World Cup of Hockey Preview: Team Canada

Twelve years removed from the last World Cup of Hockey, Canada heads into the 2016 edition of the tournament with hopes of following up their 2004 victory in the same location as the last tournament, Toronto. Canada is always a major threat at any tournament when they get to bring in their elite talent, and with so many superstars to choose from, they should have no issue putting together a great effort once again at the Air Canada Centre.

Strengths: Canada’s pure depth is something that will be very tough to contend with. Case and point: the fact that the biggest discussion involving the team has to do with the likes of Taylor Hall, PK Subban and Jordan Eberle not getting named to the roster shows how strong they’re going to be. With 14 players with Olympic gold medals around their neck and six players from the 2015 World Hockey Championship winning squad, Canada has a lot of big game experience heading into this event.

The previous champions from the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, Canada is bringing in a team with the two most recent Vezina Trophy winners, the 2016 Norris Trophy winner in Drew Doughty and five Hart Memorial winners in Corey Perry, Carey Price, Sidney Crosby (twice) and Joe Thornton, among a list of more top-end awards. Canada’s roster is full of skill, speed and defensive prowess that should keep goals away from their net, similar to how the team managed two shutouts at the end of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi to win gold.

The team can get goals from every line, whether it be the defensively minded bottom six with Boston Bruins teammates Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron, to the high-scoring exploits of Crosby, Tyler Seguin, Steven Stamkos and John Tavares. Let’s not forget that the most recent edition to the offensive core, Logan Couture, led the entire NHL in playoff scoring with 30 points. This team will be able to score from everywhere, and that’s what they’ll need without the smaller nations to beat up on.

Weaknesses: It’s tough to pinpoint the weaknesses for Canada, especially when their depth is so good. Depending on who you talk to, defense is their area of worry. Losing Duncan Keith to rehab for his torn meniscus injury in 2015 definitely didn’t help, especially since Keith has been such a powerful force at many tournaments for Canada in the past. Many fans are still questioning why there was no PK Subban named to the official roster, or why he wasn’t named as Keith’s replacement, instead of Jay Bouwmeester (Mark Giordano is in the same situation as Subban, as is Kris Letang).

To make up for the weaknesses, it is worth noting that Canada does have a lot of chemistry when it comes to their defensive options. For starters, Bouwmeester is familiar with Alex Pietrangelo, one of the stars on the Canadian blue line. Shea Weber, who many have criticized ever since Montreal acquired him in a trade for Subban, looked great with Doughty at the 2014 Olympics, and Doughty himself knows how to play with Jake Muzzin.

On offense, could missing the likes of Jamie Benn (to injury), Taylor Hall and even Subban hurt them in the long run? With their offense, it could be really tough to argue that they’re going to be heavily missed, but it’s still interesting to wonder.

Big question: Who will end up taking control of the goaltending? It’s really a tough decision. Depending on who you talk to, Carey Price is the best goaltender in hockey. But with him missing most of last season with injuries, do you go with the guy that just won the Vezina Trophy with Washington, Braden Holtby? You can’t go wrong with either option in net, with the pair making up potentially the best goaltending duo in the tournament. Coach Mike Babcock will likely run with both, giving each goalie a chance to prove themselves in a game each in the round robin before eventually deciding on one of them to lead the way until the end.

Prediction: Canada will be one of the best teams in the tournament, but it won’t be easy. Everyone will play extra hard to take down the top ranked team in IIHF play, but expect Canada to compete for the trophy.

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