News

Martin Brodeur or Roberto Luongo.

Andy Murray or Mike Babcock.

Ken Holland or Wayne Gretzky.

The Vancouver Olympics are 24 months away, but the debate about the selections for Canada's hockey team is already hitting full stride.

Plenty can and will happen in the hockey world in the next 24 months. Players will rise and fall and become hot and cold before the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Games in 2010.

With that in mind, we enlisted a 12-member panel that consisted of a player from the past three Canadian Olympic teams, three general managers, two assistant GMs and four scouts as well as a former NHL GM and a former NHL coach working as television analysts. Their task was to forecast who will be playing for Canada in 2010.

In exchange for their honesty, we gave them anonymity. They were asked to select three goaltenders, seven defencemen, 13 forwards and a three-member taxi squad as well as a head coach, three assistant coaches and a management team.

"If we learned one thing from 2006, you can't have too many young players," our player said. "You need a veteran presence of players willing to check their egos at the door and play defence like we had in 2002 with guys like Owen Nolan and Eric Lindros."

Obviously, with the depth of talent in Canada, there is a wide variety of opinions about which players should be chosen. There are more good players than there are spots available. A big part of the evaluation process is determining the identity of the team.

"I really believe the key to winning is the strength of the defence group," a panelist said.

"Canada is at a critical point because they have some good young defencemen, but not experienced ones and not battle tested ones. If [Scott] Niedermayer does not play, it is a huge hole in the group. He was there in 2002 when Canada won, but not in 2006, when they didn't win.

"At this level of competition, you need players who are smart and adaptable."

Interestingly, Ryan Smyth, who has been labelled Captain Canada because of the numerous times he has represented Canada, didn't receive a single vote. But that may have more to do with his long-term ankle injury this season than anything. Ditto for his Colorado Avalanche teammate Joe Sakic, who received only two votes after being out most of the season with a sports hernia injury.

Ten players were unanimous choices.