Four Nations Face-Off Preview: Team Canada

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Aren’t you excited for the Four Nations Faceoff? We finally get to see best on best hockey again. I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for the tournament to start. The puck drops on Wednesday, so it’s finally time to start breaking down the teams. Starting with our home and native land Canada. I know some players are questionable for the tournament like Sidney Crosby and Mitch Marner and Canada needs to name another defenceman to the team. For the sake of this article I’m going to pretend that they are healthy. I’ll be breaking down the team by projecting the lines. Let me know what you think.

Forward lines: 

 

Line 1: Sam Reinhart – Connor McDavid – Nathan Mackinnon 

 

Line 2: Brad Marchand – Sidney Crosby – Mark Stone

 

Line 3: Brandon Hagel  – Brayden Point – Mitch Marner

 

Line 4: Sam Bennett – Anthony Cirelli – Travis Konecny 

 

Extra- Seth Jarvis

Genuine question, who is stopping that first line? You have two of the best players in the world playing with a player who scored 57 goals last year, good luck everyone else. On the second line I had to keep Brad Marchand playing with Sidney Crosby after they had so much success at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Add Mark Stone to the mix and you have one of the most complete lines in the tournament. For the third you have to keep Brandon Hagel playing with Brayden Point, they have so much chemistry together. Throw in a player with the speed and skill of Marner and you have a lethal trio. Finally, the fourth line. Its may not be the most skilled but these guys can wear opponents out. Bennett and Konecny will be laying out opponents with crushing hits all tournament and I’m here for it.

 

   Defence Pairs: 

 

Pair 1: Cale Makar – Devon Toews

 

Pair 2: Shea Theodore – Drew Doughty*

 

Pair 3: Josh Morrisey – Travis Sanheim 

 

Extra- Colton Parayko 

 

*- Who I think will be on the team

 

The first pair is obvious, Makar and Toews play really well together in Colorado and are the best defence pair in the league, enough said. The second pair is where you can mix it up. Everyone thought Shea Theodore would be playing with Alex Pieterangelo until he decided to sit out of the tournament. My best guess is that Doughty will replace him. He played a key role for Canada in 2010,2014 and 2016 so he has a ton of experience. Even at 35 years-old he can still play north of 25 minutes a game and is exactly what Canada needs. I think the third pair is super underrated. Morrisey is great on both ends of the ice, and Sanheim has had a very solid year in Philadelphia.

 

Goalies: 

 

Starter- Jordan Binnington 

 

Backup- Adin Hill

 

Extra- Sam Montembeault 

 

You could pick either goalie to start, I went with Binnington because he’s older. He tends to be a streaky goalie, so I hope he gets hot at the right time and brings Canada a goal medal. What do you think about my lineup? Would you change anything?

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