SIMMONS: Here's who I would pick for Team Canada at 4 Nations Face-Off and why

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What we know for certain: Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Cale Makar, Brad Marchand and Brayden Point will play for Team Canada in the 4 Nations Face-off hockey tournament in February.

What we don’t know — and won’t know until Dec. 4 — is who will take up the other 16 playing spots on the Canadian roster.

So instead of waiting until then, I’ll make it as easy as possible to explain who will and won’t play for Canada in the first international tournament of any big league significance in years.

Let’s start up front:

You can actually begin with a line of compatriots, the Nova Scotia boys, with Crosby centring MacKinnon (normally a centre) and Marchand.

You may want to flip Crosby and MacKinnon — that likely will be their call — and Marchand gets first crack at the line, even if he’s not having a memorable season to date.

Before the NHL season started, I would have been certain we’d see McDavid playing alongside Zach Hyman. A lot of people figured they would be paired together, possibly with Florida’s Sam Reinhart.

But Hyman, with just three goals in 21 games and only eight points, hasn’t played with his usual efficiency and basically has played himself off Team Canada with a poor start to the season. There’s only one way for him to end up on Team Canada and that’s if McDavid insists upon it.

But that isn’t necessarily how McDavid operates. So now you have choices as to who could play alongside hockey’s greatest centre.

It could be Mark Stone of Vegas, if he’s healthy enough. He does just about everything right.

It could be Mitch Marner, likely the only Leaf on Team Canada, one creator playing with another.

It could be Tampa Bay’s Point or Mark Scheifele of Winnipeg, moving from centre to the wing. All of them are on my Team Canada.

The rest of my forwards: Sam Bennett of Florida — the perfect third- or fourth-line centre; the all-purpose winger from New York, Alexis Lafreniere; coach Jon Cooper’s favourite, Anthony Cirelli; and for my 13th forward, who might work his way into the lineup because he offers so much, Travis Konecny of Philadelphia, who could take Marchand’s place on the top line if the feisty Bruin can’t contribute at the highest level.

Some players who I initially thought would be on Team Canada were eliminated from my lineup because they haven’t played well enough this season. Among those: Hyman, Wyatt Johnson of Dallas, Matt Barzal of the Islanders and Connor Bedard of Chicago. I would have pencilled in all four last summer, but through 20 games, they’ve basically relinquished the opportunity.

Tom Wilson is a force with Washington who might be of some interest to Team Canada. The question is where would he fit in? And if I’m taking Cirelli, Lafreniere and Bennett, I’m not sure there is a place for Wilson.

Also, there are some players having excellent years such as Capitals’ Dylan Strome, Matt Duchene in Dallas and Adam Lowry in Winnipeg who will get some consideration, but I couldn’t pick any of them ahead from those already on my list.

My approach to putting a defence together was the old Team Canada style: Pick players who have successfully played together.

So I have Makar, the best defenceman in the world, playing with his regular Colorado partner, Devon Toews. There’s comfort in that.

And I have the two-time Stanley Cup champion and future Hall of Famer Alex Pietrangelo alongside his Vegas teammate Shea Theodore. That gives coach Cooper two right-shot defencemen playing with two left-shot defencemen.

The fifth defenceman, but not in terms of talent or production, would be Josh Morrissey of Winnipeg, a Norris Trophy candidate again this season. He’s a left-shot, so now you’d need a right shot to form with him.

The candidates likely would be Noah Dobson of the Islanders, Evan Bouchard from the Oilers, Brandon Montour from Seattle and Dougie Hamilton from Jersey.

As much as I love Bouchard’s slap shot and his power-play skills, he wouldn’t take Makar’s place on the first power play. So, because of that, I lean to Dobson as the proper partner for Morrissey.

And you need a seventh defenceman, so my final pick is the surprising Travis Sanheim of the Flyers, who scouts around the league are raving about. He’s not as flashy as Bouchard, but he’s smart, safe and strong.

Picking goaltenders is a whole other issue. There are no sure things here. The Team Canada brass basically has scouted every NHL goalie with a Canadian passport this season — and they’re not seeing much.

They’ve looked at every possibility from Logan Thompson in Washington, to Mackenzie Blackwood in San Jose, Cam Talbot in Detroit, Montreal’s Sam Montembeault and Stuart Skinner in Edmonton.

My first two goalies — and it’s hard to say this as a Canadian — are Adin Hill of Vegas and Jordan Binnington of St. Louis. I believe both Stanley Cup winners are sure things to be named to Team Canada.

The third goalie, who may not be needed, is anyone’s guess. Mine is Talbot, the veteran, who has a .920 save percentage, which is more than 30 points better than either Hill or Binnington.

So there’s my Team Canada. The real one will be named in 12 days. You can yell at me now — or then.
Your call.

SIMMONS’ TEAM CANADA LINEUP

FORWARD LINES

Brad Marchand-Sidney Crosby-Nathan MacKinnon

Sam Reinhart-Connor McDavid-Mitch Marner

Brayden Point-Mark Scheifele-Alexis Lafreniere

Anthony Cirelli-Sam Bennett-Mark Stone

Extra F: Travis Konecny

DEFENCE PAIRINGS

Devon Toews-Cale Makar

Shea Theodore-Alex Pietrangelo

Josh Morrissey-Noah Dobson

Extra D: Travis Sanheim

GOALIES

Adin Hill

Jordan Binnington

Cam Talbot

FIRST POWER PLAY UNIT

McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby, Marner and Makar

ssimmons@postmedia.com

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