Canada
Dany Heatley – Jason Spezza – Mark Stone
Canada has clearly established itself as the best hockey nation in the world. Winning gold in three of the five men’s best-on-best Olympics and four of the six women’s tournaments. Ottawa though has not had a slew of Canadian stars. All six players were very good for Ottawa, but none really even approach the hall of fame status you’d expect from a franchise’s top Canadian talent.
Still, the forward line has the potential to be scary, as in their prime Heatley and Spezza formed two-thirds of one of the league’s best lines. Their usual third man, Daniel Alfredsson, can’t join them, but Mark Stone provides a very capable replacement as a two-way force with a scoring touch.
The blueline was an easy call, with the team’s two defensive leaders in games played being Canadian. Redden could drive the play from the backend while still being reliable in his own zone while Phillips gives them a top-end shutdown defender.
In net, Patrick Lalime was among the best goalies in the world for a short period of time, and while some of that may be attributable to the talent in front of him, this group certainly isn’t lacking in that regard. Between the blueliners and Stone, this team should be able to limit shots against while a more than capable Lalime can make his share of big saves.