TAMPA, Fla. — Jon Cooper said Sunday they’re pretty much there on Team Canada’s Olympic roster.
And I mean, they pretty much have to be with Wednesday’s Olympic roster deadline upon us.
“I’d say we’re crossing our T’s and dotting our I’s at this point,” Team Canada’s head coach said with his trademark smile Sunday afternoon before his Tampa Bay Lightning took on the visiting Montreal Canadiens.
These last few days have seen Cooper and Team Canada GM Doug Armstrong in constant communication as they finalize the 25-player roster for Milan ahead of Wednesday’s deadline. These have been the most painstaking conversations. That final forward debate. The eighth defenseman.
“Ultimately, I’m the coach and he’s the manager,” Cooper said. “You get down to the last player or two, somebody has to make the final decision. And you can sit here and say somebody has 49 percent of the vote and somebody’s got 51 percent (laughs). Usually it’s the manager that has 51.”
All kidding aside, everyone involved with Team Canada has been transparent in sharing that Cooper has lots of say in the roster process. He did for 4 Nations last year and has once again been very involved in the decision-making process for the Olympic team. Armstrong has said all along that he wants it that way because he wants his head coach to be comfortable with the players he has, and how and why they were chosen in specific roles. Team Canada’s GM didn’t see the logic in forcing players on the two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach.
There’s no question in my mind Cooper has had more sway in things than any previous head coach for the Canadian Olympic team when NHL players have been involved.
“I think that’s what has been great about it, because Army has given me a lot of autonomy and say in the entire process,” Cooper said. “And so I really appreciate that. And it helps you in the trenches, too, because you’re not looking at a whole slew of players that you’re not sure you want in the first place. That’s not what’s happening with Army and I and the rest of the managers.”
And so here they are, the final few days before Wednesday’s deadline for roster submission. The pressure is real. A hockey-crazed nation awaits the final, sure-to-be-controversial choices.
“To be honest, we went through this a year ago,” Cooper said of the 4 Nations roster selection process. “It’s just that I was doing it with Sweens (Don Sweeney, who was 4 Nations GM) more than I was with Army. But I’ve been through this. I think what makes it harder probably for me is that this time, I’ve coached a lot of the players, and where I hadn’t in the last tournament. So for me, there’s probably a little sentiment in there.
“But we primarily have the same group that’s picking the 4 Nations that’s picking this one. I have the utmost trust in everybody that’s involved. It’s just hard because there’s a lot of guys that are going to be left off that have some pretty impressive resumes.”
The philosophy from the beginning of this process has been that the 4 Nations players had a leg up. There’s trust that’s been established in how they performed at best-on-best and in winning a championship. Having said that, there will be some new faces. And furthermore, Cooper went out of his way to mention that Team Canada isn’t building a roster solely to try to beat Team USA. That would be a mistake.
“I would not sit here and say by any means are we resting on the fact that we won a one-goal game in overtime that’s a big save away from going the other way,” Cooper said. “We’re well aware of the task ahead of us. The rush to say it’s going to be a Canada-U.S. final, I think that’s a huge miscalculation.”
Yes, Canada and the United States enter Milan as co-favorites, but Sweden and Finland are right there. Czechia can upset anyone.
“People forget, we’re like a Mitch Marner overtime goal from losing to the Swedes in Game 1 at 4 Nations,” Cooper said. “And the Finnish game, Sid (Crosby) has to score like a magical empty-netter just to seal that one. So, those countries have learned, too.”
Team Canada management will start calling players who made the Olympic roster on Wednesday morning. The more delicate conversations will obviously be telling some of the bubble guys that just missed out. That will be crushing news to get.
But within those difficult conversations, Team Canada management will have an important message: Stay ready. Any one of them might get the call over the next 4-5 weeks due to injury.
These final conversations between Armstrong and Cooper haven’t just been about the 25-man roster, but also the contingency plan for the reserve list, depending on which player gets injured and what role needs to be filled.
“We may not even play the U.S. in this tournament,” Cooper said. “We still have to get through a whole bunch of countries to get to that gold medal game. So we’re building a team to make sure we can get to that gold medal game and hopefully will win gold.”
