Canada’s All-Bust team: Worst roster picks of the best-on-best era
The beauty of best-on-best international hockey tournaments isn’t merely the hockey. Like with anything worth looking forward to, the anticipation is almost as good as the thing itself. As a Canadian hockey fan, that anticipation includes daydreaming about the All-Star roster Canada could put together, creating forward lines and defense pairings in your head that you would never see in the NHL.
Inevitably, though, the decision makers at Hockey Canada often deliver a roster that falls a bit short of those lofty expectations. Every time Canada puts together a men’s team for a best-on-best tournament, there are one or two players whose inclusions leave many fans scratching their heads.
The near-tradition of Canada including at least one player that makes you ask, “How did that guy make the team?” got me wondering: who are the worst players that have ever represented Canada at a best-on-best tournament? To figure that out, I put together the worst possible all-time team (four forward lines, three defense pairings, and two goaltenders), picking from Canada’s rosters in any Canada Cup, World Cup, Olympics, or last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off.
Before we get into the team, allow me to make some clarifying notes. I’m not considering any players from the 1972 Summit Series, as that was a series rather than a tournament, and the exclusion of World Hockey Association (WHA) players made it not quite best-on-best. A player’s inclusion on this team is not a judgement on their entire career; it is simply based on the quality of the player going into a given tournament. A player’s inclusion has nothing to do with how well or poorly they played within any given tournament. A player can only be on this team once, even if they appeared in multiple best-on-best tournaments. Also, I’m not implying any of these players are bad. In fact, they’re (mostly) pretty good relative to your average NHLer.
Since the point of this team is to make it as bad as possible, the construction of the team will be inverted, with the worst players making up the top forward line and defense pairing.
So, without further ado, let’s dive into Canada’s worst best-on-best all-time team.
Forwards
Kirk Maltby, Det (’04 WC) – Kris Draper, Det (’06 OG) – Rob Zamuner, TBL (’98 OG)
This is legitimately a third line in the NHL, maybe even a fourth line on a good team. Of course, this team would be incomplete without the infamous Zamuner. It’s probably wrong to say Zamuner regrets making that ’98 Olympic team, but it’s got to suck a little to have become the poster boy for dumb Canadian roster choices. Looking back now, it really is mystifying how he cracked the squad. His best ever season was a 50-point campaign in 1996-97, and he only managed 26 points during the Olympic season of 1997-98. Draper and Maltby were beloved heart-and-soul grinders on the elite Detroit Red Wings teams of the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, but as bottom-six role players, they never should have sniffed Team Canada. Both were on the ’04 World Cup team, though Maltby never actually played. Draper being on that team is slightly excusable, as he was coming off a career-best 40-point season, but putting a 34-year-old Draper on the ’06 Olympic team is not.
Adam Graves, NYR (’96 WC) – Anthony Cirelli, TBL (’25 4N) – Dirk Graham, Chi (’91 CC)
Graves was a fan favorite for the Rangers, still riding high off their ’94 Stanley Cup win by the time the ’96 World Cup rolled around. He had the reputation as a strong, two-way forward, having garnered some Selke and even Hart votes for the 1993-94 season. But he was never truly an elite player and was coming off just a 58-point season heading into the World Cup. I think we all understand that Cirelli, who’s never even had a 60-point season, isn’t actually good enough to be on Team Canada, but we have to accept it because his NHL coach is also Canada’s coach. Graham won the Selke Trophy for the 1990-91 season, so Canada was probably compelled to put him on the ‘91 team. But he was past his peak offensively, coming off just a 45-point season. And if the Selke is still a reputation-based award today, imagine how specious it could’ve been in 1991.
Shayne Corson, Mtl (’91 CC) – Bob Bourne, NYI (’84 CC) – Brenden Morrow, Dal (’10 OG)
Corson only had 47 points in the 1990-91 season. He broke out the year prior with 75 points and an All-Star nod, but it’s hard to imagine him making the ’91 Canada Cup team based on one good but not great season two years earlier. Bourne entered the ’84 Canada Cup at the tail end of a prime that was never that great to begin with. He never had a point-per-game season and likely had an outsized reputation thanks to being on the dynastic ‘80s Islanders. Morrow always felt like the odd man out on an otherwise stacked ’10 Canadian Olympic team. He had just 46 points in the Olympic season of 2009-10.
Chris Kunitz, Pit (’14 OG) – Brent Sutter, NYI (’84 CC) – Claude Lemieux, Mtl (’87 CC)
To make Team Canada as a non-star, you either have to “know how to play a bottom-six role,” “take draws and kill penalties,” or, in Kunitz’s case, be lucky enough to have “established chemistry” with a generational superstar. I guess being Sidney Crosby’s linemate is a pretty good gig if you can get it. Sutter wound up being a Team Canada staple, making the ’87 and ’91 Canada Cup teams as well, but his inclusion on the ’84 team is pretty questionable in retrospect. He had only played three full NHL seasons to that point and failed to crack 50 points in any of them. A 22-year-old Lemieux making the ’87 team is also odd, given he only had one full NHL season under his belt in which he managed just 53 points.
Defensemen
Scott Hannan, SJ (’04 WC) – Drew Doughty, LA (’26 OG)
Sorry Drew! Doughty’s inclusion on last year’s 4 Nations team already felt like an honorary hat tip, but putting him on this year’s Olympic team is a bridge too far. With just 14 points in 48 games this season, he is a far cry from the Team Canada shoo-in he once was. The ’04 World Cup came at the perfect time for Hannan, as he had just gotten the reputation as a “shutdown” defenseman during the San Jose Sharks’ run to the Western Conference Final. His shine was short-lived, as San Jose let him walk in free agency just a couple years later.
Brian Engblom, Mtl (’81 CC) – Randy Gregg, Edm (’84 CC)
Engblom made the ’81 team coming off a 28-point season in which he led the NHL with a +63 plus/minus. In his first season away from the Montreal Canadiens just a couple years later, his plus/minus plummeted to -5. Something tells me that +63 could’ve been a bit misleading. Speaking of benefitting from being on great teams, Gregg had a career-best 40 points on the Edmonton Oliers the season leading into the ’84 Canada Cup. He never came close to that production again.
Dan Hamhuis, Van (’14 OG) – Lyle Odelein, Mtl (’96 WC)
Hamhuis was a good NHL defenseman for a long time, but his inclusion on the ’14 team always felt underwhelming. He’s one of those players that got called underrated so much he eventually became overrated. Odelein was a rugged, defense-first defenseman that was a key part of Montreal’s ’93 Stanley Cup team. He only had 17 points the season leading into the ’96 World Cup. Looking back, it seems hard to justify putting such a limited offensive player on the team.
Goaltenders
Jordan Binnington, Stl (’26 OG) – Sean Burke, NJD (’91 CC)
There may be no more obvious choice for this team than Binnington. He’s been awful this season for the St. Louis Blues, putting up numbers that make him look like a mediocre goalie from the ‘80s, but the current state of Canadian goaltending and the big saves he made in last year’s 4 Nations final combined to get him on this year’s Olympic team. Burke burst onto the NHL scene late in the 1987-88 season, coming straight from winning silver with the ’88 Canadian Olympic team and backstopping the Devils to a surprise conference finals appearance. But his numbers from the 1990-91 season were pretty rough. His .872 save percentage ranked 35th among goalies with at least 20 starts that year, and his 3.59 goals-against average ranked 29th.
_____
Recently by Ryan Cuneo
- Report: Predators end contract with CAA following NHLPA review
- 12 years without best-on-best at the Olympics has cost some players prime opportunity to play
- Lightning place Jack Finley on waivers
_____
PRESENTED BY DAILY FACEOFF’S OLYMPIC COVERAGE
Catch Every Goal from the 2026 Milan Games! The 2026 Milan Games are almost here, and the world’s best men’s and women’s hockey players are ready to battle for gold! The Nation Network is bringing you every game, every jaw-dropping save, and all the drama with live reaction streams and full recaps. Don’t miss a moment of Olympic hockey action—men’s, women’s, and everything in between—on the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel. Subscribe now and stay on top of every play!