Team Canada Announces World Cup of Hockey Roster

Yesterday was the deadline for teams to announce the first sixteen players they have selected to play in the World Cup of Hockey, and the remainder of the players has to be selected by June 1. Luckily for the GM, he does not have to select younger, 18-23-year-old players, as there is Team North America for them. However, Canada is the team with the most roster depth in the world, so it is incredibly hard to choose who goes, and world-class players often get left out.

Below is the roster:

Goaltenders

• Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens
• Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks
• Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals

Defencemen

• Drew Doughty, LA Kings
• Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks
• Marc-Edouard Vlasic, San Jose Sharks
• Shea Weber, Nashville Predators

Forwards

• Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars
• Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins
• Jeff Carter, Los Angeles Kings
• Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
• Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks
• Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
• Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
• John Tavares, New York Islanders
• Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks

As can be seen here, the most notable commissions are PK Subban and Corey Perry, but they can be added later. However, the biggest surprise comes when seen that since all three goaltenders have been picked, Roberto Luongo is not on the list. For the first time since 2002, Luongo has been left out of a best-on-best tournament with Team Canada. In my opinion, I think he should go ahead of Corey Crawford, because he is about the same level but with more experience. He was very accepting of this and said that the GM told him that he is next on the list for an injury replacement. Here is Luongo's Twitter reaction:

Other notable omissions include Claude Giroux, Alex Pietrangelo, Kris Letang, Brent Burns, and Brent Seabrook, Taylor Hall, Matt Duchene, Joe Thornton, Tyler Toffoli, Ryan O’Reilly, Brendan Gallagher, Mark Stone, Wayne Simmonds, and Logan Couture, but again, all these could be named to the final 23-man roster. 

However, Marc-Andre Fleury was another goaltender not named to Canada. They have incredible depth at that position and it was a challenge for GM Doug Armstrong to pick. 

Here is the staff picking the players:

Staff

Tom Renney, President
Scott Smith, Chief Operating Officer
Scott Salmond, Hockey Operations
Doug Armstrong, General Manager
Marc Bergevin, Assistant General Manager
Rob Blake, Assistant General Manager
Ken Holland, Assistant General Manager
Bob Murray, Assistant General Manager
Mike Babcock, Head Coach
Claude Julien, Assistant Coach
Bill Peters, Assistant Coach
Joel Quenneville, Assistant Coach
Barry Trotz, Assistant Coach

One more thing... Go Canada!!! (Sorry, everyone)

Baby Pictures of Hockey Players, Part 2

Yesterday, I began putting baby pictures of hockey players up, and I promised I would continue, so here goes.


Nicklas Backstrom


(More) Nicky Backstrom


More of Nicky!


Wayne Gretzky


Another of Wayne Gretzky

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That kid behind PK -- Steven Stamkos


 More of Steve Stamkos

I Found Some Baby Pictures of Hockey Players (Just kidding... old photos)

For some reason, earlier today, I looked up Carey Price and I found some old photos of him. I thought it would be cool to find some older photos of other hockey players and share them. (Most of them are recognisable, but I will still put who it is)

Baby Willy Baby (Tom Wilson)

Baby Pricey (Carey Price)

Matt Niskanen

Karl Alzner (the traitor.. Look! He's wearing a Leafs sweater)

Brooks Laich

TJ Oshie

Jonathan Toews (Karate Kid)

(More) Jonathan Toews

Tyler Seguin

Alex Ovechkin

(More) Alex Ovechkin

Patrick Kane ( he looks so different!)

Sidney Crosby (literally Sid the Kid)

(More) Carey Price (Just can't get enough of him)

Moar Pricey!

Last one...

P.K. Subban

More PK

Erik Karlsson

Henrik and Daniel Sedin

More of the Twins

Connor McDavid

Okay, that's it for today! I hope you liked this post. If I can get 10 views on it I will do a "Baby Photos of Hockey Players, part 2" post so you can enjoy more kid photos. Have a good day!

Stop Jumping on the PK Subban Hate Bandwagon

Yeah, we all get it. The 2015-16 Montreal Canadiens may not make the playoffs. Their core players "aren't producing," they have a terrible offence, etc., etc. Andrei Markov keeps making turnovers... but PK Subban is even worse. But guess what? You're wrong.
PK leads the Habs in points, with 46, and in assists, with 41. He is a defenceman. When he leads an entire team in these two categories, it must either mean that (1) he is an incredible player, or (2) his team is terrible at offence. To be honest, both of these play a factor. But PK is probably the Habs' most important player aside from Carey Price, and he electrifies games and makes them watchable, even when the Habs are losing. He is a fan favourite, and has done better things off the ice than on it.
Off the ice, PK shines in the spotlight. I remember a few summers age when, while everyone else actually used a bucket of water and ice to do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, PK hired a whole truck full of water and ice, sat in a lawn chair in the middle of a main street in Toronto, and had the truck pour a river of water and ice over him. It was the funniest thing I ever watched.

Not only that, but he overflows with charitable acts himself (pun intended). Once, he donated $10,000 to the Montreal Children's Hospital, as well as hosted a Christmas part there, where he bought presents for all the children. Not only that, but once he hit a boy with a puck on accident, and took time after to meet the boy and his family. For these acts, PK shines on and off the ice.

So I don't understand... just because Michel Therrien threw PK under the bus unfairly, while leaving David Desharnais, who has done nothing productive, to keep doing what he is doing, everyone starts hating on PK. Leave him alone! He is one of the Habs' best players, on and off the ice.

Can Carey Price Save the Montreal Canadiens?

Imagine... a team that started out the season on a historic 9-0-0 record is out of a playoff spot at this point in the year. This is mainly because Carey Price, the backbone of the franchise and reigning league MVP, has been injured since early December; however, Mike Condon and Ben Scrivens have been phenomenal in net and are an above average goaltending duo.

What is really getting the Habs is their lack of offence. Although, often, they are outdoing the other team in shots, Their top scorers, PK Subban and Max Pacioretty are above average at best, and the rest of their players are failing to produce. PK Subban, the defenceman, is leading the team in points, and it is usually a bad sign when a defenceman is the leading scorer on a team. Sure, Gallagher, another one of their best players, was injured for almost a month, but they have to get past all the bad luck and not get too far behind a playoff spot if they want to make a lat-minute push when Price gets back.

Another issue dooming the Canadiens is that they are making too many little mistakes. In a game against the Bruins, Andrei Markov passed the puck straight to a Bruins player after Condon made a great save. 

Not only that, but the Habs were wiped with a score of 5-2 twice in two days to the Blue Jackets, and Subban, Markov, and other Habs players put the blame on themselves. 

I don't like that the Habs are struggling so much, but when will this end? They have been the NHL's worst team for too long now. When will they get better? And will they be able to make a push for the playoffs once Price returns?