McGuire's Olympic picks

One year from the start of the competition, TSN's Pierre McGuire has made his picks for the 2010 Canadian men's Olympic hockey team....check out who Pierre likes at this link here.

Personally, I think he got it mostly right but he's got rocks in his head for picking Carey Price as one of the goalies. Has he seen Price play lately? The Carey Price of 2007-08 had a shot at this team but the Carey Price of 2008-09 has no shot at all. Price needs to come back with a much better 2009-10 if he wants to be on the team a year from now.

Same goes for Steve Mason, who McGuire left off the team (Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo are the other two goalies with Price) but who McGuire said was close to beating out Price. Uh, Mason is 20 years old and hasn't even played one full pro season yet. Yeah, Mason has been spectacular in the NHL this year but I'm just really leery of picking 20 and 21 year olds for something as big as the Olympics, especially an Olympics being played at home in Canada. The pressure on the Canadian players to win gold is going to be unbelievable and I think more consideration has to be given to experience and maturity. Guys who have been through the pressure cooker before, etc. I know we're talking about "only" the 3rd goalie here but it's still a guy who may, through injury or struggles by Luongo/Brodeur, potentially have to play a key role for the team. I think they need a more seasoned, veteran guy in there.

I would have definitely picked Cam Ward instead of Price....or even Marty Turco. Turco is having a tough year in the NHL this year but hey, so is Price and McGuire still picked Price. Ward is having a great year though and has been around a few years, won a Stanley Cup. I might even pick Marc-Andre Fleury ahead of Price too.

For defencemen he's got Bouwmeester, Boyle, Burns, Green, Niedermayer, Phaneuf, and Weber. Good picks, I think....and five of them are WHL grads too, how can you not like that. The most glaring omission here is probably Chris Pronger....but from his play recently it would appear Pronger's best years are behind him and he's moving into the last few years of his career here so maybe it shouldn't be that surprising. Other notable names left off.....Campbell, Regehr, Keith? But I don't see how you can take any of those 7 guys off that team except maybe Brent Burns but even at that, are any of the guys NOT on the team significantly better than Burns? I don't see it.

At forward, McGuire has Carter, Crosby, Doan, Gagne, Getzlaf, Heatley, Iginla, Lecavalier, Morrow, Nash, Mike Richards, Savard, and Thornton.

Biggest name not there is definitely Patrick Marleau. Jason Spezza isn't there either but quite frankly Spezza doesn't deserve it with his inconsistent play. No Eric Staal or Mike Cammalleri either.

McGuire has Savard as his 13th forward. I think I might have used that spot on a younger player, like a Jonathan Toews instead. Being the extra forward is a good place for a younger player (who Canada is going to count on in 4, 8, 12 years from now) to soak up some experience and it's not as big a deal as being the 3rd goalie because if your 13th forward struggles a bit when he gets to play, who cares. If your 3rd goalie struggles when he gets to play....big trouble.

All in all, some interesting reading which is sure to spark plenty of water-cooler talk around Canada in the next few days. Who do YOU think should and shouldn't be on the team, from McGuire's picks?