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This in from TSN’s Ryan Rishaug at the 2026 Olympics, the initial line combos and defence pairings for Team Canada
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Celebrini McDavid Wilson
Suzuki MacKinnon Marchand
Stone Crosby Marner
Hagel Horvat Reinhart
Bennett Jarvis
Toews Makar
Morrissey Parayko
Doughty Harley
Theodore Sanheim
1. It’s great to see the Canadian coaches avoid the same mistake that they made in the Four Nations, which was to put McDavid with Mitch Marner on a line. Yes, Marner is a fantastic player. And, yes, in OT at the Four Nations he did make the key pass to McDavid for the winning goal. But the two didn’t mesh at all in the tournament, mainly because Marner is used to playing with the puck on his stick. He’s a playmaker, an excellent play maker. But on McDavid’s line, the play has to revolve around the puck on McDavid’s stick.
When he’s out with Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, they know that and they get him the puck, then get open. I suspect Tom Wilson is a smart enough player to know that as well. As for Macklin Celebrini, he’s also got a high hockey IQ and incredible skill, enough so that McDavid working with him as he does with Leon Draisaitl. I see Celebrini as the perfect linemate for McDavid going into the tournament
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2. The other forward lines? It’s interesting to see to older players in Sidney Crosby and Mark Stone on the same line. No Team Canada player at the Four Nations made more major contributions to Grade A shots than did Stone and Nathan MacKinnon at 4.5 per game. McDavid was next at 4.3 per game. I figured we might see a line of MacKinnon, Crosby and Stone. But I like the idea of the two wily, savvy vets Crosby and Stone on the same line, and they may well benefit with the playmaking that Marner brings.
3. All four lines look like top lines. They are all top line players on their own teams, and there’s no push here to have any kind of energy line or checking line. All four lines are expected to dominate and that’s the way it should be and has to be for this Team Canada because as powerful as the forwards are, the defensive unit has major question marks.
4. The d-man who struggled most at the Four Nations was Colton Parayko, with Josh Morrissey also having issues at tha level of competition. Yet they are together on the second pairing.
Yikes!
After that, Team Canada has two right shot guys together in Drew Doughty and Thomas Harley, and two left shot guys together in Shea Theadore and Travis Sanheim. How does that make sense?
Harley played well at the Four Nations, as did Doughty, so perhaps they want those two as their third-pairing. But would not a third pairing of Harley and swift and sound Shea Theadore make more sense?
I would have preferred to see the top d-man pairing as is, with Theadore and Harley together, Morrissey with Doughty, and the fourth pairing as Sanheim and Parayko.
How do you see it?
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