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Oilers and the 4 Nation Faceoff |
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While the Team Canada and Team USA rosters will not be officially announced until Friday, reports have given us a fairly accurate idea of how these rosters will play out. The Finland and Sweden rosters have been formally announced so today seemed like a good time to discuss the Edmonton Oilers players that made the rosters, the ones that were left off, and some of my overall thoughts on the lineups.
OILERS PLAYERS WHO MADE THE ROSTER
TEAM CANADA
Connor McDavid - Announced as a lock for Team Canada months ago, Oilers fans and the hockey world will finally get a look at Connor McDavid in a Team Canada jersey (not including the World Juniors).
TEAM SWEDEN
Mattias Ekholm - Ekholm continues to be the Edmonton Oilers best all-round defender and certainly deserving of a role on Team Sweden.
Viktor Arvidsson - A bit of a surprise addition to the roster. Arvidsson has dealt with a number of injury issues throughout his career and that has continued in Edmonton. While he has not played poorly so far in the games he has appeared in, he has struggled to produce (but so has much of the Oilers roster).
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Now let's take a look at some of the "snubs" and whether or not they truly are.
EVAN BOUCHARD
I never thought that Bouchard was a lock for this tournament but his elite season last year, combined with his familiarity with McDavid I thought would certainly help his chances. That being said he has taken a bit of a step back this season both in terms of his production, combined with some more highlight reel bad plays that have directly led to goals against. While Bouchard has the better big shot, Makar is obviously a superior player and will be the #1 powerplay defender. I still would have had time for Bouchard as the #7 on this team and the #2 powerplay option.
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The two most bizarre names to me on this back end are Colton Parayko and Travis Sanheim. The only things I see these players really bringing to this blueline are "size." Sanheim is a bigger body but he doesn't play an overly physical game. Parayko meanwhile does add some physicality but is he one of the 6 best Canadian defenders? Considering there was plenty of talk this summer on how to dump his contract, I would argue no.
Before anyone simply calls me an Oilers homer for thinking Bouchard should have gone ahead of those players, here are the players I think were more deserving than Parayko or Sanheim:
Noah Dobson
Mackenzie Weegar
Drew Doughty (IR option that would give Team Canada ability to call up another player)
Vince Dunn
Dougie Hamilton
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STUART SKINNER
Over his past 5 games, Skinner has averaged a 0.917SV%, averaging just a hair over 2 goals a game and a 3-2-0 record. Unfortunately the damage was done early in the season as prior to this 5 game stretch he averaged a 0.877SV% and just over 3 goals a game. Team Canada lacks an elite goaltender and the door was certainly wide open for him to make this team but you can't fault Sweeney and the Team Canada staff at baulking at Skinner.
That being said, if the rumours are true and Sam Montembeault is the #3... that is certainly a choice.
ZACH HYMAN
Another player whose poor start likely lost them a spot. Hyman was set to be this team's Chris Kunitz, a good player who had great chemistry with the best player in the NHL. Hyman exploded for 54 goals last season and while his overall chances and shots have been consistent with his numbers last year, the goals simply have not come with only 3 goals in 20 games. Again, can't look at this as a snub because of his poor start to this season.
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QUICK THOUGHTS
- Tell me that Jon Cooper is the coach without telling me. Hagel, Point, and Cirelli all appear to be on the roster. Point was always a lock and Hagel and Cirelli are both having great seasons but I don't know if all three deserve to be there over some of the names that were left off.
- Glad to see that Konecny is getting some love and seems to be on the roster as well. The 27 year old winger has steadily put up some great seasons but seems like he doesn't get much recognition outside of the Philly market.
- Seth Jarvis is an odd choice for this team as well. The 22 year old put up 67 points in 81 games last season and while he does have 16 points in 18 games this year, there have been some stretches where he has not been able to produce. A weird choice.
- I do actually like Sam Bennett as a selection and I think he will be a great bottom six player in terms of an elite team; excellent point producer but brings that level of physicality and grit that will help to slow down teams that they play against.
Once again, here are some of the Team Canada names that I would have had on the roster over some of these names:
Robert Thomas
Matt Barzal
Mark Scheifele
Carter Verhaeghe
John Tavares
Thanks for reading!
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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