Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

‘Keep evolving’ - The process behind selecting Team Canada

Ice Hockey - Men's Gold Medal Game - Day 17

VANCOUVER, BC - FEBRUARY 28: (L-R) Patrick Marleau #11, Joe Thornton #19, Dany Heatley #15 and Dan Boyle #22 of Canada pose for a group photo after receiving their gold medals for winning the ice hockey men’s gold medal game between USA and Canada on day 17 of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics at Canada Hockey Place on February 28, 2010 in Vancouver, Canada. Canada defeated USA 3-2 in overtime. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Getty Images

For some of us, a study of the construction of Team Canada’s roster would revolve around a series of questions regarding the decision to choose Jay Bouwmeester over the likes of Kris Letang and P.K. Subban.

Sportsnet’s Dan Robson provided an interesting glimpse at the process that Doug Armstrong, Mike Babcock, Marc Bergevin and others went through to put together an absurdly deep 23-man roster.

No, there isn’t much insight regarding those nitpicking questions, and there also isn’t a Brian Burke scorching Bobby Ryan’s intensity-type bombshell. But it’s still a worthy read.

One thing that stood out: you couldn’t merely rest on pest accomplishments.

“What won in 2010 and in 2014 won’t be good enough to win here,” Babcock said. “You have to keep evolving.”

Interestingly, that didn’t just mean bringing in young blood, although Babcock admitted that the under-23 team affected decisions, as well.

(Is that Babcock essentially acknowledging that Connor McDavid would have made the team? Anyway ...)

It also meant that players could work their way into the mix, which Joe Thornton apparently did during an impressive 2015-16 season.

“He was someone who bumped off someone we probably had higher up the food chain,” says Armstrong. “We couldn’t ignore the work that he did.”

It’s also tough to ignore certain quibbles, whether you agree with the criticism of selecting Bouwmeester or believe that a different player got snubbed. As Armstrong told NHL.com, that’s just the nature of the beast when it comes to choosing between All-Stars.

/Continues to grumble about Subban and Letang not making the team ...