What Team Canada’s men’s Olympic hockey roster would look like with NHL players

We already know what Team USA will look like for men’s hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympics, and we’ll find out about Team Canada with an announcement set Thursday afternoon. As you’ve surely heard by now, the proceedings have gone a bit differently than normal without the NHL.

Colleges, European leagues, and the AHL will be the prime sources of talent for this year’s tournament as a result of the NHL’s decision not to participate. It’s going to be a much different affair, albeit one still full of the passionate players and exciting stories that define every Olympics.

The one thing we’re really missing out on is the juggernaut national teams. Our look at a potential Team USA with NHL players revealed a stacked lineup featuring Auston Matthews, Patrick Kane, Seth Jones, and other stars. It’s too bad we can’t see a team like that representing the United States in Pyeongchang.

But as good as the Americans would’ve been, it’s fair to say that Team Canada would’ve been even better. Here’s a look at how we would put together a team of Canadians to try to win gold in February. For some comparison, here are projections from The Athletic, ESPN, and Sportsnet. This team would be, well, ridiculously stacked.

Forwards

F1: Taylor Hall — Connor McDavid — Nathan MacKinnon

F2: Brad Marchand — Sidney Crosby — Patrice Bergeron

F3: Steven Stamkos — John Tavares — Tyler Seguin

F4: Jamie Benn — Mark Scheifele — Claude Giroux

Extras: Jonathan Huberdeau, Jonathan Toews

Defensemen

D1: Duncan Keith — Drew Doughty

D2: Morgan Rielly — Alex Pietrangelo

D3: Mark Giordano — Dougie Hamilton

Extras: P.K. Subban, Brent Burns

Goaltenders

Starter: Corey Crawford

Backups: Carey Price, Braden Holtby

Obviously this leaves out a ton of great names. Here’s a sampling of those who miss the cut here: Mark Stone, Logan Couture, Shea Weber, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Sean Monahan, Matt Murray, Josh Bailey, Brayden Schenn, Mathew Barzal, Mitch Marner, Jake Muzzin, Jaden Schwartz, and Ryan Getzlaf. You could build a pretty impressive team just with those who didn’t make it.