I will be covering Team Canada for the duration of the World Cup
Heading into the 2016 World Cup of Hockey the favorite to win the tournament is the defending Olympic and World Champion, Team Canada.
Sidney Crosby will again lead the way for Canada as they look to assert their dominance yet again.
Here is what Canada looks like position by position:
Forwards
Wow. Nobody can match the firepower of Team Canada's forward grouping and that is with Jamie Benn pulling out. If this team chooses to open up their attack there is no way they will be held off the board. It is in Canada's best interest to shift away from a defensive approach and go with one of their biggest strengths.
Sidney Crosby will be reunited with Patrice Bergeron as a linemate. Historically speaking they have done quite well together. In 2005 Patrice Bergeron led all scorers in the 2005 World Junior Championships with five goals and 13 points. Sidney Crosby had six goals and nine points at the age of 17. His other linemate is Nova Scotia native Brad Marchand who has been training with Crosby throughout the summer.
The Tavares-Getzlaf-Seguin trio is just an embarrassment of riches. All three are top line centers in the league, but will adjust to share the ice together. Tyler Seguin and John Tavares are capable of winning an Art Ross Trophy pending their health. Ryan Getzlaf isn't the most fleet of foot but he doesn't have to be. He can utilize his great frame and IQ to set up the other two skaters.
Couture-Toews-Stamkos is the third line. That is comical. Logan Couture might be the unheralded man on this line but he led the playoffs in scoring last year. Jonathan Toews' perception may be a tad elevated as a player but that doesn't change the fact he is a very good player. Steven Stamkos will look to return for the first stretch of games since he was diagnosed with a blood clot. This marks Stamkos' return to Team Canada after being away since 2013. His unfortunate leg break kept him out of the Sochi Olympics.
Duchene-Giroux-Thornton as a fourth line is better than some team's top line. Matt Duchene had 10 points in 10 games at the World Championships this spring to help guide Canada to a Gold. Claude Giroux and Joe Thornton make for quite the passing duo as either player could potentially center this line. There is no relenting with this Canadian lineup.
Corey Perry is the potential extra forward and that speaks volumes with how talented this forward roster is.
Defense
Here is what Canada's defense corp. looks like
Jake Muzzin - Drew Doughty
Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Shea Weber
Alex Pietrangelo - Brent Burns
Jay Bouwmeester
Drew Doughty is an excellent defenseman. He took a lot of heat for winning the Norris Trophy (I think Karlsson should have won) but the aggressive arguments against him winning the award shouldn't take away from the fact that he is a wonderful player. He will join up with the underappreciated Jake Muzzin who he is teammates with in Los Angeles
The second pairing has one underrated guy and one overrated guy. The overrated guy is Shea Weber. He is not one of Canada's best defenseman at this point in time. However, it really doesn't matter that he was selected because Canada has such a wealth of talent that they don't need to maximize their roster choices like the other countries do. Players like PK Subban and Kris Letang would have been a much better decision. Vlasic is tremendous at even-strength at both driving possession and contributing offensively. Vlasic's 1.21 points per 60 at 5v5 was eight best in the NHL among defensemen who played 1,000 minutes last year.
For a bottom pairing you could do a lot worse than Brent Burns and Alex Pietrangelo even if the selection of Pietrangelo falls under that same umbrella as Shea Weber (there were better options). Pietrangelo isn't the best at driving play but he is good at producing offense at even strength. Brent Burns is one of the best players at his position so if he is indeed in a bottom pairing role that should open up some favorable matchups for he and Pietrangelo to generate offense.
Jay Bouwmeester is the extra defenseman who will be replacing the injured Duncan Keith. He is clearly the seventh man and probably won't be impacting the team in this tournament too much.
Goalies
Carey Price was unreal in his 2014-15 season and took home the Hart and Vezina Trophy as a result. For as great as that season was the 2015-16 campaign was the opposite. Carey Price missed most of the season injured and his absence sunk the Montreal Canadiens. He will be getting the nod in Canada's first scrimmage.
Even if Carey Price is not quite ready for prime time (nothing to suggest he isn't) Canada still has some great options backing up Price. Braden Holtby is the defending Vezina Trophy winner and Corey Crawford is very underrated despite his success with the Blackhawks
After looking at this roster you can easily see why Canada is the favorite to win this tournament. They will definitely be one of the more fun teams to watch. The only thing holding Canada back would be themselves. With the talent on their roster they could run and gun their way to a title given the combination of their puck skills, skating, and goaltending.
Tomorrow Canada will kick off their exhibition schedule against the underwhelming Team USA. The game is at 7PM and can be found on ESPNU in the United States as well as Sportsnet One in Canada.
Thanks for reading!
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