On Sunday in Pyeongchang at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, Team Germany almost pulled the unthinkable and upset the Olympic Athletes of Russia in the gold medal game of the men’s hockey finals.

 

Although the Canadian men's team didn’t get the medal they wanted, the team won the bronze after defeating the Czech Republic by a score of 6-4. While some people refused to watch NHL players were excluded, the players that suited up still went out and tried their hardest in hopes of making their country proud.

Despite falling a goal short to the Germans in the semi-finals, a medal is still a medal, and you have to give it to the Germans on their spectacular performance throughout the tournament and upsetting the Canadians.


But what if NHL players were allowed to participate. Which current NHLers would make Team Canada?

In an alternative universe where Gary Bettman , the IOC and IIHF found common ground and got all the legal issues sorted out, we present the Team Canada team that you never got to see, and boy would this be a fun team to watch

We'll should prefix this by noting that this is just a rough draft of a depth chart of the squad and that these lines would obviously be different for Mike Babcock and his coaching staff. Let's keep in mind that these games were played on the bigger ice surface, so some of our selections were made with an emphasis put on skating.

We know that Sidney Crosby skated with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand at the World Cup, and would likely be Canada’s top line, but for the sake of this exercise, we’re going to come up with our lines that we think would have good chemistry together.

Like the actual roster, we’ve decided on 14 forwards, 8 defencemen, 3 goaltenders and a few prominent omissions for each position.

 

FORWARDS:

John Tavares - Sidney Crosby - Steven Stamkos
Taylor Hall - Connor McDavid - Nathan MacKinnon
Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Claude Giroux
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Mark Scheifele

Extras:  Ryan Getzlaf & Sean Couturier

Just omitted: Sean Monahan, Mathew Barzal, Mark Stone, Logan Couture and Brayden Schenn.

 

DEFENCE:

Duncan Keith – Drew Doughty
Morgan Rielly – Alex Pietrangelo
Mark Giordano – Brent Burns

 Extras: P.K. Subban & Jake Muzzin

 Just omitted: Dougie Hamilton, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Tyson Barrie.

 

GOALTENDERS:

Carey Price, Braden Holtby and Marc-Andre Fleury

Just omitted: Mike Smith, Matt Murray and Devan Dubnyk 

Compared to the 2014 roster, this team would exclude notable players such as Jonathan Toews, Matt Duchene, Corey Perry, Shea Weber (injured), Jeff Carter (injured) and Rick Nash. While those players would be in contention for a potential “B” team, Team Canada’s depth, particularly at forward, is ripe with speed and youth, and makes it incredibly tough for those aformentioned vets to crack the roster.

Take our projected second line of Taylor Hall, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon, for example. That trio would’ve been one of the fastest lines in the history of hockey, period. Just imagine the speed through the neutral zone any one of those three would generate by cutting through the middle of the ice, or from the outside. The third line and fourth lines have tons of flexibility, as there would be just two centre spots available for Tyler Seguin, Claude Giroux, Patrice Bergeron and Mark Scheifele. All four right-shot middleman could easily slot in as right-wingers if need be. Sean Couturier or Ryan Getzlaf could easily be inserted into the lineup if the coaching staff felt that they needed more checking forwards in their bottom-six.

On the backend, Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly earns a spot on our team for his strong performance this season as the Leafs default No. 1 defenceman. Although Duncan Keith has had a rough season, the depth on Canada’s left-side isn’t as strong as other components of the team, relatively speaking of course. Mike Babcock is adamant about having three defensive pairings that feature one lefty and one righty on each pair, meaning Mark Giordano makes our team, and Jake Muzzin comes in as one of our black aces. The right side of the defensive core is absouelty stacked with Doughty, Pietrangelo, Burns and Subban.

In the crease, Carey Price is still the best option in net for Canada, and has thrived on the international stage at both the 2014 Olympics and 2016 World Cup of Hockey. With Corey Crawford still sidelined in Chicago, the competition behind Price would be fun storyline to watch. As always, projected lines and rosters can be debated seven ways to Sunday, and the spots up for grabs behind Price exemplify this. Marc-Andre Fleury’s numbers with the Golden Knights speak for themselves, and Braden Holtby – despite having a down year – would still have a spot on this team.

So, what do you think. Is there someone we’re completely forgetting? Did we rank someone too high or too low, or is there someone that flat out shouldn’t be included whatsoever?

Let us know either on Twitter or in our Facebook comments.