The Spengler Roster

The one hockey tournament that I look forward to every year when it comes to watching hockey on TV is the Spengler Cup played in Davos, Switzerland. Would I love to attend this tournament some year? Absolutely, but I also like not spending $10,000 on vacations. In saying that, the Spengler Cup is a fun tournament where players that teams seem to have forgotten pop back up thanks to their selection to the Team Canada roster. This year, however, there appears to be less surprises thanks to who was selected to go to Davos by Team Canada management.

The 26-player roster was named today, and it shocked me that 13 players currently skating in the American Hockey League were named to the team. Usually, there are a handful of guys who come over from the AHL to help make up Canada's roster, but a full 50% of the roster this season is from the North American developmental league. Will that give Canada any sort of advantage? We'll find out starting on December 26, but let's take a look at who is going to Switzerland as part of their holiday plans this year.

Team Canada

Forwards

Name	Team	G	A	GP	League
Daniel Carr	Lugano	6	16	29	NLA
Philip-Michaël Devos	Ajoie	15	7	30	NLA
Tanner Fritz	Rapperswil-Jona	0	0	0	NLA
Logan Shaw	Toronto	4	14	25	AHL
Manix Landry	Ambri-Piotta	8	8	31	NLA
Curtis McKenzie	Texas	6	8	26	AHL
Joseph Carroll	Wichita	8	6	17	ECHL
Jonathan Hazen	Ajoie	4	7	19	NLA
Charles Hudon	Ontario	11	11	24	AHL
Phillippe Maillet	Ambri-Piotta	6	10	22	NLA
Brett Seney	Rockford	4	13	26	AHL
Brandon Coe	San Jose	1	5	15	AHL
Josh Jooris	Geneve-Servette	4	5	28	NLA
Sam Gagner	Free Agent	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

This might be one of the least offensively-gifted Spengler Cup teams that Canada has sent to Davos in a while. Just two players have double-digit totals in goals while players like Daniel Audette, Derek Grant, and Michael Joly were all left off the roster. Perhaps Canada was looking for more speed as they went with younger AHL players, but the players from Switzerland all have miles on their skates. I'm not exactly sure what Canada was aiming for in their build of this forward group, but they may have win with defence this year.

Defencemen

Name	Team	G	A	GP	League
Thomas Gregoire	Kloten	6	11	32	NLA
Layton Ahac	Abbotsford	0	0	4	AHL
Kodie Curran	Ambri-Piotta	1	4	23	NLA
Noel Hoefenmayer	Laval	1	7	13	AHL
Colton White	Utica	1	7	20	AHL
Madison Bowey	Cleveland	0	4	22	AHL
Jonathan Aspirot	Calgary	2	13	25	AHL
Matt Irwin	Free Agent	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Mac Hollowell	WBS Penguins	0	16	22	AHL

Again, the complete lack of offence shown by this group has me puzzled as to what Team Canada was doing when asking players if they want to play in Davos. Bringing seven defenders with AHL experience who have five goals between them doesn't scream "offence from the blue line". This group will need to defend well if they're going to challenge for a spot in the final.

Goaltenders

Name	Team	Record	GAA	Sv%	League
Dylan Ferguson	Iowa	3-4-0	3.30	.900	AHL
Colten Ellis	Springfield	8-5-2	2.80	.916	AHL
Antoine Bibeau	KooKoo Kuovola	6-10-7	2.67	.902	Liiga

Team Canada is putting a lot of faith in three AHL-level goaltenders, two of which are backup netminders for their teams. Bibeau has played in big games before, but his best years between the pipes came before the pandemic. Ellis may win the starting job just by being the best goalie Canada has on its roster, but he's going to need help to get Canada to the final. Ferguson is a fine goaltender as well, but he needs to make more saves than what he's shown in Iowa.

Things won't be easy on Boxing Day as Canada has a showdown with HC Davos in their first game, and Davos has all sorts of talent playing for them. Adam Tambellini is tied for sixth-place in Swiss league scoring, they have Filip Zadina and Julius Honka skating for them, big Klas Dahlbeck and known pest Brenden Lemieux will likely be on the ice, and they have to get through netminder Sandro Aeschlimann who sports a 1.99 GAA and a .931 save percentage.

Depending on Canada's result in that game, they will play Germany's Straubing Tigers on Friday or Saturday, but Straubing won't be a pushover either as they were in the Champions' League playoff bracket, they boast former Flyers forward Taylor Leier and former Jets forward JC Lipon, Philip Samuelsson, Nelson Nogier, and Justin Braun control their blue line, and Zane McIntyre is their starting netminder. Straubing has a ton of experience and skill, so Canada will be in for another test regardless of a win or less against Davos.

This team could either surprise a lot of people - myself included - or disappoint a number of fans, but it will be up to Gerard Gallant, Dave Hakstol, and Mike Kelly to get them playing as a team that looks more like a polished squad than a group of guys thrown together a week before the tournament starts. If nothing else, though, I want to see Canada work their tails off in out-hustling their opposition. Canadian teams that do that often win at this tournament, so it will have to be sixty-minute efforts every game.

The Spengler Cup tournament starts on Boxing Day. Are you ready?

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!