Canada’s roster has immense offensive firepower and defensive prowess up front, combined with elite two-way ability on the back end. The Canadians have the highest Offensive Rating from any forward group and the highest Defensive Rating from any defense group.
On the offense side, Canada has a generational branch at the top that goes from Sidney Crosby to Connor McDavid to Macklin Celebrini, with Nathan MacKinnon sprinkled in between. That may be the strongest forward quartet we have ever seen at any Olympic event and may be enough on its own to power Canada to gold. The depth after featuring some of the absolute best two-way players in the game — Sam Reinhart, Mitch Marner, Brandon Hagel, Mark Stone, Nick Suzuki and even last-minute replacement Seth Jarvis — is ludicrous. A few of those guys would be top-three forwards elsewhere. Here, they’re the middle six.
On the defense side, the stopping power across the board is a huge plus. Every single defender can defend with the best of them, which should immensely limit chances before they even get to the net. There’s not one liability here. Having said that, a lot of the offense from the back end hinges on Cale Makar, which feels risky. It helps that it is Makar, the best in the world, but a secondary elite offensive threat might’ve helped.
