Canada has some difficult decisions to make for team’s blueline at 4 Nations Face-Off

The NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off is just months away, the first showcase of international best-on-best hockey we’ve seen since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. As we get closer to the four-team tournament – with Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland – fans and pundits are starting to pick their rosters.

One big question with Canada’s roster is their blue line, a position that’s usually among their strongest, but there’s an argument that the U.S. and maybe even Sweden have deeper defensive corps. While there’s definitely all-star talent, is it enough to stand out among the best in the world?

On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss Daily Faceoff senior writer Matt Larkin’s Canadian roster projections, and the seven defensemen he selected to make the team: Devon Toews, Cale Makar, Noah Dobson, Evan Bouchard, Shea Theodore, Alex Pietrangelo and MacKenzie Weegar – as well as the defenders he didn’t select.

Tyler Yaremchuk: The Canada blue line looks solid, I know the one tough decision Larkin said he had to make was including Weegar over someone like Josh Morrissey, but right below that blue line is that goaltending, and going through it, it’s undoubtedly the weakest in the tournament.

Frank Seravalli: And that’s going to be what sticks out for Canada like a sore thumb, unless they can outscore it and outrun it, which is entirely possible given the forward group that they have. The one thing I question about this defense corps, and this is the big thing a lot of these teams are going to have to talk about, is Cale Makar and Evan Bouchard dominating the power play opportunities for this team. If you’re not playing on the power play, what are you bringing to the table as a defenseman that will differentiate you from everyone else?

Pietrangelo is a well-rounded player, but when it comes to Theodore and Weegar? I don’t know if you need two guys who think offensively like that. I want a more stout defender in the mix, and I don’t care about getting 50-to-70 points in the NHL regular season. I care about keeping pucks out of our net, and supporting our goaltender, which obviously the weakest link of the team.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…