Here’s the list of players selected by Hockey Canada as members of the 2010 Canadian Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey Team:
GOALIES
Martin Brodeur
Roberto Luongo
Marc-Andre Fleury
DEFENCEMEN
Scott Niedermayer (C)
Drew Doughty
Brent Seabrook
Chris Pronger
Shea Weber
Dan Boyle
Duncan Keith
FORWARDS
Sidney Crosby (A)
Jarome Iginla (A)
Jonathan Toews
Mike Richards
Rick Nash
Brenden Morrow
Eric Staal
Patrick Marleau
Joe Thornton
Patrice Bergeron
Corey Perry
Ryan Getzlaff
Dany Heatley
It’s impossible to argue with Hockey Canada’s selections. By all indications, this team should win gold.
Certainly, there will be critics in Calgary who will wonder out loud how Dan Boyle, Drew Doughty and Brent Seabrook are better defencemen than Jay Bouwmeester, Dion Phaneuf and Robyn Regehr and it’s really hard to believe how the team’s No. 1 power-play punch from the point, the NHL’s top-scoring defenceman Mike Green didn’t make the team.
Scott Niedermayer, who is not having a very good year, is the captain. Whatever.
Up front, Dany Heatley’s presence will always worry me. After the way he treated the NHL, the Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers with his trade demands last summer still reeks of a guy who is thinking me first. As Roberto Luongo said yesterday, “We have to check our egos and work hard as a team representing our country.” He’s right.
Is Patrice Bergeron, Corey Perry, Brenden Morrow or Patrick Marleau better than Marty St. Louis, Steven Stamkos, Dustin Penner or Brad Richards? I certainly don’t know, but the NHL statistics would suggest maybe, at best.
On first blush, this team does not have a legitimate fourth line like it did in Salt Lake City. Let’s hope head coach Mike 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.
Again, this team should win gold. After all, it was the only team that was announced live on television in its home country. It’s extremely difficult to suggest that any other team will come close.
But the real question is this: What happens if it doesn’t win gold? Then what?