Button: Early assessment of Team Canada

Craig Button

TSN Director of Scouting

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The World Junior Hockey Championships don’t begin for 140 days, but what could Team Canada look like when the tourney begins? It’s only August, and it’s early to be making fast and hard declarations about the roster, but an early glimpse serves as a jumping-off point.

The just-completed World Junior Showcase in Calgary gave the Hockey Canada coaching staff and management an opportunity to assess a large group of players. With that serving as the backdrop, here is my assessment of positions and some players.

GOALTENDING

Mason McDonald, Mackenzie Blackwood and Samuel Montembeault were all excellent during the showcase. They each made a strong competitive case to be on the team, a positive for the coaches to see. McDonald was named the best goalie at the IIHF U-18 tourney in April 2014 and his play there and in the QMJHL makes him the leading candidate to open up as Canada’s starter. There is still a lot of evaluation to take place and it’s razor thin between Blackwood and Montembeault.

DEFENCE

Joe Hicketts is the only returning defenceman from the gold-medal team of 2015. There is a very good chance he is named captain when the team is announced. Haydn Fleury was a cut last year, but, like Darnell Nurse before him, he is more than capable of being an anchor on the blueline. He was named the best defenceman at the IIHF U-18 tourney in April 2014 and has all of the requisite attributes to be a key contributor. Travis Sanheim, another cut from last year's team, brings offensive skill and the ability to run the power play. Travis Dermott, Toronto's second-round pick at the 2015 draft, has a stable, consistent and dependable approach on the blueline. Noah Juulsen, Montreal's first-round pick in 2015 draft, can add offence and is a very competitive defender who has nice balance in his game. Early signs are that the defence will be a very solid group.

FORWARDS

High-end offensive skill is always at the forefront of a successful team. Filling the skates of Max Domi, Connor McDavid, Sam Reinhart and Anthony Duclair will be a challenge, but there are capable players who can be productive in a similar manner. Brayden Point will take a leading role on this iteration of Team Canada. He is highly productive and very comfortable being a "go-to" player. Mitch Marner is a highly skilled, highly competitive and exciting offensive player who creates offence consistently and is dangerous from anywhere on the ice. Robby Fabbri and Dylan Strome give the team a strong presence up the middle. Josh Ho-Sang has high-end talent and clearly showed at the showcase he can play in different spots in the lineup, be productive, adaptable and a solid player within a team structure. Travis Konecny is multi-dimensional and can contribute in multiple ways; offensively, physically, and as a catalyst for positive play. Spencer Watson, the second-last pick in the 2014 NHL draft, is a goal scorer who can provide that type of threat in tight games.

The showcase was a good opportunity for the players present to leave a favourable impression and I can’t think of any player who didn’t make a solid account of himself. Some were a little more productive than others, but the evaluation process continues. The opportunity for those players, as well as others who were not invited or were injured and didn’t play - as was the case with Jared McCann and Brendan Perlini - to continue to make an impression leading up to the selection camp will continue. There will be plenty of eyes watching.