Canada Announces Training Camp Invites
Hockey Canada has announced the attendees for the summer camp to be held in August in Calgary.
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/hockey/news/newsid=12421.html?cid=rsstsn
Goal
Martin Brodeur (New Jersey Devils),
Roberto Luongo (Vancouver Canucks)
Marc-André Fleury (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Steve Mason (Columbus Blue Jackets)
Cam Ward (Carolina Hurricanes)
Defence Jay Bouwmeester (Calgary Flames)
Dan Boyle (San Jose Sharks)
Scott Niedermayer (Anaheim Ducks)
Chris Pronger (Philadelphia Flyers)
Robyn Regehr (Calgary Flames)
Dion Phaneuf (Calgary Flames)
Marc Staal (New York Rangers)
Shea Weber (Nashville Predators)
François Beauchemin (Anaheim Ducks)
Brent Burns (Minnesota Wild)
Drew Doughty (Los Angeles Kings)
Stéphane Robidas (Dallas Stars)
Mike Green (Washington Capitals)
Dan Hamhuis (Nashville Predators)
Duncan Keith (Chicago Blackhawks)
Brent Seabrook (Chicago Blackhawks)
Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Shane Doan (Phoenix Coyotes)
Simon Gagné (Philadelphia Flyers)
Dany Heatley (Ottawa Senators)
Jarome Iginla (Calgary Flames)
Rick Nash (Columbusn Blue Jackets)
Joe Sakic (Colorado Avalanche)
Martin St-Louis (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Eric Staal (Carolina Hurricanes)
Joe Thornton (San Jose Sharks)
Vincent Lecavalier (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Jeff Carter (Philadelphia Flyers)
Ryan Getzlaf (Anaheim Ducks)
Milan Lucic (Boston Bruins)
Patrick Marleau (San Jose Sharks)
Andy McDonald (St. Louis Blues)
Brenden Morrow (Dallas Stars)
Corey Perry (Anaheim Ducks)
Michael Richards (Philadelphia Flyers)
Derek Roy (Buffalo Sabres)
Patrick Sharp (Chicago Blackhawks)
Ryan Smyth (Colorado Avalanche)
Jordan Staal (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Jonathan Toews (Chicago Blackhawks)
Dan Cleary (Detroit Red Wings)
There were some surprise names. Dan Cleary for one. But its likely his two way ability, championship experience and grit were a factor.
Joe Sakic, still undecided on where he will play is another surprise. As is his fellow Avs teammate Ryan Smyth who had a not so great season last year.
Andy McDonald is a mild surprise. With the depth up the middle, his chances are slim.
On D, Robidas is the big surprise there. But he was an allstar last year and can play big minutes.
And finally, Dany Heatley is a mild surprise. Basically the events these past few weeks have really tarnished his reputation. Greedy, selfish, malcontents who are only out for themselves will not be included on this team.
Of this group, here is a potential roster:
Lecavalier-Crosby-Iginla
Nash-Getzlaf-Carter
Gagne-Staal-St Louis
Morrow-Richards-Doan
Toews
Niedermayer-Pronger
Weber-Phaneuf
Keith-Bouwemeester
Green
Luongo-Brodeur-Ward
With the games being played at GM Place, an NHL sized venue, the Canadians will have a distinct advantage, even if several of the other countries are filled with NHLers.
The small ice is an advantage because the Canadians have the size and willingness to play physical that is easier to do on the smaller ice. They will thus likely build a team that is big and tough but one that will have a ton of skill.
Luongo is a great pick to be the starter since he is a Canuck, knows the nuances of GM Place and is ready to take over and lead the team this time around, after being a backup in 2006. but Brodeur just wont give away the job.
Niedermayer and Pronger along with Keith and Bouwmeester will likely be leaned upon to play against the other team’s best. Phaneuf, Green and Weber will be offensive catalysts. 3 big shooters at the point should help the PP get going. Nieds, Green and Keith are all terrific skaters.
Up front, its Crosby who will lead this group. But the key will be the warriors like Doan, Richards, Morrow. They will be entrusted to play that key shutdown role against the likes of Parise, Ovechkin, Zetterberg among others. With so many centres likely to make the team, they will have to either shift to the wing or accept a more backseat role behind Crosby. But a word to describe the team’s depth? Sick.
As for the captaincy, it will likely go to Niedermayer. The BC native would be the perfect calming influence for this relatively young squad. Players like Pronger, Crosby, Iginla and Gagne will likely rotate the A’s
All in all, Canada is the favorite and with home advantage have the means to bring home gold.
50 Responses to Canada Announces Training Camp Invites
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Regardless of who makes the team, and who don't, were gonna rip everyone apart, Bold statement?, possibly, just telling it like it is 🙂
wideman not getting an invite yet guys like beauchemin,staal, robidas, hamhuis, doughty do?
but guys like mcdonald, roy, sharp, smyth, cleary and jordan friggen staal over savard?
absolute insanity; theres no other way to describe it. you would think savard would be one of canada's top 25 FORWARDS after yet another top 10 scoring finish and stepping up his defensive game huge, but i guess not. this is absolutely unbelievable. almost speechless. this may just stamp savard as the most underrated player in the history of the nhl though…
i understand the use of role players, dont get me wrong. BUT when you invite a guy like mcdonald that just tosses that out the window.
boyes, cammialerri, and souray also got royally screwed out of invites
No wonder Heatley has such a massive ego, shits on Atalanta, Ottawa, Edmontotn and he is still on the list for the greatest team in sprots.
no way he makes this team after burning two Candian franchises, the ex-coach and ex-GM of Team Canada and being a general shyt bag. To much of a distraction now, he's a curse everyhwere he goes. I hope he doesnt go to Edmonton just because I like the Oiler fans and they deserve better than a fat overapid, slow, lazy player who can score 50 goals and is maybe the best PP guy in the Westerne Conference if he joins that team.
gotta love recchi for the pay cut but im really worried about what happens to kessel still.
but if we do somehow resign him:
lucic-savard-kessel
wheeler-krejci-ryder
sturm-bergeron-recchi
bitz-begin-kobasew
chara-ward
wideman-ference
hunwick(if resigned)-stuart
thomas
rask
this would be unbelievable. our top 9 forwards would all have at least 60 point potential. and then that 4th line would be an awesomeenergy line. seriously, kobasew on the 4th line?
obviously somethings gotta give, but if we get kessel back…watch out
Yup Savard Deffinitly instead of Mcdonald, i feel bad for Savard, He never gets recognized for anything, just sad!
yeah like for all the times he's been left off of canadian rosters, for all of the all-star snubs, and for being drafted 91st overall despite being one of the best major junior players in history, this just puts it over the top. its absolutely disgusting how little respect he gets. you couldmake a case for him being more deserving of a roster spot than most of the players there
Hmmm .. I dont know. Sweden and Russia will have pretty good lineups.
Id still say Canada is the favorite but I dont think it will be a cakewalk.
I know man, i was just kidding, we should win, but i think the hardest will be against Russia by far
i think the swedes will be better than the russians. the russians are literally all offense but: gold- canada silver- sweden bronze – russia. outside shot to the czech republic and americans taking the bronze
Yeah, Savard is a glaring omission, as bad as snubbing Allison back when he was in his prime with Boston.
Savard would thrive surronded by so much talent. We need some playmakers. Lines with three goalscorers are less dynamic.
It is rather disturbing how one of the top 5 playmakers in the league doesnt get an invite. I am baffled by this as well.
But Wideman? He is really good, dont get me wrong. Last year was his best year but the whole Boston team was on fire. The year before was decent. I probably would have put him there before one or two of the other guys but he doesnt stand out as someone who "HAS" to be there, no matter what.
I can understand the logic of "Jordan friggen Staal" but Im not sure if its a good idea or not. I guess if you want to put him on the 3rd line in a shut down role, ok. But, over Savard? Not sure about that. Most of the other guys you mentioned should have gotten an invite but probably wont make the team anyway.
Savard is the big ? in all this.
I agree. This guy, as much as I like/liked him, is turning into a major douche.
The team AND the player agreed on a NMC. They BOTH have to work at finding the best deal. Its not all on the Sens. Dany has to bite the bullet a bit here. But it doesnt look like he wants to.
It puts the Sens in a tough position, to say the least.
Perfectly on topic??
Ooops. Didnt get the "wink wink" in there. My bad.
i dont think that wideman should make the actual roster, but to leave him off of the invite list as not being a top 16 defenseman…ridiculous. i mean really…marc staal? the kid will be great in time, but he is not even close to wideman rightnow. back to back 13 goal years, 39 points, then 50 points…and he had one of the best plus minuses in the league.
but really savard…i cant get over it. i would have been furious about him not getting a ROSTER spot, but no invite as one of canada's top 25 forwards? what else does this guy have to do to get some respect?
lol it was one of the notes
yeah, just put him on a line with nash and let him go. savard might be the best playmaker in the game. and yeah i remember the allison snubbing; he was always underrated
Dude, im in 100000000% agreement with you on Savard. I just dont get it.
He's quick, he has great vision, sweet hands, 360pts in his last 330 some odd games.
Baffling to say the least.
You guys bashing Heatley should lay off. His squabbles with a GM or team has nothing to do with pride of being a Canadian hockey player, and Heatley has shown up for Canada many times and played excellent.
He would be an asset to the team and is very deserving to represent Canada based on his skill alone.
Fine to be upset or bash him for screwing the Sens over-I am too- but those are personal issues.
Anyone who thinks he's undeserving playing for Canada for that reason should be ashamed.
lol did yzerman forget him? it makes 0 sense
I think its a mentality.
Yes, he has shown up for Canada in the past. But he is, right now, taking a ME ME ME attitude. He isnt being a team player. Its all about him.
THAT might make people leary about putting him in a position where he is playing for his country and not himself.
Whether its right or wrong, it just might happen.
Amen, at the time Allison was the highest Canadian point producer in the league over a four year span.
Skill alone doesnt gte you onto team Canada or Jason Spezza – Marc Savard – Pat Marleau would be there. You have to be more than a skilled hockey player, you need to be a total team guy, play hard all over the ice, be a great teammate and check your ego at the door when you arrive. Heatley is non of those things, so that is why people feel he doesnt deserve to go.
If it was skill alone the team would look totally different, thats why players like Beauchemin, J Staal and Lucic are there, they are great team guys and all about winning – not just scoring
Of course skill alone doesn't get you on Canada- previous success with team Canada does though. And Heatley's goal scoring in the NHL the past few years is second only to Kovalchuk and Ovechkin's.
If you seriously want to cut a guy out of Team Canada's picture because he's requested a trade from his NHL franchise, you're cracked.
Heatley has never had a history of turning his back on Hockey Canada- so unless that is something you are actually expecting out of him, you're just letting personal issues with his NHL team cloud your opinion of his Canada worthiness.
Nobody's perfect. He still belongs on Canadian Olympic team, even if he has issues with his NHL club.
3 years/8.7 million for Grabovski, wow!
There are plenty of players that can score for Team Canada, Heatley is not hard to replace esepcalli 5 on 5 where you'd gte somebody who actually deleivered a body check, back checked hard and wasnt afrid to go along the boards.
Nobody deserves to be there based on passed allegance to the team or Spezza and Ryan Smyth would be there and Andy Macdonald and Franky beauchemin wouldnt be.
Trade request fine, but making it public, calling out your coach, ditiching 2 teams in 4 years, making your team pay 4 million bonus after what they have done for you, its dispictable. Heatley had a family friend write a letter saying he "sacrificed 1 month to play for Team Canada" is that the type of player you want? Sacrificed for Team Canada? It's nothing but an honour to play for them, if you see it as a sacrifice than you shouldnt be there.
We were due for a bad signing.
Hey we are still leading you 4-1 if you count Gomez in there.
I didn't mean that just because he's played for Canada before, he automatically should be on the team. I meant that his having a wealth of previous international experience works in his favor. Canada will probably look at his previous Olympic experience as a positive.
The reason he should be on the team is that he's one of the most consistent scoring LW in the world today. If he makes team Canada, it won't be because they think he's a top 2 way player, but because he's a top scoring LW in all of hockey.
Not to say Canada won't want everyone on the same page as far as a 2 way game/backchecking is concerned, but Heatley ain't gonna be out there on the penalty kill in Vancouver. If he is crap 5 on 5 there, his ice time will be cut, or maybe he mostly gets power play time. I'm sure the coaching staff will have something in mind for everyone.
And I disagree that Heatley "is not hard to replace". Who else at camp is a natural LW with the scoring ability of Heatley? I see Rick Nash. Maybe Gagne. Not saying there aren't other more complete players, but after Nash and very arguably Gagne, there's a goalscoring talent drop off in the LW spot. Do you think Gagne will even make Team Canada?
As far as "sacrifice" goes, I haven't seen the letter you speak of, and Dany isn't the author of it, so that doesn't really prove anything in my eyes.
But, it probably is a sacrifice after awhile to go to all these tournaments as you get older. Lots of players pass on Canada (or their other respective countries) when it comes to the yearly World Championships.
Previous players have remarked about how there's only a few months off in the summer before training camp, and want that time to rest or heal, see their families, etc. Maybe that's why you see more youngsters playing in the World Championships.. a few of the older guys value that time off, the younger ones value the international experience.
The Olympics is a bit different, since it's once every 4 years, and is the biggest stage for top international hockey there ever will be.
But.. it IS a sacrifice though, a sacrifice and honor at the same time. And based on Heatley's previous actions, he is dedicated to hockey Canada, and you guys are just pissed that he's asked for a trade in the NHL.
Had Dany Heatley not asked for a trade, no one would seriously be considering him being left off team Canada. Do you disagree with that?
I presume as well that you believe Chris Pronger shouldn't suit up for Canada ever again, based on his very similar "screwing" of the Oilers.
2.9 mil per isn't that terrible though. It will be bad this year, cuz he will be hard pressed to match last year's totals. but if he continues to progress, the 2nd year of the contract should be just right, and the 3rd year, hopefully, a bargain.
eklund says this is part of a sign and trade though (i know, eklund, so it's probably total garbage). normally i would immediately dismiss this, but it seems to make some sense if you look at the facts.
a little while ago, burke made grabovski an offer, and grabovski scoffed, so burke said "see you at arbitraton". as of last week, burke was content to go to arbitraton. now, while burke is supposedly still after beauchemin and malhotra, he stops everything to give grabovski a contract. seems a little suspect.
of course, this could be just because he feels he lost out on the sedin and cammalleri sweepstakes (thankfully), but why would he be so concerned as to get this done immediately. it's not like grabovski was going anywhere…
Where's Latendresse???? I thought he was the next Cam Neely, eh Dando?
i think the bigger key is signing him for just 3 years.
i see rostislav olesz in fla who got 26 points and ended up with a 6 year contract at over 3 mil per.
grabs could have tried for the home run deal, but its much like the pony, antropov contracts where we got them at short term, they progressed, at least pony has, and as for antropov got 16 mil out of it buying his time.
To me, you sound like a guy who's been bullied so much during your school years that you're trying to reverse the trends by becoming a web-bully yourself, but very poorly.
boyes got screwed
savard got screwed
and both players should have been their
wideman should not have
he had one good season and it didnt make him any better than the dman you mentioned and i think your bruins bias is kicking in a little
mcdonald, roy and maybe staal because he is a beast when it really counts (like the playoffs or olympics) i can understand
but snubbing savard is ridiculous
this guy gets no love and is one of the most if not the most underrated player in the entire league
face it man
kessel is gone
even if you could get him back
the whole trade that fell throw fiasco is damaging too the relationship between team and player
better to trade him now when his value is super high than trade him and get screwed cap wise next season
and your just sound like a moron
I'm about to do something i've never done before – stand up for a Senator..
Jason Spezza is the guy who deserved the invitation over Heatley – for many reasons first of all he has played in World Championships in a diminished role and not only accepted it he embraced it!
I'm not saying Heatley wouldn't do the same but right now I think that he doesn't deserve to be given the chance – he walked out on his team – whether he's a Canadian or not you don't quit on your team NHL, AHL whatever it's a blackmark on you.
Call me cracked if you want but bring Heatley to camp is like bring Sean Avery to camp..pointless.
Kramer joke
Q: What's the difference between Heatley and a baby wearing a diaper?
A: The diaper.
LMFAO!
Hey did you hear why MJ actually died? he ate a 4 year old weiner. lol
wideman has had 2 great seasons now, and that is one better than doughty or staal. come on robidas too? not syaing he should make the team but the guys is EASILY a top ten dman for canada
the more i think about the savard snub…has there ever been a more underrated player in any sport? i think about ray whitney, wes welker…but no one compares to savard
i wouldnt think he'd take it too badly as kaberle and a 7th is an understandable offer. i cant see us getting him back either but you can always believe. if we dont get him back i guess savard will just have to turn kobasew into a 35 goal scorer lol
yea, olesz has one of the worst contracts in the league. actually, i was trying to think of him when that article was up earlier, but it wasn't coming to me. my god that is a terrible deal for the panthers. like seriously, what was jacques martin thinking?
they need to try everything they can to get that go going for what they are paying him.
Yeah I agree lol
The best MJ song ever is "Eat It".
"your" just sound like someone with writing disabilities
lolz
theres no proof that he molested chilren. obviously you can say whatever you want but i'd pay a bit of respect to a guy that has given more to music than anyone ever has
Heatley is one of the best players during international play. He easily makes the team.
With these kind of players you cant go wrong but here's my picks and note I like to put young players to get international experience:
Offense:
1-Gagné/Crosby/Iginla
2-Nash/Getzlav/Heatley
3-Eric Stall/Lecavalier/Carter
4-Morrow/Mike Richards/Doan
spare:Jonathan Toews
Defense:
1-Pronger/Bouwmeester
2-Niedermayer/Phaneuf
3-Weber/Burns
spare:Doughty
Goalies:
1-Brodeur
2-Luongo
3-Fleury
Agreed 100%,unfortunately in our society your guilty untill proven innocent(which he was)