Friday Four: Is there room for Tom Wilson on Team Canada?

Friday Four is a collection of thoughts and information on some of the most interesting player stories around the NHL. This week on the roof is:

• The duck plan pays big dividends for Leo Carlson

Doug Armstrong has a problem on his hands, but it’s a good one.

The time is coming for Team Canada’s general manager to finalize his roster for next February’s Olympics, and things just got more complicated than the 4 Nations face off. Several players who were left out of last year’s squad are making a compelling case for inclusion this time around. Whichever way Armstrong decides to go about shaping his team, it’s bound to leave some players disappointed.

One of them could be named Tom Wilson. The Washington Capitals forward is playing some of the best hockey of his career, averaging a point per game after posting a career-best 33 goals and 65 points a year ago. Add in the fact that Wilson has a Stanley Cup to his name, plenty of big-game experience and brings a rough-and-tumble style of play that makes opposing teams tough to deal with, and he has a nice resume to add.

That said, with Canada able to bring four forwards to the Olympics compared to 13 of the 14 nations, Wilson will still be hard-pressed to make the team. This is mainly because few other players who have made a big step this season are likely to be in line ahead of him and it is difficult to see him moving forward from a group that was part of the championship team in the 4 Nations.

Here’s a look at the forwards who were part of the team in February:

• Connor McDavid
• Nathan McKinnon
• Sidney Crosby
• Anthony Cirelli
• Brad Marchand
• Landmark stone
• Brandon Heigl
• Seth Jarvis
• Brayden Point
• Mitch Marner
• Sam Rinehart
• Travis Konecny
• Sam Bennett

From that group, McDavid, McKinnon, Crosby, Jarvis, Point, Marner and Reinhart should be locked in. Cirelli and Hagel are likely penciled in, considering how much coach John Cooper trusts them with the Tampa Bay Lightning and he certainly has plenty of say in the roster construction. Maybe after last year’s tournament, where he struggled to keep pace at times, you could make the case that Marchand was on the bubble, but an incredible Cup run and hot start secured his spot for 2025-26.

That leaves Bennett, Kanakini and Stone. I think the only reason Stone isn’t involved is because of injury. He’s hurt now and has had trouble staying healthy in recent years, so there’s a possibility that a spot could open up if he can’t play. Bennett is off to a really slow start, but he is a big game performer who was great in the 4 Nations. I think the paragraph might fit him in. Then there’s Kunini, who has really hit it off recently but was pulled for Canada’s most important games in the 4 Nations and went goalless in the tournament. He seems to be the most likely candidate to be left out. So, even with the extra advances Canada could make to the Olympics, it realistically feels like there will only be two or three spots available.

Now let’s see who was in the 4 Nations squad apart from Wilson who deserves a look:

• Macklin Celebrini
• Connor Bedard
• Nick Suzuki
• Mark Scheifele
• John Tavares
• Bo Horvat
• Wyatt Johnston

There may be a few others in the mix when the lists are submitted, but these are the people who are expected to get a closer look. One thing working against Wilson is that all players can play center. This means more list flexibility and facial support if needed. Celebrini and Bedard have exploded offensively this year but both are elusive. I think at least one will make it, I bet Celebrini, but it wouldn’t surprise me if both were taken. I think with the perfect Suzuki game, he will be there and then Scheffler is probably the next best case. The Winnipeg Jets forward was outstanding last season and has picked up right where he left off.

One thing that is working for Wilson is his style of play. None of the new hopefuls can play with his physicality, and we saw how big a part of the game that was on the 4 Nations, especially when dealing with Tkachuks and the rest of the American team. The problem is that wrestling is banned in the Olympics and the results are excluded, so I don’t think we’ll see as many things in the 4 Nations. Plus, Bennett can fill that physical role if needed and he is coming off a Conn Smith Trophy and has proven to excel in high pressure games. It’s hard to see them selecting Wilson over Bennett to fill that need.

It’s not impossible for Wilson to work his way onto the Olympic squad, as there is plenty of time between now and the Olympic pack drop. Injuries can play a big factor and we’ve seen players make an impact in the 4 Nations that we didn’t even expect to make the squad. But right now, the path for Wilson and a bunch of other Canadiens forwards looks strewn with obstacles. It’s not that they don’t deserve it, there are only so many places available.

Leo Carlson didn’t want Celebrini and Bedard to have all the fun this season. All three, who aren’t even old enough to drink in the cities they play in, have taken the NHL by storm. Celebrini and Bedard aren’t that surprising, based on what they’ve shown in their short careers, but I’m not sure many expected Karlsson to be this good this quickly.

The 20-year-old recently had an 11-game point streak, averaging two points per game. Karlsson is already more than half of his career high of 45 points, something he is poised to finish this season. Most importantly, though, he has the Anaheim Ducks sitting in first place in the Pacific Division after the team has missed the playoffs for seven straight seasons.

Karlsson has taken a different path from Bedard and Celebrini to his breakout campaign. Dixon took a more cautious approach to promoting Carlson to the NHL, while Bedard and Celebrini hit the ground running and were immediate NHL regulars. Anaheim instead opted for load management in Karlsson’s rookie season, opting to manage his workload in the first half of the 2023-24 campaign. This sometimes means not playing both games in back-to-back situations and having a limited number of games per week. Karlsson ended up playing just 55 games that year as an 18-year-old, which was more than he had been playing in Sweden.

Most people feel that it is best for a young player like Karlsson to play regularly, whether it be in the NHL or another developmental league. We’ve seen instances this year where the likes of Aston Cowan, Michael Mesa and Zayn Parekh were pulled up for a game here and there, leaving fans in awe. But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. Managing the rigors of a full 82-game NHL schedule is not easy. Stopping the game every now and then to recover and watch from the press box isn’t the end of the world for what fans hope is a long career for all these players.

Every player is different and that’s why every team shouldn’t have a one-size-fits-all plan for every prospect. Dick thought outside the box where Carlson is concerned, and it’s paying big dividends. Trust the process.

The Boston Bruins were counted out this season before the puck ended on opening night. After Boston failed to make the playoffs last season for the first time since 2016 and traded away captain Brad Marchand, expectations dwindled for a team with a new head coach who was planning to give a bunch of opportunities to young and unproven players.

Fast forward to today, though, and the Bruins are right in the mix in the Eastern Conference thanks to an 11-8-0 mark. That’s thanks in large part to Charlie McAvoy, who is off to a typically hot start to the campaign offensively. McAvoy hasn’t scored a goal yet, but he already has 18 assists in 14 games. The 27-year-old has always been known as a reliable blueliner who can play in any situation and handle tough matchups, though he’s never been a big point producer.

McAvoy’s career high in points is 56, and he has topped the 50-point mark just twice in his career. This year, he is on track for 60 clean sheets in a season where the Bruins desperately need it. They’ve lost a bunch of offense with Marchand’s departure, and Viktor Arvidsson and Elias Lindholm have had bad starts. Without McAvoy’s offensive production, there’s a good chance the Bruins are jockeying for a position near the East basement rather than the top three in the Atlantic.

The Bruins are one of the few teams without a captain, and after the Marchand trade, they may have lost a bit of their identity. There are only a few candidates to fill the role in Boston, with McAvoy and David Pastrnak on the right side of the list. McAvoy is probably the more vocal of the two, and this summer he wasn’t shy about coming out and saying that the Bruins were a playoff team every day of the week, in his mind. It caught some off guard, but so far, McAvoy has backed his words and it’s just the kind of statement to be considered captain material both on and off the ice.

When the Minnesota Wild re-signed Marcus Johansson last June, it didn’t garner much attention. Johansson signed a modest one-year, $800,000 contract with the Wild and expectations were low on the veteran making a significant impact during the 2025-26 campaign. For one, Johansson turned 35 before the year started and was coming off back-to-back seasons where he failed to score 35 points.

However, Johansson is off to a rough start and is proving to be one of the best values ​​this season. The Wildcat forward has 18 points in 15 games and just ended a 9-game point streak. Johansson is manning the top six, he has a chance to play with Joel Eriksson Eck and Matt Boldy, which is a great position. to develop

It never hurts for a young player like Boldy to play with a veteran skater like Johansson, who just celebrated his 1,000th birthday.^th Play in the National Hockey League. Boldy is highly skilled, but Johansson’s calm presence can be good to cushion the really tough times. That’s something Boldy went through recently, when he gave up just one goal during a 10-game stretch before snapping it with four goals in his past four.

Johansson’s surprise addition to start the season was badly needed by the Wild. The team started slowly and endured a stretch of just one win in nine games, which pushed them down the standings. They’ve righted the ship recently, though, thanks to Johansson’s consistent offense for a team that was desperate for spark. Still, Minnesota looks like an outsider when it comes to the playoff picture and things could be a lot worse without Johansson’s unexpected help.