Duhatschek notebook: Team Canada Olympic roster predictions updated, revisiting the Pavel Datsyuk trade – The Athletic

Lost amid all the hype and anticipation of a new NHL season is the fact that today Oct. 15 is the deadline for national teams to submit their long lists of players for the 2022 Olympic hockey tournament in China.

The provisional playing rosters for all 12 qualifying countries will be announced by January, according to an internal NHLPA memo circulated to players and agents and the tournament itself opens Feb. 9.

The Jets Paul Stastny made an interesting observation this past Wednesday when asked about Team USAs prospects for the Olympics. Stastny noted that with the depth and talent now available in the U.S., its expectations are the same as Canadas, Russias, and Swedens gold or bust.

Hockey, played at the highest level, has never seen a more level playing field. Its safe to conclude that if each of the top six countries could enter three teams in the event, Canadas B and C teams would still enjoy an edge, especially if the selections were limited strictly to position players and not goaltenders.

But the A teams are close and once the long lists are in, its no longer an abstract exercise in team-building, but getting closer to the actual time when decisions have to be made. The good news is that Canadas management staff, headed by Blues general manager Doug Armstrong, will get half an NHL season to sift through the more complicated decisions at the bottom of the roster, which is always where the debate and controversies occur.

Here at The Athletic, weve been projecting rosters, off and on, for years.

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Duhatschek notebook: Team Canada Olympic roster predictions updated, revisiting the Pavel Datsyuk trade - The Athletic