Zizing ‘Em Up: Team Canada GM discusses upcoming roster decisions

NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger has been covering the NHL regularly since 1999. Each Monday he will use his extensive network of hockey contacts for his weekly notes column, “Zizing 'Em Up,” to preview the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

TORONTO -- It’s down to crunch time.

With just over three weeks remaining until each Olympic team must submit their final rosters by the Dec. 31 deadline, management teams have hit the home stretch in making the tough decisions of who makes it and who doesn’t.

In the case of Team Canada, general manager Doug Armstrong, assistant Jim Nill and several other team executives and officials are meeting in Florida for several days to compare their individual lists of candidates and debate those who are not consensus picks.

“We’d like to come out of this with at least 70 percent of the roster, if not finalized, then entrenched,” Armstrong said. “And then we can use these final weeks to evaluate how to fill the rest.”

With the intrigue growing with every passing day of what each team might look like in Italy for the tournament in February, Armstrong took time out from Canada’s think-tank sessions down south to address a number of topics in a 1-on-1 with NHL.com on Sunday.

1. On Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini

To date, Armstrong has been careful when discussing the chances of 20-year-old Bedard and 19-year-old Celebrini, two young forwards who have become a hot topic of conversation in Canada as to whether they should make the roster.

The Canadian brass has done a good job of ignoring the hype, instead concentrating on each candidate’s big picture body of work and how the player would react on the big stage that is the Olympics.

At the same time, they’ve seen what the rest of us have: two young players who have taken their games to the next level to put themselves into the conversation. Entering play Monday, Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks, who had a goal and two assists in a 4-1 win at the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, is second in NHL scoring with 43 points (15 goals, 28 assists) while Bedard, the young star of the Chicago Blackhawks, is fourth with 40 (18 goals, 22 assists).

“They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do, in the sense that we wanted to take the first two or three months to give everybody an opportunity to play their way onto the team, or at least to be talked about as contenders,” Armstrong said. “There are a young group of players who certainly have done that.”

Armstrong added that he is not surprised to see both players take the next step.

“These are elite players,” he said. “They were drafted No. 1 overall by their teams for a reason. They were expected to make an impact at some point. And now it’s Year 2 (for Celebrini) and Year 3 (for Bedard). Very impressed by it. But I wouldn’t say surprised.”

2. On Canada’s goaltending situation

In his role as GM of the St. Louis Blues, Armstrong has witnessed firsthand the struggles of Jordan Binnington (7-7-5, 3.29 goals-against average, .875 save percentage). He’s also seen the 32-year-old raise his game in pressure situations, notably winning Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final with the Blues against the Boston Bruins and the title game at 4 Nations Face-Off for Canada versus the U.S. in February.

“Yeah, I look at Binnington’s history. Look at the way (Logan) Thompson is playing for the Capitals (13-6-2, 1.96 GAA, .919 save percentage). Look, I don't want to get into specific names, but it’s not like it was for us for the better part of two decades with guys like the [Martin] Brodeurs, the Carey Prices, the Patrick Roys. It’s not like that. But at the same time, there are some good goalies we have to choose from that shouldn’t be underestimated. We don’t.

“For a guy like Jordan, for any player for that matter, you have to look at his full resume. You also look at how he’s playing. How much is it him and how much is it the team? Those are all factors to take into consideration.”

3. On the current roster meetings in Florida

“Basically, we’re going over each player on everyone’s list, what attributes they bring to the team, what type of players they fit in with best to create synergy. That’s what we’re trying to find, to create. For teams, special teams, face-offs, things like that. We’re trying to build a team that functions in a lot of different ways, not just the highest scoring players. How do they fit up and down the lineup? What do they bring? Right now, the player evaluation part is starting to wind down and now it’s more like how to create a functional team.”

4. On keeping the leadership group like Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid in the loop?

“We’ve kept the guys we’ve already named to the group informed, but nothing over the top. Maybe a couple of calls, or in-person chats if we’ve been at the rink scouting where they’ve been playing. More out of courtesy than anything. I think once the final team is announced, then things start to pick up with information about the family program, things like that, That’s still a long ways away. They just have to keep playing hockey for their club teams right now. At this point, I don’t think a lot of contact is necessary.”

5. On the management team’s timetable moving forward

“My personal belief is that I don’t think a lot is going to change after Christmas. I think we’ll pretty much have -- or likely have -- things in place by then. I don’t think it’s going to go right down to the wire. I don’t think someone’s going to play so well or so poor in one game that it’s going to change the previous three months’ body of work. We’ll be having discussions right to the end, but we won’t be making three or four big decisions on the morning of the 31st.

“After these meetings we’ll probably have decisions on maybe six, seven, eight players left for whatever spots we have left. Then we’ll pick our final team. After that, we’ll go back and look at who might be potential replacement players.”

Explore NHL.com's Coverage of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026

VIEW FROM SWEDEN

Team Sweden coach Sam Hallam is back in Stockholm after spending a couple of months scouting NHL games in North America for Olympic candidates.

And, like Armstrong, he feels like Sweden’s potential roster construction is in a good place.

“I would say my confidence in our process is huge right now,” Hallam told NHL.com in a phone interview. “I think we are pretty sure about 14,15 guys. And then, for the last 10 spots, it’ll be how the guys are playing right down to the deadline.

Hallam said one of the situations he and his staff are monitoring involves Minnesota Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt, the 23-year-old who is 8-1-2 with a 1.95 GAA, .936 save percentage and four shutouts.

“Sure, you can look at experience or, in the case of younger guys, a lack thereof,” Hallam said. “But at that position, I think a lot has to do with how you are playing at the moment.

“It’s not a surprise. If you go back, he’s been top ranked going back to his days as a junior. We all expected him to play this way sooner or later, and now he’s in a good place in Minnesota. So he’s showing he’s really ready for it. We’re monitoring that situation really closely.”

Two players Hallam said that have caught the collective eyes of the team brass: forward Emil Heineman (10 goals, six assists) of the New York Islanders and defenseman Philip Broberg (two goals, eight assists) of the Blues.

“They’ve played their ways to the point where they’ve caught our attention,” he said. “Just a couple more decisions we’ll be facing.”

OLYMPICS STOCK WATCH

Each week we’ll look at a candidate who’s catching our attention in the push to make his respective national team.

G Akira Schmid, Switzerland: (Vegas Golden Knights)

When Golden Knights starter Adin Hill suffered a lower body injury on Oct. 20, there were concerns about how Vegas’ goaltending would hold up. Thanks largely in part to Schmid, any worries quickly were alleviated. The 25-year-old, who came into the season with just 48 career appearances, has been outstanding, stepping into the No. 1 role and going 10-2-4 with a 2.35 GAA and .903 save percentage. His latest gem: a 24-save shutout in the Golden Knights’ 3-0 victory against the host New Jersey Devils on Friday. The activation of former Philadelphia Flyers goalie Carter Hart on Dec. 1 should help alleviate some of Schmid’s workout moving forward, a key given the compressed schedule this season. In any event, Schmid’s promising season should be reason for optimism for Swiss coach Patrick Fischer.

QUOTE/UNQUOTE, Part 1

“That takes place the next day when I break game film down. And then I have the ability to break down all that. The ability to hit the rewind and the pause button is amazing (laughs). It gives the ability to break down our game but watch the opponents as well.” -- New York Rangers coach Mike Sullivan on if he scouts potential candidates for the U.S. Olympic team on the opposition during NHL games. Sullivan was behind the bench for the U.S. at the 4 Nations Face-Off in February and will hold the same post for the upcoming Games in Italy

QUOTE/UNQUOTE, Part 2

“There’s a difference between an All-Star team and a team. What I mean by that is that there are players who bring different elements to the table depending what situations arrive during the course of a game … Who’s first over the boards when you’re defending a 3-2 lead in the game?” -- Sullivan, explaining why raw skill is not the only quality U.S. officials are looking for in candidates to fill their roster

THE LAST WORD

Whenever Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews face off against each other, it’s a special night on the NHL schedule.

After all, McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers and Matthews’ Toronto Maple Leafs only meet twice during each regular season. And when it takes place on Hockey Night in Canada like it will in Toronto on Saturday (7 p.m. ET: CBC, SNO, SNP), you can bet there will be an electric buzz inside Scotiabank Arena.

And this time around, count on there being a little extra spice too.

Consider that this will be the first time that McDavid and Matthews will play each other since that epic 4 Nations Face-Off final between Canada and the U.S. at TD Garden in Boston back on Feb. 20.

The lasting memory will be of McDavid finding open ice behind Matthews in the slot to score the dramatic overtime winner to give Canada the 3-2 victory to become tournament champions.

But don’t forget just how good Matthews had been in that game, especially in the eight-plus minutes of overtime prior to McDavid’s heroics.

Indeed, if it wasn’t for three outstanding stops by Canadian goalie Jordan Binnington off Matthews in that time frame, we might have been talking about the U.S. captain being the player of the tournament when all was said and done.

Either way, this latest chapter of McDavid-Matthews certainly will whet the appetites of hockey fans to see them go head-to-head again in Italy in two months.

And rightly so.