Team Canada: Win Gold to End Debate

Author: Scott Taylor

January 4, 2010

Scott Taylor's E-Take is sponsored by Wellness Institute at Seven Oaks General Hospital, a comprehensive medical fitness facility that is a place to learn to become well and to stay well. www.wellnessinstitute.ca.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- It’s a great team, but is it good enough?

Back on Wednesday, Dec. 30, in Saskatoon, Team Canada general manager Steve Yzerman and head coach Mike Babcock announced the names of the 23 players who will make up Canada’s national men’s ice hockey team at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.

It’s unlikely there is more pressure on anyone in this country – not even Prime Minister Steven Harper – than there is on Babcock.  If his team wins gold, Canadians will say they knew it all along.  If he doesn’t win gold, Canadians will debate his selections for the next 40 years.

“One thing I can tell you, that is one of the biggest teams I’ve ever seen,” said New Jersey Devils rightwinger, Winnipeg’s Travis Zajac.  “It should win gold.  It’s pretty darn good, but the Russians, Swedes, Czechs, Finns and Americans are good too.  It’s going to be a great tournament.”

Zajac, 24, who played in the world championships with Team Canada last year, said last Saturday night that he’d love to get a shot at the Olympics, but knows he’s not on Team Canada’s radar right now.  But Devils coach Jacques Lemaire, a guy who loves the way the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Zajac plays (he has nine goals and 20 assists this season and is a plus-12), believes he should be.

“Travis is a great young player,” Lemaire said Saturday, after the Devils beat the Minnesota Wild 5-3 in St. Paul.  “He works and works and works.  You just can’t have enough guys on your team who work as hard as Travis.”

While Zajac would love to represent his country in the Olympics one day, he said he had no problem with the choices made for 2010.  The goaltenders, as expected, are New Jersey’s Martin Brodeur, Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo and Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury.  No surprises there.  On defence, there is the captain Scott Niedermayer of the Anaheim Ducks, along with L.A.’s 22-year-old Drew Doughty, Chicago’s Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith, Philadelphia’s Chris Pronger, Nashville’s Shea Weber and San Jose’s Dan Boyle.  That group of seven raised plenty of eyebrows.  Up front, Canada will be led by Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby (A), Calgary’s Jarome Iginla (A), Chicago’s Jonathan Toews, Philadelphia’s Mike Richards, Columbus’ Rick Nash, Dallas’ Brenden Morrow, Carolina’s Eric Staal, San Jose’s Patrick Marleau, Dany Heatley and Joe Thornton, Boston’s Patrice Bergeron and Anaheim’s Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaff.

It was long thought that in an effort to put together a strong fourth-line or even a pure checking line, that Babcock would need players like Shane Doan, captain of the Phoenix Coyotes, or Colorado’s Ryan Smyth, a guy known as Captain Canada for his record 78 games with Team Canada.  However, in the end, neither Doan nor Smyth were considered.  Babcock and Yzerman selected the game’s top scorers while grit and checking ability didn’t seem to be a factor.  Ultimately, it's impossible to argue with Hockey Canada's selections.  If you believe the numbers and the pedigrees, this team should easily win gold.

Of course, Canadians will be expecting nothing less than gold.  After all, the hour-long announcement/TV show -- a show that aired on 13 different networks -- had an average ¼-hour rating of 1.52 million people, but 3.98 million Canadians watched the show in whole or in part.  Canada cares deeply about this team and the selections definitely caused a great deal of debate.

There were certainly critics in Calgary who wondered out loud how Dan Boyle, Drew Doughty and Brent Seabrook were better defencemen than Jay Bouwmeester, Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regehr.  And for many, it's really hard to believe that the team's No. 1 power-play punch from the point, the NHL's top-scoring defenceman Mike Green (who is also a plus-13 this season) of the Washington Capiatls didn't make the team.  Scott Niedermayer, who is not having a very good year in Anaheim, is the captain and some experts have already questioned that decision, saying Crosby is the captain of the current Stanley Cup champions so why isn’t he captain of the national team?

Up front, Dany Heatley's presence is always a worry.  After the way he treated the NHL, the Ottawa Senators and the Edmonton Oilers with his ridiculous trade demands last summer, he still reeks of a guy who is thinking “me first.”  As Roberto Luongo said last week, "We have to check our egos and work hard as a team representing our country." He's right.

Meanwhile, is Patrice Bergeron, Corey Perry, Brenden Morrow or Rick Nash better than Doan, Marty St. Louis, Steven Stamkos, Dustin Penner, Brad Richards or even Stephen Weiss, Wojtek Wolski or Nathan Horton?  I certainly don't know, but the NHL statistics would suggest, “maybe they are” -- maybe, at best.  Fact is, based on the way they played for the first half of the 2009-10 season, a second Team Canada could definitely challenge the first Team Canada.  For instance, Yzerman and Babcock selected Rick Nash, a guy who is a wonky minus-12 and is the 14th leading scorer among Canadian forwards in the NHL this season.  They passed on Brad Richards, the sixth-leading scorer in the NHL and they passed on Stamkos who has more goals than Nash (21 to 19) and has a considerably better plus-minus (minus-3 to minus-12).

Meanwhile, on first blush, this team does not have a legitimate fourth line like it did in Salt Lake City.  Canadians can only hope that Babcock makes it clear who will get the eight minutes of ice time per game as opposed to the guys who will get the 19 minutes.  It will certainly cut down on the griping.

Will Canada win gold?  Travis Zajac definitely thinks so, but nobody really knows for sure.  However, we do know this: Team Canada will be favored to win gold.  And with the Games right here in Vancouver, nobody will be happy if this group finishes with anything less.

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