MILAN — If the Team Canada brass thought Jordan Binnington’s performance at 4 Nations would quiet the noise around their goaltending situation, they couldn’t have been more wrong.
Goaltending is still the biggest question mark around the national team that once went from Patrick Roy to Martin Brodeur to Roberto Luongo in nets, and Team Canada is steadfastly refusing to name a starter between its trio of Binnington, Logan Thompson and Darcy Kuemper.
“I’m not announcing that here with you guys,” coach Jon Cooper said following practice Wednesday, when the three goalies seemed to rotate throughout.
Jordan Binnington is one of the candidates to start between the pipes for Team Canada. REUTERS
“Love you all, but that’s not happening. [The players will] know tonight.”
One tidbit Cooper did offer: “There’s a really good chance” that Canada will start two different goalies in its first two games. The Canadians open on Thursday against Czechia before facing Switzerland the next day.
In essence, the conversation comes down to how much Cooper and co are weighing Binnington’s history of clutch performances — in the 4 Nations final and Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, for a start — against his terrible .864 save percentage with the Blues this season.
“He proved everything I felt about him,” Cooper said of Binnington’s 4 Nations. “On the biggest stage, at the biggest moment, at the biggest time, he delivered. And I’ve seen that before. There’s just some guys that got that it factor and he delivered when we needed him most.”
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Thompson, who didn’t make the 4 Nations squad after being traded from assistant coach Bruce Cassidy’s Golden Knights to the Capitals, is having the best season right now of the three, with a .912 save percentage in Washington.
Kuemper, a Stanley Cup champion with the 2022 Avalanche, is sitting at .900 with the Los Angeles Kings.
Team Canada coach Jon Cooper. REUTERS
The way Canada is talking, though, it would be no surprise if Binnington leads them out for warmups on Thursday.
“I just go back to January last year,” said Canada GM Doug Armstrong, who holds the same title in St. Louis. “Hearing the same things and saw how that turned out. So, it made me quite comfortable.”