The Great Canadian Hockey Challenge!

As hockey fans, we love to argue that our city or province boasts the best hockey players.  We here at Daily Faceoff have taken it upon ourselves to assemble a team of current players from each region of Canada, and decide which team is best.  Let it be clear that we did not try to create evenly matched teams.  We separated the country into what we felt were regions that fans would lay claim to.  Edmontonians are proud of players from their city and the rest of Northern Alberta, but not guys from Calgary.  It is therefore not accurate to call Alberta one region.  Southwest Ontario is distinctly different from Ottawa and Northern Ontario, and is thus divided.  You get the picture.

The way that we ranked our team was through a vote.  All six of our writers were asked to rank the teams from first through last in three categories: Forwards, Defence, and Goaltending.  A first place vote was worth eight points, a second place vote seven points etc… The points were than tabulated and a winner declared.  First, let us lay out the general areas of influence for each team, starting out West.

1)      The Vancouver Canucks lay claim to the entire province of British Columbia.

2)      The Edmonton Oilers own everything north of Red Deer other than Rocky Mountain House.

3)      The Calgary Flames have control of Red Deer and everything south of it, plus Rocky Mountain House, which they needed to fill out their roster.

4)      The second coming of the Winnipeg Jets consists of players from Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Western Ontario.

5)      The Toronto Maple Leafs have domain of the Greater Toronto Area, as well as the remainder of Southwestern Ontario.

6)      The Ottawa Senators have a large territory that stretches from Gatineau, Quebec to the eastern edge of the GTA to Thunder Bay.

7)      The Montreal Canadians have domain over the entire province of Quebec other than Gatineau and the Eastern portion of the Gaspe Peninsula.

8)      The newly minted Maritime Keith’s control the Maritime provinces as well as Chandler, Quebec on the Gaspe Peninsula because they needed a second goalie.

The regions are presented visually for ease of use in the following map.

Without further ado, here are the teams in reverse order.

8. The Maritimes (34 points: 17 forwards, 6 defence, 11 goalies)

Taking a look at that roster, it is not surprising that the Maritimes lagged well behind the other teams.  They cannot even field a full roster of NHL players, although they did garner some votes on offence thanks to Sidney Crosby.  They were voted 5^th best on offence  and 7^th best in goaltending, but a last place finish on defence is what sunk this team.

7. Calgary (46 points: 12 forwards, 18 defence, 16 goalies)

The low quality of this roster was easily the biggest shock to me when putting together this article.  Calgary had to be given every player born south of Edmonton except one just to field a full team.  Considering that Calgary is generally considered a hockey town, I was quite disappointed with this showing.  There are obviously some talented young players up front that have time to improve, and Heatley is a bonafide sniper, but this team has a long way to go until it can compete with the big dogs.  They were voted the worst on offence, 7^th on defence, and had the 6^th best goaltenders.   

6. Vancouver (64 points: 14 forwards, 26 defence, 24 goalies)

Like their Western friends in Calgary, Vancouver did not fair very well.  A solid defensive core and goaltending tandem was brought down by a lacklustre group of forwards.  There are definitely some bangers in this group, but not a lot of goal scoring on the front end.  Our writers were not kind, ranking Vancouver 7^th in offence, 4^th on defence and 5^th in net.

5. Winnipeg (84 points: 36 forwards, 39 defence, 9 goalies)

What at first looks like a promising group falls apart once you reach the crease and discover Harding and Krahn in net.  There is a nice combination of skill and strength up front, and the defence is rock solid.  However, our writers could not overlook the fact that the goalies have combined for 19 wins at the NHL level, all by Harding.  Winnipeg ranked 3^rd on offence and 2^nd on defence, but last in net.

4. Ottawa (87 points: 28 forwards, 23 defence, 36 goalies)

Ottawa edged out Winnipeg for fourth spot thanks to a well-rounded team.  There are no glaring weaknesses on the team, although the defensive unit leaves a little to be desired.  Turco and Smith re-unite between the pipes to give Ottawa a good goaltending tandem, and there is plenty of firepower up front.  Grabbing the Staal brothers from Thunder Bay certainly didn’t hurt. They ranked 4^th on offence, 5^th on defence, and 3^rd in net.

3. Edmonton (109 points: 21 forwards, 48 defence, 40 goalies)

 The top three teams were pretty clear cut, with Edmonton falling just short of a top two finish.  This team will need a lot of production from their defence as their forwards do not provide a ton of goal scoring.  However, their defensive core scored first place votes from all of our writers and is the real strength of the team.  Four Stanley Cup rings and a Conn Smythe trophy in net don’t hurt either though. You also may recognize that the Calgary Flames three best players are from Edmonton. Even crazier, 14 of these 20 players have played for either the Oilers or the Flames at some point in their careers. The Alberta teams love the hometown boys. Edmonton ranked 5^th on offence but 1^st on defence and 2^nd in goal.

2. Toronto (111 points: 44 forwards, 35 defence, 32 goalies)

This is probably the most well-rounded squad, and if Mason continues to blossom into an elite NHL goaltender they could take over top spot.  This team may have a little trouble keeping the puck out of their own net as most of these players are very offensive-minded, even the defenceman.  This is not surprising considering the majority of these players came from the high-scoring OHL and not the rough and tumble WHL.  Toronto was tied for 1st on offence, 3^rd on defence, and 4^th in net.  They were the only team to rank in the top four in every category, showing just how consistent they are.

1. Montreal (113 points: 44 forwards, 21 defence, 48 goalies)

It is no surprise that Montreal ended up on top considering it is home to the two best goaltenders in the world.  We did not even have room for the Marc-Andre Fleury, the goaltender of the reigning Stanley Cup champions.  Obviously, Montreal’s goaltenders were voted first across the board by our writers.  While the defence is not exactly a collection of All-Stars, the goaltending and offensive firepower of this team was just too much to be denied.  They tied for 1^st on offence, were 6^th on defence and 1^st between the pipes.

Conclusion

Considering the hockey tradition the French-Canadians have it is not shocking to see them at the top of this list. However, on a per capita basis, Edmonton has probably produced the best hockey players considering Northern Alberta only has a fraction of the population of Quebec. Or, if you combined all of Alberta in to one team, they might even be able to topple the mighty French.

I hope you have enjoyed our little study and feel free to defend your team’s honour in the comments section!