Led by general manager Sean Burke and head coach Willie Desjardins, Hockey Canada unveiled its 25-man roster of the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, Korea.

The two-time defending gold medallists will be relying most heavily on players from the KHL, the Russian league from which 13 of the 25 are currently playing.

In addition, four players come from the top Swiss league (NL), three from the Swedish league (SHL) and American league (AHL). Germany (DEL) and Austria (EBEL) are providing one player each.

The youngest player on the roster is 25-year-old Christian Thomas (whose father, Steve, played at four World Championships, winning a gold and two silver) while the oldest is 37-year-old defenceman Chris Lee, who made his IIHF debut with Canada in sensational fashion at least year’s World Championship, helping the team win a silver medal.

This is a veteran and experienced team. The average age is 30.44, and only 8 of the 25 players are in their twenties. Interestingly, only Lee and Mat Robinson have never played in the NHL. At the other end, the team has three players with more than 700 NHL games to their credit: Chris Kelly (833), Derek Roy (738), and Rene Bourque (725).

“I think it’s fair to say there isn’t a player we didn’t look at,” Burke said. “We gave everyone a chance to make the team.”

“We want to be a tough team to play against,” Burke continued. “We have a lot of character. We have grit and character and skill. We have players who’ll do anything to win hockey games. This is the Olympic Games. It’s the greatest event we have. A lot of those players never dreamed they’d have this opportunity. We’re a hockey team, but we’re also representing Canada with all the other athletes who will be at the Olympics.”

“Most guys on this team have been told ‘no’ at some point in their careers,” started Desjardins. “No, they can’t play in the NHL. No, it’s over. But they’ve managed to battle and stuck with it. They didn’t give up. That’s their nature of being Canadian.”

The players will meet in Riga, Latvia, on 28th January and have 17 days before their first game of the Olympics. They’ll play three exhibition games leading up to PyeongChang during which time coach Desjardins will figure out who will be his starting goalie and which players will fulfill which roles.

“Our strength is in our depth,” Burke added. “Our defence is very mobile. They’re quick; they can move the puck. We don’t want to spend a lot of time in our end. And once we get the puck to our forwards, we have speed and skill. But we have a team that can be physical and play with grit if we need to.”

Team Canada 2018