Canada will not have the worst goaltending of the tournament
Even before the final rosters were announced and the decision was made for who would be in Canada’s crease for this midseason tournament, there were concerns. For some reason, up north of the border they just do not care about establishing some semblance of talent in between the pipes. Goaltenders just are not thought about too much up there, apparently. Since Carey Price has decided to not play hockey anymore, no one has really taken the reins for Canada’s crease in international play.
For this tournament, Canada is bringing along Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill, and Sam Montembeault. A trio of not-so-great goaltenders and Hill is the only one among them that currently has a save percentage beginning with a nine in the NHL this season — and that is an exact .900 save percentage.
But we are here to calm those fears for any Canadian. We’re talking about bold takes and considering this is such a short tournament and goaltending could vary from miserable nightmare to hero of the game for just about every single person in pads, there is a road to Canada having respectable performances. Hill won the Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights, Jordan Binnington was the main reason why the St. Louis Blues came from the brink of disaster and won in 2019, and Sam Montembeault exists, too.
It’s not crazy to think that Binnington can be a thorn in everyone’s side and suddenly stop 95 percent of the shots he faces. Or, just not be terrible and steal one specific game.
A player in the tournament is traded
It would go against everything a National Hockey League general manager is known for, but we can see a world where a player playing in this tournament is traded while representing his country. Typically, general managers prefer to be polite and do some good by their players to make sure they aren’t caught off-guard with any trade. So while a player is not even wearing the colors of his NHL team, would certainly be not normal.
But we live in a post-Mikko Rantanen trade world. Where front offices can be ruthless and trade bona fide stars in the hopes of extending their competitive window. We are getting to more of a cold approach from management across the league and there certainly are contenders that could be returning home to find it is not their home anymore.
The Bruins could ship out captain and pending free agent winger Brad Marchand in a desperate hope to not sink to the bottom and find themselves wasting multiple years. The Rangers could decide to pull the plug on one of Chris Kreider or Mika Zibanejad. Erik Karlsson might be moved while wearing the Tre Kroner. Maybe the Predators speed through a rebuild by trading Gustav Nyquist in the next couple of weeks.
It does not feel impossible and with just two weeks before the trade deadline once the NHL resumes again, some front offices might not want to have such a tight timeline to get business done.
Young players overshadowing veterans will be the main story
Sure, it’s fun to see the international mainstays like Marchand, Karlsson, Kreider, and Saros, but this midseason tournament is going to be all about the young guys stepping up. No more boring guys in their late-20s and early-30s — get out of the way old men, it’s time for Brayden Point, Anton Lundell, Brock Faber, and Leo Carlsson to truly establish themselves as international stars for their country.
We have already seen it before at an international tournament. Team North America during the 2016 World Cup of Hockey caught everyone by surprise. This group of Under-23 players were giving established powerhouses a run for their money and now a collection of players with the same energy are spread throughout the tournament. This is where they will truly get to show up.
Travis Konecny will work his way into Canada’s top six
For a Flyers-specific prediction, there is a world where Travis Konecny is one of Canada’s top-six wingers by tournament’s end. Maybe players like Marchand, Stone, Reinhart, and Marner are just not playing well enough and Konecny is destroying the competition as a depth forward with someone like a Sam Bennett. With Canada’s roster so focused on balance, too, Konecny can weasel his way into the heart of Canada’s coaches and make him a complementary piece on Connor McDavid’s wing as they move Reinhart down the lineup, for example.
Sweden will take home the gold
Look, you can look at the United States’ roster full of ultra-talented players in every position, and then look at Canada having Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, and literally Sidney Crosby; but the vibes over in Sweden just feels too good to pass up. Elias Pettersson has something to prove; William Nylander plays even better for his country than with Toronto; the goaltending is very good with Filip Gustavsson; and the blue line is perfectly balanced to smother any opposing forward. Oh, and that’s us even forgetting that players like Filip Forsberg, Victor Hedman, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Rasmus Dahlin exist.
It is an incredibly deep roster that should be able to hand with the North Americans. One bounce here or there and Sweden can sit on top as winners.
Multiple stars drop the gloves
It’s an NHL tournament, after all. There is not a sniff of the IIHF anywhere around here so we will not be having to review a new set of rules that mutes any notion of violence in the sport so the big boys will get to hit and punch and do anything they are allowed to do during a normal NHL game.
And then add the fact that they are representing their country and the built-in archrivalries between the United States and Canada, and Sweden and Finland — suddenly we have something cooking here. One of the Tkachuk brothers are definitely going to egg Sam Bennett into something. Maybe Victor Hedman will get fed up with Roope Hintz hanging around his goaltender too much. Either way, there is definitely the possibility of some punches getting thrown between bona fide NHL stars.
Predicting the stats leaders
Brayden Point leads the tournament in goals
This goes with the prediction that youth will take over, but Point might get some “softer” competition as a bottom-six forward on Canada and could absolutely run amuck as one of the main forwards on the second power-play unit. The Lightning center could easily pop in a few goals and get more than his higher-profile counterparts across the tournament.
Elias Pettersson leads the tournament in assists and points
As mentioned, Pettersson needs this tournament to go well for him. More than anyone, he has so much to prove to keep calling Vancouver his home. Because if he does not perform as expected for the rest of the season, some other team is going to try to pry him from the Canucks and his current team would probably be fine with moving on from the commitment.
With a chip on his shoulder, possibly staring at J.T. Miller in red, white, and blue, Pettersson is going to come out firing and determined to make these three games count. While other stars don’t really have motive to play well other than staying in shape and their competitive nature, Pettersson should have an undying fire in his eyes that leads him to the scoring title.
Connor Hellebuyck leads in every goaltending category
We really tried to be bold with this one. Do you really think we could look ourselves in the mirror if we wrote down “Adin Hill would lead this tournament in save percentage”? Of course not. Connor Hellebuyck is the best goaltender on the planet and that should not stop with him going from a blue line that features Dylan DeMelo and Dylan Samberg, to one that has Brock Faber, Adam Fox, Zach Werenski, Charlie McAvoy, and Jaccob Slavin.
Hellebuyck is going to go nuts — either play really well or perform so badly he might throw someone into the crowd.
