State Your Case: No. 1 goalie for Canada at 4 Nations Face-Off

In any best-on-best tournament, Canada is usually favored because it has the strongest players at each position.

That is not the case entirely at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Team Canada faces questions about its goaltending. Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis Blues, Adin Hill of the Vegas Golden Knights and Sam Montembeault of the Montreal Canadiens make up the trio, but there is not a clear-cut No. 1 among them at the moment.

Each has his pluses and minuses, and Canada coach Jon Cooper has his hands full in making a decision about who will be in goal when Canada plays its first game of the tournament against Team Sweden at Bell Centre in Montreal on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, MAX, truTV, SN, TVAS).

With that in mind, senior director of editorial Shawn P. Roarke, senior draft writer Mike Morreale and staff writer Tracey Myers got together to debate who should be the No. 1 goalie for Team Canada in this 4 Nations version of State Your Case.

Morreale: Experience means everything in a short tournament, and Binnington clearly has a firm advantage in that category among the three in question not only in NHL games played, but international matches with Team Canada. He's a goalie known for coming up big in clutch moments throughout his career, and that's the type of player you need between the pipes when many of the best hockey players in the world are bearing down on you time and again. I strongly believe in Binnington's upside, energetic demeanor and his competitive verve, and the fact he's a proven gamer gives me all the confidence I would need in naming him the starting goalie for Canada to begin this tournament.

Myers: Well, since Mike brought up coming up big in clutch moments, may I present to you, folks, Adin Hill. His work with the Vegas Golden Knights has been tremendous, especially in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when he started as a backup and finished leading them to the first Stanley Cup championship in their history. Hill has limited experience in international play (he played three games for Canada, which won gold in the 2021 IIHF World Championship) but again, I’ll go back to what he's done in the NHL and on the biggest stage, the playoffs and Stanley Cup Final. Hill has continued his strong play this regular season and when Canada takes to the ice for 4 Nations, he’d be the guy in net for me.

Roarke: If you have three goalies who can play in a short tournament, you don’t really have a goalie capable of dominating. Look at Team United States -- it’s Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets. He’s the ride-or-die. So, when you have goalie issues, you need to get creative. Is Montembeault the best goalie out of the bunch? No. Is he the most experienced? No. But I’m pulling a rabbit out of my hat here and channeling legendary coach Jacques Lemaire. When the New Jersey Devils were coming of age in the mid-1990s, Martin Brodeur had established himself as the No. 1 goalie. But when they arrived for playoff games in Boston, Chris Terreri was in net. Why? Because he was from the area, he knew the building and he was comfortable. It worked. It can here too. Montembeault will be chuffed to play before his team’s fans at Bell Centre and the fans will try to push him to greater glory. It works and you are a hero; it fails and you still have Binnington or Hill to throw into the breach against the Americans -- and Hellebuyck -- on Saturday.

Morreale: To Tracey's point, Binnington also has won the Stanley Cup, becoming the only rookie goaltender in NHL history to record all 16 of his team’s playoff victories on the way to a championship, and the first title in St. Louis history in 2019. I also get the approach Shawn took with Montembeault, but let's be honest here -- playing at Bell Centre in a pressure-packed event might also be a huge burden on his shoulders. Montembeault has a 2.99 goals-against average, .898 save percentage and three shutouts in 24 home games; Binnington has a 2.73 GAA, .905 save percentage and two shutouts in 20 road games ... so consider that a wash. When the games become bigger, your best players need to lead the charge, be better, and show they can hit another gear. Binnington has proven time and again he's capable of doing just that. Let's not forget, Binnington also has the better GAA (2.66) and save percentage (.907) since the start of the New Year, so if Canada's brass is serious about starting the guy with the most confidence entering 4 Nations, the choice is an obvious -- Jordan Binnington.

Myers: I know this is going to surprise you all, but you’re not swaying me. Hill is still my guy for his cool, calm, collected attitude toward playing goal. That’s fine that Binnington’s numbers are better over the past month. Every player has their ups and downs throughout a season and Hill is no different. But Hill’s numbers are better over the season (19-10-4, 2.69 GAA, .900 save percentage and two shutouts in 33 starts). Consistency, cool, confident under pressure. Hill has all those attributes and a little familiarity with two Canada teammates (forward Mark Stone and defenseman Shea Theodore). Hey, even that helps in a short tournament. Pick Hill. Thank you.

Roarke: Look, there is no wrong answer here. Each of these goalies is on this roster because they are good enough to play/good enough to start in the tournament. Binnington is a great goalie, but this is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately proposition. Binnington’s Cup win was six seasons ago. You know what his playoff record is since? 4-10. He hasn’t been able to carry St. Louis into the postseason in either of the past two seasons, and it is out of a playoff spot as we write. Hill has never played more than 35 games in any of his seven NHL seasons; he is already at 33 this season. Is the workload getting to him? He’s allowed four goals in four of his past five starts. Just saying. Maybe the Canadians catch lightning in a bottle with the unheralded Canadien Montembeault, much in the way Binnington propelled the Blues more than a half-decade earlier, or Patrick Roy and Ken Dryden each did in the glorious past for the team that calls Montreal home. The author Malcolm Gladwell says the key to success is turning a disadvantage into an advantage. This is how Canada can do just that with its goaltending.