LeBrun: Doug Armstrong's work as Team Canada's Olympics GM is already underway

Doug Armstrong will wear two hats right through February 2026, already well into preparations as Team Canadas Olympics general manager.

Hes got his long list of players.

Hes in constant communication with 4 Nations Face-Off GM Don Sweeney about the Canadian roster, overlapping events which will go a long way in helping determine which players defend the Olympic best-on-best titles last earned in 2010 and 2014.

Advertisement In the second part of our interview with the St.

Louis Blues GM, we focused on Team Canada.

We had a meeting at the Ivan Hlinka tournament (in Edmonton last month), all the management and coaches for the 4 Nations, Armstrong said.

Don and the management group put together a scouting plan for the first couple months of the season.

Weve got a long list and now our responsibility is to go out and scout these players.

And theres some urgency to it all.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed via email that the deadline to submit full rosters for the 4 Nations is Dec.

2, more than two months before the actual event.

Its way less time for all four countries involved to view players, but thats probably a bigger pressure point for the country with the most players in the NHL.

Thats coming very quick, Armstrong said of the Dec.

2 deadline.

The tournament isnt until February, but the decisions have to be made a couple of months in advance.

The window for the players to impress is short, and we have to get out there to watch as many games as we can.

The Stanley Cup playoffs last season and the mens IIHF World Championship have already helped form some roster thoughts, but there are more answers needed in a shorter time period.

It is (shorter), which condenses the scouting you want to do in the fall here, Sweeney told The Athletic this past week.

Thats why we spent a lot of time on that as far as coverage-wise and seeing guys and divvying it up.

And supplementing it with video and analytics stuff.

Weve checked off a lot of those boxes.

But yes, Dec.

2, its got to be a bit of longer list in terms of knock on wood I suspect all of us will face some form of injury decisions between now and when the tournament starts.

Point being, their list will likely go beyond the actual roster as far as having players ready to go in case of injury replacements.

Advertisement Each 4 Nations team has already named its original six players, with Team Canada going with Connor McDavid , Sidney Crosby , Nathan MacKinnon , Brad Marchand , Brayden Point and Cale Makar .

Now comes the hard part: picking the rest of the 23-man roster.

Weve got a pretty good target list overall, Sweeney said.

Were staying as wide as possible.

Weve narrowed the focus down to what we think the primary guys will be outside of the six we already named.

We had really good meetings in Edmonton with the coaches and sort of merged where the management staff as a whole was focusing on, he added.

So that we were all on the same page.

We didnt focus so much on the individual names it was about the identity of the team and the direction we wanted to head into overall.

I think the players will dictate how theyre playing and the final decisions will be very difficult.

One of the long-lasting memories of that 2014 Olympic gold-medal-winning team in Sochi, Russia, was how surgical Team Canadas performance was.

Low-scoring games with massive puck possession on the bigger ice.

It wasnt about putting on a show.

Carey Price was great when called upon, but I remember from my seat in the media tribune in the rink seeing him yawn at one point during the gold medal game.

He didnt need to steal a game.

It was an absolute clinic by Canadas skaters.

The 4 Nations event, as well as the Olympics in Italy, will be played on NHL-size ice.

I asked Sweeney what he pictured as the identity of this edition of Team Canada.

Overall we want to be a balanced team, strength up the middle of the ice is significant for us, Sweeney said.

We started to ask which guys are capable of playing the wing were very blessed with having a lot of centermen as elite players.

So I think were in a really good position.

Its just a matter of working smart pairs and sets and who can complement each other on the forward lines as well as the back end.

Weve got some really tough decisions to make because weve got some young players that are also emerging.

Advertisement Obviously Sweeney wasnt going to get into names, but when I think about young emerging players, I think of Wyatt Johnston , 21, from the Dallas Stars , whose Stanley Cup playoffs this past spring (10 goals, six assists in 19 games) for sure would have rocketed him up Team Canadas radar.

Obviously experience will be key, whether its the 4 Nations or Olympic roster, but Team Canada hasnt been shy to take on youth.

Armstrong points back to 2010 in Vancouver.

If you would have had this conversation in 2009, Drew Doughty s name is probably not even mentioned, he said.

But all of sudden he has a great year, he goes to the worlds and plays great and makes the Olympic team.

I would say someones going to do that.

I dont know who its going to be.

But someone we dont have on our list now is going to make it a hard decision by February in 2026.

Dont rush these decisions, Armstrong said.

My experience working with (2010 and 2014 Canadian Olympic GM) Steve Yzerman is take the time thats allotted because its to your benefit, said Armstrong, who was part of those 2010 and 2014 management staffs.

The 4 Nations roster will have a lot of repeat candidates for Italy 2026, of course, but those 12 months still loom large as far as allowing for change.

There will be a couple of players that might age out, Armstrong said.

Theres a years difference and younger players will have an opportunity to make the (Olympic) team.

Team Canada, as always, will be stacked best on best.

But gone is the goaltending depth the country once had.

Theres no Price in goal, theres no Roberto Luongo, Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy, Ed Belfour or Grant Fuhr, either.

Stuart Skinner improved his stock in helping the Oilers to the Cup final.

Armstrongs goalie in St.

Louis, Jordan Binnington , has won a Cup and had a resurgence last season.

Adin Hill won the Cup with Vegas in 2023.

Sam Montembeault won a world championship in 2023.

But lets be real, its not a deep, reassuring list in net for Team Canada.

Which is uncharted territory.

Advertisement I understand why its a topic, began Armstrong, when asked about it.

But my view of (NHL) goaltending is that the floor is closer to the ceiling now and closer than ever before.

Thats why you dont see a generational goalie thats at the top of the league like Brodeur was, or Belfour, or Patrick or Hasek for a decade, you see players come in and go out every couple of years.

Thats just because I think the floor is so high.

The only goalies to win a Stanley Cup over the last decade have been Russian or Canadian, added the Blues GM.

So were in pretty good shape if youre using that as a barometer.

The fact of the matter is, Team Canada also doesnt have to name its starting goalie until closer to the 4 Nations event.

It will name three goalies by Dec.

2 but head coach Jon Cooper doesnt have to tip his hand to his No.

1 until the February tournament.

Go with the hot hand.

Whoever is playing the best closer to that tournament will probably get the nod, Armstrong said.

But while no one connected with Team Canada will say it, I think the issues in goal will absolutely affect the rest of the roster selections.

The idea will be to suppress as many scoring chances as possible.

Of course Team Canada will have its offensive stars, but I think a lot of the 50-50 roster calls will bend toward defensive acumen.

Either way, let the fun begin.

Canada as a country loves nothing better than debating best-on-best roster decisions.

(Photo of Carey Price celebrating Team Canadas 2014 Olympic gold medal victory against Sweden: Winslow Townson / USA Today).

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