Team Canada decided not to wait to announce Tyler Seguin’s replacement for the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, tabbing Ryan O’Reilly as the guy.
As you’d expect from the powerhouse hockey nation, Canada had plenty of great choices to sift through, ranging from the more rugged (Wayne Simmonds?) to the sort of talented player who was drafted before Seguin (Taylor Hall).
O’Reilly is a fine choice, if stylistically quite different from Seguin.
O'Reilly is smarter 200-foot player. But slow out of gate. Hall is a possession driver, fast, can score. Doubling down on IQ, ignoring speed
— gary lawless (@garylawless) September 14, 2016
Could be accurate.
With O’Reilly and Patrice Bergeron among Canada’s mix, you won’t find many better two-way combinations in this tournament.
Big news! Ryan O'Reilly has been added to the @HockeyCanada roster for the World Cup of Hockey. Congrats, #ROR. 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/texaxOzNh6
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) September 14, 2016
At the moment, the most known about Seguin is that he’s reportedly day-to-day with a knee injury.
The Stars released the following statement about Seguin, who is “disappointed” to back out of the tournament.
Stars statement on Tyler Seguin. pic.twitter.com/ggqWLj6W4t
— Mark Stepneski (@StarsInsideEdge) September 14, 2016
Canada’s GM Doug Armstrong also discussed the unfortunate news.
Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong comments on O'Reilly replacing Seguin: pic.twitter.com/y8CIhXopgH
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) September 14, 2016