National team depth charts - Canada

Depth at every position — except in the crease

No hockey nation can compete with Canada’s depth in international hockey. When the country’s best players are in the lineup, Canada is nearly unbeatable. But even when a big chunk of Canada’s top-tier talent is busy in the NHL playoffs or declining an invitation to the IIHF’s world hockey championship, the Canadian roster is at least as good (on paper) as any other nation’s.

Still, the list of players who routinely sign up for the world hockey championship does not look like those fantasy lineups of Olympic hockey teams.

I’ve explained the system and rationale behind these national team depth charts here. So, let’s take a look at Canada’s.

Before we delve into each position, a few things stand out with this depth chart.

First is just how much change-over the team has from one year to the next. When we looked at the Belarusian depth chart, there were 13 players who had participated in at least half of the tournaments held over the last decade and 23 that participated in at least four. For Canada, there are only three players who have played in a majority of world hockey championships over the last decade and only six that have played in at least four.

In fact, just over half of these players have only been part of Team Canada at the world hockey championship twice over the last 10 years.

Secondly, there are a few big names that aren’t on this list — and a few names that are oddly positioned. Brad Marchand, Mitch Marner, Sidney Crosby, Alex Pietrangelo or Carey Price, shoe-ins for the 2022 Olympic team, aren’t here. Connor McDavid is eighth among centres. Jordan Eberle, the 53rd top scorer among Canadian forwards in the NHL last season, is the top ranked right-winger.

There are a number of reasons for this. Crosby, for instance, has only played in the world hockey championships twice, in 2006 and 2015. He’s a player who has suffered injuries on a team that frequently goes deep into the playoffs. He’s usually unavailable or has a good reason not to extend his season with the Canadian national team.

Eberle, on the other hand, has been on a team that made the playoffs only twice before this year. He was even on the Canadian roster in 2010, before he had played a single game in the NHL.

So, this depth chart — perhaps more than any other — is very specifically about which players Hockey Canada can most rely upon to compete for Team Canada at the world hockey championship.

At left-wing, Canada has a few players who have had tremendous success on the world stage. None are more than point-a-game scorers, but Taylor Hall, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins come close, Hall leading the way with 24 points in 28 games. Nugent-Hopkins, Jaden Schwartz, Hall and Dubois are all under 30, so there is still plenty of mileage that Hockey Canada can get out of them.

Canada is particularly deep at centre. Nathan MacKinnon, John Tavares and McDavid have all scored at least one point per game at the world hockey championship, though MacKinnon and Tavares have suited up only three times in the last decade and McDavid twice. Jason Spezza has also been a point-per-game scorer for Canada, but his heyday has passed.

Canada is lucky to have had as much service from Ryan O’Reilly and Matt Duchene as it has, with each playing in six tournaments over the last 10 years. Duchene’s production in the NHL has dropped off somewhat, but O’Reilly is still a top player. Sean Couturier and Mark Scheifele are also among the league’s best, while Kyle Turris has long put in good work on the big ice.

Eberle is a bit of a legend with the national team after scoring 26 points in 12 games in the 2009 and 2010 junior tournaments. He’s been very good with the men’s team, scoring 39 points in 47 games over the last 10 years in six tournaments. After him, though, there isn’t anyone who has played with the team in more than three tournaments in the last decade.

Claude Giroux has been very good with 24 points in 28 games, as has Corey Perry — though he is now past his prime and last played in 2016. Mark Stone has been a revelation on the international stage, with 24 points in 20 games in two tournaments. He scored some key goals in Slovakia in 2019, leading the team with eight.

There were a few forwards who played for the first time with the men’s team in 2018 and 2019 who could be a big part of the national program for years to come. Anthony Mantha had 14 points in nine games, tied with Stone for the team lead in 2019. Jonathan Marchessault had 10 points in 10 games. In 2018, both Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal had seven points in 10 games. As always, there’s plenty coming down the pipe for Canada up front.

There has been very little stability for Canada on the back-end, however. No defenceman has played more than three times over the last decade, and two of the four who have played three times haven’t made the trip to Europe since before 2016. Ryan Murray and Marc-Édouard Vlasic top the chart. Neither of them are particularly flashy or have scored much on the big ice.

The rest of the group has some interesting players we will likely see a lot over the next few years. Darnell Nurse has been very good defensively for Canada in two tournaments, while Thomas Chabot has had eight points in 16 games. While it remains to be seen how much success the Edmonton Oilers will have in the post-season in the future, Chabot is likely to be on an Ottawa Senators team with infrequent appearances in the playoffs for some time to come.

Aaron Ekblad, Colton Parayko, Tyson Barrie and Mike Matheson have all provided a lot of offence in two tournaments over the last few years. Canada has lots of options on the blueline.

And there will be more to come. Shea Theodore, having an outstanding playoffs with the Vegas Golden Knights, had seven points in 10 games in 2019 for Canada. Cale Makar had an exceptional rookie season with the Colorado Avalanche and has yet to play with the men’s team at the world hockey championship.

Lastly, we get to the crease. Canada doesn’t usually need top goaltending. Their forwards can score a lot of goals and their defencemen can keep the puck out of their own end. But that doesn’t erase the fact that Canada has had a lot of trouble getting good goalies to come to the world hockey championship.

Devan Dubnyk is the only goaltender to play in more than two tournaments over the last 10 years. He has played in four, but hasn’t been with the team since 2013. He had a rough season with the Minnesota Wild and, at 34, may not get his game back.

The list of goalies who have played in two tournaments includes the likes of Calvin Pickard, who has played more games in the AHL than the NHL over the last three seasons, backups Chad Johnson and James Reimer and the 38-year-old Mike Smith.

Some new blood is badly needed, but there is some hope. In 2019, Canada got solid goaltending from three young netminders. Matt Murray, at 26, was the oldest. Carter Hart and Mackenzie Blackwood backed him up. Both are potential future starters for Canada’s Olympic team in 2026, assuming they don’t get the job as soon as 2022 in Beijing. We’ll have to see if the experience of Slovakia will entice them to return — assuming they are available.

But, as always, Canada can put together a winning roster no matter who accepts an invitation to the world hockey championship. Arguably, these teams would contend for a medal even if they were competing against stacked Olympic rosters from other countries.

When the best players aren’t available, Canada’s squad at the world hockey championship is rarely a B-team. Even if it was, though, it could still win.