Where did all the great French Canadian hockey stars go?
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When the final roster for Team Canada came out, there were a number of surprises and controversial omissions, but one that stood out was Montreal goalie Sam Montembeault getting picked over other contenders with significantly higher save percentages this year, such as Cam Talbot, Logan Thompson and Mackenzie Blackwood.
NHL insider John Shannon said on Oilers Now that he suspects politics played a role in Montembeault’s selection, and not the usual hockey politics, but the good, old-fashioned regional politics, a staple of the Canadian political landscape.
Speaking to Bob Stauffer of Oilers Now about Montembeault’s selection, Shannon noted the political nature of Hockey Canada, a federal organization.
“It doesn’t get mentioned very much, this is Hockey Canada,” Shannon said. “And I know it’s not a topic that gets brought up a lot in the province of Alberta, but if you look at the ratio of French-Canadian players to Anglos on the Canadian team, I don’t think they had any choice but to pick Samuel Montembeault for this roster.”
Montembeault, 28, is the only Quebec player on the roster of 13 forwards, seven defenceman and three goalies.
Stauffer asked Shannon if this was a partially political decision.
“I think everything with Hockey Canada is partly political,” Shannon said. “That’s not a knock at Sam Montembeault. He’s a good goaltender. But the reality is that I’m looking down this list and I’m looking at how many kids from Ontario, how many kids from the Maritimes, how many kids from the West. And really I only see one player from the province of Quebec.”
My take
1. Few no more about the politics and business of hockey than Shannon, a long-time producer at Hockey Night in Canada and league insider.
It hadn’t occurred to me that Montembeault had been picked for the team due to his birth place and the need to have a Quebec player on the team, but if Shannon says so, I put great weight in that assessment.
2. I note that four of the seven games of the Four Nations Face-off tournament are to be played in Montreal, so having at least one Montreal player on Team Canada might also have been a consideration.
3. Montembeault’s selection doesn’t necessarily align with giving Team Canada it’s best shot at winning.The top Canadian goalie in the NHL so far this year is Detroit’s Cam Talbot, 37, of Caledonia, Ontario, who has a .915 save percentage in 15 games.
Next best is Washington’s Logan Thompson, 27, of Calgary, Alberta, who is 13 games has a .913 save percentage.
San Jose’s Mackenzie Blackwood, 27, of Thunder Bay, Ontario has a .909 save percentage in 17 games.
As for Montembeault, 28, of Becancour, Quebec, he’s got a .901 save percentage in 19 games.
The two other Team Canada goalies Jordan Binnington and Adin Hill have .899 and .900 save percentages respectively but both have won Stanley Cups, making them proven big game performers.
4. Few would quarrel with the selection of Binnington or Hill, given that big game pedigree, but why wouldn’t Team Canada also place a bet on the hottest hand, either Talbot or Thompson? This isn’t a huge matter, given Canada will play at most four games, and only one or two goalies is likely to see any action, but on merit Thompson or Talbot should be in the running for the big job. They earned it.
But in Canada, earning it often doesn’t have anything to do with getting it.
5. What’s gone wrong with hockey in Quebec? There used to be little trouble finding French Canadian players for Team Canada, given the riches in hockey talent out of that province.
Team Canada has been lucky to have Quebec players such as Serge Savard, Yvan Cournoyer, Rod Gilbert, Jean Ratelle, Guy Lafleur, Gilbert Perreault, Denis Potvin, Norm Rochefort, Patrick Roy, Michel Goulet, Mario Lemieux, Ray Bourque, Claude Lemieux, Patrice Bergeron, Marc-Andre Fleury, Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Martin St. Louis and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
So many great players with so many great performances for Team Canada, all of them binding Canadians together in shared glory.
There are a numerous solid Quebecois players in the NHL, including Alexis Lafreniere, David Perron, Jonathan Marchessault, Phillip Danault, Jonathan Huberdeau, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kris Letang, Thomas Chabot, and Sam Girard, but not one superstar, and not one who just now cracked the forward and d-man Team Canada roster.
Danault is an excellent two-way player, and few would have quibbled if he would have been picked, but the lack of the highest end talent out of Quebec is notable.
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