Montreal Canadiens: Three Habs Who Will Play In Next Best On Best Tournament
The Montreal Canadiens have not been able to send their players to a best on best international hockey tournament for nearly a decade.
In fact, it was almost exactly a decade ago when Carey Price and P.K. Subban were members of Team Canada that won a gold medal at the Olympics. That was back in 2014 and though Subban played a depth role for the team, Price was its backbone.
Price won all five games he played in that tournament, posting a ridiculous 0.59 GAA and a .972 SV% and did not allow a goal to USA or Sweden in the semifinals and gold medal game. It was one of the best performances on one of the biggest stages ever.
The only other tournament held since then that included NHL players was the World Cup of Hockey in 2016. With a collection of players from Europe forming one team, this tournament had perhaps the best collection of hockey talent at one event in hockey history. There were no German or Swiss teams there getting pounded 8-1 in the round robin.
Again, it was Carey Price representing the Canadiens well by going undefeated in five games again while posting a GAA of 1.40 and a .957 SV%.
That tournament was nearly eight years ago and we have not seen a best on best hockey tournament since. As it turns out, we will not have to wait much longer before we start to see these tournaments again.
The NHL announced there will be a 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament involving NHL players from Canada, USA, Sweden and Finland next February. NHL players will also play at the next two Olympics in 2026 and 2030 and we finally get to watch all of the best players in the hockey world on the same stage once again.
Of course, we are most interested in how this affects Canadiens players, so let's take a look at the three Canadiens players that will suit up at next winter's 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament.
Joel Armia
When thinking of great players on the Canadiens roster that deserve to represent their country on the biggest state, Joel Armia is not the first player that comes to mind. However, under this format, he is definitely one of the most likely players to be named to a roster next February.
First of all, with this being an NHL event, the Finnish pro leagues are not going to shut down to send players over to it. That means the rosters will be made up of NHL players only and Finland does not have hundreds of them to choose from.
This season, there have been 36 players from Finland play a game in the NHL and 32 of them would be considered regulars. Another 11 of them are defensemen which leaves a total pool of 21 forwards to choose from.
Finland will have impressive center depth with Sebastien Aho, Roope Hintz, Aleksander Barkov and Anton Lundell down the middle. There are a few high scoring wingers like Mikko Rantanen, Teuvo Teravainen and Patrik Laine, but the teams needs penalty killers as well.
Armia may not be putting up a lot of points this season, though he does have eight goals in just 33 games, and he is excellent defensively. Every sucessful team needs good defensive players and Armia would bring all kinds of that to Team Finland.
The fact his country does not have to worry about his cap hit just makes it an easier decision for them to take him on their team.
Cole Caufield
The most exciting player on the Canadiens right now is undoubtedly Cole Caufield. The young winger can fire a puck better than most players in the world and is going to quickly become one of the top goal scorers in the hockey world.
In 49 games this season, Caufield has scored 17 goals and 39 points. That includes a lengthy slump where he just didn't look like himself and could have been battling some kind of injury. He is back to scoring on an almost nightly basis lately though and would make a great addition to the USA team.
While it is a stacked roster that will feature Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel along with a couple of Tkachuks and Jason Robertson at the top of the lineup, there remains a perfect landing spot for Caufield.
When he was breaking records at the United States Development Program for scoring goals all the time, Caufield's center was Jack Hughes. A highly skilled, elite playmaker who clicked perfectly with Caufield in their time together.
Forming a third line that contains these two players would make USA almost impossible to stop. Imagine a top line of Matthews with a Tkachuk on either wing and a second line with Eichel being flanked by Kyle Connor and Robertson and then a third scoring line of Hughes, Caufield and Tage Thompson.
There are some other valuable wingers that deserve a look with USA as well. However, with veterans like Patrick Kane, Joe Pavelski and Johnny Gaudreau starting to look less likely to play in a tournament like this again, it is time for Caufield to represent his country.
Sam Montembeault
While Team Canada will be stacked at forward and on defense as well, there options in goal are not as deep as they once were.
As we mentioned earlier, having Carey Price in goal for Canada pretty much guaranteed them a gold medal at the most recent World Cup of Hockey as well as the latest Olympics. Even before him there was also a fantastic option like Roberto Luongo, Martin Brodeur or Patrick Roy.
Recently, we have not seen many elite goaltenders in Canada. Adin Hill did win a Stanley Cup last year and Darcy Kuemper and Jordan Binnington have their name on the Stanley Cup as well. But they aren't dominant netminders who are Vezina Trophy candidates every year.
Montembeault has put up respectable numbers on a rebuilding team over the past two seasons. He was also excellent for Canada at the most recent World Championships, which isn't the same as a best on best tournament, but it is a reasonable facsimile. His 1.42 GAA and .939 SV% at the World Championships show he wasn't just good wearing a Team Canada jersey but he was excellent.
It also shows that when he is not playing behind a rebuilding team and an extremely young defense he can put up great numbers. Montembeault has been among the best in the league in the advanced stat goals saved above expected which essentially calculates save percentage but also includes a level of difficulty factor into each save. This is an attempt to level the playing field and measuring goaltenders by who stops the shots they should stop most often.
On a team like Canada, Montembeault would not be facing a lot of high danger scoring chances like he does some nights with the Canadiens. He has shown, and the stats agree, that if he plays on a good team he would put up great results. That should put him in line to make Team Canada in 2025.
feed