Canada head coach Jon Cooper decided Jordan Binnington start ‘probably 358 days ago’
Jordan Binnington’s inclusion on Canada‘s roster for the 2026 Olympic men’s ice hockey team has certainly received its fair share of criticism.
While the decision to name Binnington to the team shouldn’t be a significant surprise, especially considering his performance at the 4 Nations Face-Off when he backstopped Canada to a win in the tournament, there were still some question marks about if he would be able to repeat that success amidst a poor season with the St. Louis Blues.
However, one of the people not questioning Binnington is Canada’s head coach, Jon Cooper.
After Canada’s 5-0 win over Czechia on Thursday, in which Binnington stopped all 31 shots that he faced for a shutout, Cooper was asked about when Binnington had been decided as the starting goaltender over Logan Thompson and Darcy Kuemper, Canada’s two other starters. Cooper’s response to the reporters showed all the confidence he had in Binnington.
Cooper is, of course, referring to the aforementioned 4 Nations Face-Off, which happened at this time last year. Technically, Cooper is slightly off on his math, as the final for that tournament against the United States occurred 357 days ago, unless he was so confident in Binnington winning the game that the Tampa Bay Lightning head coach already had his mind made up regardless of the result of the final. But either way, Binnington stopped 31 of 33 shots, including all six in overtime, to help Canada to a 3-2 OT win in the final.
But Binnington was also the worst performing goalie of the three going into the tournament this season, as his .864 save percentage is the worst among 27 goalies with at least 30 starts, and his -13.68 5v5 goals saved above expected was the worst outright. In comparison, Thompson is tied for fourth in SV% (.912) and Kuemper is tied for 14th (.900) of the 27 goalies, and are second (25.46) and 18th (11.29) in 5v5 GSAx out of 83 goalies.
But for now, Cooper is running with Binnington, and that was clearly the right choice for the first game of the tournament.