[Confirmed] Team Canada Olympic Roster Leaked

[GreenLantern2814]

Goaltending, defense and forward all look like a problem.

[Huntingwhale]

Totally thought Eric Staal was in the NHL still. Had no idea he played in the AHL. Quite the fall from grace for him since he was quite good with the Wild not too long ago.

The lineup looks strange, but totally a rag tag group we can all rally around. Will certainly be cheering for them to bring home the Gold AND make it out of China without incident.

Also 100% the right decision to not send NHL players in the midst of a pandemic. Especially to China.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Bunk

What even is the point? What if for some weird reason the speed skating federation prevented the sport’s top athletes from competing, would we be talking about sending third rate speed skaters? No, they would cancel the competition.

Was there a point in having Olympic hockey before pros were allowed to participate? I think there was. Canadians still tuned in to watch. The medals still counted.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Was there a point in having Olympic hockey before pros were allowed to participate? I think there was. Canadians still tuned in to watch. The medals still counted.

The makeup of those teams was different though.

The US and Canadian teams were actually teams that trained together and were built over time. Not thrown together at the last second.

And outside of the North America you had the very best in the world so moments like the Miracle on Ice were possible.

So yeah those medals counted. And these do too, but this is more like watching replacement players in the NFL back in the day. Was that much fun to watch?

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Totally thought Eric Staal was in the NHL still. Had no idea he played in the AHL. Quite the fall from grace for him since he was quite good with the Wild not too long ago.

I think a lot of it was he didn't want to leave MIN (presumably a comfy set up with his family - I think he has 3 school aged kids).

This seems like a reasonable idea for him - make up some home time he missed last year, and now ramp up for the Oly's and maybe make another NHL run in the spring. Perhaps Guerin is satisfied with the veteran turnover he's managed and would welcome Staal as a 'free' TDL add (like Justin Williams a few years ago). I imagine teams like PIT and CAR (really any contender) would also be very interested.

Since MIN will be feeling the buyout crunch for the next 3 years they could really use Staal for ~$1M as long as he's willing to play. This could be a real all-in year for MIN.

[rogermexico]

Yeah, for Staal he gets an opportunity to showcase at the tournament in the hopes that someone signs him for a playoff run. Kind of like Cujo back in the day when he went to the Spengler Cup and wowed everyone.
I would think that Staal would like the idea of being the been-there-done-that leader for a bunch of hungry misfits looking to prove something.

[agulati]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Totally thought Eric Staal was in the NHL still. Had no idea he played in the AHL. Quite the fall from grace for him since he was quite good with the Wild not too long ago.

The lineup looks strange, but totally a rag tag group we can all rally around. Will certainly be cheering for them to bring home the Gold AND make it out of China without incident.

Also 100% the right decision to not send NHL players in the midst of a pandemic. Especially to China.

He just signed a PTO with the Iowa Wild. The goal most likely was to get some reps and ready for the Olympics. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a team pick him up post Olympics was the playoff push/playoffs, depending on how he does in China.

[Muta]

I don't know why everyone is so down on this. I'm super excited for this team. Love seeing former NHLers get another shot at glory. Owen Power will be fun to watch, too.

[Bleeding Red]

a lot of former FLames journeymen on the other Olympic teams.


Joakim Nordstrom, Milos Roman, Reto Berra, Raphael Diaz, Alexander Yelesin, Roman Cervenka, Michael Frolik, Ken Agostino, Nick Shore, David Wolf

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Bleeding Red

a lot of former FLames journeymen on the other Olympic teams.


Joakim Nordstrom, Milos Roman, Reto Berra, Raphael Diaz, Alexander Yelesin, Roman Cervenka, Michael Frolik, Ken Agostino, Nick Shore, David Wolf

I find this so funny.

Olympic Hockey has now become The Island of Misfit Toys.

[psyang]

From this article, there are 21, with John Gilmour on the taxi squad for Canada, and Spencer Foo likely for China though their roster has not been announced yet.

Canada
Adam Cracknell
Corban Knight
Ben Street
Tyler Wotherspoon
John Gilmour (taxi squad)

US
Kenny Agostino
Nick Shore

Finland
Markus Granlund

Sweden
Joakim Nordstrom
Oscar Fantenberg

ROC
Pavel Karnauhkhov
Nikita Nesterov
Alexander Yelesin

Germany
Tobias Rieder
David Wolf

Switzerland
Raphael Diaz
Reto Berra

Slovakia
Milos Roman
Marek Hrivik

Czechia
Michael Frolik
Roman Cervenka

China
Spencer Foo (unofficial)

[Fan in Exile]

Originally Posted by calumniate

That's ben "two way' street
-Bob Hartley

Was that in reference to his style of play or his two-way contract and yoyoing between the AHL and NHL?

[Hanna Sniper]

Sucks to lose McTavish, hopefully, he doesn't get tied up too long returning to Canada (long quarantine) and can lead a march to an OHL championship

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Fan in Exile

Was that in reference to his style of play or his two-way contract and yoyoing between the AHL and NHL?

I think it's because it simply goes with "street".

[dino7c]

"China is way too dangerous, who wants to be stuck there for 3 weeks we can't go."


"Here send these players that aren't as good"

[agulati]

Originally Posted by dino7c

"China is way too dangerous, who wants to be stuck there for 3 weeks we can't go."


"Here send these players that aren't as good"

That is NHL versus non NHL entities though. All the players going aren’t in the NHL currently, so aren’t part of the CBA.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by dino7c

"China is way too dangerous, who wants to be stuck there for 3 weeks we can't go."


"Here send these players that aren't as good"

You got it all wrong...its not that they're 'not as good' (though they aren't) but more importantly they are players that nobody really cares about.

If they're stuck in China for a few months getting grievously ill or being mistreated by a Foreign Nation thats okay...the rest of us cant get along with lives uninterrupted.

I'm sure they'll be compensated, perhaps not with money, but perhaps with medals and national pride. Maybe they'll even get to meet Trudeau in Ottawa and he'll shake their hands and maybe give them COVID...again.

They're taking one for the team!

In a War do you immediately send your best soldiers right to the front? No! You throw some expendable bodies out there first to soften the enemy up!

[CroFlames]

There are probably a large contingent of players who declined to go so Hockey Canada scrambled to find these guys.

[Mattman]

The question (and the deciding factor on who wins) is will Bob Hartley be coaching any of these teams?

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by dino7c

"China is way too dangerous, who wants to be stuck there for 3 weeks we can't go."


"Here send these players that aren't as good"

The argument has never been that going to China is dangerous. It's just that there's a chance NHL players are quarantined in China for up to 5 weeks if tested positive, which means they miss part of their NHL season, and thus NHL loses some of it's marketable assets for longer than expected.