Do you remember having followed the Channel One Cup closely? We neither.
The tournament, which is part of the Euro Hockey Tour, serves as a preparation for European selections before major international events. For example: the Olympics.
Canada was invited to register a team there, in December 2017, a few weeks before the PyeongChang Olympics, in which the NHL players did not participate. And now, a few weeks before the Beijing Olympics, where we should this time see the best skaters in the world in action, Canada will return to the Channel One Cup, which will begin in mid-December in Russia.
A random ? Absolutely not. As rumors escalate, Hockey Canada has wanted to be ready to roll out a Plan B if the NHL and the Players’ Association withdraw from the Games by January 10, 2022, a deadline set in conjunction with the International Olympic Committee. and the International Ice Hockey Federation for a withdrawal without financial consequences. This deadline precedes the opening of the Games by less than a month.
Hailing himself to be part of the “best prepared federation in the world”, Hockey Canada’s vice-president of hockey operations, Scott Salmond, refused to speak of a “plan B”, referring instead to a “plan A if ever. the NHL did not participate in the Olympics ”.
The result is the same: “We want to prepare for all scenarios, and one of them is a potential NHL decision not to participate. ”
Salmond assured that he did not have “additional information” as to the probabilities of seeing (or not) Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl representing Canada and Germany in Beijing. In recent weeks, on the other hand, we have heard that the fear of a proliferation of COVID-19 has cooled some enthusiasm. Journalist Pierre LeBrun wrote in Athletics that the All-Star Game in Las Vegas just before the Games was a cause for concern.
Scott Salmond also acknowledged that the Channel One Cup had been added to Hockey Canada’s calendar with the prospect of having to bring together a team made up of local players who play in Europe. This was done in 2017, when the Olympic team was made up of players who took part in the Channel One Cup and then the Spengler Cup. The first tournament brings together mainly players who play in the KHL, and the second athletes who play all over the continent.
Julien in reinforcement
Another clue to the plausibility of the scenario raised by Salmond: the appointment of Claude Julien at the head of the teams that will participate in the two events.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, ARCHIVES THE PRESS
Claude Julien,
Canada’s head coaches at the Spengler Cup are typically well-known figures in the hockey world, but rarely – if ever – candidates who are actively on the NHL head coach circuit.
Craig MacTavish, for example, who got the job in 2019, hadn’t been behind a bench full-time in seven years. Guy Boucher was the Canadian driver in 2014 and 2015, when his main job was with SC Bern – he returned to the NHL in 2016-17.
Julien was in the NHL less than a year ago. His situation is the same as that of Willie Desjardins, in 2017-2018, when he led Canada, successively, to the Channel One Cup, the Spengler Cup and the Olympics.
While Desjardins has turned to junior hockey since the 2019-2020 season, Claude Julien was probably becoming the most natural candidate, especially since he is one of the only members of the coaching staff of the Sochi who is not currently in the NHL – the other being Mike Babcock, who has been on the sidelines since his reputation as a bully with his players was revealed.
If the NHL players do take part in the Beijing Olympics, Jon Cooper of the Tampa Bay Lightning will be the head coach of the Canadian squad.