Canada focused on team 'synergy' for 4 Nations as roster deadline approaches

As Team Canada builds out its roster for February's 4 Nations Face-Off, decision-makers are looking far beyond boxscores as they consider which players will fill out the star-studded group.

During an appearance on the Real Kyper & Bourne radio show on Wednesday, Canada's 2026 Olympic team general manager Doug Armstrong said that the management group has collectively seen between 160 and 180 live games to inform their final roster decisions.

Armstrong added that Canada's coaches — Jon Cooper, Rick Tocchet, Bruce Cassidy and Peter DeBoer — are now involved in the process, as well.

"What I learned under Steve Yzerman is that when you're picking, say, the last four or five guys on the roster, you don't want to jam a square peg into a round hole. It's a style of player," Armstrong said. "So we really need the coaches to understand why we have these players slotted the way we have them and make sure they see that same value in them."

With forwards Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Brad Marchand, Connor McDavid and Brayden Point and defenceman Cale Makar already on the roster, Canada is sure to have enough offensive firepower to win the tournament when the roster is announced on Sportsnet on Dec. 4 at 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT.

However, the additional 14 skaters that earn a spot will come from a combination of their team fit and skill.

"The elite players of the game play (in) so many situations," Armstrong said. "But what we're not doing is just going to the stat sheet this year and saying, 'give us the 13 highest-scoring forwards, the 13 highest-scoring defencemen, and we'll call that our team.'

"We want to build a team... we want to share our vision with the coaches to say, 'OK, this is the synergy, why we see this synergy, why we see this player complementing that player and get their input on it.'"

One issue Armstrong identified that comes with a tournament as short as the 4 Nations Face-Off is the length — just over one week — and how it limits the ability to grow together as a team.

"We're hoping they can build that synergy quick, and when you have someone like Sidney Crosby as your leader, everybody's comfortable going to him for advice and falling in behind him," Armstrong said. "We're fortunate to have him."

While choosing just 20 skaters to make it past Canada's final cut will be no easy task, there is perhaps no larger dilemma facing Armstrong than who will be wearing the maple leaf between the pipes.

Armstrong pointed out that the days of deciding "who will back up Carey (Price)" are no longer, but did point to the success of Canadian goaltenders in the Stanley Cup Playoffs as something that hockey fans north of the border can hang their hat on.

"Right now, there's really no alpha male in Canada goaltending. I sort of laugh, the Canadians and the Americans have the most difficult (goalie) decisions for different reasons," the president of hockey operations and general manager of the St. Louis Blues said. "One of the stats — if you dig deep enough, you can always find something that you can sell — is that I think it's the last 10 Stanley Cups, it's either been a Canadian goalie or a Russian goalie that's won it, and Russia's not in this tournament."

Regardless of who ends up wearing the red and white come February, Armstrong and the rest of Canada's brain trust have their work cut out for them, with just five days until the roster submission deadline on Dec. 2.