Quoting: Carter_G
I also wouldnt say some guys are locks. Benn hasn't been great and the game is evolving away from him. Seguin and skinner have good chances to make team but in no way is Seguin a lock. Only locks would be mcdavid, mckinnon, Crosby, hall, doughty, Reilly
I don't see Canada only having 6 "locks" and Rielly isn't one of them.
Canada loves to select players who have played on Team Canada before, electing them over comparable players who have not played before. Another is that Canada loves an even LHD/RHD split.
Here is my breakdown.
Players who were on both the Sochi Olympic team and Canada cup team:
Keith*, Weber*, Doughty, Getzlaf, Toews, Tavares, Benn*, Pietrangelo, Price, Bergeron, Vlasic, Crosby, Stamkos*
* means the player was named to both teams, but was injured for one of the tournaments.
Of these players, the only ones I could see NOT making the team are Toews, Getzlaf, and Pietrangelo.
Here are other players who have been on team Canada that I think have a very good chance of making the team:
Marchand, Holtby, Seguin, Giroux, Subban, Burns. (Seguin was named to the world cup team but was hurt)
Then we add in sure-fire players of McDavid, Hall, Scheifele, MacKinnon, Giordano.
This makes the line-up:
Marchand - Crosby - Bergeron
Benn - McDavid - Seguin
Hall - MacKinnon - Stamkos
Giroux - Tavares - Scheifele
X
X
Vlasic - Doughty
Giordano - Weber
Keith - Subban
Burns/Pietrangelo
X
Holtby
Price
X
That leaves two extra forward spots, a LHD, and the 3rd goalie. I think we'd see two of O'Reilly, Toews, Stone, Duchene, Couture, and Getzlaf as forward, each would be returning (except Stone). Rielly would probably be the LHD, and Fleury or Dubnyk (Crawford if healthy) as the goalie.
HM: Letang, Point, Marner, Monahan, Huberdeau, Skinner.