Who is Doug Armstrong and what is Team Canada GM thinking?

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SUNRISE, Fla. — Doug Armstrong was eight years old when he first got hooked on international hockey.

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He was sitting beside his dad watching Canada and Russia play on a grainy television screen in 1972 — something he rarely did with his NHL-officiating father — when Paul Henderson scored and a nation erupted.

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“That was a great day because it was me and my dad,” Armstrong said. “Because he took me out of school to watch that game with him. You don’t forget things like that. And because we were together for that and that didn’t happen often, that’s a memory of a lifetime.”

And that was the beginning of Armstrong’s love of country, love of hockey, love of international play. A love that has taken him all these years later to the hot seat, where, as general manager of Team Canada, he has to announce his roster for the coming Winter Olympics.

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This is his team, our team, your team. This is what Canada becomes around the largest of international hockey tournaments. The country stops. The country discusses. The country debates.

Everybody who thinks they know just a little about hockey can put together a Team Canada on paper for the Milano Olympics. But only one man has the authority to do so, and only one paper counts. Armstrong is well aware that all eyes are on him as the roster is set to be named right around New Year’s Eve.

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He knows it. He understands and appreciates and even welcomes the passion. In no other country is picking an Olympic team a year-long conversation. He loves to take part in the debate himself, welcomes that kind of hockey talk as a lifer in the sport, only this time the debates come with his chosen staff that includes the general managers of Dallas, Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh.

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They hope to have decided on their first 11 or 12 players in the next few days. And after the conversations are completed — on an entire 25-man roster.

Six already have been decided by determinations made last June.

That means the 12 players Armstrong wants to settle on now will definitely include Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Brayden Point and Sam Reinhart. There’s your first six.

That’s five forwards and one defenceman. Now, let’s have some fun.

Makar will be paired with Colorado teammate Devon Toews. That makes seven. His second pair of defence is likely Josh Morrissey of Winnipeg beside Vegas’ Shea Theodore. That makes nine players.

And if the next forwards include Mitch Marner, Nick Suzuki and teenage sensation Macklin Celebrini, there’s your 12.

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Then come 13 more selections, including three goaltenders. My three would have Logan Thompson, Jordan Binnington and Scott Wedgewood.

The rest of the list should include: Conn Smythe trophy winner Sam Bennett, Tampa stalwart Brandon Hagel, Washington unicorn Tom Wilson and the natural leader and pest, Brad Marchand.

While Armstrong will debate all that in private, he will not debate Olympic names in public.

There are basically two spots left for Connor Bedard, Mark Scheifele, Seth Jarvis, Anthony Cirelli, Wyatt Johnston, Mark Stone, Bo Horvat, John Tavares and Zach Hyman. More than seven players are going to be disappointed when the roster is announced.

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“We’re not building an all-star team,” Armstrong said. “It’s about what kind of players we need. I’ll give you an example: We had Rick Nash at a world championship and he played on our first line in a scoring role as a power forward. At the 2014 Olympics, he played on the fourth line in a checking role and did it perfectly. We need players who can do more than one thing if we need them to.

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“This isn’t an easy (thing to do), picking a team … You ask, who fits where? And in some ways, it’s cyclical the way this works out.”

In 1998, when NHL players debuted at the Olympics, Canada’s goaltenders were Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur and Curtis Joseph — two Hall of Fame goalies and one should-be Hall of Famer.

That year in net they passed on Ed Belfour, Grant Fuhr and Mike Vernon — all now Hall of Famers. There is no one to compare with them now.

The Team Canada defence in Sochi in 2014 had Shea Weber and Duncan Keith, current Hall of Fame inductees along with Drew Doughty and Alex Pietrangelo, who will be headed to the Hall in the future.

Outside of Makar, there is no surefire Hall defenceman on this Team Canada, unless Doughty gets selected by Armstrong.

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“Olympic hockey is different,” Armstrong said. “I think you saw that in the 4 Nations tournament (in February). How close those games were. We won the tournament but we could have easily lost that game in overtime. I always describe these kind of games like we’re playing Russian Roulette and if you lose, you get to lose only once.”

“In Sochi, some of our scores were close (they beat Team USA 1-0) but the games weren’t close if you watched them. That was about as one-sided a 1-0 game as you’ll ever find. You have to be prepared to play whatever kind of hockey you need to play. And you need the right kind of players who can adjust if necessary.”

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What’s new for Armstrong isn’t being involved with Team Canada, it’s being in charge of Team Canada. He was part of the Canadian staff in 2010 in Vancouver, 2014 in Sochi, as well as in between with world championship or World Cup teams five different times.

He was supposed to be GM of Team Canada in 2018 before the NHL pulled out of the PyeongChang Games. He was supposed to be GM of Team Canada for the 2022 Games in China but the NHL said no to that appearance.

“So, I’ve been waiting a long time for this,” Armstrong said. “I feel unbelievably honoured to have this job. I’m not nervous. I can’t wait to get started.”

ssimmons@postmedia.com

twitter.com/simmonssteve

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