Predicting Team Canada's roster for 2025

The NHL is reportedly looking to put together a four-team best-on-best tournament in 2025 but who would line up for Team Canada and what are their chances of winning?

Video Transcript

OMAR: Are we all, like, 100% confident that Canada wins?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: No.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: No, definitely not.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: USA wins.

OMAR: I think US wins.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: USA wins. If Russia was allowed to perform, if Russia was allowed to be in a tournament, it's one of those two countries winning, as far as I'm concerned. Look at Russia's goaltending right now.

OMAR: That's what it is, right there. It's goaltending.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Ilya Sorokin, Igor Shesterkin. Andrei Vasilevskiy could be their number-three goalie, in particular tournament.

OMAR: And then, for Canada--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: USA could have a goaltending stable of Jake Oettinger-- Connor Hellebuyck could be there yeah. Thatcher Demko could be there. Jeremy Swayman is part of, like, the best goaltending tandem in the league. He might not even make that top three.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Yeah.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I'm missing somebody.

OMAR: And then, for us--

ARUN SRINIVASAN: We're definitely missing a lot. John Gibson.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: John Gibson.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Yeah, the States have so many goaltenders, man.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Let's do this exercise right now. Who starts in goal for Canada? Who are the three goalies?

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Adin Hill.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Damn, I'm surprised he was the first name you guys thought of.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Well, would it be, like, Carter Hart? No. Marc-Andre Fleury? Like--

OMAR: Avry?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: By '25, too old, I think, to be a part of this.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah, he might be--

OMAR: Is Stuart Skinner Canadian?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Yes, he is. He's Edmontonian. I could keep getting in, yeah.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: So you don't Logan want Logan Thompson? You don't want--

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Is Logan Thompson Canadian?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: You don't want Jordan Binnington, 2019 Stanley Cup champion Jordan Binnington?

OMAR: Nah.

[LAUGHTER]

Avry, who do you think? Who are our goalies?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: I could definitely see-- I could see it being Adin Hill, Logan Thompson, Stuart Skinner. I could see those three. That's my idea.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: That does not inspire that much confidence.

OMAR: We're doomed. We're doomed.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: That's who I think-- That's who I think they're gonna go with.

OMAR: 7-5, win 7-5. Just no defense.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: We have no comments from Binnington, but he probably wouldn't get added to that roster. Like, he's having a low key pretty good year, and he's won a Cup. Hockey Canada probably be like, we have to make one of the three.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: He might start on that team.

OMAR: He might.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Here's the thing--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: He might start on that team and, like, get into fights with everybody in this tournament.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: The only thing with Jordan Binnington is that, if this was an IHHF tournament, you can't bring him, because he's gonna get banned for the rest of the tournament. If you're playing NHL rules, then, fine, there's no penalty in NHL rules for fighting, or the punishment isn't an ejection.

But, a weeklong tournament, if Binnington goes full Jordan Binnington, and he's done for the rest of the tournament, oof, that's not a good look.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah, if you're Team Canada, you lock off every water bottle away from that man.

OMAR: Oh, goodness, man.

[LAUGHTER]

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Like, if he wants water, you, like, get someone from the bench to, like, get him water.

OMAR: So, this tournament is 2025, right?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Something like that, yeah.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Supposed to be.

OMAR: OK, so, McDavid, Crosby--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Crosby might be there in-- Yeah, I mean, he's still having a really good year.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: He'll still make the Canada team.

OMAR: Mitch Marner.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Connor Bedard.

OMAR: Yeah. Hm?

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Bedard will make the team.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Connor Bedard makes that team?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: He'll be there. He'll be there.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah, he makes that team, I guess.

OMAR: But, like, top 12?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Oh, yeah.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Ahead of who? Because, like, you're putting him at center-- Are you putting him at center, or are you gonna on wing, probably?

OMAR: No, I'm putting him on the wing, probably.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: You're putting him on the wing, for sure, yeah.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: He'll be among your top nine.

OMAR: I think, probably, Brayden Point makes the team, definitely. I guess I'm focusing on forwards here.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Stamkos might be--

OMAR: Ah, I don't know about that one.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I don't think Stamkos makes that team.

OMAR: Like, Stamkos and Tavares, I don't think--

ARUN SRINIVASAN: The fight for the final spots would be crazy.

OMAR: Yeah, like, I don't know if Tavares makes the team.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Well, we know Cale Makar, on defense, makes that team.

OMAR: Oh, yeah.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Devon Toews will be on the team too, so--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: So you might be able to get a Cale Makar-Devon Toews pairing.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Yeah, that would be 100% be my top pairing for Canada.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah. And then you have, like, Adam Pelech and Pulock, with the-- I mean, you could do that, with the Islanders.

OMAR: Yeah.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Possibly.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Possibly. I don't know. I'm sure you could better--

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Pelech is more of a lock than Ryan Pulock is, that's for sure.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Absolutely, he is. Alex Pietrangelo might be your number-one defenseman.

OMAR: Probably.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Drew Doughty is having a really good year again. Like, he's had two really good years again.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Cale is your number one. Alex Pietrangelo is somewhere in that mix.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Shea Theodore is back in the mix.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Like--

OMAR: Yo, man, we're screwed. I can rifle off the names of Matthews, Eichel, Jack Hughes, Quinn Hughes--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Tkachuk, Tkachuk.

OMAR: Tkachuk, Tkachuk. We're-- Man! Oh!

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Team USA, on defense, is, like, Adam Fox, Charlie McAvoy, Quinn Hughes. Like, if that's, like, your defense--

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Jaccob Slavin. Yeah, like--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Jaccob Slavin! What?

ARUN SRINIVASAN: If you put Slavin and Fox out there, good luck getting the puck back. Like, yeah, like--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Oh, man!

OMAR: Oh, man!

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Oh, man! USA is gonna win, bro.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: You know what? Canada would never do it, but my thinking, it's a weeklong tournament. I just want to see, in this tournament, one game, Cale Makar playing forward. One game.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: No, they'd never do that.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: We're already breaking out the SOS lineups? Like, that's how low the bar has been?

OMAR: No!

JULIAN MCKENZIE: They would never do that!

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: It's a weeklong, made-up tournament! Why not?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: But, also, if they're doing that, then Canada's down bad on defense!

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: It's a weeklong-- It's a weeklong--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: What the hell?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: It's a weeklong, made-up tournament. Who cares?

OMAR: Just imagine--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: What do you mean, who cares? If Canada loses to USA--

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: It's a made-up tournament of four nations!

JULIAN MCKENZIE: It doesn't matter if the Olympics or if it's a weeklong, four nations, sham of a tournament, we're talking about that for a week. We're having a whole has hockey fallen far down our list of priorities in this country?

OMAR: Elimination game, if it's Makar, McDavid, Marner, I would scream laughing.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Yeah, there would be an emergency "Zone Time" the next day.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yo!

[LAUGHTER]

OMAR: Literally! Like, yo, did you just see this?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: People would be calling for Jon Cooper's head.

OMAR: Do you think Jon Cooper is the coach?

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Oh, yeah.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yes.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: He has to be.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Who else?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Because they'll overthink this tournament way too much.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: He's the smartest man in hockey. He has to be.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah, Jon Cooper is the head coach of this team, absolutely.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Without question.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: No question.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: Yeah.

OMAR: That's gonna be a fun discussion. What, who do you want there, bro? I mean, Bruce Cassidy is probably on that staff.

OMAR: No, not as far as, like, the coaching staff, but, like, just overall, like, who is on Team Canada?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Man, is that something we should do for a future episode?

OMAR: I think it's gonna be younger than we think. Either it's gonna be older or it's gonna be younger.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Probably younger.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: It'll be younger on the forward side and older on the defense side.

OMAR: Yeah.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Probably.

OMAR: Yeah.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: That could make sense. That might be something we should do for a future episode, where we all try to make our own--

OMAR: Make our best Team Canada?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: --like, our own Team Canada roster.

OMAR: Yeah.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: It's no guarantee that Crosby will be there, or Stamkos. By 2025, they could be retired by then. They could be done.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: I think Crosby is guaranteed, but Stamkos, maybe not.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I think Crosby, as long as he still plays at a high level-- I mean, no, actually, scrap that. If Crosby wants to go to the Olympics, or whatever tournament, he can go.

OMAR: Yeah, he'll go, if he wants.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: If he wants to go, which, I mean, he could very well want to go. He might not.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: If Crosby wants to go, they'll give him the C. Like, he still has that cache.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: That's the other thing, too. He would get the C.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: He would.

OMAR: Yeah.

ARUN SRINIVASAN: If he doesn't go, then, you know, then it's probably Connor McDavid, I guess. But, like, you know, he's so still esteemed as, like, the guy of his generation that, yeah, he'd be a lock.