Great players left off of Canada’s roster

The final rosters for the World Cup of Hockey will be announced today. Finland, Russia, Sweden and the Czech Republic filled out their 23-man rosters this morning, and the remaining four teams will be named this afternoon.

When Canada’s final roster is finalized there will be a lot of debate among passionate Canadian fans. Some very good players won’t make the roster, but will we see ten eventual Hall of Famers omitted?

That is what happened in 1991.

Canada has always had incredible depth. A second team could be very competitive in these tournaments, but I think the 1991 Team Canada omissions would be considered the greatest group of players not to play in the tournament.

The 1991 Canada Cup roster:

A pretty solid lineup, but here is a list of Hall of Fame players who did not make that team, so don’t be the fool who later today claims a player isn’t good because he didn’t make
Canada’s World Cup of Hockey team. Canada has incredible depth, and the best players don’t always make the team.

Adam Oates: 28 years old. He had 25 goals and 115 points in 60
games in 1990/1991.
Joe Sakic: 23 and scored 48 goals and 109 points.
Steve Yzerman: 25 when he had 51 goals and 108 points.
Cam Neely. Also 25 when he scored 51 goals in 1990/1991.
Ron Francis was 27 years old. Had 87 points in 81 games.
Joe Nieuwendyk was 24 years old coming off a 45 goal season.
Doug Gilmour was 27. He made it four years earlier but was left off this group.
Mike Gartner made it in 1987, but at 31 years old with 49 goals he didn’t make the cut.
Denis Savard wasn’t named in 1987 or again here at 29 years old.
Glenn Anderson was 30 years old, but didn’t crack the lineup.

**Ray Bourque opted not to play. Mario Lemieux was ill.**

Ten Hall of Fame forwards did not make the team. Head coach Mike Keenan opted for some more defensive-oriented checkers instead. It had many people fired up, but Canada won so it was hard to criticize his choices. Although I’d say Canada won because of their top-end talent, more than who was standing behind the bench.

The crazy part about the ten omissions was how different their styles of play were. Oates, Yzerman, Savard and Sakic were offensive geniuses. Gilmour and Francis were solid two-way players. Neely was a power forward. Anderson a reckless, have-no-fear winger who produced in important games. Nieuwendyk was a pure shooter who had scored an amazing 192 goals in his first four seasons. While Gartner was a veteran speedster who had amassed seven 40+ goals seasons in his first 12 seasons.

When you look at who didn’t make the 1991 team, don’t be surprised if some players not named to Canada’s World Cup team today will end up in the Hall of Fame as well. Canada has so much depth that many great players are left off the team every time the World Cup or Olympics come around.

We can go back to the 1987 Canada Cup and we’ll see some big names missing again.

It is interesting to note Gilmour made the team in 1987 when he was 23, but didn’t make the cut at 27.

Scott Stevens didn’t make it at 23 years old. The following season, 1987/1988, he scored 72 points in 80 games and was a dominant physical force.

Al MacInnis was also excluded at 23 years old despite scoring 76 points in 79 games in 1986/1987. He was named to the tournament all-star team in 1991.

Denis Potvin was considered too old at 33.

Francis, Dino Ciccarrelli and Bernie Federko weren’t included in 1987 either.

Some players will be extremely disappointed later today when they aren’t named to Canada’s team and the other seven teams in the tournament, but they should realize many greats before them were also left off of these star-studded rosters.