Olympic Conundrum

So I look at available Canadian hockey players and I see no fewer than 11 centremen worthy of serious Olympic consideration.

That's just the centres.

AP FILE PHOTO

Savard and Green: Teammates in 2010?

Sidney Crosby, Vinny Lecavalier, Joe Thornton, Mike Richards, Ryan Getzlaf, Marc Savard, Patrick Marleau, Travis Zajac, Jason Spezza, Jonathan Toews and Eric Staal. If you want to make it an even dozen, anyone who saw Andrew Cogliano skate at the all-star game in Montreal might argue you cannot leave that kind of speed off this team. Oh yes, there's also Derek Roy and Brad Richards.

See how quickly 11 became 14? And that's just the centres!

How, with a year to go before what may be the biggest hockey competition in the history of the country, will Steve Yzerman sort this out? Sure, you can shift one or two to the wing. Marleau for sure, maybe Staal.

But you can also get yourself in a lot of trouble by just putting a team together of seven or eight centres and expecting some to magically become solid wingers in both ends of the ice.

The choices won't be as hard among wingers, nor among the goaltenders, if only because nobody has stepped up to take a job away from Martin Brodeur or Roberto Luongo, and Brodeur hasn't even been playing.

On defence, we know it will be a transition time for Canada, with as many as five rearguards from the 2006 Olympic roster not on the squad this time. Which among the younger group are truly ready for this pressure-packed stage will be a tricky guess, and don't forget a couple of the twenty-something defenders froze in the spotlight at the world championships gold medal game in Quebec City last spring.

This we know. Some of the guys who look great now won't look so good next November, and some of the players who don't appear to be strong candidates now will be next fall. Also, while everyone loves change, you need that significant level of experience to win a competition like this.

So instead of saying this is the projected team, let's say these are the leading candidates for the 2010 Canadian Olympic team as of February, 2009. I'm not going to chicken out by taking a bunch of centres either. I'll only move one to the wing.

Here goes. And don't worry, I know you'll disagree:

GOAL: Brodeur, Luongo, Marc-Andre Fleury.

Fleury gets the nod as No. 3 because at least he's played in a Stanley Cup final. This should have been Carey Price's job to lose. Steve Mason? Not taking a sophomore who by the time this team is selected won't have 75 NHL starts on his resume.

CENTRE: Crosby, Lecavalier, Getzlaf, Savard, Mike Richards.

No Thornton? Are you kidding? Well, somebody has to be left off, and I want Richards on this team for his gritty attitude and leadership. Savard? He's the No. 1 centre on the best team in the league. I would worry with my group, however, that there isn't enough big-time international experience. But it's a heckuva group nonetheless, wouldn't you say?

LEFT WING: Rick Nash, Ryan Clowe, Simon Gagne, Eric Staal.

Great size. Staal is the only centre to shift over. Gagne, if healthy, is still among the best two-way forwards in the game. Apologies to Ryan (Captain Canada) Smyth, Milan Lucic, Mike Cammalleri and Scott Hartnell.

RIGHT WING: Jarome Iginla, Jeff Carter, Shane Doan, Marty St. Louis.

Came close to picking Devin Setoguchi over St. Louis. That may happen in the end. Dany Heatley currently on the outside looking in.

DEFENCE: Mike Green, Robyn Regehr, Dion Phaneuf, Shea Weber, Dan Boyle, Jay Bouwmeester, Chris Pronger.

Pronger gets to stay for now because of the experience, but he's on the bubble. Just never been that impressed by Bouwmeester in these big internationals and would be prepared to look hard at Brent Burns, Duncan Keith and Brian Campbell. Braydon Coburn and Dennis Wideman very, very close. But somebody has to stay home

Comments

[Ernest Miller]

Ryane Clowe? Really? Based on half a good season on the second line of a good team?

[Jon]

Ryan Clowe? really?
No disrespect to your professional opinion Damien, but I would find a way to get Joe Thornton on there...regardless of position on the frontline! Getzlaf and Crosby have experience on the wings at these things...plus Doan can play either wing. Do whatever one has to do to get Big Joe on there!

Just a prediction: they go with Price over Fleury despite the experience difference.

[mark]

Not bad Damien. Just a minor changes I would look at. First, I still think Thorton has to be in there over Getzlaf. And if the Sharks make it to the Stanley Cup finals, then I'd consider him a lock. Another guy conspicuous by his absence is Neidermeyer. Pronger is prone to bad penalties at bad times, so I'd take Neidermeyer to this dance. Lastly, I'm not sold on Clowe just yet. Ryan Smyth may not be having the year Clowe is having, but Smyth in front of Canadian crowd at the Olympics.... he'd be dynamite, no question.

[Mike Mouat]

Damien,
Like your Olympic squad and can appreciate the difficulty of trying forecast one year form now. Of your picks I am interested in why you selected Clowe over others.

[Worth-tam]

Clowe doesn't skate well enough. You have to have Thornton there and he would likely bump Clowe? Too much depth and talent down the middle and someone has to shift to the wing. Also seems really hard not to have one more pure pp or offensive guy on D. Wideman or Campbell seem like they would push Boyle.

[Guelphdad]

Here's a thought. How come you can have three entries in bobsled, or four different people compete in downhill, but you can only have one hockey team? Why can't countries field more than one team. I mean really, do we need to have Italy, Germany etc. field teams? why not two from Canada?

[JRT]

Looks good, and I never agree with you!
I might want to move Marleau as well into Clowe's spot, but that's pretty much the roster at this point.

[Christian]

i don't know if you picked those players based on line combinations but i think that would definitely be taken into consideration.

1st line- Crosby is the only guy not moving from this spot. You would think Iginla owns the RW spot as the king of Candian scorers over the past few years but Getzlaf would be an interesting option as well. Conventional thinking would tell you that a grinder is need here to go into the corners but Crosby and Iginla are plenty tough so I would agree with you* and put Nash up there, although with a change of scenery Lecavalier's numbers and experience could warrant him taking the spot from Nash, who would benefit from making the postseason for the first time.
(*first time for everything)

2nd line-This is where you stack offensive talent to get that elusive miss-match against the teams unable to match us depth wise. This is where you hide your undersized center, Marc Savard. His speed makes him a no-brainer for the 2nd unit and flanking him with Getzlaf and Lecavalier is downright scary. Jeff Carter is a great story but barring more of the same from him next season AND a Lecavalier relapse there just isn't room on the "scoring" lines.

3rd Line- This is your momentum/puck possesion line and where we will draw from for penalty killers to keep everybody fresh. That being said Mike Richards absolutely has to center this line. Give him Shane Doan and voila! the best PK unit in the tournament. Any rugged 2-way winger Canada has could fit in on this line but I would give the edge to Simon gagne and Jeff Carter as they are upper-echelon players and both play on the same NHL club as Richards.

4th Line- This is where you stash a player for each line while building a solid line for the offensive and defensive zones. This means you have a scorer, a playmaker and a grinder/two-way. My philosophy would also be to include as many yougsters in this group as possible for future tournaments and because they are more accepting of supporting roles than established start like Joe Thorton might be. This line would have to include Jonathon Toews, who is a favourite of Yzerman's and a rapidly developing elite two-way center in the mold of Stevey-Y. Some better numbers and a lengthy playoff run would help his case but i can't see Yzerman not sticking with the kid he put on his WHC team before he ahd even played an NHL game. Wingers...well you need a scorer so Jeff Carter comes to mind with the final spot and the reserve spot belonging to one of Patric Marleau, Travis Zajac or Dany Heatley.

At the point I don't think you can allow Pronger to have a spot on merit. His speed will be an issue and as it is he simply isn't in the top 10 Canadian defencemen anymore. Wide man is a guy who should be getting serious consideration for the Norris this season, and would if not for his more imposing teammate Zdeno Chara. My pairs would bea s follows:
Green-Phaneuf
Weber-Regehr
Boyle-Wideman

brent Burns would be my reserve as not only is he a solid Dman but he is quite capable of playing forward as well should the injury bug strike.

In net its (in order of rank) Luongo, Brodeur, Fleury, Price.

The main problem in goal being that its hard to project where Brodeur will be when selection time comes and Price and Fleury have both taken a bit of a step back. Luongo is the steadiest elite option AT THIS POINT and Mason would have to have a JS Giguere type playoff run to even merit consideration. Its extremely likely Mason has some struggles next year and would have to have at least 100 games under his belt to even be compared to guys like Brodeur come crunch time.

[Down Goes Brown]

I understand that these sorts of lists are all for fun, and half of that comes from arguing over who was left off.

But leaving Joe Thornton off your entire roster (while shifting over lesser centers like Staal to wing) really screams of "I need to have one glaring error so I can get lots of comments on this post".

[Chong Hum]

Damien, I'm looking over my roster selections for Russia, Sweden and the USA. I'm a diehard Cdn fan, but those other teams have potent line-ups. Any early Gold, Silver, Bronze Medal predictions based on today's avail players ?

[ostrich lover]

No offence Damian, I love you and read you daily, but I am glad you arent the Gm.
Your forward selections are terrible. I would delete m.Richards, Nash,Clowe, Stall andin favour of Thornton (come on!!!) Perry, B. Richards and Morrow. St.louis is an extra on my team.

I like your defence, but remove Boyle in favour of Niedermyer and if hes done then Campbell is a better one dimensional replacement for Niedermyer. I also like Turco over Fleury.

[todd]

random thoughts:

good list, i think only a few spots may shift depending on the playoffs this year. if thornton can finally find some enthusiasm can led the sharks to the finals, then he's in. it's the same thing for carey price, he needs to have a solid run these playoffs and that will give him the nod to tag along with brodeur and luongo.

i REALLY like that savard and green are finally getting some recognition (green hasn't been around nearly as long as savard but you never hear about green's ability).

ryan smyth and heatley should be on the bubble while lucic and campbell are also right there and should be given a serious look.

[Brad]

Seriously you've gone mad. Where's Heatley? The Heatley-Getzlaf-Nash line is as good as it gets and absolutely dominated at last year's WC. In fact, the one danger that Yzerman faces is over-thinking his choices and taking flavour of the month guys like Clowe & Wideman...that's how guys like Rob Zaumner ended up on the team a decade ago!

[A-Mar]

Seeing as Marleau has played quite a bit on wing this season, I'd be much more tempted to take him over Ryan Clowe, who although a good player in his own right, is not at the calibur of Marleau.

[Bob Schmautz]

What, no Bertuzzi?? And no Ray Bourque for the shootout??

[John]

Not choosing Thornton is ridiculous.

[jacob]

The only player I flat out disagree with is Eric Staal. The players I question are: St. Louis and Clowe.

[Matt B]

You need Morrow in there over Clowe.

J. Thornton over Savard.

S. Neidrmayer in over Bouwmeester or Regehr.

Fleury doesn't need to be in there over Price as neither will play. We know Price is more of the real deal than Fleury so give him the experience. Nieether of them are playing well this year (or lately) so go with the goalie who NEEDS to understand the experience.

[Eazy E]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Rob Blake. I'd pick him for his wealth of experience, and to have a twin tower effect with Pronger as his partner.

[Marijan Kalman]

Kucera wins gold in downhill, Bilodeau captures World Cup gold, Steve Omischl won his second straight World Cup freestyle aerials title and you are writing about TEAM that won ONE GOLD in last three Olympic's.We have serious problem in this country. Our great athletes are never recognized. All of you in media are only talking about bunch of goons in the goon sport!

[Josh]

Marty St. Louis over Heatley is insane. So is Getzlaf over Thornton. I suggest Damien stick to bashing the leafs in his articles

[Pillu]

damian,

Fleury to Mason.

Clowe, Staal and St.Louis are useless in this tournament. clowe is too slow, Staal can't pass the puck and St.Louis just over the hill.

Bouwmeester should be changed to Niedermayer for leadership and experience.

Joe Thorton, Dany Heatley and Jonathan Toews in.

[Alf Chaiton]

"Right Wing....Dany Heatley currently on the outside looking in."

Get your head out of Toronto. Heatley is a left-winger.