Insider Trading: Who will represent Canada at 4 Nations Face-off?

TSN Hockey Insiders Chris Johnston, Pierre LeBrun and Darren Dreger join host Gino Reda to project the entire Team Canada roster ahead of Wednesday’s official reveal, who is not making Team USA, and Patrik Laine being named to Team Finland.

The four rosters for February's 4 Nations Face-off won't be officially unveiled until Wednesday, but our Insiders Chris Johnston, Pierre LeBrun and Darren Dreger have been shaking the bushes and they've come up with a list of guys they believe will be on Team Canada. Dregs, since the team submitted their final rosters on Monday, this shroud of secrecy has been a bit of a challenge.

Dreger: Yeah, no doubt about that, Gino. And look, let's be clear here, Hockey Canada - Team Canada management gave us nothing. I mean, they were in complete lockdown throughout this entire process. But as you said, I mean, the rosters had to be submitted 48 hours before Wednesday's official announcement. And that was simply to give the networks time to prepare their production. The NHL Players' Association got the rosters submitted at the beginning of the week, and, then again, the productions involved here needed time to prepare. Well, that 48-hour gap created a bit of a buzz, I would say, around the hockey world, and it was kind of amplified, wasn't it? When [the] Philadelphia Flyers head coach, at centre ice, congratulated the Flyers players who were expected to participate in the 4 Nations Face-off. So, at that point fellas, all bets are off.

No kidding. All right, let's get to what we believe the rosters are going to look like. Pierre, teams announced their first six players back in June. Five of the six Canadians were forwards Crosby, MacKinnon, Marchand, Point, and, of course, Connor McDavid. Who do you believe is going to round out the forward group?

LeBrun: Yeah, certainly some difficult decisions right up to the end over the weekend where there was still debate within Team Canada, but certainly a name that screams off the page for us that we believe will be among those named is Seth Jarvis - 22 years old, Carolina Hurricanes. He's played 40 Stanley Cup playoff games already in his NHL career, and I know that that would have been a big part of the discussion for him making it on here. Uh, you got a no brainer, obviously, like Mitch Marner, who, by the way, ends up being the only Toronto Maple Leaf we believe will make Team Canada for the 4 Nations on the roster Wednesday. And you got Tampa Bay Lightning teammates Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli. Let's not forget that head coach John Cooper of the Lightning and head coach of Team Canada - and his input was very important in trying to put this team together. Guys with roles, not just stars, was the idea here.

What about the blueline, guys? Cale Makar was named to the team in the summer. Who else do you believe is going to be named to Canada's D-corps, CJ?

Johnston: Well, there's no reason to overthink the top end of this, right? You have two ready-made potential pairs, certainly teammates in Kale Makar and Devon Toews in Colorado. You've got Shea Theodore and Alex Pietrangelo in Vegas. Obviously, all those players have won a Stanley Cup. They spent extensive time together. Pietrangelo's case has Team Canada experience that makes sense at the top. I think where the debate comes in is the next three and then the three that we believe are going to be selected here, being Travis Sanheim, who was congratulated at centre ice by John Tortorella on Monday, but also Colton Parayko of the St. Louis Blues and Josh Morrissey of the Winnipeg Jets. And one thing [they] carry in common - they are three of the top players in terms of minutes played this year by Canadians. They can play both specialty teams, especially in the case of Sanheim and Parayko when it comes to the penalty kill. And they bring that other element as Pierre mentions of the forwards. It's not just about having all players that can play on the power play, because obviously Cale Makar has those duties covered. I should mention as well - Drew Doughty not on this list. He's been out with a fractured ankle since October, but he remains on sort of call, we'll call it in case of injury to one of the players here. If he's able to get back in the Kings' lineup and get back into proper playing shape, he's still a possibility if Team Canada needs a replacement.

LeBrun: Well, and if you're going to look for an early theme or a trend on this roster that we believe will be released on Wednesday, it's Stanley Cup rings already among this group of forwards and defencemen. Of course, Reinhart and Bennett up front - current Stanley Cup champions with Florida. But you got players from Vegas and Colorado and Tampa - the last three or four Stanley Cup champions all over this Team Canada roster. And that gets us to the goalies. Two more Stanley Cup champions - Jordan Binnington in 2019 with the St. Louis Blues. Aidan Hill - in 23 with the Vegas Golden Knights - we believe, as we said last week, will be part of three goalies named Wednesday. Where the real difficult discussion - we believe - was naming the third name because there were a lot of good candidates. We think they landed on Sam Montembeault of the Montreal Canadiens, who won world championship gold a couple of years ago for Canada. We'll see if that plays out, but certainly, probably, the hardest discussion for Team Canada - what to do in goal.

All right. Let's shift to team USA. What are you hearing out of their camp, CJ?

Johnston: Well, Team Canada is not alone in difficult decisions. And it sounds like Cole Caufield of the Montreal Canadiens, despite a roaring hot start, filling the net in Montreal, is going to be left off this roster. Tage Thompson as well in Buffalo has had a strong start and, really, it's an experience- over-young skill type of thing there. Vincent Trocheck, Chris Kreider, Brock Nelson are all players we expect to make [Team USA] at the bottom end of the forward lineup, and it comes at the expense of some of those talented young players.

LeBrun: Patrik Laine coming back. Finally, after missing the first couple of months of the year for the Montreal Canadiens, and he was a big part of the last conversation for Team Finland, is what I'm told. And, I believe he will be named on Wednesday to Finland's roster. And I think the bottom line is they feel that he's got two months to get his game in gear. They believe the upside is worth the gamble. He such a special player when he's playing his best and they don't have a lot of right-handed shots. So, Patrik Laine, I think, will be on Finland.

Dreger: Yeah. And look guys, just to wrap this up. I mean roster reaction is going to be one of the more entertaining elements to all of this when we get through Wednesday and the official unveiling. I mean, the bottom line for Canadian hockey fans, we look at it from that perspective. Is Canada deep enough? Do they have enough grit to go against the expected powerhouse of Team USA? There will be eyebrows raised with the omission of, say, Zach Hyman ... Tom Wilson. You know, workhorse type of players. But man, talk about difficult decisions. This is going to be a very competitive group on all fronts.