NHL.com releases a weekly ranking called the "Super 16", where they rank the top 16 teams in the league and develop a unique theme to talk about in their write-up for each team. This week's theme was omissions from each team for the Four Nations Faceoff, and if you've been reading our stuff over the past few weeks, it shouldn't be a surprise which way Dan Rosen went. However, the big news is that the Canadiens finally got in the rankings, as it should be no surprise they haven't been there over the past few years.
A panel of writers rank the teams, and the Canadiens were all over the map, but most of the experts picked them in their Top 16. There is an argument that the Canadiens' No.14 rank is too low, as Montreal has been a top-five team over the past two months. Nevertheless, the Canadiens will need to earn the respect of the national media, and they are slowly doing that.
Writer Ranks
Amalie Benjamin: 15
Jean-Francois Chaumont: 14
Brian Compton: NR
Nicholas J. Cotsonika: 15
Tom Gulitti: 15
Adam Kimelman: NR
Mike G. Morreale: NR
Tracey Myers: 15
Bill Price: NR
Shawn P. Roarke: 14
Dan Rosen: 11
David Satriano: 14
Paul Strizhevsky: 16
Derek Van Diest: 15
Mike Zeisberger: 14
For any of the writers who didn't have the Canadiens in their rankings, you can find me on social media, I'd love to have a conversation about what hockey you have been watching over the past two months. However, it's easy to see why the Canadiens had that No.14 ranking, as most of the writers had them in that position. Dan Rosen's ranking solidified their spot in the rankings, and he was the one who did the team's write-up.
""Cole Caufield is one of the best pure goal scorers in the NHL, but he's not on the United States' roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off. In fairness, the U.S. has a lot of elite goal scorers, but only one American has more goals this season than Caufield's 24. That's Winnipeg's Kyle Connor with 26. Tampa Bay's Guentzel also has 24. Connor and Guentzel are each on the U.S. roster. Caufield was left off. He was even the leading goal scorer among U.S.-born players with 16 when the rosters were named on Dec. 4. The U.S. chose a well-balanced roster. There's no arguing that. It might be the deepest roster in the tournament, but let's hope for the sake of the Americans that Caufield's omission doesn't become a talking point. It could if they struggle to score in the tournament.""Dan Rosen
Rosen is high on the Canadiens, and it could be time for the other writers to start taking notice. How high do you think Montreal will climb in these rankings by the end of the season?