Canada is Still the World's Premiere Hockey Nation...

...But We Aren't Producing the Most Skilled Players

Since this will probably prove to be something of a touchy subject, I'll start by making a couple of stipulations:

1. Canada is still the strongest hockey country in the world.

2. Team Canada will enter Vancouver as the odds-on favourite to win the tournament.

3. My argument is not that Canadians are not the best all-around players, but rather that they are not the most individually skilled.

3. Canadians love hockey

4. I love hockey

5. I love Canada

Those last two points are especially important. Suggesting that Canadian hockey players are anything less than perfection is heresy and I might be putting myself at risk for some sort of group violence for criticizing the way Canadian players are taught to play the game (well, not really... i mean probably...hopefully.... err...on second thought I just won't leave the house for a couple of days).

I'll be blunt: The most individually skilled players in the game are not Canadian. For a country that produces a remarkably large percentage of the players in the NHL, dominates international competition, and in general is completely hockey-crazed, this is somewhat surprising. When I think of flashes of genius, of awe inspiring displays of skill, I think of Alex Ovechkin, I think of Evgeni Malkin, I think of Ilya Kovalchuk, I think of Marian Gaborik. I do think there are lots of really, really good Canadian players. Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, Rick Nash all are outstanding talents. But, I don't think those guys have the same puck skills the first group does. Now, this is obviously highly subjective. You could put together a really superb Crosby-Iginla-Nash highlight reel and I would be forced to bow to their mastery of the game of hockey. I mean, Rick Nash did score this goal (By the way, I love the commentary in the clip. The colour guy says "My goodness gracious! Holey Moley!"). Nonetheless, they are not the most individually skilled players in the game.

I think there's a good reason for this. From a young age, canadian players are taught to take the safe play. "Ring it around the boards" or "Dump and chase to get the forecheck going" are two of the mantras of pretty well any hockey coach in Canada. Players are rewarded for what I would term boring play. How often will a coach congratulate a player for beating a defender one on one to create a great scoring chance? Instead, if there is a turnover, the player is likely to be reprimanded and benched. By putting team success ahead of the development of individual skills, hockey in Canada is producing a very specific type of player. How are young Canadian players ever going to develop the puck skills, let alone the confidence, to dangle a defender when they are constantly told not to take the risky play?

Watch Malkin, Kovalchuk or Ovechkin play. They attack every defender at full speed. When they get the puck, they want to score and if that involves beating the opposing team's players one on one, so be it. The fact that they do so with such frequency is no fluke. From a young age, they must have been allowed to develop puck skills and offensive skills. They were allowed to attack, attack, attack, and sometimes, they made mistakes. The type of skill set they posses doesn't just materialize.

I think the best example of this conservative attitude in Canadian hockey is reflected in the current debate over the lineup for Team Canada in Vancouver. To me, the most shocking aspect of the whole thing is how Mike Green and Marc Savard aren't either locks, or at least fairly sure things to make the team. Instead we talk about players like Shane Doan (?!) and Robyn Regehr (?!?!?!?) as vying for the last couple of spots. Now, both are perfectly good NHL players and play critical roles in their respective teams' success. But Green and Savard are exceptional talents. Watch how their offensive skills open up scoring opportunities for their teammates. Green has 25 points in 24 games, which is tied for the league lead for points by a defenseman. He scored 31 goals last year. And for all you people that love plus/minus, he's a tidy plus 5 on the year so far. Watch him make a breakout pass. Be awed by his skating ability. How is this guy not a lock for Team Canada? The answer is in our country's obsession with playing it safe and ringing it off the boards. Make the unspectacular play, force the other teams to make mistakes and hope to capitalize. Savard is viewed in generally the same light. How is someone like Jordan Staal a better fit? Does no one think to see that Savard is one of the very best distributors in the NHL?

It's not impossible for the super elite, individually skilled players to emerge from the Canadian hockey system. It's just that we make it ridiculously hard to do so. Until we change our attitudes about "dumping and chasing" and "playing it safe", it's not likely to be any different for the years to come. Canada will continue to be the powerhouse in hockey, with depth that is envied by all. Yet, we will lack that singular offensive talent, that player that when he gets the puck, as he winds up behind his net before charging up ice, forces everyone to rise from their seats with bated breath. We'll continue to win or lose as a cohesive unit with no one outstanding player showing off breath-taking skills. We'll win gritty. How wonderfully Canadian.

NB