Blame Gavin McKenna.
We were just minding our own business, thinking about the upcoming Winter Olympics and the old "Allow the NHL players and Canada could send three teams and sweep the medals" jokes. That hasn't been the case for a while now - probably decades - but it was fun to build teams.
Some went with best by position, making clear gold-silver-bronze teams. Me, I went for regions. The West with British Columbia and Alberta; Ontario and Quebec each on their own; then the Prairies and Maritimes with the Territories. The sole contribution the Territories made was Geoff Sanderson, but he was too good not to include.
So I was pondering a BC-exclusive team. And for some reason, I thought McKenna was from the province, and odds were good that three of the past four top draft picks would be from here. But NO. Still, an undrafted player isn't going to happen at the Olympics. He's good, but he's not the second coming of Wayne Gretzky. On the other hand, Dylan Cozens is sitting right there...
BC has two famous centres in Steve Yzerman and Burnaby Joe Sakic. There are some other good ones, but when the Hall of Famers retired, centres got thin on the ground. That trend hit reverse pretty dang hard with Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard. Now, the centre spot is filled to overflowing - enough to maybe kick one of the kids to the wing.
With the Olympics happening this year, we should only use players who were in the NHL last year. No retirees, no one who skipped the season but kept their hope of a call-up. Maybe there will be a surprise addition during the year, but probably not. Unless Laurent Brossoit suddenly starts pitching regular shutouts for the Chicago Blackhawks, we know who BC's goalies are. Let's start there.
Apologies to Andy Moog, but Carey Price was the best goaltender born in BC since Tiny Thompson. With his retirement, we're down to two active goalies, and we'll use both.
Hill has fewer games, but is in a stronger position than Jarry. He has the only Stanley Cup between the two, and was the Vegas Golden Knights starter last season. Both currently have a career record .909 save percentage, but one is with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the other is probably going to improve their numbers.
Shea Theodore - Bowen Byram
Devon Toews - Morgan Rielly
Dante Fabbro - Kevin Bahl
Theodore and Byram? Yes and yes, for as long as they can. We're ignoring injury history in this short tournament, but it's worth noting Theodore has had, ah, issues. Byram hasn't been the most durable, right until last season. He finally had an 82-game year, something Theodore has yet to manage. Both are left-hand shots, but the only right-hand shot in the list is Fabbro, and he's fine on the third pair.
So why Brenden Dillon as the extra instead of Troy Stecher, AKA "Troy from Richmond"? There's an argument to be made for Stecher as a bit of an all-around defender, but Dillon's size and experience are a better fallback. He can be moved into the lineup if that net-clearing presence is needed more than Fabbro's skill.
Kent Johnson - Connor Bedard - Macklin Celebrini
Zach Benson - Mathew Barzal - Logan Stankoven
Jamie Benn - Sam Reinhart - Michael Rasmussen
Dylan Cozens - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins - Alexander Kerfoot
And here we have our stacked centres. Almost anyone can step into the faceoff when one of the regulars gets waved out. But that's not the most surprising thing looking this team over. It's that the top six has one player in it not born this century. Sure, we could drop the kids down a little, but why?
Benson and Stankoven are both young and inexperienced, but the veteran Barzal can bring the best out of his linemates. Especially if they are a second-wave set of attackers behind that slightly terrifying top three. None of them might be considered a true top-line player just yet, but they will be. And who do you target? Maybe you attack the second line physically, intimidating the small wingers.
That should work fine until the third line shows up. When the "small" one is Sam frikkin' Reinhart, you know there's trouble ahead. Survive that, and there's the joy of BC's weakest link in 600-NHL game veteran Kerfoot. With him is RNH, who broke 100 points two seasons ago, and honorary British Columbian Dylan Cozens.
Cozens hasn't had the breakthrough expected of a seventh-overall pick, but that can easily happen now in his sixth season. His move from Buffalo to Ottawa could be the change of scenery he needed. And he certainly deserves the spot over Heinen or Sissons.
Youth will be served with that forward corps. But those players can mix and match as needs dictate. Heck, swap the entire second and third lines if size is an issue. Swap Nugent-Hopkins for Reinhart and put the third line out to protect a lead. Or ignore everything else and let the top line pull two-minute shifts until the opponents melt or someone scores.
The defence has a nice mix of veterans and youth, too. Each pair has a skilled offensive player to go with a more responsible counter. The handedness isn't great, but that's just how it is unless you want to bring Tyson Barrie in. I don't think forcing balance is worth that. Would I hate Barrie being an NHL team's number seven? Nah. But for short tournaments, mistakes are amplified, and I just don't trust him.
In goal, it's not bad. Not great, but Hill can go on a streak, and Jarry will be relieved to be behind someone other than Pittsburgh. Finding a third won't be easy, and if it gets that far put in the trainer and be done with it. Clay Stevenson probably isn't going to save the day.
