Last week, Team Canada released their roster for the Men’s Hockey Orientation Camp. Forty-two names were on the list, and nary a member of the Minnesota Wild. With a minimal amount of Canadian players on the NHL it’s not a big surprise. They should be better represented on the American roster once it’s released.
There is an impressive collection of players heading to Calgary at the end of this month headlined by Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid. The future superstars weren’t ignored as Macklin Celebrini and Connor Bedard also made the initial cut. Not everybody invited to the orientation will make the final roster as Olympic rules limit it to 25 players (22 skaters and 3 goaltenders). Barring injury, the final team will likely be composed of players at this camp.
The chance of anyone not on the orientation camp playing their way on the roster is pretty slim, even accounting for injuries, so don’t expect any late surprises from the Wild. The team only counts four Canadians on their NHL roster (Jacob Middleton, Jared Spurgeon, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, and Marcus Foligno - who was born in New York, but played for Team Canada as a junior) and it’s unlikely that any of them will leap frog the players already on Team Canada’s radar.
Much like on the men’s side, the Minnesota Frost were also shut out of the women’s orientation roster. Again, this shouldn’t be too big of a shock considering the lack of Canadians set to play for the Frost. According to the team’s current pre-season roster, the two-time league champions have only two Canadian-born players: Kendall Cooper and Mae Batherson. The team has also signed draft pick Abby Hustler (Prince Edward Island) and goaltender Marlene Boissonnault (New Brunswick) who aren’t appearing on the team’s roster.
There is still a little Minnesota-flavor to Team Canada’s initial roster as a few players are attending schools in the state. Eve Gascon and Caitlin Kraemer attend the University of Minnesota-Duluth while Chloe Primerano is at the University of Minnesota.
The Wild have just one player named to an initial Olympic roster (Nico Sturm - Germany), but by the time the teams show up in Italy, there should be plenty of other players representing. Filip Gustavsson, Joel Eriksson Ek, and (depending on his health) Jonas Brodin should all be in the running for Team Sweden. For Team USA Brock Faber and Matt Boldy should have the inside track for making the team. Mats Zuccarello has worn his country’s uniform twice in Olympic competition, and, despite being 37, has a shot at making it a third time.
The games will take place from February 11th-22nd, and the official rosters probably won’t be announced until January.