NHL
Connor Bedard, 20, and Macklin Celebrini, 19, could both make Team Canada for the Olympics. Kavin Mistry / Getty Images
TORONTO — Nine hours of discussion on Monday brought Team Canada’s list of players into sharper focus with the roster deadline approaching Dec. 31.
Team Canada general manager Doug Armstrong emerged from the meeting Monday to say his management group is down to between 35 and 40 players on its list. The group was just over 90 back in September, before the NHL season began.
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“It wasn’t about putting players on the team (yet) but whittling down that list to continue to scout,” Armstrong said Monday. “I think we’re down to a much more manageable number of players that we’re going to really home in on over the next month.”
Armstrong’s management group includes Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney, Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill, Pittsburgh Penguins GM Kyle Dubas, Tampa Bay Lightning GM Julien BriseBois, the Department of Player Safety’s Ryan Getzlaf and Hockey Canada’s Scott Salmond. Team Canada assistant coach Peter DeBoer was also involved in the meeting Monday.
“Our next meeting will be first week of December,” Armstrong said. “We’re hoping probably to have, I’d say, 80 percent of the team pencilled in and then you use that last month to round out that roster and use January for potential replacement players.”
Which is to say, even though rosters have to be submitted Dec. 31, Team Canada’s staff will keep scouting throughout January in case a change needs to be made because of injury. Team Canada plans to have a small group of players identified as the next wave in case of injury.
In the here and now, it’s trying to get a group of 35 or 40 players down to 25 by Dec. 31: 14 forwards, eight defensemen and three goalies.
“We went by forwards, D and goalies and had a good debate on everyone today,” Armstrong said. “We confirmed our locks that were there. Not many were added to that because the competition is so great.”
Management will continue to scout the players left on the list in person, but that’s not to say that a player can’t still force his way back onto the list.
“I wouldn’t be shocked that we get to December and there’s somebody that plays so well this month that we’ll home back in on for that last part,” Armstrong said. “So, what I try to do is that I try and go out and look for players and then you turn it over for players to come and find you.”
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Back in September in an interview with The Athletic, Armstrong said youngsters like Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard would need to “pop” in the early part of the NHL season to push their names up the list.
Well, they’ve both popped. One look at the NHL scoring leaders will show that. Bedard, 20, is tied for second with 25 points in 16 games, and Celebrini, 19, is tied for fourth with 24 in 16.
“There’s no age limit, at the high end or the low end, but I’m going to say some of the guys at the low end (youngsters) have really … they’ve found us,” Armstrong said Monday. “And now we’re going to really home in on those guys. There’s so many good young players in this game. Connor Bedard has been playing some great hockey right now. He’s taken his game up to a level it wasn’t at last year. Celebrini has continued what he showed last year.
“Those are just two young players that are really pushing. We’re excited to watch them play now.”
There’s also an 18-year-old turning heads in the NHL so far this season. Matthew Schaefer wasn’t even on Team Canada’s long list of 90 or so players before the season — because he hadn’t even played an NHL game yet. But he’s forced Team Canada to pay attention.
“It’s been fantastic to watch,” Armstrong said of the prized New York Islanders rookie defenseman. “You look at his history, I don’t think he played more than 50 games over the last two years of junior hockey, and now what he’s doing in the NHL, it’s fantastic to watch. He’s a player that I didn’t think you’d be asking me that question right now. Kudos for him.”
I would say Schaefer is still a long shot to make the team, but at least he’s made Team Canada plan scouting trips around him. So you never know.
Canada’s goaltending picture, meanwhile, remains as wide open as it’s been.
“We brought three guys to the orientation camp and we said we brought three because we didn’t want to bring eight,” Armstrong said. “By doing it the way we did it, we probably made the right choice. I think it’s a wide-open competition right now. Wide-open competition.’’
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I think Jordan Binnington remains a lock despite his early-season struggles, and Logan Thompson has probably played his way on so far with his excellent season. So at the moment, that leaves one spot open — probably between Adin Hill, Sam Montembault, Darcy Kuemper, Mackenzie Blackwood and a few others.
And finally, a familiar face emerged from Team Canada’s meeting room Monday. Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman, the architect of Team Canada’s gold medal-winning squads at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics, met with the group at the request of Armstrong.
“I thought it was great,” Armstrong said of Yzerman’s input Monday. “Steve and I go back a long time as co-workers. He allowed me to be part of his staff at the world championships and the Olympics. Just the vast knowledge that he has. I asked him if he would participate today. The guys asked him some questions. Him and I will debrief on it a bit more. That’s the beauty of this. Everyone associated with this is lending a helping hand and trying to help out. And he’s no different.
“Knowledge is power, and he’s got a lot of knowledge.”
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Pierre LeBrun has been a senior NHL columnist for The Athletic since 2017. He has been an NHL Insider for TSN since 2011 following six years as a panelist on Hockey Night In Canada. He also appears regularly on RDS in Montreal. Pierre previously covered the NHL for ESPN.com and The Canadian Press. Follow Pierre on Twitter @PierreVLeBrun
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