Breaking down Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off roster

Credit: Канада - Россия. Брэд Маршан. |24.09.16. World Cup of Hockey 2016. Semifinal. Canada - Russia. Brad Marchand.

Finally, speculation gives way to reality. All four entrants released their finalized 4 Nations Face-Off rosters on Wednesday, filling out the remainders of their teams after naming six players apiece in June.

How does each roster look? What did its GM get right and wrong? You can find breakdowns for Finland, Sweden and USA here. Now, let’s dive into team Canada.

FORWARDS (13)

Sam Bennett (FLA)
Anthony Cirelli (TB)
Sidney Crosby (PIT)
Brandon Hagel (TB)
Seth Jarvis (CAR)
Travis Konecny (PHI)
Nathan MacKinnon (COL)
Brad Marchand (BOS)
Mitch Marner (TOR)
Connor McDavid (EDM)
Brayden Point (TB)
Sam Reinhart (FLA)
Mark Stone (VGK)

DEFENSEMEN (7)

Cale Makar (COL)
Josh Morrissey (WPG)
Colton Parayko (STL)
Alex Pietrangelo (VGK)
Travis Sanheim (PHI)
Shea Theodore (VGK)
Devon Toews (COL)

GOALTENDERS (3)

Jordan Binnington (STL)
Adin Hill (VGK)
Sam Montembeault (MTL)

Sometimes Canada gets flak for overthinking its roster, with people pointing to selections like Rob Zamuner at the 1998 Olympics and Kris Draper at the 2006 Olympics. But the truth is that Canada typically does the strategic roster build quite effectively; when you have so many elite players to choose from, you have the luxury of breaking ties to go with specific roster needs.

Up front, Canada has oodles of generational superstar talent. When you can ice Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby and more, it’s OK to diversify the bottom of your forward group. Going with Sam Bennett, Travis Konecny and Seth Jarvis, for instance, brings some jam and tells us Canada wants a team that can match up with the Americans specifically. If the Tkachuk brothers are running roughshod, Canada can counter with Bennett to keep them honest. That’s why he makes sense over adding another one-way player like Mark Scheifele. With Sam Reinhart, Mitch Marner and Mark Stone in this group, Canada has some truly elite two-way forwards. Even if the D-corps and goalies leave something to be desired, it will be tough to gain Canada’s zone in the first place.

As expected, Canada has opted for familiarity on its blueline, as it has done in numerous other best-on-best events, from Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer in 2010 to Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo in 2014. Devon Toews and Cale Makar come from the Colorado Avalanche as a ready-made top pair. Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore have played together at times with the Vegas Golden Knights. Boom, there are two Stanley Cup winning pairs. Josh Morrissey brings puck movement from the left side, and while I was a little surprised to see Colton Parayko and Travis Sanheim make the team, it’s clear Canada wanted to avoid a roster redundancy if it selected only offensive D-men. Parayko’s and Sanheim’s size and strength create balance.

It wasn’t a big surprise to see Jordan Binnington and Adin Hill get the nod in net, having won Stanley Cups in 2018-19 and 2022-23 as starters. In a true down period for Canadian goaltending, most of the other top candidates were fairly inexperienced. Binnington may not be the most exciting pick, but he has a St. Louis Blues connection to Doug Armstrong, who oversees GM Don Sweeney and will craft the 2026 Olympic squad. Among the hyped next-wave goalies, the Montreal Canadiens’ Sam Montembeault wins out. Like Mackenzie Blackwood in San Jose, Montembeault was playing well on a team that gives him no help, and Montembeault has been hot for just a bit longer dating back to last season.

Biggest reach

Remembering the St. Louis link to Armstrong, I should’ve had Parayko on my radar. I didn’t see him coming. Even if Canada wanted to eschew some more purely offensive righty options (more on that later) to diversify its roster, I would’ve gone with MacKenzie Weegar instead of Parayko. Parayko’s skating is an asset, and he’s sound in his own end, but he doesn’t move the needle offensively. Weegar just does so many things well in pretty much all situations, he has a better 5-on-5 defensive track record in recent seasons and, as an additional asset, he has lots of experience playing both sides. That would’ve made him a more sensible choice in my opinion.

Biggest omission

I’m sorry – but the recency bias against the Edmonton Oilers jumped the shark here. Zach Hyman was an easy choice to be Canada’s net-front power play presence and carry his easy chemistry with McDavid onto the first line, and he doesn’t even make the team? Because he’s had a bad 20-game stretch after scoring 54 goals last season? That said, I understand the notion that players like Jarvis or Konecny can bring similar tenacity with more overall skill. I can live with it. The most glaring omission is Evan Bouchard. Perhaps Canada figured he wouldn’t displace Makar on the top power play unit and wouldn’t be as useful playing shutdown minutes lower in the lineup. But the notion that Bouchard is a defensive liability is lazy and flat-out wrong. The tape can look ugly at times, as he’s prone to the big mistake, but the results tell us otherwise. Edmonton gets 59.82 percent of the scoring chances and 59.77 percent of the high-danger chances with him on the ice at 5-on-5 this season. He and Mattias Ekholm grade out as a top-two pair in the NHL at suppressing shots and shot attempts. Bouchard has even fared well when he’s not on the ice with Ekholm. Oh, Bouchard’s play-driving stats are strong because he shares the ice with elite forwards? Whom do you think he’d be playing with on Canada? He’s an egregious snub.

Burning question

Can Canada’s forward talent carry a lineup that underwhelms in net and on defense?

It was always clear that Canada would take the fourth-best stable of goalies to the tournament. But after taking more of a role-player approach to the D-corps than expected, Canada has the third-best blueline behind the U.S. and Sweden in terms of pure skill. It’s not that Sanheim and Parayko are lumbering oafs by any means – but Canada did leave some elite puck-moving acumen home. If feels like there will be pressure on the forwards to push the pace. Luckily, Canada has the personnel up front to do just that.

Projected lines

Reinhart-McDavid-MacKinnon
Hagel-Point-Marner
Marchand-Crosby-Stone
Bennett-Cirelli-Konecny
Jarvis

Toews-Makar
Theodore-Pietrangelo
Morrissey-Parayko
Sanheim

Binnington
Hill
Montembeault

_____

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