Maple Leafs’ John Tavares left off Team Canada was no snub

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John Tavares was not snubbed by being left off Team Canada for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-off tournament in February.

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He wasn’t selected — which is a more accurate way to characterize his situation.

Team Canada chose six centres for coach Jon Cooper’s team. At least two of them will wind up playing on the wing. You can’t pick Tavares over Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon or Sidney Crosby.

Circumstantially on a fourth line, the shutdown line, you can’t take Tavares over Anthony Cirelli or Sam Bennett either.

So, where’s the snub?

Other centres around the NHL may feel left out or snubbed and some have reason to: Mark Scheifele should have been picked and wasn’t. He was left off primarily because of personality. Nick Suzuki, who could have been selected — maybe should have been — was left off probably because he didn’t play in the world championship for Canada when he was asked. That stuff matters.

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Scheifele was the best forward on the best team in hockey for most of the first quarter of this NHL season. He has seven more points than Tavares. He has an argument against being left behind. Suzuki has five more points than Tavares. Connor Bedard, having a rather awful season, is just three points behind Tavares. By next year, when looking forward to the Olympics in Milan, the sophomore star might be Team Canada-bound.

It’s the same with St. Louis centre Robert Thomas, who has 101 points in his past 97 games — although he has played only 15 this season because of injury — and he’s certain to be in the conversation for an Olympic spot.
If you remove your Leafs jersey for a moment and look at this objectively, there are probably 10 or 11 centres Team Canada would probably pick before Tavares, who once was an obvious choice.

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This is not a snub now. It’s not an insult. This is the reality of assessing 345 Canadians who play in the NHL and choosing a national team with only 23 of them included.

THIS AND THAT

How much has Chris Tanev meant to the Leafs? You could argue right now that, aside from Mitch Marner, he’s the club’s MVP through 25 games. The pairing of Tanev and Jake McCabe, the Leafs’ first real shutdown combination in years, has incredible numbers while playing together — usually against the best players on the other team. They have been scored upon only four times at 5-on-5 in 220 plus minutes of playing together. Those are just about the best numbers in hockey … Tanev has been scored on only 11 times at even strength in the regular season after being on the ice just 20 times all of last season. Cale Makar, the best defenceman in the world, has been scored on 19 times already. Victor Hedman might be the most complete defenceman in the NHL despite being Tavares’ age. At even strength, he’s been on for 24 goals for versus just 13 against … The Leafs are second in the NHL in goals against. And no, that’s not a misprint. The previous time they ranked this high? The year before that 10-player blockbuster that brought Doug Gilmour to Toronto with Craig Berube part of the package heading out to Calgary. Pat Burns was the Leafs coach in 1993. Felix Potvin was the goalie … The Leafs were 21st in goals against last year. In the 15 years after the lost season to lockout, they have averaged finishing 24th in goals against. Second isn’t something we know a lot about … Things in life that don’t make sense: The Detroit Red Wings have a better power play than the Edmonton Oilers this season. The Oilers, who looked all-time great in previous years with the man advantage, ranked 19th in the NHL heading into Saturday night … Anthony Stolarz has lost seven games in goal for the Leafs. His teammates have scored seven goals in those seven defeats. Joseph Woll has lost two games for Toronto, with three total goals of support … This is the best hockey Marner has ever played. He’s going to get paid, as if he’s not getting paid well now. Wish he had a little more William Nylander in him, a little more Auston Matthews bravado. A little more whimsy to enjoy his lofty place in the game. Too often, Marner looks like he’s been taken hostage to do post-game or pre-game interviews … By the time playoffs come around, the Leafs have to upgrade on Nick Robertson, Pontus Holmberg, Connor Dewar and probably Fraser Minten, who is getting better. I know a lot of people are calling for the Leafs to pick up Ryan O’Reilly again at the deadline. Coach Berube won a Stanley Cup in St. Louis with O’Reilly playing amazing, and he’d probably welcome him being dealt to the Leafs. But the O’Reilly playing on a rather dreadful Nashville team doesn’t look much like the Conn Smythe-winning O’Reilly. He looks too much like Tomas Plekanec to me. That’s a red flag … Leafs management likes big defenceman Jacob Trouba, the recently traded Rangers captain. And they might have some interest in Trouba, if Anaheim or somebody else eats a lot of salary, at the deadline. Odds are, the Leafs, with limited cap room, will look to add a forward of prominence in March … You know who got snubbed? Tage Thompson of Buffalo. He’s 6-foot-6. He’s 220. He’s got 14 goals in 21 games. Don’t understand how or why Bill Guerin left him off Team USA.

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HEAR AND THERE

The Blue Jays, reportedly, are offering upwards of $700 million for 14 years of the free agent Juan Soto. His slash line from last season was an impressive .288/.419/.569. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s slash line from last season: .323/.396/.544. The Jays have yet to sign Guerrero beyond next season. Soto is five months older than Vladdy, but the Jays have now established a rather high price for their first baseman. It would have made a lot more sense to sign Guerrero first and then go after Soto, not the opposite … Former Cleveland star Carlos Baerga has been highly critical of the Jays for their handling of the Guerrero contract situation. He has also been highly critical of club president Mark Shapiro, who happened to be in Cleveland when he played most of his career with the Indians/Guardians … At the end of the 2023 season, Shapiro said this when asked about the sagging popularity of himself and his general manager, Ross Atkins. And remember: this was 14 months ago: “I’m not interested in winning over anyone to me or to Ross. I just want to do what makes the fans happy and that’s to win. To win a championship. It’s not about me. Never has been. It’s about our team and about our players and it’s about bringing a world championship to this city and this country.” He said that after the Jays won 89 games and made the playoffs. This year, the Jays won 74 games this year and didn’t make the playoffs. What Shapiro is missing, then and now, is that it is about him and it is about Atkins. It’s their team, their decisions, their reputations on the line. Toronto is a sports town that has lived through John Ferguson Jr. and the late Rob Babcock. We understand bad management. We understand poor planning. We understand losing. But don’t condescend the fan base. Many know more of the history of the Jays than do the two front office people in charge … Free agent Alex Bregman has been offered $156 million to stay with the Houston Astros for the next six seasons. He apparently wants $200 million. The contract the Astros are offering is almost exactly what the Jays paid to sign George Springer four years ago.

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SCENE AND HEARD

When I wrote in this place, and on Twitter, that defenceman Travis Sanheim should be on Team Canada and Evan Bouchard should not, you would think I had insulted everyone I’d ever met in my life. I was called every name in the book. I was asked: How do you have a job? The insults came from everywhere. Team Canada was named on Wednesday. Sanheim, from the Philadelphia Flyers, is on the team. Bouchard is not. I presume all the apologies will arrive when the mail strike ends …In June, I would have bet that Bouchard, Zach Hyman and Wyatt Johnston would have been on Team Canada. They might still be there next year. But none of them have had good enough seasons this year to be selected … Scotty Bowman, behind the bench with a staff of Jacques Lemaire and Ken Hitchcock, couldn’t win with this version of the Blackhawks. Firing Luke Richardson in Chicago was more of an indictment of team management than it is about the coaching with the Hawks … On Sunday in junior hockey. Erie at Brampton. Matthew Schaefer versus Porter Martone. The bet here: One of those two will be the first pick in June’s NHL draft … One of my favourite junior hockey experiences: I took my kids years ago to Guelph to watch Drew Doughty play against Steven Stamkos for the last time as juniors. Stamkos went first in the NHL draft of 2008. Doughty went second … This is not the greatest freshman class in NBA history, but Toronto’s Zach Edey is considered a contender for rookie of the year at this stage of the season … How would you like to be Henri Jokiharju of the Buffalo Sabres, the only Finnish D-man currently playing regularly in the NHL not selected to Team Finland? Finland chose Jani Hakanpaa off the Leafs’ injured reserve list ahead of Jokiharju.

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AND ANOTHER THING

Trivia question: Who is currently the highest-paid athlete in Canadian professional sports? You won’t get this. Ask your friends. They won’t get it either. The answer: Immanuel Quickley of the Raptors, who is being paid $32.5 million this season and has played in three games, all of them losses. And making just a touch more than $32.5 million: The combination of Leon Draisaitl, Quinn Hughes, Marner and Suzuki this season… When Scottie Barnes’ new deal kicks in next season, he’ll be getting $44 million US, which is about $60 million Cdn, which is $10 million more than the nine rosters in the entire Canadian Football League pay out to their players, give or take a dollar … Toronto Tempo. That’s the new WNBA team name. I like it, do you? … By the way, they don’t call defencemen defencemen in the PWHL. They’re called defenders. The term is gender neutral. In case, you were wondering … Congrats to Dave Perkins, long-time columnist at the Toronto Star, for being elected in the media wing of Canada’s Baseball Hall of Fame. Well-deserved … If you’re counting Pinball Clemons as Canadian, and I am, there are six Canadian general managers in the Canadian Football League. And four Canadian head coaches. That is the most Canadian the CFL has ever been in the modern era … Bob McCown wasn’t just on sports radio, he all but invented it in Canada. He made it his. The one-word legend: Bobcat. He changed broadcasting forever in this country and set a standard so high that no one else may ever match it. On Thursday, McCown announced on social media that he was ending his podcast after more than 1,000 episodes and after 40-plus years on conventional radio and television before that. That’s like losing an old friend, even if McCown wasn’t always friendly. He made you listen. He made you care. He made you think. You never changed channels. To say he will be missed is an understatement of grand proportions … If anyone can explain to me what’s happening to U.S. college sports, please do. Football and basketball programs are hiring GMs. Free agency is rampant. Billionaries are talking about buying college teams. I try not to be Clint Eastwood from the fabulous film Gran Torino on this, but under- the-table money aside, I will happily settle for the good old corrupt past … Happy birthday to Larry Bird ((68), Josh Donaldson (39), Johnny Bench (77), Vernon Wells (46), Gerry Cheevers (84), Red Berenson (85), Doughty (35), Thatcher Demko (29), Peter Laviolette (60), Pete Alonso (30) and Garry Unger (77) … And hey, whatever became of Michael Grabner?

ssimmons@postmedia.com

X: @simmonssteve

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