TEAM CANADA INVITES STARS, BUT FLAMES FAIL TO MAKE LIST
Team Canada will ice a fast-skating team at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, that’s a prerequisite, not merely a given.
But Team Canada general manager Steve Yzerman and head coach Mike Babcock also want the 14 forwards and eight defencemen chosen for the 25-man roster to be complete players — sound offensively and defensively, with and without the puck, up and down the ice. That’s all.
The themes of speed and overall, 200-foot excellence resonated throughout a 30-minute conference call Team Canada held Monday to announce the 47 players — five goalies; 17 defencemen and 25 forwards — invited to Canada’s summer orientation camp from Aug. 25-28 in Calgary.
The list includes Edmonton Oilers forwards Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, both of whom acknowledge they are long shots to earn spots on the Olympic team, so talent-laden is the provisional roster.
On a list that includes Anaheim Ducks teammates Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf, brothers Jordan and Eric Staal, Tampa Bay Lightning’s youthful Steven Stamkos and veteran Martin St. Louis, and first-timer Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks, the competition for jobs will be fierce.
“I really like what we have up front,” said Babcock, who coached Canada to gold at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. “We’ve got a whole bunch of guys that can skate, move the puck, are real dangerous offensively, but understand how the game is supposed to be played without the puck.
“Our back end, right through our group, even the guys (who are) good defenders, they’re still real good skaters and can really move the puck.
“So our defence can play with and without the puck, which is real important.”
The emphasis on speed and mobility on the larger European ice surface (200 by 100 feet, as opposed to 200 by 85 in the NHL) may help explain why the likes of Jason Spezza of the Ottawa Senators and Jarome Iginla of the Boston Bruins were not invited this time around, for example.
As it is, Canada is particularly strong at centre, where Patrice Bergeron, Getzlaf, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, Carolina Hurricanes’ Eric Staal, John Tavares of the New York Islanders, the Sharks’ Joe Thornton and Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews all will be in Calgary.
In keeping with the theme of versatility, Yzerman noted Canada will select the best 14 forwards, even if it means shifting some to the wing.
“If we’re going to bring 14 forwards to the tournament, it won’t be 14 centremen,” Yzerman said. “We have a specific number (in mind), I can’t say if that’s five, six or seven.
“I think it’s easier, and it’s been done in the past and we’ve had success with it in the past, of moving centres to the wing, if necessary. “The reality is we’ll be forced into that situation, to move a couple of centremen to the wing, just because we are very, very deep down the middle.”
Canada is loaded on defence, also, particularly in the high-octane, offensive-minded types like Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty of the L.A. Kings, Mike Green of the Washington Capitals, Kristopher Letang of the Penguins, P.K. Subban of the Montreal Canadiens, Dan Boyle of the Sharks and Dion Phaneuf of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
So, it was noteworthy that less flamboyant players, like Vancouver Canucks’ Dan Hamhuis, Travis Hamonic of the Islanders and Marc Methot of the Senators, are on the list.
“Methot went over (and) played last year (2012) at the world championship and looked good on the big ice,” Yzerman said. “He’s got a big body, and he has a pretty solid, stay-at-home type of game.”
So does Hamonic and, for that matter, Hamhuis, Yzerman said. Whoever is chosen as one of the final eight men on defence, all will be expected to play airtight defence and move the puck and help launch the attack.
Yzerman and the management group that includes Oilers president Kevin Lowe, and GMs Doug Armstrong (St. Louis), Ken Holland (Detroit) and Peter Chiarelli (Boston) do not want one-dimensional players at any position.
The last time Canada played overseas on the bigger ice surface at the Olympics, they finished sixth in Turin, Italy, in 2006, losing to Switzerland, among others.
Yzerman said he watched all of Canada’s games from 2006 to prepare for 2010, applying lessons learned successfully, as it turned out. Those lessons remain in force this time out.
“That team didn’t score a lot of goals,” Yzerman said of the 2006 Olympic team, which was led by GM Wayne Gretzky. “They didn’t allow a lot, but they didn’t score a lot.
“I guess, ultimately, that was the downfall of the team ... I just felt that team needed more speed. Both on the back end and up front, it needed more skating.
“... if you look at our 2002 team in Salt Lake City, it was pretty mobile, good skating defencemen. If anything, we’ll have a more mobile group this year.”
The gnawing question with the 2014 team is in goal, where Corey Crawford, who backstopped the Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup in June but has no international experience, has been included in a group with Roberto Luongo, the Canucks goalie who won gold in 2010, Braden Holtby of the Capitals, Montreal’s Carey Price and Mike Smith of the Phoenix Coyotes.
“There’s no question, in goal there’s a whole bunch of guys vying for that job, it’s not a locked down position like it’s been in the past,” Babcock said. “So the first three months of the (NHL) season are going to be very important in making that decision.”
With the likes of Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers in net for Sweden, Tuukka Rask of the Bruins expected to play for Finland and Sergei Bobrovsky of the Columbus Blue Jackets the likely starter for Russia, Canada has no clear advantage in goal anymore, to the extent it ever really did.
“Some of the names have changed for Canada as far as coming to our camp from the previous camp,” Yzerman said, alluding to the fact veteran Team Canada stalwart Martin Brodeur will not be in Calgary. “I like to think the situation (who starts) will resolve itself as we go along.
“There are some new faces who have entered the picture for Canada, for different reasons.”
The 25 faces who ultimately are included in the team picture for the 2014 Games all will feel the pressure of competing for Canada, as they always to.
None will bear as big a burden as does the starting goalie, though. If that position is not yet “locked down,” going into the summer camp — and owing to insurance concerns, the players are not expected to skate at all in Calgary — Yzerman, Babcock et al profoundly hope someone will claim ownership before the tournament opens in Sochi next February.