Why Canada should (!) start Jordan Binnington for Game 1 vs. Czechia
We’re so close to seeing the real thing. Team Canada wrapped its final full practice Wednesday in Milan, giving us a pretty clear picture of how coach Jon Cooper’s lines will be unleashed for his nation’s first 2026 Olympic preliminary game Thursday vs. Czechia. The deployments included goaltender Jordan Binnington in his own net, with Logan Thompson and Darcy Kuemper sharing the other, implying Binnington would start vs. the Czechs.
Not that Cooper would show his hand. He opted not to confirm a starter for Thursday’s contest, leaving a sliver of uncertainty over the decision, though it still appears Binnington will get the call.
It would be completely understandable if starting Binnington raised many a Canadian eyebrow. Per MoneyPuck.com, a total of 36 NHL goalies have played 25 or more games this season, and Binnington ranks dead last among them in goals saved above expected per 60 at -0.842. On the year, he sits at -24.9 goals saved above expected; that means he’s allowed 25 more goals than he should have based on the difficulty of the chances he’s facing. Binnington has been the league’s worst goaltender.
And yet: it’s the right decision to play him Thursday. Yep, I said it. Here’s why:
1. He earned the first start via his most recent international play.
We’ll start with the most obvious point. The last time Binnington wore a Canadian jersey, he stood tall in overtime of a winner-take-all, best-on-best final, helping Canada defeat Team USA to win the 4 Nations Face-Off a year ago. Binnington had a shaky tournament at times but delivered when needed most with a collection of breathtaking saves, outduelling the best goaltender in the world in that moment, 2024-25 Hart and Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck. Binnington posted a .907 save percentage for the event, second best among any goalie who played multiple games. He’s been truly atrocious this season, and his St. Louis Blues have actually played above-average defensive hockey in front of him, but if winning a best-on-best final isn’t enough to keep your job for one more game, nothing is.
2. Canada plays a back-to-back anyway, so it will need two goalies.
After opening the tourney with its most difficult group-stage test in Czechia, Canada faces another sneaky-tough opponent Friday in Switzerland. After that: a single day off before the final Group A game vs. France, meaning three games in four days. There’s little reason to play the same goalie in each of the first two games, so Binnington was probably going to start one of them no matter what.
3. It’s important to get your answers on Binnington ASAP.
If Binnington excels in Game 1 vs. your group’s toughest draw, he confirms he can still elevate his game with an elite team in front of him and that he’s the same guy who delivered in the clutch at the 4 Nations. If he struggles? That confirms 2025-26 Binnington is simply cooked, and Canada can chain him inside the press box for the rest of the tournament, relying on Thompson and Kuemper to tend their crease.
4. The tournament format allows for experimentation.
Remember: the men’s Olympic tournament has a play-in format for the elimination rounds. The best four teams (group winners plus the other top finisher) earn byes to the quarterfinal rounds, while the other eight face each other in a seeded playoff round to determine the other four quarterfinalists. In other words: every team escapes the group stage. The stakes in Games 1-3 aren’t all that high. It’s thus worth it for Canada to treat the first few games as relatively experimental. In a worst-case scenario, they’d drop into the play-in round…and face someone like Italy or France. There’s no way Canada doesn’t make the quarters, regardless of how it fares in the group stage, so why not see what you have in Binnington when the consequences of a flop aren’t severe?
5. Ulterior motive for Doug Armstrong
Armstong is committed to Canada and capturing gold in Milan as the team’s GM. But he also happens to be the Blues’ GM, adopting a probable seller posture at the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline, and his starting goalie happens to be a seriously depreciated asset in Binnington. His value couldn’t be lower right now. If he can prove effective when playing with high-end talent in front of him, it’s a beta test for what he could do joining a Stanley Cup contender. We could shrug off the idea that Armstrong would compromise Canada for the sake of his own Blues player…but that would ignore the fact Armstrong brought Binnington to this tournament in the first place in the midst of the worst season of his career. There’s at least some loyalty in play here.
_____
POST SPONSORED BY bet365
_____