For as long as I’ve watched the Olympics, there has always been some kind of bickering over rosters for a variety of sports. Hockey is a lightning rod for the Winter version. USA Hockey has always followed a “team building” formula, and the last time I looked, the last one was in 1980. For the men’s team.  

The pressure on general manager Bill Guerin is immense. The expectation is that this team is supposed to be able to compete and possibly beat the field. Canada will be the favorite, but there are a lot of good teams. 

“Well, there are many more teams in this tournament than just the United States and Canada,” said USA general manager Bill Guerin. Obviously, I think we’re probably the two biggest names when you look at the rosters for Sweden, Finland, and look at Germany with Leon Draisaitl. He’s a one-man wrecking ball out there. He can win games on his own. And it’s one-game elimination when you get down to it. So, we can’t look past anybody, and we didn’t build our team just to play Canada, because we don’t know if we’re going to play Canada.” 

Mike Sullivan is the head coach. He talked about a few players, and one of them was Jake Sanderson. 

“I think he’s an emerging elite defenseman in this league,” said Sullivan. “He’s mobile, he has good size, he can play on a power play. He’s a good defender. He can kill penalties. He drives offense with his ability to make outlet passes and join the rush.” 

Sullivan is right. But size matters; both Sullivan and Guerin talked about it. It wasn’tthe biggest reason, but another factor. Lane Hutson and Adam Fox are good enough to be on this team. They’re not. I think it’s an easier argument to say they should be on the team. Fox is a right-handed shot and could easily be there over Seth Jones. I would have chosen Lane Hutson over Noah Hanifin. Is Hanifin safe anymore? I don’t think so. Hutson could be there in case the U.S. offense stalls. He would be a great extra option. Now, Team USA lacks dynamic offensive play on the blueline. 

Jason Robertson can play either side of the wing, so that takes away one of the arguments Bill Guerin tried to make regarding versatility. Is he a better scorer than Jake Guentzel? Of course, Sullivan likes Guentzel. My Off the Post podcast partner, Mike Augello, said some of this may come down to who a coach trusts to play in a gold medal game. I think he’s right. I would trust Cole Caufield. He’s been in big games, but he was left off as well.

I would start Jake Oettinger over Connor Hellebuyck. You can split them at the beginning, but I think Oettinger is the better goalie this season.  

Team USA achieved a “safe” roster with some flashy players. Is this team less scary than it could have been? I think so.