Scheifele, bedard, Geekie, even stamkos, would have produced moRe offence
The United States beat Canada 2-1 in overtime to win the gold medal at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
That’s a fact. It can’t be changed.
But in the cold light of dawn (or two weeks later), here is something to ponder. If Canada had sent its best team, would the outcome have been different? I would say yes. Resoundingly.
Before the Olympics began here at Game On, we questioned whether or not Canada was sending its best players to the Games. The excuses, of course, from those who supported Hockey Canada’s selections, ranged from, “well you have to a have a real team with real first, second, third and fourth lines,” to “so-and-so doesn’t play a good defensive game.”
My response was always the same: “The other countries are sending their best players. It’s the coaching staff’s responsibility to work out the lines.”
The team that Canada sent played well through the preliminary-round but really struggled in the medal-round. They were fortunate to beat Czechia and Finland in the quarterfinals and semifinal and because they couldn’t score, lost the gold medal game to the U.S.
In that championship game, head coach Jon Cooper wore out Nathan McKinnon, Connor McDavid and Macklin Celebrini, running them out for extra shifts, double shifts and prolonged shifts. No wonder they didn’t score. They were too tired to finish.
And therein lies the problem. Canada didn’t have enough goal scorers. Canada didn’t have enough elite players with finish. The United States didn’t beat Canada in the biggest game of the tournament. Canada beat themselves because the people in charge built a team to win the Stanley Cup, not a two-week elite tournament.
As we look at the NHL statistics, we see that six Canadian players have scored 30 goals: McKinnon, McDavid, Celebrini, Morgan Geekie, Steven Stamkos and Mark Scheifele. Interestingly, three of those players were not chosen to represent Canada. Scheifele, the No. 4 overall scorer among Canadian players this season, was overlooked.
Hockey Canada must really hate Mark Scheifele.
Oh, and here’s another interesting player who was overlooked: Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard. He’s the leading scorer among Canadian NHL defencemen and the sixth-leading scorer among Canadian players overall. He might have looked really good with McDavid on the power play.
The Top 12 Canadian forwards in scoring (in order) this season are as follows: McDavid, McKinnon, Celebrini, Scheifele, Nick Suzuki, Mitch Marner, Mark Stone, Ryan O’Reilly, Sydney Crosby, Sam Reinhart, Connor Bedard (in only 49 games) and tied for 12th, Brandon Hagel, Travis Konecny and Matthew Barzal. Nine of those 14 players were on Canada’s Olympic team.
Of the players that are listed, I would suggest that Canada would have been a better team, a team that would have beaten the USA 4- or 5-1 in the gold medal final if Scheifele, Geekie, Bedard and O’Reilly were on the team and Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett, Tom Wilson and Bo Horvat weren’t.
Frankly, I believe that a second line of Scheifele, Bedard and Gabriel Vilardi (yes, Gabriel Vilardi), would have given the Canadian coaches more scoring options even with Sydney Crosby injured.
Canada lost the Olympic gold medal because we didn’t send our best players at the moment.
In 2030, if this country wants to win gold, it needs a better brain trust.
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