Hockey Canada Snubs St. Louis

And it is a snub.

A bad one.

No justification for keeping a competitive, creative, three-time Art Ross winner off the team.

I don't blame St. Louis for being pissed.

I would be. He's better than some of those forwards taken.

Steve Yzerman and the braintrust around him really dropped the ball on this one. Ironic given he was on the wrong end of such subs back in the early 1990s.

He and Giroux (and Joe Thornton (top five in scoring by the way) and Logan Couture for that matter) are better than Marleau, Nash, Carter and Kunitz (all fine players) at the moment. Simple as that.

As for the defense, Hamhuis and Bouwmeester over Brent Seabrook?

Classic stuff.

And the goaltending is just 'meh.'

It's a good team. Canada has a lot of depth but these selections were bizarre and suspect in parts.

Note to journalists. It makes no sense to say 'it was a hockey decision not to take this or that player.'

No shit, geniuses.

****

My sense is this team won't win gold mostly because it's hard to win gold as Vancouver showed. It took overtime to beat USA who pretty much outplayed and outskated Canada in the 3rd period and part of the OT.

It became clear to me we relied to much on size as Canada's game was too static even for an NHL rink. Yet, here they are choosing the same sort of strategy on the larger European ice surface.

I can't help but think 2006 can play itself out all over again. Relying on a game plan from 2010 can be problematic just like the 2006 selections under Gretzky showed you couldn't duplicate the success in 2002.

You have to start with a clean slate.

The other common feature I detected - and has been pointed out by some in the media - is this notion that players were selected out of 'loyalty.' Hence, Nash and Carter are on the team.

Again, Gretzky was famous for his intense loyalty to some players and look what that got him in 2006.

There's no room for loyalty. There's only room for picking the best at that time. You will never, ever, never convince me Nash deserves a spot ahead of Giroux or St. Louis or any of the players mentioned above. Shoot, I can add Spezza, Seguin and Hall to that list.

Anyway, we shouldn't go too nuts because I remember the 2010 'snub du jour' was Mike Green and Canada won gold.

One last note about trying to replicate a four year-old winning formula with sprinkles of loyalty. Marcello Lippi did the same thing in selecting the 2010 Italy squad. That ended in disaster for the national side. He could have saved himself some heartache by overcoming his "trust" fears by taking any number of young Italian players who deserved to be on the team ahead of the ones chosen.

Does this mean Canada has the same fate awaiting in Sochi?

I don't know but I don't get the feeling they will win gold. Silver, bronze or a bust is more likely.