Team Canada Complete Roster
Team USA Complete Roster
All 2004 World Cup Rosters
Jan. 13/04 -
As many as six countries have a legitimate shot at winning the 2004 title. Here's a highly speculative look at what Team Canada might look like going into the next great challenge on the international hockey calendar.
Roster Rules:
- Final rosters will consist of 23 skaters and three goaltenders.
- Teams will dress 18 skaters and two goalies for each game.
- Each country must name 18 members of its team in May, with the complete roster announced by June 20.
- Update: As of March 23/04, the rule that each country must carry three players under the age of 22 has been dropped.
Onthe next page, we look at the Team USA projected roster. Here's a look at the top candidates for Team Canada, as of January, 2004:
Center
- Joe Sakic
- Joe Thornton
- Mario Lemieux
- Steve Yzerman
- Jason Spezza (under-22)
Ideally, Lecavalier would have emerged as an obvious number-three man by now. But Yzerman and Lemieux remain more reliable choices, especially in a short tournament, where brains count as much as stamina. Lemieux is worth having around just for the power play. Draper is the best choice if the team wants a checker. Any of the top three is an obvious choice for team captain.
Right Wing
- Todd Bertuzzi
- Dany Heatley
- Jarome Iginla
- Martin St. Louis
- Mark Recchi
Heatley is the obvious question mark. Can he play this season? Where will he be physically and emotionally in September? If he must be replaced, Recchi is having a good year and coming off a great 2003 playoff. He'll be 36 years old, but could be the perfect depth player who can switch wings.
Left Wing
- Paul Kariya
- Rick Nash (under-22)
- Shane Doan
- Alex Tanguay
- Brendan Shanahan
A little cheating here, as Doan usually plays right wing. Smyth, Shanahan and Gagne all won gold with the 2002 Olympic team, so if either of them catches fire in 2004, they'll move up the chart. Columbus will miss the playoffs, so Nash will be invited to play for Canada at this spring’s World Championship. His performance there could determine his role.
Defense
- Rob Blake
- Scott Niedermayer
- Chris Pronger
- Ed Jovanovski
- Wade Redden
- Adam Foote
- Scott Stevens
- Jay Bouwmeester (under-22)
Rank the top four however you like; it will take an injury to unseat any of them. But Jovanovski has not had his best first half of the season, and could rank behind Foote and Redden by the time the games begin.
Goaltenders
- Martin Brodeur
- Roberto Luongo
- Jose Theodore
Brodeur should play every game. Luongo played well under pressure in the gold medal game at the 2003 World Championship. Theodore appears to be back on form. But the choice of Brodeur’s back-ups will likely wait until the last possible minute.
Coaches:
The obvious choice is to bring back the 2002 Olympic trio of Pat Quinn, Hitchcock and Martin. But Murray deserves a shot. He was an assistant on the '96 World Cup and '98 Olympic teams, and coached Canada to gold medals at the 1997 and 2003 World Championships. His work since taking over the L.A. Kings suggests he might be the best coach in the NHL.
