Canada's brain trust missed on more than just scheifele
I waited a few days to write this.
Like most hockey people, especially those who follow the Winnipeg Jets, I wanted to give Hockey Canada’s snub of Mark Scheifele a good deal of thought.
This week, of course, we watched as the likes of Anthony Cirelli, Bo Horvat, Mitch Marner, Tom Wilson and Mark Stone were named to the team, while players such as Morgan Geekie, Seth Jarvis, Connor Bedard and Scheifele were kicked to the curb.
My immediate response to the players selected was this: At the Olympic level, I guess Hockey Canada believes it can be just like the Winnipeg Jets – a one line team.
If, as everyone suspects, head coach Jon Cooper will throw Macklin Celebrini, Sidney Crosby and Nathan McKinnon on the No. 1 line, and Connor McDavid will center the second line, that means a handful of checking forwards with reasonable scoring ability will make up the final three lines. If Canada intends to win every game 2-1, this will be an excellent team.
However, after the big line, there is McDavid and then few legitimate scorers.
Let’s look at Scheifele, for instance. There are only two players on this team with more points – McDavid and McKinnon – this season. He’s been brilliant and for those who suggest he’s a defensive liability, well, he’s a plus-seven on a team that didn’t have its MVP goaltender for five weeks. Dumping Scheifele for a slug like Cirelli, who has 11 goals and 24 points (135th in the NHL) and didn’t score a single point in last year’s Four Nations Cup, is just stupid.
He also shows up every night. Mark Stone has played 22 games this season. In fact, Stone has never played a full season in his career. Scheifele has played 13 seasons in the NHL, Stone 16. Scheifele has played in almost 200 more NHL games than Stone during that time. Durability is important in a short tournament. Scheifele is considerably more durable.
And how about commitment to the Hockey Canada program? Scheifele has always answered the bell. He played for Canada in 2010 (World U18), 2012 (World U20), 2013 (World U20), 2014, 2016 and 2017 (World Championships). So, how about Tom Wilson? He played in the World U17s for Team Ontario is 2011 and hasn’t represented Canada since. So much for the “if you commit to Team Canada, Team Canada will commit to you.” That’s now meaningless and, actually, pathetic.
I could go on for hours about the Scheifele snub. It’s just horrible. Hockey Canada should be ashamed, but they’ve had more serious things to be ashamed about recently, so I often wonder if they feel any shame at all.
However, this fiasco didn’t stop at Scheifele. Morgan Geekie is second in the NHL in goal scoring and has been the Boston Bruins biggest goal scorer over the past three seasons. He also played for Canada at the World Championships in 2022. Geekie provides more offence than half of the players selected.
Connor Bedard and Seth Jarvis are two others who would add speed, skill and scoring ability to a team that won’t score many goals.
Sadly, Team Canada general manager Doug Armstrong said, “I don’t see a position on this roster where Bedard would succeed.”
First of all, that’s preposterous. Second of all, if there isn’t a place where Bedard would succeed I can tell Armstrong, without hesitation, that there is absolutely no place where Cirelli, Wilson, Hagel, Horvat or Marner will succeed. Armstrong is essentially admitting that his team isn’t very good and Bedard won’t get any help from his grinding linemates.
“I don't think the rest of the league knows how good of a two-way winning hockey player Connor has become,” said Chicago Blackhawks head coach Doug Blashill, who was hired in May. “That's the one thing probably, and I don't know why. Maybe it's based on previous years. But I don't think they have a full understanding of how good a winning hockey player he is today.”
While Blashill was defending Bedard, Scheifele defended himself this week.
"Yeah, it sucked. Pretty dark day," Scheifele told reporters in Toronto after he scored two goals and dished our an assist in a 6-5 loss to the Leafs on Thursday night. "It's hard to think about now after kind of turning the page (Thursday) morning. Obviously, Wednesday was a tough day. News you don't want. But it just shows the amount of talent in Canada, so many great hockey players, so many great guys.”
Scheifele is a leader. That statement, praising the Canadian players, showed a lot of class.
“I don't know what else I could have done (to make Team Canada),” Scheifele added. “I'm proud of the way I've played all season. I think I've probably played the best hockey I've ever played in my career.”
The Jets have been lousy this season, but the line of Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Gabriel Vilardi (who, himself, would have been a better choice than a couple of the players who did make Team Canada) have been brilliant.
Doug Armstrong and Hockey Canada appear to have built a team that would be remarkably successful over an 82-game NHL slog. In a short, fast, tournament against European and U.S. speed, this team has some serious holes.
Then again, if they can win four 2-1 games, Team Canada will be just fine.
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