Welcome to the Hotstove! As always, I'm your host, Travis Yost.
On Monday, both the United States and Canada announced their preliminary orientation camp rosters. It's a lot of what many expected, but there were more than a handful of notable absentees on each side:
United States:
Goalies (6): Craig Anderson, John Gibson, Jimmy Howard, Ryan Miller, Jonathan Quick, Cory Schneider.
Defensemen (18): Zach Bogosian, Dustin Byfuglien, John Carlson, Dan DeKeyser, Justin Faulk, Cam Fowler, Jake Gardiner, Erik Johnson, Jack Johnson, Seth Jones, Nick Leddy, Paul Martin, Ryan McDonagh, Brooks Orpik, Kevin Shattenkirk, Ryan Suter, Jacob Trouba, Keith Yandle.
Forwards (24): Justin Abdelkader, David Backes, Beau Bennett, Nick Bjugstad, Dustin Brown, Ryan Callahan, Alex Galchenyuk, Patrick Kane, Ryan Kesler, Phil Kessel, Trevor Lewis, Kyle Okposo, TJ Oshie, Max Pacioretty, Kyle Palmieri, Zack Parise, Joe Pavelski, Bobby Ryan, Brandon Saad, Craig Smith, Paul Stastny, Derek Stepan, James van Riemsdyk, Blake Wheeler
Notable no-shows include Jason Pominville, Alex Goligoski, and Brandon Dubinsky.
The team's strength remains in the net. It's going to be an absolute knife-fight to lock down a roster spot there, with five guys who all have a pretty strong argument as to why they should dress in Sochi.
There's a couple of bizarre inclusions, although I guess GM David Poile is going to play with specialists of sorts to see if they can add any value to the team. Trevor Lewis has twelve goals in his entire career. Kind of puzzling to see him on the list.
Best part, though: Dan Bylsma and Peter Laviolette behind the same bench, working together.
CANADA:
Goalies: Corey Crawford, Braden Holtby, Roberto Luongo, Carey Price, Mike Smith
Defensemen: Karl Alzner, Jay Bouwmeester, Dan Boyle, Drew Doughty, Mike Green, Dan Hamhuis, Travis Hamonic, Duncan Keith, Kris Letang, Marc Methot, Dion Phaneuf, Alex Pietrangelo, Brent Seabrook, Marc Staal, PK Subban, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Shea Weber.
Forwards: Patrice Bergeron, Jeff Carter, Logan Couture, Sidney Crosby, Matt Duchene, Jordan Eberle Ryan Getzlaf, Claude Giroux, Taylor Hall, Chris Kunitz, Andrew Ladd, Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand, Rick Nash, James Neal, Corey Perry, Mike Richards, Patrick Sharp, Eric Staal, Jordan Staal, Martin St. Louis, Steven Stamkos, John Tavares, Joe Thornton, Jonathan Toews
Notables who did not make the cut include Jason Spezza, Cam Ward, Evander Kane, and Francois Beauchemin.
The forward ranks in Canada are more or less amazing. There's a decent chance you'll see something of Someone on Twitter made a reference to the possibility of a Stamkos - Crosby - Giroux line. If it happens, holy hell.
Defensively, there's just as much to choose from. Very capable puck-moving types like Drew Doughty, Mike Green, Kris Letang, and Dan Boyle. Excellent two-way players like PK Subban and Duncan Keith. Oh, and that Shea Weber fella ..
The only question with this team is the same is who can pin-down the starting position amongst eligible goaltenders. It's clearly the weakness of the team. Roberto Luongo and Carey Price seem to have a leg-up on the rest of the field right now, but we're still dice-rolling at best with a prediction on this front.
Any thoughts on either roster?
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