Fantasy Hockey Four Nations Face-Off | Team Canada In-Depth Analysis and Prediction

Next in this four-part series, we're going to break down another roster for the Four Nations Face-Off, and give some projections of how the team is going to perform, as well as cover any injuries, replacements, and what this may mean for your fantasy team.

Third up is Team Canada. Let's dive in, shall we?

Roster

Forwards

Sam Bennett, Florida Panthers

Anthony Cirelli, Tampa Bay Lightning

Sidney Crosby (C), Pittsburgh Penguins

Brandon Hagel, Tampa Bay Lightning

Seth Jarvis, Carolina Hurricanes

Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers

Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche

Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins

Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs

Connor McDavid (A), Edmonton Oilers

Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning

Sam Reinhart, Florida Panthers

Mark Stone, Vegas Golden Knights

Defensemen

Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings *

Cale Makar (A), Colorado Avalanche

Josh Morrissey, Winnipeg Jets

Colton Parayko, St. Louis Blues

Travis Sanheim, Philadelphia Flyers

Shea Theodore, Vegas Golden Knights

Devon Toews, Colorado Avalanche

Goalies

Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues

Adin Hill, Vegas Golden Knights

Sam Montembeault, Montreal Canadiens

Injuries *

Alex Pietrangelo, Vegas Golden Knights

Notable Opinions

A quick note on Petro. He is not injured per se, but is battling a lingering ailment and actually dropped out of the tournament and is choosing not to play. Just this morning, Team Canada announced that his replacement would be Kings royalty, none other than Doughty.

Doughty has played just six games since returning from a long-term absence due to an ankle injury. He's not shaken off the rust yet. He has looked just OK on the ice, but is logging a crazy amount of minutes. In those six games with the Kings, he is averaging over 27 minutes per game.

While the veteran can eat a ton of minutes on the blueline, and has represented Team Canada before, I would not expect much production or speed from the grizzled veteran, but instead leadership and experience.

Now that we have that out of the way, let's start with Crosby. He got hurt, and his playing in this tournament is in jeopardy. That's not good for him, or for Canada.

My article from last Friday explains what happened in detail and there has been no real improvement, but Sid also hasn't come out and said he if will be participating yet or not. Elliotte Friedman said on Hockey Night in Canada last night during the Maple Leafs game intermission that he has been told that Crosby wants to play. Wanting to play and being physically able to are two different things. 

Crosby is also still holding what he is feeling in his arm close to his chest. We should hear an announcement before tomorrow as all of the teams are supposed to have practice tomorrow in Montreal, and submit their final selections on Tuesday.

If he does not play, it's my opinion that Winnipeg Jets Mark Scheifele will be his replacement. Poking around for some insight, I found I am not the only one who believes this, and according to Hawks Insider, Team Canada has already reached out to him just in case.

How many elephants are in this room? It's starting to look like Babar over here. Look, there's another one! Team Canada has the undeniable and undisputed best forward and defenseman in the league in McDavid and Makar, respectively, and it's not even close.

I believe the top-end talent on Canada's roster is the best in the tournament, hands down. McDavid has had a slow start to the season with the Oilers, and this has obviously made his fantasy value fall. That said, this should not take away from the fact that at any moment McDavid has the God gifted ability to take over a game and put his team on his back and, quite literally, do it all himself. Nobody in the league can stop him.

While McDavid may be fifth in the league for points, life-long friend and fellow east coaster MacKinnon will be right there beside him and is first in the league in points. MacKinnon has dominated the league all year. He has 66 assists.

Know who else is up front on this team? Arguably the best playmaker in the league, Toronto Maple Leaf Mitch Marner, who also has a respectable 55 assists. And he's fast. And he is a powerplay specialist. And he kills penalties. 

Again, I don't want to just list every player here, because Team Canada is absolutely stacked, but two more notables up front I must mention are Konecny and Marchand. Both are guys who lay hits, often.

For Marchand at least, I believe he is on this team to help combat the massive power forwards Team USA has on their roster. This tournament is not only going to be about speed and production, but you need defenders, grinders, and guys who are going to throw the body and get under the skin of their opponent. Nobody in the league does it better than Marchand.

As a Maple Leafs fan, I can say I hate this guy's guts. Marchand the rat. But am I happy he is playing on Team Canada? You betcha! Go get ‘em, Brad!

On the blueline, Team Canada has Makar. Enough said. Doughty we discussed earlier, and I suspect he will be playing reduced minutes from what he is used to. They will have to insulate his ice time and protect him a little, but it is what it is there.

Otherwise Canada has a good mix of puck movers, and all around two-way defenders. They are in decent shape here on defense. Petro would have been a great addition, but I love Morrissey here. I think he will have a great tournament and will be one to keep an eye on.

The last, and final elephant we are going to look at for Team Canada is the goaltending situation. This is where it all falls apart for me. I do believe Canada has the weakest goaltending in the tournament. Binner is so up and down year over year, for me it is impossible to trust him. Yes, he has won a Stanley Cup, but his consistency is all over the place. You never know what you are going to get with him.

Monty is young and inexperienced. He does have a very heavy workload, and is pushing himself to be the tendy of the Canadiens' future, but he has never faced real pressure before.

Hill is the best option for Team Canada, but he has yet to be the number one goaltender in his NHL career yet, or have a starter workload. He is having a great season, sure, but again it is the lack of experience here that has me weary.

Prediction

I've got Team Canada coming in second. Sorry, fellow Canadians.

Honestly it was a toss up between Canada and Sweden for second and third place. Sweden has great firepower and better goaltending, but between McDavid, MacKinnon and Makar, these guys alone are enough to carry a team to victory.

The top-end talent here is unmatched in the tournament. I do worry about Crosby, though. Without him, I feel it will have a big impact in the locker room, but that could go either way. Maybe the team without him will rally behind his absence and try to win it for him, or it will be detrimental and without his leadership and experience they will fold.

The blue paint is the biggest factor in my opinion. Team Canada is just so weak in net that with the elite talent from the other three teams, it is going to be a problem to stop the goals from coming in. Canada must play like the Oilers from the 80s, and just outscore their problems to rally wins.