We dive into our roster suggestions for the upcoming Four Nations Tournament and discuss who we think the general managers of each team should select. We break down the key players and predict the starting lines for Finland, Sweden, USA, and Canada. Listen in as we debate the merits of different players, weigh past performances, and consider the dynamics of potential team chemistry. Enjoy our in-depth analysis and join us as we speculate on what could be an electrifying tournament!

00:00 How We Constructed Our Four Nations Rosters

03:11 Team Finland

15:48 Team Sweden

16:01 Sweden's Forward Lineup Discussion

17:44 Sweden's Defensive and Goaltending Strategy

26:26 Comparing USA and Canada

27:24 Evaluating Goaltender Performances

28:57 Building the U.S. Roster

32:17 Debating Forward Lineups

34:25 Team USA's Defensive Strategy

36:41 Goaltending Choices for Team USA

36:42 Personal Allegiances in Hockey

38:14 Constructing Team Canada

44:13 Team Canada Defensive Pairings

49:27 Predicting Tournament Outcomes

51:16 Final Thoughts and Sign-Off

Hello and welcome to Overtime Hockey Talk.

My name is Mark Paul and my co host Justin Baker and I are going to be predicting

or, more or less letting the general managers of each four nations team know

who they should select for their teams.

Sounds about right.

That's yeah, that's usually what they do.

Like they wait until we do this show and then they make their selection.

That's what they did for the Olympics.

that's what they'll be doing this time.

we'll get things, we'll get things rolling.

there, there's what, like five or six guys for each team that

are already predetermined six.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense because there's three forwards,

two defensemen and the goalie.

Um,

not all of them pick that

not all of them

But that,

But I like your logic, right?

One line, so

right, So we.

The way that we have constructed this is based off of lines.

I took what you did and I copy and pasted it.

And then I just made changes that I wanted to make.

you left some very good players off the board.

So I feel like we, we have to dive into that a little bit, but we

will use your lineup as a, as the template and we'll go from there.

I like it.

Yeah.

So just so everybody knows, right?

So the way I approached this whole thing, was I weighed a little bit more heavily

on What have you done for me lately?

And I don't want to say, call it teammates, but like guys that have

familiarity with each other, right?

They might be currently on the same team.

they might have played with each other in the past, on different

teams, that kind of thing.

because in my opinion, and I don't know what your thought process

was going into this and, maybe the general managers for each team might

think a little bit differently than I do, which is completely incorrect.

And they should really.

So I'm saying

the show.

yeah, but f there's only three games.

all within a week.

It's, kind of thing.

So you, I that familiarity because chemistry quick, right?

S

we, I think the first time that team Canada went that route was the

2014 Olympics.

I believe it was when Mike Babcock was the coach and they said,

we're just picking guys in pairs.

Like almost everybody had a pair.

So yes, some guys got left off, but it was because they wanted those pairs.

And and that was the way that they did it.

Like I believe they had, what Dowdy and was it Alec

Martinez that was on that team?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Muzzin?

Was it Muzzin?

I don't remember.

I, there was lots of little two guys that got to make it.

Crosby and Crider.

Not Crider, Kunitz.

Crosby and Kunitz.

Which, Kunitz has no business being on Team Canada.

there's no business.

every team has like a high level of Canadian on it, so there's no need for

Kunitz, but they had the chemistry, uh, but see, and in this case, I just

go, yes, chemistry is nice, but I'm not going for a guy that's like a,

an actual third liner in replacement of somebody who's a superstar.

that's fair.

all

right, well, which team do you want to start with?

one of the European nations,

Yeah.

The easy ones.

I feel like, let's start with Vinland because I think they're the most

obvious, there's not a lot that you're going to do with this team.

you're going to take their best players in the NHL.

And that's that's what you're doing.

there's not a lot of controversy to me.

it's not Barkov, Rantanen, Aho, Lindell, Heiskanen, and

Saros are already on this team.

And really outside of that, is it super controversial if one guy

makes it and another guy does?

No.

And I look on defense for this team, right?

They literally only have, I think, eight defensemen active.

that have played a few games in the NHL this year.

So how controversial can you get by leaving one guy off really?

There's not much to take.

Now,

excuse me, how many extra players do you get in the tournament?

Is it three?

Yeah, I think there's, I think there's still a 23 man roster

if I remember correctly.

and obviously you're going to use one of those for a goaltender.

And then, you've got basically two spots left at that point.

I, myself, I divvied it up one forward, one defenseman.

Yep.

Okay.

all I guess actually, it's funny that it's funny that we just, I just

got done saying that there was no controversy between these two, two

teams, because I believe you left someone very important off this list.

Off your list.

sorry.

I'm just, I realized that I needed to have both of our side by side.

Now for your team, Finland on the right side, you have Rantanen, of course,

Tara Vinen, Kapukako and Joel Armia.

did you leave Patrick Laine off this list because of his Injury,

or is it because you would prefer Joel Armia over Patrick Laine?

no, I left him off because of injury.

he's skating again.

yeah,

today,

that's the thing, the uncertainty, right?

I don't know where he's going to be, until he's back on the ice skating, right?

And I know he's healthy for me.

It's just, I'm going to leave him off right now.

like Mark Stone is a good example of this, right?

he has played in his injury.

I know isn't going to keep him out very long.

so that's, that might be

I have imagine

like someone like Mark Stone, I, someone like any of these players, I

got to imagine they're looking this like Patrick Laine, he's going to

play, he's going to get back for this.

If he's healthy, absolutely.

Yeah.

let's face it.

It's not like he's, gearing up for a playoff run or anything.

yeah, I think that he's.

He's a lock to make the team as long as he's healthy.

Yeah.

And if he's healthy, I'm okay.

Leaving Joel Harvey off this team.

You can ax him.

And then you got, someone in that middle six there, I think can slide

down and let Patrick lining come in

Yeah.

He was the only now, yeah, from a forward perspective, I did.

I agree.

Coke and yummy.

Like you're going to get all, if you're extra forward as

the center, that's your ideal.

just, unless you have some ridiculously talented extra guy, It just makes sense

to have a center because the center can just flop to the wing if they have to.

so Joel Arm Joel Armia gets the boot and Coke and yummy.

He can hang around, scores his eight goals every 82 games.

that

let's talk about these lines, right?

Cause for me, cooking the Emmy when I talked about guys in pairs, when

you mentioning that to me, I looked at, okay, Sebastian, aha, He's a guy.

If for some reason, right now, for example, we'll go through the list, but

right now on my second line for Finland, I've got Sebastian Aho centering,

Lekkonen and Tara Vinen, right?

So Tara Vinen, he has familiarity with

There's pair.

Yep.

Yep.

But Coke and the Emmy can easily slide in on that left side.

If maybe say Granlin or somebody else on that top line with Barkov and

ranting, it isn't really working out.

You can mix guys up.

And I think Coke and the Emmy might be able to slide in a little bit

easier than maybe say, someone like Eric holla or even, loose to Ryan.

I think that might be a little bit easier to have him slide in there with.

Sebastian Aho on the fly.

I think the other challenge is that, you're looking at that left side.

The left side is very weak for Team Finland when you go Grandlin,

Lekkonen, Halle and Lusterainen.

Like, all fine players, probably would be classed in the like 2 3 for

the lineup in, in a typical NHL team.

So when you're going best on best, I'm not looking at that left side.

Being all that excited.

Uh, but then you consider you've got Rupe Hintz on the third line right now as the

centerman, I'm thinking Rupe Hintz gets a lot of opportunity to go and play with

Barkov, to go and play with Aho, I think you're okay if he needs to slide in on the

wing and shove him up the line up a bit.

Yeah.

And you could do that, right?

Grandlin has played center in the past, so you could move him back to the center

spot and push him down to maybe that three or four c Anton Lde right is my four C

right now, so maybe you move him up to three C between Hala and Cappo Caco.

But.

Again, it's what's available to them right now.

And I think, for Finland anyways, When you look at the, we'll get into Canada

and in the U S later, I think obviously they're the favorites here, or even

against Sweden, when you look at what all of these other teams have up and down

the middle, at that four C spot, all of these other teams have very strong top six

centermen, whereas, maybe when you look at Finland, once they get past that three

C with Rupe Hintz, like Anton Lundell, is he really a true number one, two C.

I think he's filled in quite nicely for Florida, but given his history, I'm not

sure how much I trust him to really.

match up against guys like McDavid and, and, Elias

Pettersson night in the night out.

That, that is the.

I guess if you weren't going to go the line a route, like maybe you're going,

I want to have somebody who is used to playing 13, 14 minutes a night.

maybe you try and have those role, because otherwise you're

going, all right, Patrick line a.

Can you play a third line role?

No, he's not equipped for that.

maybe you get some power play time.

Maybe he slots up with Aho, and Aho can help on some of his defensive liabilities.

But it just, from a forward perspective, I, we know what Finland's going to do.

They're going to play a very defensive style game.

I, it's always what they do in these tournaments, mostly because they're

looking at a roster such as this, where.

They're top heavy.

They aren't nearly as good from a talent perspective as the

other teams in the tournament.

unless there's like Slovakia and the host nation of China or where

there's just of, of Japan where they just get win 18, nothing.

but when I look at this, I just, I go, Finland is the one kind of outlier

where it's yeah, they're good enough.

yeah, I looked at their roster and I was just like, man, especially with

Ovechkin doing what he's doing right now.

I'm like, I would have loved to have seen Russia in this tournament and I know the

sanctions and all that other garbage, but

part of me is I would have loved to have seen them in this tournament instead.

I would have yeah, and I know it they didn't want to have some kind of like

European team, but I think that would have been better Like it would have

been better had it been like Sweden.

they're they're fully stocked.

They're fine They've got their own between Sweden USA Canada those are your

three top nations that can fill a team full of superstars and Russia could do

the same but I think when you even so Sweden, I think Trump's Russia in a lot

of those ways, but, it would have been nice to see like a Finland, Russia,

and then whatever other countries.

But it is what it is.

It is disappointing that Alex Ovechkin isn't going to get

to play in this tournament.

That's just.

and it's not his fault.

That's what, That's what, I don't like about it.

Like you're punishing players.

You're not punishing the country really in my mind.

anyways, I digress.

okay.

So Finland's defense just is what it is, right?

Lindell and Heiskanen are going to be together and then it's some

combination of Mikkola, Mata, Hakenpaa, Joki, Hyru, and Ristolainen.

yeah, those are my

out what works

Yeah, nice part is they're a little weak on the right side But

nice part for them high skinning can slide right over no problem.

And he's going to have to,

He's gonna have

to

think he's going

to, have to, yeah, there's not even much choice, goaltending wise,

sorrows, that's all you need, right?

Yeah, he could do it.

you're going to play him every game.

And excuse me.

I'm obviously I'm nursing a cold here.

both kids had whooping cough.

Oh

I didn't get it fortunate.

And then, and then I think we just caught other something else.

There's just been a lot of snot and

A lot of mucus,

just a lot of fluids flying in the air.

So who knows what I got?

yeah, I don't know if it's super like you have Kevin Lankin and Corpus Salo,

The other possibilities, he's also Finnish and is also Finnish as well.

don't think it matters who you want to pick as your backup because.

If Saros goes down, there's no shot for Finland.

He's there He's the shot.

and I think that's that was my main motivation behind corpus alo, right?

I mean he's having a good time A decent year in Boston.

But for me, out of all these goaltenders, UPL, he's been a

starter, but I don't really trust him.

his numbers have been so up and down throughout his, his tenure in Buffalo for

me, corporate silos had some good seasons.

And he's also been a starter, With Columbus for a few seasons.

So for some reason, again, sorrows goes down.

He knows what that pressure is like to be the guy.

and especially in a bad market.

So for me, this is like.

The bad market, the bad team right in the tournament right now.

if you have to be the, the lone goaltender for the terrible team in the league, this

is, a guy that I would trust to be that.

Alright, alright.

Hey, you're used to being bad.

Let's go.

was trying figure out if, if he has ever played any kind of, European on,

on any best on best team for Finland.

let me take a look here.

But, the other side of it is If a guy's not going to play, do you want to have

the, what, Ukapeka Luganin's like what?

23, 24, or do you want to have the guy who's.

What, Corpus Isles 30.

He's been in the league for 10 years now.

There's some level of like face value, and there's some level of, hey, this

guy actually brings some experience.

He has played in playoff games, so there's, I think when it comes down

to who are we going to pick for our guys who probably aren't going

to see much time, you're going to want it to be an older guy, right?

Like somebody who's going to offer something in the locker room.

Maybe that a younger guy might just, and might not, might not have the

old guy his chance, right?

Because the young guy is going to have his opportunity.

yeah, but back to your point.

So Corpo Salo, the Corpito has not played in any international stuff for

Finland before UPL, though, has done, the U 18s twice coming winning gold

when he was 17 and 2016 silver and 17.

And then in the U 20 championships won gold in 2019 for Team Finland.

Yeah, and that's, that is, something to consider,

at least from, if we were doing a prediction show, it might actually behoove

us to choose him, because Fin, the Finnish

Hockey Federation is, is likely to pick guys who have played for

them, and they know well, And he's done well on that stage.

Uh, whereas this is just the team that we would pick.

So

Exactly.

that's the guys we'd pick.

we don't have any, any backdoor handshake deals with anybody

to, to get them on the team.

all right, that's Finland.

definitely the weakest of the four, although, Hey, Barkov and Rantan.

Those guys can run wild and Finland could put up a five spot on you

before you know what happened.

So

Yeah.

it's not as if they're a bad team.

They just are not nearly as deep as some of the others

No, they got good guys down the middle who can play, great

hockey on both sides of the puck.

And they've got a top pairing that I think is going to probably

play about 30 minutes a night.

And don't sleep on Niko Mikkola either.

He's, He's looking pretty good for Florida.

that he is.

Yeah.

He's, He's been a nice replacement for them.

All right.

let's stay in Europe then we'll, we'll get the two North American

team last, let's go Sweden.

And I think I had a pretty similar team to you.

I made some changes.

I wanted to get your thoughts on William Carlson, dropping them in it.

that third line over Elias.

Lindholm.

yeah, let's start there.

okay.

should we, run through the lines

Okay.

Yeah, that's

Yeah, let's let the listeners, okay.

So let me tell you what I've got first.

So my top line, I've got Sabina Jad centering William Nylander

and Jesper Broad second line.

I've got, Pedersen centering, goose Nyquist and Phillip for,

or, and yeah, and Forsberg.

So there's that

There's that

pair with Nyquist and Forsberg,

Yep.

third line, I've got William Carlson centering Lucas Raymond and Adrian Kempe.

Fourth line, Elias Lynn Holmes centering, Zucker, Zuckerland and Eklund, and then

I've got Leo Carlson as my reserve for it.

Who's the guy I think could be an X Factor and maybe, but again, Eklund and Zetter,

Zetterland, that was a thing again, where, the connection right on San Jose.

They're both really, get

to play on a really terrible team together, and now they

get to go play in a good one.

This is like playoffs, in some respects.

Some of these guys that are not going to make the playoffs, this is their playoffs.

It is their playoffs for

So it'd

curious to see how someone, I doubt that, yeah, it's not like Mika Zbinajad is gonna

go, I've got playoffs to think about, so I'm going to not go get that puck.

But is there an extra level if you're someone like, William Eklund who

knows like, what am I going back to?

I'm going back to just see, like improving as a player and growing.

It'd be interesting to see what they're willing to give, maybe

pushing a little harder and maybe that allows him to be a little bit

more effective in this tournament.

Yeah.

I liked that mode of thinking there.

So

Just a thought.

yeah.

on defense.

I've got my top pairing, Headman with Dahlene on the right side.

He's going to slide over.

then my second pairing, I've got Forsling and, Rasmus Andersson.

And for my third pair, I've got Ekholm and Erik Karlsson, who

Sweden's GM did not want anymore.

He regrets making, the pick already.

And then I've got Hampus Lindholm as my, my reserve

I did not see that.

he actually came out and said that.

yeah, cause they've been dogging.

Dog and Carlson for his defensive play.

I think he's like a minus 16 or something terrible like that.

And he literally came out and said, you know what?

I wish I hadn't, picked him to be one of my six right now.

he's, he basically said, I wish I could take that back.

kudos to him.

I guess it's surprising that he didn't choose Markstrom as his goalie.

I think after last season, maybe he was like, you know what?

We'll see where we are next year.

Cause again, they've got, I think they've got some good goaltenders.

And for me, my three, I've got Jacob Markstrand, Philip

Gustafson and Linus Hallmark.

So these are three, three starters, three good goaltenders.

why do you have to name one right now?

Yes.

But yeah, you could have avoided it because you had to name six guys.

You could have avoided naming Carlson if you,

but you the other side of it is Eric Carlson is out of all these guys, he is

the biggest name in sweet in like I would

He's got the hardware, right?

he's got the Norris trophy.

He's got

Hedman.

a hundred point season.

No.

headman's the other one, but Eric Carlson's phenomenal.

And I, just because he's having a bad season with Pittsburgh, I don't

think that necessarily means that he's going to be bad on this team, Sweden.

And that's why I put him with a guy like Ekholm, because you see what he did for

Evan Bouchard and how that's worked out.

yeah, again, put him on the third pairing, drop him down.

He still gets to play, 15, 16 minutes a night.

Let him do his thing on PP one, if you want for PP two, but, Yeah.

So for me, Eric Carlson sits there on that third right side.

but back to your point, William Carlson over, Elias Lindholm, for me,

I just liked the fact that, Carlson, I love what he brings as far as a two

way game is night in and night out.

I think he's very defensive.

He's responsible defensively, wins draws, but more to the point over Lindholm.

He's proven that he can put up goals in the pass and he brings speed.

Not to say that Elias Lindholm is slow by any means, but I like Carlsen's

speed a little bit better, and his goal scoring ability because right now, Kempe

and Raymond, they're great players, but they don't have a 40 goal year, right?

like they're William Carlson did.

that was like seven years ago.

he has it right.

So we know he can do it.

but again, he's a phenomenal face off guy too.

And so is Elias Lindholm.

So I've got, again, really no issue interchanging these guys.

But, for me right now, over the last, year and a half, I just like Carlson's

game just a little bit better.

In my opinion,

Fair enough.

yeah, there was just one, one change that I would make.

And that was, I'm.

like Fabian Zetterland, nice player.

I, he's pretty easily swapped out to me.

and I want Michael Backlund on this team.

I

thought about,

you want to bring in a guy who is the captain of the Calgary flames?

think he's a great choice to have on this team where you have a lot,

like you look at this roster, it's a lot of guys who play roles that

aren't a captain type of role.

I guess Zbenijad maybe is, the other best choice in that matter.

if I was looking at this team and I said, who's going to be the captain?

I guess you probably pick Zbenijad, but there's not really anyone else

on this team where you go, Oh, he's he's totally captain material.

Like William Nylander, not a captain.

Victor Hedman.

for me, but

Victor Hedman.

Yes.

captain.

yes, Eric Carlson was the captain.

But Victor Hedman, he is the captain because the captain left.

That's fair.

I, I just, Michael Backlund is He's talented enough to make this team.

And I think he just offers something a little bit different that he's,

he is a leader in the dressing room.

And, I think he, he fits well with this team.

I think you also want to have I actually dropped.

Linholm and Carlson playing together,

Oh,

two sentiments

playing together and playing with Eklund.

Whereas then I've got Backlund and Kempe and Raymond, but

you could scoot those around.

I think, Sweden has a lot of really good defensive, like two way forwards,

a back, if you include my list with Backlund and, Linholm Carlson, I

like those combination of guys.

Uh, even, you've, we move further up the lineup, like Nyquist,

you've got Pettersson has gotten a little bit better defensively.

I think adding in Backlund does give that two way guy that.

if there's something sweet, Finland has over Sweden, it's that Barkov effect.

Finland is probably better up the middle at the high end.

Hey, even

Yeah, I would say.

Ajo hints

the 1 thing with Pedersen, right?

Is there's been a knock on his 2 way game, right?

it's been a jet.

It's alright.

It's not phenomenal, but it's not bad either.

He plays a lot of penalty kill minutes.

but yeah, when you get a little bit further down, the thing with Finland

is they've got high end talent that can play both ends of the puck.

Whereas I think Zbigniew might be really the only one you could say that too.

And he's still a tier below Aho and Barkov in my

he's not like a, Oh, he's going to win a selkie.

right?

he's

like, all right, yeah, you're fine.

Defend the, any kills penalties, of course.

but defensively, this team is far better than Finland.

And, the fact that you've got, you can roll out Hedman, Darlene,

Forslund, the fact that Eric Carlson's just on the third pairing.

I know he hasn't been great for the penguins.

Still, you're still in a great position if that's your like, maybe we shouldn't

have named him to the team, which is a really stupid thing to say, because

now what's he going to back out?

right, exactly.

Maybe fake an injury right before the tournament.

you could find yourself in a situation where you want to have Hampus Lindholm

play and you have Eric Carlson sit.

But I would think that they'll find a spot for him.

Yeah, I did actually consider instead of Hampus Lindholm because again, thinking

about, Eric Carlson and his defensive inefficiencies, I really considered adding

a guy like Adam Larson to this team who,

plays on that right side, but in Seattle, man, he is turned up that defensive game,

might not be the nicest point guy like an Eric Carlson, but he'll shut you down.

And, I think, again, that's something Sweden doesn't lack at any point is guys

who can play defense, but having more of that, it's not going to hurt either.

it's, you could, but you're not, you're looking at it and you're

like, would you really leave Eric Carlson off for Adam Larson?

no, you would make Eric Carlson would be your seventh guy and you could have

him, ride pine or maybe just swap him in, echo him out every once in a while.

And who knows, but

They're very deep defensively.

from a goaltending.

So we've got Markstrom Gustafson and all Mark listed as the goaltenders.

Uh, I know the other, I guess other choices out there would be like

Jesper wall stat, but that's about it.

Uh,

you could go, gosh, you could probably throw out Samuel Erson

from Philly, but

but I, I think.

Those three guys, when you look at that, who's your starter?

Is it Markstrom?

Are you like, pretty solid on Markstrom?

Or are you, would you allow for some competition there?

I probably would allow for some competition.

I think coming into this season, I probably would have leaned towards

Linus Allmark just because, the recent hardware he has over the other two guys.

But when you look at what you've gotten out of Augustus in this season, how

well he's looked, Markstrom hasn't been phenomenal, but he's been good enough.

For me, that, I think because Markstrom hasn't blown me away

this year, I think that leaves it open for competition right now.

Okay.

Yeah, Gustafson's been fantastic this year too.

Yeah,

That's, and Markstrom really hasn't, Phenomenal.

Neither is all Mark.

maybe he's the guy that ends up being the selection.

yeah, but you've got three guys that you really can't go wrong with.

And I hope that Markstrom can figure it out just cause he's,

this is probably his shot here for

They'll do it.

And I think it'll probably end up being something where it's whatever goaltender

is coming in the hottest, right?

Who's ever on that, that, that heater coming into this tournament is probably

who they're going to roll with.

okay.

there's team Sweden.

Anything else you want to add?

Nah, not really.

All right.

Are we doing USA or Canada first?

Let's save Canada for

last.

All right.

Canada for

last.

I actually, like After really looking at both these rosters, I think the U.

S.

is the favorites

I think yes, just because of the lack of gold tending.

Yeah,

honestly, and They, yeah, it's the goaltending, the goaltending is just,

very interesting to consider that at one point you were looking at like

Broder, Patrick Waugh, Curtis Joseph, all three Hall of Famers were on,

were in competition with each other.

It's crazy that, now we're, you're left with who do you pick?

I know.

And coming into this, this offseason, you thought about it last year, this

summer, when we heard about this tournament, about who could be the, the

possibility who could be their starter.

And you thought about names like Stuart Skinner

George Skinner, Aidan Hill.

yeah.

And you're like, Oh, man, these guys, have had, pretty decent seasons.

They're not great seasons, but they should be good enough.

to be, for this tournament and it's not so fast.

they all have looked like a, even like Sam Montembeau, I thought, being a Habs

goaltender, He would probably get a little bit more of an edge just being

from that, that Canadian market there.

But no, not, again, these guys have not looked comfortable.

They have not looked good this season.

And so why bother going with the guys you had, mix it up.

Let's throw in some new names.

the guy who's had the best season so far, you've got Cam Talbot, Jordan

Bennington, and Logan Thompson.

Logan Thompson is the only guy in there that hasn't been beaten yet.

Very

beat him.

He's had a really great year so far, and Cam Talbot, Yes, but he's just

like one loose skate blade away from being injured and out for the year like

he just is constantly hurt and that would give me a little bit of pause.

Jordan Binnington is going to make this team.

he's the one goaltending lock to me that's going to make this team,

but I don't know if that means that he's going to be the starter.

I just think he's the one guy who it's like, Binnington

is going to be on the team.

Yeah.

are we talking about Canada right now?

Because that's what's happening.

Yep.

Yep.

I was talking about Canada.

yeah, I don't want to get derailed too much.

I want to get back to the U.

S.,

Okay,

yeah,

because I could go on for the next

started thinking about Canada.

I don't know.

me run.

Let's let me run through the roster here for us.

top line.

I've got the Chuck brothers centered by Austin Matthews.

second line.

I've got Jack Eichel, with tage Thompson on the right side and Jack

Hughes on the left and I'll get into the Hughes thing in a minute.

because I'm sure a lot of people haven't written in for center, But

not for me for this tournament.

third line, I've got JT Miller centering Kyle Connor and Jake Gensel.

And then on that fourth line, I've got Dylan Larkin with Alex

Debrinkit and Patrick Kane with Cole Caulfield as my, my 13th forward.

And then on defense, I've got, Quinn Hughes and, Charlie McEvoy up top

second line or second pairing, or even maybe you could consider them the first

pairing to really, I got Jacob Slavin, Adam Fox, and then rounded off by Zach

Wawrinski, John Carlson with Brock Faber as the number seven defenseman.

And then, I think a goaltender, I think this one's already written in stone,

but this is Connor Hollibuck's team.

And then, I've got Jake Ottinger and then as a surprise, I've got Jonathan Quick.

as my number three go team.

yeah, I saw the Jonathan Quick one.

I quickly changed that.

I quickly changed that to Jeremy Swayman.

Fair.

Yeah, I know swimming in there.

But, u

well,

I just, I don't know how, I just, how can you leave Swayman off the team?

I guess some people might be like, Quick's having a great start to the season.

How can you leave him off?

okay, here's

Ottinger

my

off.

but okay, so here's, here having a guy like Jonatha So we obviously

know abou he is a three time Stanley Cup champion, right?

But he's got the hardware to prove it.

And he is the guy who basically, in my opinion with LA, both of those cup wins,

he was a large reason why they won.

they just played a system that favored goaltending so well, but look, he's

coming here in New York and just put up phenomenal numbers this year, last year.

He looks unbeatable so far this season, again, if for some reason,

Say Connor Hollibuck goes down, right?

We, maybe you could rely on Ottinger or Swayman, but if for some reason, a fluke

accident happens and you decide you want to throw in Jonathan quick, he's a guy

who's been in a pressure cooker like this.

He has the experience where guys like Ottinger and Swayman maybe

are just lacking a little bit more.

Where I feel like quick has shown in the past.

He could potentially steal a tournament.

Whereas I think for Swayman, I haven't seen that yet.

was So

left

long ago

I know it was a long time ago.

I

and Swayman did steal a playoff series from the Leafs.

Oh, I

don't know if you want to call it

steel, but I will say Jake Ottinger definitely has stolen a series.

so that's why he's my number two there.

But for me, Jonathan quick, even if you just consider, that it's been a long time

for me, it's just more or less, okay.

Just get the veteran guy.

Okay.

one more crack at a U.

S.

Tournament, right?

Swain is going to get his shots.

no pun

Fair enough.

Fair enough.

And I don't think it matters because Hellbuck's going to play all those

Exactly.

Exactly.

Unless there's maybe one of the exhibition games where they don't need him to play.

that's, yeah, he could play maybe one game.

He doesn't play, but once we get into the tournament portion of it, yeah.

on defense, I'm, I have no argument with the defense that you had

going on there, like Quinn Hughes and McAvoy, like Slavin and Fox,

Wierenski, Carlson and Faber, there's really no one else that you can go.

Oh, you forgot about this guy.

there's just not.

So I'm okay with that.

there was one change I made.

I, it was a, I don't know which guy, I'm taking out either

Patrick Kane or Alex to bring it.

And I'm bringing in Jason Robertson because I want the extra speed.

I think it's going to be super important.

Not that both of those, I think it's probably Cain is the guy that

I would take out from the roster.

I'm going to take Caulfield off the team and Patrick Cain becomes my like extra

forward and then Jason Robertson, or maybe Jason Robertson becomes the extra

forward and you see what needs to fit.

I just don't, I can't leave Jason Robertson off this team.

The way, I know that he has struggled to start the year, and he's still 109

points two years ago, 80 points last year, like that guy's still there

and the 80 point Jason Robertson, far more defensively responsible as well.

So I think that is also an advantage.

That's fair.

And that's, that's a reasonable argument.

I just, for me, I can't see leaving Patrick Kane off

this, just All he's meant to

His last

at playing for team USA.

You got

yeah, but I can see the argument for leaving Cole Caulfield.

I could even see the argument leaving Alex to break it off this, right?

Because Cole Caulfield is the young gun.

He's putting up goals right now.

He brings speed so I could absolutely see that.

And we know, at least I know, watching Detroit all the time, right?

Alex to bring it does go through some cold streaks where he'll

go a few games without scoring.

without like he just vanishes from the game.

saw that in Ottawa a lot.

I see that in Detroit.

Yeah.

So

so I could absolutely see that.

And I think the reason I just kept him in this tournament was just because again,

I think, he and Cain compliment each

other so well.

I

Kane and Larkin all play on the same team.

So

a fair, but yeah, other than that, man, if, if, Matthews is playing in between the

Chuck brothers, it's going to be unreal.

Like

it's, this

to make space for him all day.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What's that?

I said, they're going to make space for him all day is all they're going to do.

And he's just going to, that shot is just unreal.

I just, I can't wait to watch it.

And, that's part of the reason too.

I wanted to move a guy like, Tate Thompson off the center.

he's just.

he's okay at the draw, but I moved him and Hughes off the center position

because they're not as good, at the circle as guys like JT Miller and

Larkin are, but Tate Thompson, I think will create all kinds of space for

a guy like Jack Hughes and Eichel to just, to rip it and just, you got a

couple of guys who can put up 40 goals.

No problem.

Yeah.

this team is terrifying.

There isn't a guy on this, maybe Brady Kachuk's the worst

goal scorer on this team.

that's,

saying something.

right?

Yeah, it's a, pretty phenomenal.

yeah, I would say, Team USA from, Like when we were kids, like in

high school, they were always like, they had some good high end guys.

They had good depth, but they never had the superstar power that Canada had.

And then now you look at it and you're like, it is pretty darn even.

Yeah.

if you take out Conor McDavid.

I think he upsets every playing field, but you could go toe to toe

with anybody on the rest of this

But that's also 10 years ago, you would say that about Sidney Crosby,

Absolutely.

Canada's just always seem to have the best player.

it's, and it's rightfully so

They need

nation sport that needs something.

I won't argue with you there.

it's just, Oh, it's not fair that they always produce the guy.

But Matthews is, we know he's the best goal scorer in the league right now.

So it's, I'll give that to USA and let Canada have the rest of it.

But, Yeah, for me, I just, you know what?

The other thing is too.

I know a lot of people are, recently picking on JT Miller.

So I will say that is part of the reason I stuck him with Jake Gensel.

I love Gensel's two way play and analytics.

So I'm hoping maybe that kind of balances out a little bit.

but yeah,

He'll put up points.

That's for sure.

Yeah.

But this team, they're still going to, the thing I love most about this team and part

of the reason I picked maybe some of the guys that I did and there's also another

player for Canada's roster I thought about putting on there that I didn't.

and maybe they do just because when you look at this USA roster between

the Kachuk brothers and Tate Thompson, JT Miller, and even you could throw

Dylan Larkin in there a little bit, just how, how big this team is, right?

They're going to, they're going to hurt you.

They're going to punish you and they can still score goals.

All right.

Yeah, this, it's going to be so fun to watch.

It is.

Yeah.

I think my biggest issue is like my whole entire life, like I'm born in

Toronto and obviously the Leafs fan and, but I'm definitely, I'm American now.

Like I let my little Canadian stuff all go away and I, I don't even

have a Canadian passport anymore.

I'm sure that I could find the form and get something back,

but I consider myself American.

So I feel like I have to cheer for.

Team USA, but I've never cheered for team USA.

Like I've always cheered.

I've always once probably like 2014 Olympics.

I was like, my hope the USA does well.

I think I, there was a little bit like, all right, I'm going to cheer for the U

S except for when Canada is playing them.

And I feel very torn now.

I'm like, who do I cheer for?

I think Austin Matthews probably doesn't help your argument either.

Right.

Seriously.

Yeah, I know.

And that's just maybe.

Yeah, I've got a 50 50 chance of winning this whole entire tournament.

cause I can just cheer for both teams,

There you go.

but I think when it comes to hockey, it's just like the one

place that I think Canada, I'll never forget the 2002 Olympics.

Like Lemieux opening his legs up, letting that putt go past to Korea.

And like that wind was just so much fun.

And I'll never forget that.

So I think there's always like something buried deep inside of me.

That's just, I'm going to have to cheer for Canada, but

I can also cheer for the U S

there

my, I, my heart is big.

My heart is big.

Oh, all right, let's do the, the behemoth team Canada here.

run down your lineup choice

and then I'll

rip it to shreds.

I'll rip it to shreds.

Good.

to start things off, I've got McDavid centering Zach Hyman and

yes, you heard this correctly.

Sidney Crosby on the wing.

I just to quickly explain that theory.

I think Canada, much like the U.

S.

Are, just loaded with a lot of quality centers.

And I've watched, the penguins right now, put Crosby on the

wing with Malkin recently.

And I thought, you know what, fuck it, let's put him on the wing.

Let's see how this works.

Because especially I'm sure like everybody else, yeah, it'd be great to see Crosby

and McDavid on the same team, but I want to see them on the same line, And

just see how they compliment each other.

Yep.

So let's

do that.

And I know again, Crosby in the past team Canada has played with Brad Marchand.

And, Patrice Bergeron, but Bergeron's not here.

Marchand can go suck a nut and go play with McKinnon on the second line.

and then I've got Mitch Marner on their wing as well.

Marner plays a great defensive game and I think he'll just compliment

the speed of McKinnon very well.

and then of course, just having a little bit of chirpiness with Marchand will help.

And then for the third line, I've got Braden point with Brandon

Hagel, that Tampa connection.

And then the Florida connection on the right wing with Reinhardt.

And then for my fourth line, this is where it gets a little bit, where

you could maybe swap a guy in or out.

I've got Mark Shifley at center with Mark Stone on the wing and Travis

connect me as well, because I just love connect these two way game.

He plays smart hockey and he can still put the puck in the back of the net.

The only thing I might swap out there, I thought about putting in a

Tom Wilson just for the bruise factor

against the USA.

But, yeah, for my 13th forward, I've got Nick Suzuki just because you

could never have enough centermen.

So he got the

nod just for

the centerman's going to get the non for me.

Like we said earlier, make one, two changes to your forward lineup, has

been a really mess with your lines.

off, there is no way on God's green earth that Conor Bedard doesn't make this team.

I don't know.

I, you know what I consider that too.

Yes, he is going to make this team.

I

don't know.

no, you're going to put Nick Suzuki over Conor Bedard

look, Conor Bedard.

Travis can, Brandon Hagel is going to make this team instead of Conor Bedard.

I don't think so.

He's having an okay year, but the problem when you get to counter Bedard

is he's just so small for me.

I think when you look

at the behemoth that USA is physically, he's just going to shrivel up, just like

a cold penis coming out of the pool.

I think, it's, I just don't think it's going to, it's going to play in their

favor to, to bring a guy like that on.

And he's only got 13 points in 18 games, which yes, you make that argument.

Okay.

This guy has no one else

to play with besides yeah.

Tyler Bertuzzi.

is a middle six guy on an again, I just t has more on both ends of think

he still has to, he there and he's young, he ol So for me, I'm giving

His center position, his center play a little bit better at that position.

He can actually win draws, which Conor Bedard is absolutely garbage at.

So

for me,

about the,

there's a different perspective.

That is probably being tossed around

that

the four nations tournament is a warmup to the Olympics.

Okay.

So let's, who are we going to pick for the Olympics?

let's be honest, the team that they pick here in two years, going to the

Olympics, this is going to be the team bar, like maybe swapping out a few guys.

Um, I think for team USA, that's probably like a Patrick Kane.

I don't know.

If Patrick Kane doesn't make this team and they put someone else on

there, maybe they go, the reason we didn't pick him is because he's

not available for the Olympics.

So we're just going to go with the guys.

This is like our Olympic roster.

That's

fair.

If

that's your motive, if that's the reason you're, picking

these rosters, yeah, absolutely.

Then I could see Bedard make that.

But for me,

Dard's going to be on that

Olympic team.

he definitely will in two years.

I think he'll have, grown enough physically.

And just, that, that hockey IQ on both ends of the ice, I think will be a

little bit stronger where you can easily make a case for him at that point.

he's making my team Canada team and he's playing next to McDavid and Hyman

Oh, all the way at the top.

All

all the way at the top, Crosby, he's going to play with his, his,

his BFF, Nathan McKinnon, Brad Marchand, who, Brad Marchand should

have signed in Pittsburgh years ago, they would have been much better.

Much better off.

They probably wouldn't want another cup.

Um, instead he stayed in Boston and just tortures me as a Leafs fan.

I slot Marner down onto the third line.

I I wasn't exactly sure where to put them.

I could see a scenario then where Bedard.

Finds his way to the third line and Marner plays up with McDavid and Hyman as well

because Marner has that Hyman connection There that was an interesting thing to me.

It was like putting Marner and McDavid which McDavid doesn't have

that Marner that Matthews has always had And then you know Hyman so or

maybe Marner's like a reasonable Substitute for a dry cycle where like

you have a very talented when you're there So that's what I was thinking.

Then my one other swap out, I took connect me out.

I want Matthew Barzell on this team,

so I don't really care where he fits in.

If that's on the wing, fine.

Or you move shyly to the wing and Barzell can play center, but I think he's just too

fast and too good to leave off the team.

That's fair.

Yeah.

I don't hate the Barzell ad.

don't like, I, you know what I would like to see, because I think

outside of Crosby, he's probably the best defensive player on this team.

I think Mitch Marner, playing with McDavid, it would be fun for me to watch.

Yeah.

there's a lot of fun combos.

Yeah.

And speaking of combos, so on defense.

the, again, we've got kale maar, the shoe and already been picked for this roster.

That was a foregone conclusion, but I've got Morgan Riley playing

on his left side to start.

I know a lot of people might have, there's a lot of other defensemen

you could probably pick, but for me, I think this is, a guy who's put

in his dues and has shown he can.

Just so well on both sides of the puck and just he's so responsible defensively

and has been for Toronto for so long.

I think that'll allow again, McCarty do his thing now.

a lot of guys have been picking Devin Taze right to be the shoe in

to be that partner.

But I just don't really, I'm not Devin Taze hasn't shown it to me this year yet.

he looks okay, but he doesn't look great.

And for a tournament where you, I think that top pair

is going to have to be great.

I just haven't seen it yet from Devon Tays this year.

and maybe, my second pairing, maybe they're your top pair that where

they go out against the team's top, top forwards every night.

But at this point, it doesn't matter who, what line you consider is the top forward.

but on my second pairing, I've got Shea Theodore and Alex Petrangelo

That that

one I think is an absolute lock of a pairing.

For sure.

And then, My third pairing is where it gets a little funky where again,

you could swap in and out guys again, but Josh Morrissey to me is

almost a lot to make this team too.

but on the right side, Aaron Eckblatt, who I think is just going

to be a wild card just because he plays such a good defensive game.

I think when you got to have that guy who can play those lockdown

minutes, because when I look at, Alex Pietrangelo, maybe he's slowing

down a little bit, but I still think he's very effective defensively.

I think Eckblatt has.

Has just the, I don't wanna say just the, he's a touch above

him when it comes to that play.

And we, we saw it last season in the, Florida's big run.

And then, and then I've got Mackenzie Uighur as your seventh defenseman

I don't hate it.

I'm taking Mackenzie Weger out, putting Morgan Reilly as my seventh

defenseman, Aaron Eckblad is off the team and Noah Dobson is on the

right side of Josh So that's the one, one swap I'm going to make.

I can't leave Noah Dobson off this team.

Okay.

I struggled with that one too.

But for me, I just, I like air neck lag two-Way game just a little bit more,

I just think the Aaron Eckblad, if we just look at his last two

seasons in the NHL, he's been,

The offensive

top line defenseman, he's, I think

Yeah.

And that's why he's playing third pairing right now.

But third pairing in a tournament, best on best there's better guys.

I'll take Morgan Riley over air neck, blad in that case,

Yeah.

I would too, of course, but, yeah,

but what's

I the Devin taves is like Devin taves in my car.

It's going to happen.

probably

see a scenario where they don't take them both.

Cause it's just too easy.

It's too easy to go.

You guys just continue playing together, right?

Like it eliminates a lot of extra getting to know you things.

And.

I think that's probably what they'll do.

that's fair.

And

Also helps that McKinnon's there as well.

yeah.

But, and I know a lot of, it's funny because a lot of like predictions

I've looked at, they all, for whatever reason, leave Morgan Riley off this.

And for me, he's the most versatile, can move from left to right side guy,

I think outside of Shea Theodore.

that this roster probably has.

I don't see how you leave him off,

I think I think he's a good seventh guy because if anyone gets hurt,

like you're saying, versatility, if someone gets hurt, you can bring

him in and have them play anywhere.

exactly.

Yeah.

And then in goal, I've got Cam Talbot, Jordan Bennington and Logan Thompson.

And this is similar to Sweden's goaltending situation where I think

it's just going to be hottest, goaltender going into the tournament

is probably going to take it.

and really

your team's so good in front of you that it's just going to I can see a

little bit of, Bennington played with Patrangelo and he had his best years

with Patrangelo in front of them.

There could be some of that.

he's

the only one, he's got the ring, right?

yes, Logan Thompson has one, but he didn't really earn that ring, right?

he was playing backup minutes.

where's Bennington I think was a big reason why they won.

maybe you give him the nod just because he has that, that, that, mantle on his,

his trophy on his mantle, but I don't know camp tablet to me is the wild card here.

I think, he's playing good this season, but, who knows with him, right?

You talked about his health.

That is a concern for sure.

So he might not even be ready to go.

I'm going to throw one more defenseman out there that could be like.

a seventh defenseman.

Very versatile.

Also, Colton Perico

Okay.

Might

I mean,

number one defenseman on his team and takes a lot of the

responsibility and throw hits.

Like we're talking about size, needing size.

Riley.

Isn't that guy, if you need size.

Now that's probably what that seventh defenseman 13th forward.

That's probably what those positions are going to come down to is what

do we feel like we need more of so that we can insert into the lineup

if we find that we're lacking,

Yeah.

I'll tell you if I want size.

and if you talk about maybe potentially gearing up for a run

in two years at the Olympics, you might not, pass up on Owen Power.

Who's a guy

that's looked Look decent in Buffalo and he's six foot six.

So he is not lacking

and we know he can play left and right side.

So

Canada is not lacking for defenseman.

Just

they are not.

just goalies.

all based on these rosters, where are you going?

1, 2, 3, 4.

Oh, I think one I'm going USA just cause I think when push comes to shove,

goaltending is going to take it, in this tournament, that's, I think probably going

to end up being a high scoring tournament, but for me, number two, Canada, again,

just because the goaltending right there.

they may end up like Swiss cheese at some point where they're going to have

to win game six to five, seven to six, at number three, Sweden and for Finland.

Okay.

I'm going to swap Canada in the U.

S.

because Hellebuck has proven time and time again that when we get to tournament time,

Swiss cheese, like you're talking about.

So I, that's my only hesitation.

And, and I think ultimately Canada just has.

They have so many high end players everywhere, man, both of those teams.

It's going to be like a one goal game in overtime anyways.

and honestly, and that's not even giving enough credit to Sweden

because Sweden is very close as well.

Like they, they have incredibly high end guys.

just maybe not all the superstar talent that those two teams have.

So

Finland is my easy four.

Yeah.

scenario where Sweden wins.

There's a scenario where Canada wins.

There's a scenario where the U S wins.

I don't see Finland winning, which means Finland's probably going to win.

probably, although I will say, in Olympic past, they always

seem to sneak up on everybody.

They always seem to fly under the radar.

Just because again, they play that.

Cause they'd be,

Yeah,

you to sleep.

exactly.

So

who knows?

They may end up finishing number two in this tournament.

There you I hope not.

I hope he, I hope we see a Canada us final, a Finland, Sweden, bronze

medal game, and I'll be happy.

Give

I want a high scoring tournament, too.

Give me

want to see some 65 games all day.

Heh

there's our, our four nations roster suggestions, not predictions,

suggestions, and, Justin, have a great night to our listeners.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

And we will talk to you and talk more about what's happening in

the NHL on our next episode.

We'll talk to you guys soon.