Alright, we chose three goaltenders yesterday with Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo and Marc-Andre Fleury getting the nod for Team Canada.....Now, let's look at the defence....With only 7 spots up for grabs among a very talented group, the margin for error among the candidates is nil.....All will be looking to have a great start to the year and make the best impression....
Let's start with the former dynamic duo of Anaheim, Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger....Both have had hall-of-fame careers and both have had plenty of success in their international careers....At 36 and 35 respectively, both have managed to win the Stanley Cup, an Olympic gold medal and a World Championship....
Of course, there is the concern that both are past their prime, but despite their age and the mileage on their bodies, they represent arguably 2 of the top 10 defencemen in the league....Their experience will be highly valuable for a defence core that is full of talent, but has a lack of experience on the biggest stages...
The next two could be a new duo in Calgary starting in October with Jay Bouwmeeser and Robyn Regehr....Both of these players represent intelligence and steadiness that will be paramount with so much pressure to win Gold....While Regehr offers more of a physical game, Bouwmeester offers more of an offensive threat....
The final two that I'm going to choose are not the sexiest of picks, but they represent the long-term future of the Canadian hockey program and could easily be a third pair when everything starts in February.....Duncan Keith of the Chicago Blackhawks and Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators...
People around these parts probably don't know too much about Shea Weber because they aren't rushing home to watch the Preds on the Centre Ice package, but combined with Ryan Suter and Dan Hamhuis, the Preds have arguably the best young core of defencemen in the NHL and Weber leads the pack....
Weber possesses not only great offensive ability, having scored 23 goals and 53 points all with an average of 24 minutes a game for the Preds a year ago, but he also offers a dangerous physical aspect where forwards always have to have their head up....Even though he's only 24, he plays with the poise of someone 10 years older...
Duncan Keith came out of nowhere last year with his impressive performance for Chicago in the playoffs in order to put himself in the mix for a spot on this team....there's a chance that he could regress, but I believe he's only going to get better....this pick is the only one out of the 6 that is dependent on continuing improvement over the first three months of the year....
The seventh defencemen was a choice between either Mike Green or Dan Boyle, but at the end of the day, I had to take experience and the local boy, Dan Boyle of the San Jose Sharks....Green offers more offensive upside, but proved last season that he could be a defensive liability...mistakes are not an option at this level, so we'll choose the steadier option...
So, our team looks like this right now...
Goaltenders:
Roberto Luongo
Martin Brodeur
Marc-Andre Fleury
Defencemen:
Scott Niedermayer
Chris Pronger
Jay Bouwmeester
Robyn Regehr
Shea Weber
Duncan Keith
Dan Boyle
All we need is 13 forwards tomorrow and we've got ourselves a team.....