Confrontation of the 4 nations | Quebec talent, “it’s up to us to know it”

If there is a hockey man who will not be accused of ignoring Quebec talent, it is Julien BriseBois.

From the choice of the right arm (Mathieu Darche) to the coaches of the farm club (Benoît Groulx, then Joël Bouchard) through the players of said farm club, Quebec has always been well represented in the Tampa Bay Lightning organization.

However, this will not be the case within Team Canada at the 4 Nations Showdown, where BriseBois occupies the role of assistant GM. He’s the only known staff member to come from here. Among the players, the fleurdelisé is only represented by Samuel Montembeault.

“When we chose our players, there was no provincial flag next to the names,” assured BriseBois, by videoconference with three Quebec journalists, Monday.

Knowing his propensity to recruit here, and knowing that he is one leader among several, there is obviously no question of making him bear the odium of the erasure of Quebec.

But the source has dried up. Jonathan Huberdeau, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alexis Lafrenière are the most productive Quebec forwards this season in the NHL; with 21 points each, they share 33^e rank of Canadian forwards. Knowing that none of them are known for their defensive play, their selection became difficult to defend.

At the blue line, Mike Matheson and Samuel Girard, 16 points each, come to 15^e rank of Canadian rears. Matheson, however, ranks 5^e ranks for average usage time, but he does so on a poor defensive unit that lacks depth. Here too, the answer was obvious.

“Half a century ago, hockey was a Canadian sport,” recalled BriseBois. In the United States, in another era, it was a regional sport: Minnesota and the Northeast. Now, we see players selected from almost everywhere, except Hawaii. There is more and more competition. »

The reality described by BriseBois is not about to improve. Among the 51 recruits who played at least 10 games this season, we find 4 from Quebec: Zachary Bolduc, Zachary L’Heureux, Mavrik Bourque and Maveric Lamoureux. For the moment, none of the four is expected to be a future star.

BriseBois nevertheless maintains an optimistic speech. It is unclear whether he has reservations about development at the minor levels, which leads us to today’s reality; if so, he preferred not to talk about it in this conference.

“There are a lot of good Quebecers in the National League and there will continue to be,” he assured. Some may have continued their development between now and the 2026 Games. Would we like there to be more? Yes. I would just say that there is more and more competition.

“In Tampa, we drafted and acquired several Quebecers. We have good hockey players in Quebec, we have hired several of them. There is a lot of talent. It is up to us to know this talent and identify it and integrate it into our organization when possible. »

Suzuki’s missed opportunity

Nick Suzuki could have joined Montembeault as CH’s second representative on Team Canada. BriseBois also assures that Suzuki’s dog did not die, due to possible injuries. “Given his background, his talent, it is certain that Nick will be one of the players considered.

“Nick is an excellent player,” added BriseBois. He made it to the Stanley Cup final, he is the number one center in a market like Montreal. »

That said, did Suzuki undermine its chances by skipping the World Championship last spring?

“Those who participated had the chance to make themselves known to the group of leaders. Jon Cooper [entraîneur-chef du Canada] was there to spy on the players, recalled BriseBois. Not going didn’t count against any player, but those who were there had the chance to show off. Sam Montembeault did it [en 2023] and he played very well, it opened the eyes of probably several people. »

Champions

One fact that stands out when analyzing the four teams is the presence of former Stanley Cup champions with Canada.

There are in fact 16 Canadians (out of 23) to have won it. This is double the Finnish contingent, helped by the recent conquest of the Panthers (Niko Mikkola, Aleksander Barkov, Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen). The Swedes and the Americans only have three winners each of the big trophy.

There is a certain tautology behind the Canadian statistics. To assemble a winning team, it takes the best players, and these best players inevitably experience success in the NHL, BriseBois essentially said. But there is more. “These guys have proven that they can rise when the stakes are at their highest. »

The manager does not hide his enthusiasm well. We recall that the videoconference was organized by the NHL, with the aim, obviously, of spreading the word about the tournament, 48 days before the start of hostilities. Still, the evocation of BriseBois’ childhood memories reminds us that Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon on the same team, for the first time, could create moments that we will talk about in 40 years.

“I have the impression that people don’t know what a big tournament it will be,” insists BriseBois. Anything can happen. I remember the 1987 Canada Cup when I was 10 years old… It was Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. For today’s kids, it will be McDavid, Crosby, MacKinnon, Brayden Point and Cale Makar. »