Canada 2014

Team Canada after the 2010 goal that captured the gold medal in Vancouver.

With the 2014 Olympic games around the corner we hear a handful of names being tossed around for Team Canada’s gold-medal-defending roster.

There are some obvious names that are no-brainers to be wearing the red and white in Sochi but there are a few question marks and players yet to solidify their spot come February. It will be a somewhat new-look team compared to the gold-medal winning team four years ago in Vancouver.

In August 47 potential players attended an orientation camp in Calgary for a couple of formal workouts before the start of the NHL season. With the demands of the NHL regular season, there isn’t much time for practice until the games begin. Being on this list doesn’t guarantee a player a spot on the team, but it is what Canada felt was its best talent going into the regular season.

Since orientation a few months ago, the landscape of team Canada’s roster has already changed. A couple weeks ago, we saw the NHL’s leading scorer, Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning, break his leg while driving to the net in a regular season game in Boston. With that, Canada’s potential leading scorer was knocked out of his chance at his first Olympic stint.

Another potential change in Canada’s roster comes from the Dallas Stars. Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn were left off the orientation roster, to the surprise of many people who felt the two had been snubbed. Both are now considered heavy favourites to crack the roster come February. They are playing like they took offense at not getting an invite, and currently sit sixth in NHL scoring, just three points back of the leader.

Whatever roster team Canada comes up with, it is going to be good. There is no lack of talent north of the 49th and all players have played on the big stage, on the national level throughout their careers and all play big roles for their NHL clubs. Here is my prediction for 2014 team.

Goaltending 

Canada invited five goalies to camp in August. The defending Stanley Cup champion Corey Crawford, Carey Price, Mike Smith, Braden Holtby and the defending gold medal winner, Roberto Luongo. A notable name not on the list was Martin Brodeur, a 2010 gold medal winner.

My picks for the 2014 team are Luongo, Price and someone not invited to the camp in August: Marc-Andre Fleury.

Defense

Canada is deep on the depth chart on defence this year but will only take seven or eight to Sochi. I feel like they will keep the 2010 winners Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty, Dan Boyle and Shea Weber. New additions I would like to see joining the veterans this year are Kris Letang, PK Subban, Marc Stall and Alex Pietrangelo.

Forwards

Canada is deep at forward. Almost every player invited to camp was a leading scorer with his NHL team and most players invited also wear a captain or assistant captain letter with their team. Canada will take a few extra players to Russia, but I will select my top 13. For returning players from 2010, I predict we will see Sidney Crosby (Captain), Jonathan Toews, Joe Thornton, Rick Nash, Corey Perry, Patrick Marleau and Ryan Getzlaf. New faces that I would like to see are Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Taylor Hall, John Tavares, Martin St. Louis and Matt Duchene.

When making these picks I can look down the list to the next group of guys I would have picked, and they still make a great team. The depth at forward is incredible.

When you come down to it, it is a hard decision with so many different possibilities. They are going to want to pick a roster with players that would play well together and players that are going to be playing their natural positions (centre, left wing, right wing.) It will be interesting to see when the roster is announced in the next couple of months what direction Canada decides to go.