Canucks: Which players could play in the 2022 Olympics?

The Vancouver Canucks are getting geared up to begin the 2021-22 NHL regular season in just over six weeks. After consecutive abnormal seasons, highlighted by the COVID-19 pause, the bubble in 2019-20 and then the 2021 shortened season in the Scotia North Division, the Canucks are looking forward to normalcy again. However, it appears that there will be another midseason disruption in this upcoming year. Fortunately, most hockey fans would welcome this break, as it seems likely that NHL players will be allowed to participate in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

As of right now, the NHL and the NHLPA, per its Collective Bargaining Agreement, have agreed to pause the 2021-22 season from February 7-22, allowing for player participation in the Olympics. For just over two weeks, the hockey world will turn its attention to Beijing to watch the greatest collection of hockey talent from around the world compete for a gold medal.

After having no NHL participation at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, fans of each country are ready to build their dream rosters full of extreme talent in hopes of standing atop the podium.

With that being said, throughout this piece we’ll go through each participating nation in the 2022 men’s ice hockey competition, and preview the chances of a Canuck player representing said nation on the world’s biggest hockey stage.

Let’s get started!

Group A:

Canada

Locks: Nobody. The Canucks have a decent plethora of Canadian talent up and down the roster in different roles, but making Team Canada is no easy task. As of right now, no one is even close to being a lock on Canada’s roster.

Possibility: Bo Horvat.

I really like Horvat’s game as a two-way centre. In international hockey, on the bigger ice surface, Horvat’s defensive ability could really come in handy throughout a tournament. His lack of elite scoring ability lets him down in this discussion, however, as he’s only scored 23 goals or more in one of his seven seasons. When it comes to Team Canada, centres like Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, Patrice Bergeron, and Brayden Point are all favourites way ahead of the Canuck captain.

Ultimately, unless Horvat starts off the 2021-22 campaign on a career-scoring pace, and if there’s some injuries to the aforementioned centres in front of him in the pecking order, his chances stand at a small possibility.

Minimal Hope: Nobody. If Tanner Pearson carried his 2019-20 play into last season, then he might have stood a chance at a fourth line role. However, given the rest of the Canucks’ roster, no one else stands a chance at getting into Team Canada’s elusive squad.

USA

Locks: Brock Boeser, Thatcher Demko and J.T. Miller.

All three of these Canucks players are definitely bound for Beijing come February, unless they have unfortunate injury concerns.

Boeser had a great year for the Canucks in 2020-21, putting up 49 points in 56 games. At around 0.875 points per game, Boeser will be one of the American’s best and most relied upon goal scorers. Given the team around him, Boeser should be in the mix for a top-six role on the team.

Demko will also be boarding the plane to Beijing, and should enjoy the tournament as the backup goaltender to Connor Hellebuyck. Catching Hellebuyck for the starter’s crease seems unlikely given Hellebuyck’s elite play over the past five seasons, which includes a Vezina trophy in 2019-20, but I feel he should be solid enough to beat out John Gibson and Jack Campbell to the number two spot.

Miller is the third Canuck guaranteed to find a spot on the USA roster, and should occupy a vital role as their third line centre. Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel will occupy the top two scoring lines for the Americans down the middle, but expect Miller to be on a solid two-way checking line during the tournament.

Possibility: Quinn Hughes and Conor Garland.

Hughes was nearly in the ‘locks’ category, but his downturn in play during his second season compared to his first puts a little bit of doubt in his stock. I still expect Hughes to make the journey to Beijing given his high octane potential on both ends of the ice, and I’d rate his chances around the 80% mark, but if he continues to struggle during the first half of the 2021-22 season, he may be in for an unfortunate outcome.

Garland has much less of a chance of making it to the Olympics compared to Hughes, and I’d probability put his chances at around 35%. Garland’s performances in Arizona over the last few years have been underrated, but he’ll need a strong campaign and some luck to go his way if he hopes to creep onto the American roster.

Minimal hope: Nobody. The Canucks only have a couple more Americans on their roster besides the one’s already listed, and none stand any chance of being selected to Team USA.

Germany

As of right now, the Canucks have no prominent German players within the organization.

Locks: N/A

Possibility: N/A

Minimal Hope: N/A

China

As of right now, the Canucks have no prominent Chinese players within the organization.

Locks: N/A

Possibility: N/A

Minimal Hope: N/A