Cooper and Canada face tough roster decisions...so does USA
And one of them will be to break it to Drew Doughty that he won't be part of Canada's 2022 Olympic team. The U.S. faces a couple of vexing dilemmas as well
Ask almost anyone whom Jon Cooper has charged with a responsibility and that person will tell you that after Cooper has laid out the parameters of the task, he will almost always have one parting piece of advice. “Now, don’t fu—this up,” is what he usually says to people. And that’s interesting because between now and the Beijing Olympics – if NHL players do indeed end up participating – Cooper will have to remind himself of his own words on occasion.
The coach of Canada’s Olympic team doesn’t win a gold medal as much as he avoids losing one. And that’s entirely fair because, with the numbers of players, the culture of the game and the resources that are thrown at elite hockey in this country, Canada should enter every tournament with the pressure of being the frontrunner. Every. Single. One.
So as Canada’s coach for the 2022 men’s Olympic team, Cooper’s biggest task might be just not to mess it up. Although it’s a little more difficult than simply going down the bench and tapping a guy on the shoulder and saying, “Hey, future Hall of Famer, go out there and do what it is you do,” one has to avoid the tendency to overcoach. Former longtime Team Canada assistant coach Ken Hitchcock once told me that in 2010 – a tournament in which the game has never been played at a higher level – the pace was so fast and the action so chaotic that the coaching staff actually couldn’t impact the game all that much.
And with the level of super-elite talent all the major hockey-playing countries are churning out these days, that figures to be the case in Beijing. With an embarrassment of riches at his disposal in terms of player personnel, Cooper’s biggest decisions will be about deployment. Which guys does he move from center to the wing? Does he insist on having a right shot-left shot configuration for each defense pairing? How do he and the rest of the Canadian management team break it to Drew Doughty that he won’t be on the roster? You know, stuff like that.
With eight years between NHL participation in the Games, this coaching staff is definitely made up of a new guard. In fact, this will be the first Winter Olympics since 1998 where Hitchcock hasn’t been a part of the crew behind the bench. Cooper and assistants Barry Trotz and Peter DeBoer all have experience coaching for Canadian national teams, but this is their first Olympics. Assistant Bruce Cassidy hasn’t coached a lick for Canada, but he is the only one of the four who has played for his country internationally.
And it’s time for a new guard when it comes to players. There should actually only be four players on the Canadian roster who were there in Sochi in 2014: Carey Price in goal, Alex Pietrangelo on defense and Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron up front. With that in mind, here’s an early look at my projected rosters for Canada and USA, who will be coached by Mike Sullivan. Those in bold italics are bubble players whose participation will depend on how well they play through the first part of the regular season.
TEAM CANADA
FORWARDS
LEFT WING CENTER RIGHT WING
Jonathan Huberdeau Connor McDavid Nathan MacKinnon
Brad Marchand Sidney Crosby Patrice Bergeron
Bo Horvat Ryan O’Reilly Brayden Point
Mat Barzal Mark Scheifele Mitch Marner
Nick Suzuki Mark Stone
Where it gets interesting: There are a few ghost rosters out there that have O’Reilly as a left winger, but it baffles me how you could take one of the best two-way centers of his generation and move him to the wing…Who is your fourth-line center? Is it Scheifele? Does Cooper favorite Yanni Gourde get a look? Or does he go with Suzuki, the player he raved about in the handshake line after the Stanley Cup final?...Canada is loaded with guys who play center and shoot right, but are a little light on the left side, which is why Barzal moves to left wing…Cooper had Marner at the World Championship in 2017 and was crazy about him.
DEFENSE
LEFT DEFENSE RIGHT DEFENSE
Shea Theodore Cale Makar
Jakob Chychrun Alex Pietrangelo
Darnell Nurse Dougie Hamilton
Morgan Rielly Aaron Ekblad
Where it gets interesting: Any coaching and management staff that takes Doughty over a healthy Ekblad opens itself up to a world of criticism…Canada has a couple of options on the left side, including Ottawa Senators defenseman and seemingly forgotten man Thomas Chabot…If there’s an injury on the right side, don’t sleep on MacKenzie Weegar as a darkhorse. Or even Kris Letang.
GOALIES
Marc-Andre Fleury Darcy Kuemper Carey Price
Where it gets interesting: Nowhere, really. If there’s one area where Canada lacks an enormous amount of depth, it’s in goal…Kuemper did himself a huge favor by going to the World Championship and leading Canada to a gold medal. He’ll also be playing behind an elite team next season in Colorado, which should help his numbers…Should Price not be able to play, who steps into that spot? Chris Driedger? Mike Smith? Carter Hart? See what we said about the depth?
TEAM USA
FORWARDS
LEFT WING CENTER RIGHT WING
Kyle Connor Auston Matthews Patrick Kane
Max Pacioretty Jack Eichel Matthew Tkachuk
Jake Guentzel Dylan Larkin Brock Boeser
Brady Tkachuk J.T. Miller Cole Caufield
Alex DeBrincat Joe Pavelski
Where it gets interesting: Do you go with the big-game experience and leadership that Pavelski can provide or the youth, energy and speed that Jack Hughes brings?...The left side is a challenge, no question about it. You’ll notice I’ve left Johnny Gaudreau off the roster. But if you were putting together a team right here and right now, would you honestly choose Gaudreau over the other five left wingers?...On the right side, Jason Robertson finished second in Calder Trophy voting. Is there a place for him on this team? And Cam Atkinson is still a productive player.
DEFENSE
LEFT DEFENSE RIGHT DEFENSE
Zach Werenski Adam Fox
Quinn Hughes Charlie McAvoy
Jaccob Slavin John Carlson
Ryan Suter Seth Jones
Where it gets interesting: Many teams struggle to find right-shot defensemen, but USA has an abundance of them. To that end, hasn’t Neal Pionk earned a chance to represent his country on the biggest stage? And if he does, who do you remove?...Speaking of the right side, Jeff Petry will be 34 by the time the Games begin, but he was awfully good for the Montreal Canadiens, both in the regular season and the playoffs…On the left side, do you go with the reliable workhorse in Suter or the more dynamic Torey Krug?
GOALIES
Connor Hellebuyck Thatcher Demko John Gibson
Where it gets interesting: In terms of the No. 1 job, it doesn’t. It is Hellebuyck’s net to lose. Full stop.