‘Tis the season every Canadian hockey fan has been waiting for since the moment our Olympic team was chosen for Vancouver—who’s got next?!
Well, Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. the announcement will be made by Steve Yzerman et al, and we’ll have it covered from one end of the rink to the other. But today we’ve polled Sportsnet’s hockey experts for their opinion on who should comprise Team Canada’s 25-man roster. Below is a composite of their answers with the players placed at the position in which they were named the most and the percentage of overall ballots they were named on in brackets.
At forward there were some serious debates, mainly about where all our country’s top centres will play. There was near unanimity on the top four pivots, but John Tavares, Claude Giroux and Eric Staal all received votes at all three forward positions, while a number of wingers were listed on both the left and right sides.
In goal there was really little debate as to who would make the team. The only race was for No. 1, while on defence, the top six spots were also nearly unanimous.
This is Sportsnet’s Team Canada. Let the debate rage.
GOALTENDER:
Carey Price, MTL
(on 100% of ballots, 54% named him the No. 1)
Roberto Luongo, VAN
(100%, 46%)
Mike Smith, PHX
(46%)
Also — Marc-Andre Fleury, PIT (23%), Corey Crawford, CHI (8%), Jonathan Bernier, TOR (8%), Martin Brodeur, NJ (8%), Josh Harding, MIN (8%)
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DEFENCE:
Duncan Keith, CHI (100%)
Shea Weber, NSH (100%)
Alex Pietrangelo, STL (100%)
Drew Doughty, LA (100%)
Jay Bouwmeester, STL (92%)
P.K. Subban, MTL (92%)
Marc-Edouard Vlasic, SJ (77%)
Brent Seabrook, CHI (62%)
Also — Dan Hamhuis, VAN (38%), Dan Boyle, SJ (23%)
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CENTRE:
Sidney Crosby, PIT (100%)
Jonathan Toews, CHI (100%)
Ryan Getzlaf, ANA (100%)
Patrice Bergeron, BOS (100%)
Also — Mike Richards, LA (15%), Joe Thornton, SJ (15%)
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LEFT WING:
John Tavares, NYI (100%)
Patrick Sharp, CHI (100%)
Matt Duchene, COL (69%)
Logan Couture, SJ (69%)
Chris Kunitz, PIT (62%)
Also — Jamie Benn, DAL (38%), Patrick Marleau, SJ (31%), Milan Lucic, BOS (15%), Tyler Seguin, DAL (15%), Taylor Hall EDM (8%)
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RIGHT WING:
Corey Perry, ANA (100%)
Steven Stamkos, TB (100%)
Martin St. Louis, TB (92%)
Claude Giroux, PHI (62%)
Rick Nash, NYR (54%)
Also — Eric Staal, CAR (38%), Jeff Carter, LA (8%)
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