's had been Ajad last year, they just didn't have that high-end center with juice that could realistically keep up with and enter a game against Team Canada or Team USA and you could feasibly say we might have the best offensive line in this game against these teams. And all of a sudden with what Leo Carlson is doing and assuming he keeps it up over the next couple months, I think that actually gives them a path towards doing so, and then that complements the other guys they have, like Joel Erick and William Carlson and Michael Backlens so nicely with scoring juice.

So I think Team Sweden's going to be very interesting at this tournament as well because the blue liners are awesome. There's a ton of depth here. I mean, man, if you're rolling with a line like Kempay Leo Carlson and, let's say, Willie Neelander, where you could even get Jasper Brad in there, that could go into a game against any of these teams and just be the best line in that game. Yeah. And no, I mean, you're right. The Leo Carlson factor, him being a capital D dude, something I wasn't even convinced of as recently as two weeks ago. And now his form, just the combination of size motor and skill, I mean, he's starting to look pretty scary out there on an almost every night basis. I mean, he went into Vegas and he just ripped them apart. And that goal he scored that I tweeted a clip of is.

preposterous yeah because he's just continuing through the play winning battles gets it off the pass off the wall from terry and then he finishes with his backhand that i don't even really know how to describe it's like some freakish like combination of barkov and copatar barkov copatar of genie malkin austin matthews like it's like it's all of that in this refined 2025 version it's absolutely obscene so yeah no i i mean He's an absolute superstar at this point, and he's playing a lot, and man, is he looking good? And that Ducks team, what a run they're on here. They're just, I mean, realistically, we'll just wait and do a whole segment on them, and a whole segment on...

Oh, no, twist my arm. And a whole segment on Gavin Brindley and Jack a Con next week when we talk about the... When we talk about the aves. We're going to watch the Aves, just let it marinate and think about it for a week and then get back here and revisit everything we saw. So I'm looking forward to that. What do you got to plug on the way out? Well, Canucks talk on Sportsnet 650, Monday to Friday, noon to 2 p.m. I'm going to spend most of Monday's show talking about Zakar Bartakov and the Aves.

Something that I think is going to appeal to your audience for sure. How do they always have these guys that fit how the Aves play hockey, though? It's like I've never heard of Bartikov And I'm watching him the other day I'm like this guy's the new Colin Graff On Saturday Yeah they went to Edmonton and they had four guys Score multiple goals

And like they were at the end They were pushing for 10 For sure And they could have got it pretty easily They had a couple close calls there And it was just such a statement And it was just an emphatic just incredible Yeah

Colin Graff by the way Yeah Now I feel like I can let you get away With the Jetgreave stuff Because Colin Graf was your guy in the preseason as our listeners I'll remember and in watching him I'm like he's definitely become one of my guys as well his PK stuff is great to the point where I put together a mix on popular demand and then all of a sudden they're talking about on the sharks broadcast he's getting

asked about it and saying that his teammates are sending it to him and he's loving it and so yeah we've become a call and graph podcast here so you know what that's a good place to be the take that he was going to be the face of this shark's supporting cast has aged very well and there and there a lot of fun. Anyway, Canucks Talk, Monday to Friday, 6.50 a.m. if you're in Vancouver, wherever you get your podcasts across the SportsNet podcast network. And of course, I'm always covering the Vancouver Canucks, and there's never any shortage of things to cover there at the athletic. All right, my plugs are, give us a five-star review. Please bring your fastball in the reviews. Join the PDOCs Discord as well. Subscribe to our Patreon for extra shows to join your fellow sickos.

Plenty more good stuff coming there, Team Deep Dives, Mailbags, Game Breakdowns, Mix tapes, all that good stuff that's all for today uh we'll be back on wednesday i believe with the next episode we'll be back next sunday of course with thomas where we're going to get back to our usual programming although i think this was a really fun exercise and i just can't wait for this tournament so we're going to be talking a lot more about it between now and february thank you for listening to the hockey pdio streaming on the sports net radio network