DREAMING OF A TEAM CANADA ROSTER THAT WILL NEVER BE
Three Flames would’ve been considered for men’s hockey team in Pyeongchang
Team Canada will unveil its men’s Olympic hockey team roster in Calgary on Thursday and the occasion figures to prompt little more than eye-rolls and plenty of Google searches.
In a perfect world, instead of NHL castoffs, the lineup would be filled with the game’s very best, setting off national debate over who got snubbed.
Had the NHL and the International Olympic Committee not combined to ruin what was otherwise one of the most exciting sporting exercises of a Canadian era, Thursday’s roster celebration would also have included a few local twists that would have had Flames fans hyped.
Not only would Mike Smith likely be Canada’s third-string goalie, but the stellar defensive group would likely have included the familiar duo of Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton.
There has long been merit and plenty of credence put into picking defensive pairs who already play together, as we’ve seen in the past with Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook (Vancouver Olympics 2010) as well as Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo (Sochi 2014) and Drew Doughty and Jake Muzzin (2016 World Cup).
While Calgarians might even be split on the inclusion of Hamilton to such a star-studded roster, no one could argue the addition of Giordano as both leader and all-around force.
The duo has formed one of the top shutdown pairs in the league the last season-and-a-half while also being among the NHL’s most prolific point-getters over that span.
It might be hard for fans to fathom Hamilton could play ahead of, say, Toronto’s Morgan Rielly or San Jose’s Brent Burns, but the familiarity Hamilton has with Giordano would go a long way toward giving him a shot at starting the tourney with the Flames captain.
Smith’s stellar season would have been rewarded with a return trip to the Olympics (many forget he was the third stringer behind Carey Price and Roberto Luongo in Sochi 2014).
Only one Canadian netminder (Braden Holtby) has more wins this year than Smith, whose roster spot would come down to being between him and injured Chicago Blackhawks veteran Corey Crawford.
Crawford has better numbers than Smith this year and would be slightly ahead of Smith on the depth chart if not for the injury that has him out of the lineup right now, jeopardizing his Olympic standing.
Price is the obvious starter and Holtby the surefire backup.
As great a start as Flames’ centre Sean Monahan has had with 20 goals, there are simply too many centres ahead of him on the depth chart for him to have broken through on a list he certainly would have received some consideration for.
A group of forwards from Canada’s 2016 World Cup team — Logan Couture, Joe Thornton, Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan O’Reilly and Matt Duchene — would have been replaced by Jamie Benn, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Mark Scheifele, Jaden Schwartz and Taylor Hall.
Alas, instead of the Flames duo patrolling the blueline in Pyeongchang, it looks like Calgarian Mat Robinson will likely be leaving his KHL club in Moscow to suit up for Canada next month.
It’s a great local story and great for Robinson, but sad for hockey.