Geno Reda is joined by TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun to talk about who the Team Canada brass is looking at for their Olympic roster, the status of the hockey arena for 2026 Olympics, and the significance of the Winnipeg Jets re-signing captain Adam Lowry on the early edition of Insider Trading.
Geno Reda: While we’re asking [about] Macklin Celebrini, Connor Bedard – maybe both – Team Canada’s brass is seriously considering a guy who could bring an entirely different skill set to the roster.
Pierre LeBrun: Team Canada is absolutely also talking about Celebrini and Bedard. You saw Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong at the Edmonton Oilers – Washington Capitals game on Wednesday night. There are a couple of Olympic candidates on each team.
But Tom Wilson is a name that has come up a lot in the conversations for Team Canada in the lead up to the Milan Olympics. And there’s a couple of things I would say to that.
One is that I think if Team Canada had a mulligan at 4 Nations Face-Off, where they won, is that they would have taken Wilson. And it’s not because of the three fights in nine seconds [against the United States during the round robin]. That’s ridiculous.
It’s because of one of the things that Team Canada, I believe, talked about in the debrief of 4 Nations is they once again realized how heavy, physical and hard the best-on-best games was at the 4 Nations, in all their games.
Just to give you an example, because I think Team USA felt the same way. Jack Hughes is a special player, superstar for Team USA, but when you watched his game at 4 Nations, his first experience playing best-on-best, there was a sense that he got pushed out of the play at times. It was a real learning curve for him, and I think he’ll be much better at the Olympics for it.
But the point being that these are the type of things that Team Canada thinks about as they try to put this roster together. Wilson leads the Capitals in scoring, leads all forwards in ice time, and he kills penalties.
So, I’m not saying he’s for sure making Team Canada, but I’m saying they’re looking at him hard because he’s a guy that they could put on their fourth line in Milan and know that he can kill penalties, know that he can handle the heavy part of best-on-best hockey and not hurt Team Canada [but], in fact, help Team Canada.
That’s not to take away from all the skill guys they’re looking at, just that he would have a certain role that they could certainly be comfortable with.
Reda: We’ve seen how effective balance to the lineup can be.
Speaking of the lineup, the roster deadline is set for Dec. 31. There’s another key timeline the NHL is keeping a really close eye on, and that’s the arena construction in Milan.
There have been some real worries it might not be ready on time. What’s the update on that front?
LeBrun: Even as late as last week after GM’s meeting in Toronto on Tuesday, Gary Bettman raised the alarm again on the arena construction.
But what I can tell you is now that the NHL has had a couple of its people in Milan first-hand having an inspection there on the arena construction, I reached out to NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly on Wednesday who said “[it] appears that positive forward progress is being made” when it comes to the arena there. So, that’s good news.
I think the league is a bit relieved, frankly, after getting that first-hand update from its own people on the arena construction. But Daly went on to add that they’re going to have to continue to monitor that progress right to the end.
I reached out to the International Olympic Committee as well for comment on Wednesday, and the reply I got from the IOC is that they stand by the statement that they sent me back in October, [which was] that they felt that the arena would be scheduled for completion by mid-December, which is not far away.
Anyway, so that’s where that is, going down to the wire, but a little less stressful it would appear right now when it comes to the Milan Arena.
Reda: When we were at the Board of Governors meeting, something that got pushed out there pretty clearly was, there is no plan B. There is no other arena we can use. That’s got to be ready.
The Winnipeg Jets had some fun at their annual gala last night. That’s when they announced their captain, Adam Lowry, signed a team-friendly five-year, $25 million extension. When you step back and look at it, that’s great news on a couple of different levels for the Jets franchise.
LeBrun: For one, obviously, they keep their captain.
I think if you look at the deal in the micro, I think Lowry would have fetched a lot of attention on July 1st [as an unrestricted free agent. Probably on a shorter-term deal, but for a bit more money because he’s such a throwback. He’s a defensive center that I know a lot of teams would have coveted.
On the flip side, by getting the five years and the total money that he got, both the team and the player can feel they got a pretty fair deal out of it.
But on the macro, it sends a message.
I remember talking to Mark Chipman, the chairman of the Jets, the day after they signed Kyle Connor at that massive extension last month. I asked him about whether the narrative is ever going to go away that players don’t want to play in Winnipeg? I mean, he certainly hopes so.
Here’s another signing again that adds to that. Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck were also extended a couple of years ago to go along with Connor, and Lowry.
It’s not a secret that a lot of NHL players still have Winnipeg on their no-trade list. By the way, they have most Canadian teams on their no-trade list.
But what you’re seeing is that players that have spent time and lived and played with the Jets, the majority of them seem to want to stay. It’s not just about how great a hockey market Winnipeg is, but let’s get to the real important part too. They have a chance to win.
I think that’s what these signings mean, is that core believes they are very close to going deep and maybe winning a Stanley Cup for that market. That would be pretty amazing to see probably.
Reda: That’s a pretty critical part of it though because good players signing attracts good players, but winning really attracts it.
That’s it for the early edition of Insider Trading. The full IT with LeBrun, Chris Johnston and Darren Dreger is coming up later today on the early edition of SportsCenter.
