Team Canada

As the defending gold medalists, there will be immense pressure on Team Canada to repeat at the 2014 Winter Olympics from Sochi, Russia.

While there is plenty of talent on this year's roster, there were several marquee names like Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux, San Jose’s Logan Couture and others that were robbed of their rightful spot on the team.

These men have been snubbed.

Here is the full roster (via NHL.com), the top five snubs and the most glaring oversights made by the team.

Now that we've seen the full roster, here are the top snubs Team Canada passed on:

The Inexcusables

Claude Giroux, C, Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers and captain Claude Giroux started the 2013-14 NHL season slowly, but led by the center’s elite play and ice-vision, the team has surged back into contention.

Giroux should have been rewarded for his play with a spot on the Olympic roster, as few have been as statistically dominant over the last three seasons, according to David Strehle of The Fourth Period:

Philadelphia has won seven of the last nine games, with Giroux leading the charge behind five goals, eight assists and 13 points during that stretch. He is clearly the best player on the team and one of the most gifted athletes in the sport.

Team Canada dropped the ball snubbing the star center, but the Flyers are hoping it could light a spark for the second half of the season, just as Sam Carchidi of The Philadelphia Inquirer suggests:

Add in Giroux’s willingness and ability to play in every facet of the game—he is an effective power-play specialist and a force on the penalty kill—and the versatility and tenacity of Giroux will be missed during the Olympics.

Logan Couture, C, San Jose Sharks

The news that Sharks center Logan Couture would be forced to undergo surgery on his hand, per Kevin Kurz of CSNBayArea.com, made his snub from the Olympic team easier to deal with, but it is still an egregious error.

Mark Purdy of the Mercury News agrees:

Couture, 24, should have been named to the team and a replacement could have been named. Instead, his 35 points and stellar play at both ends of the ice will be excluded from the festivities.

Yahoo! Sports’ Greg Wyshynski feels bad for Couture:

The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for the young star, but the blatant snub this year should create the motivation to make the next Olympic team in 2018. It’s a shame he’ll have to wait that long.

*Stats via NHL.com.

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With the 2014 Winter Olympics set to take place in Sochi, Russia, there is a great deal of intrigue surrounding the ice hockey tournament. Team Canada won gold in Vancouver back in 2010 and it will certainly field a team capable of repeating this year.

While Canada has the enviable problem of having too many great players to choose from, it is a problem nonetheless. There will inevitably be several deserving guys left off the roster and it's possible that those decisions could come back to haunt the Canadians.

There is still about a week left for players to impress the Team Canada brass, with the roster set to be revealed on Jan. 7, but here is a look at three players who figure to be snubbed if things go as expected.

Tyler Seguin

After a disappointing 2012-13 season that saw him rack up just 32 points in 48 regular-season games and one goal during the Boston Bruins' run to the Stanley Cup Final, forward Tyler Seguin was traded along with Rich Peverley and Ryan Button to the Dallas Stars in exchange for Loui Eriksson, Reilly Smith, Matt Fraser and Joe Morrow.

Although the Bruins haven't missed a beat since making the deal, they may very well come to regret it in the near future. Seguin is finally reaching his potential in his fourth NHL season, and he is just 21 years of age.

Seguin has blossomed as a go-to player with the Stars to the tune of 39 points in 37 games. He is on pace for a career season in essentially every facet and once again looks like a rising superstar.

Seguin's goal scoring touch has been especially evident this season, as he has already scored 20 and is well on his way to topping his previous career best of 29. As seen in this video courtesy of the Stars' official Twitter account, Seguin simply has a knack for finding the back of the net.

Because of that, Seguin is definitely someone whom the Team Canada brain trust must consider. He is currently ninth among Canadian players in points this season, and that is difficult to ignore.

Due to Seguin's youth and struggles on the big stage, though, Team Canada may be more inclined to look at experienced players. Seguin wasn't invited to the Olympic orientation camp in August, which certainly doesn't disqualify him from consideration, but it seems as though he will be on the losing end of a numbers game.

Marc-Andre Fleury

Although the 2012-13 regular season was fairly kind to Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, the campaign couldn't have possibly ended on a sourer note than it did.

The Pens had to be feeling good heading into the playoffs, as Fleury was playing well and the offense was humming. However, things came crashing down. Fleury fell flat in the postseason for the second consecutive year, as he posted a 3.52 goals-against average and .883 save percentage before being supplanted by Tomas Vokoun.

The Penguins were swept out of the playoffs by the Bruins in the Eastern Conference Final and there were plenty of question marks surrounding Fleury's status as the team's starter entering 2013-14.

He has answered the bell in a big way, though, as he is in the midst of the best season of his career. His 2.15 GAA is a career best, while his .920 save percentage is just a tick below his best mark as well.

Despite his bounce-back performance, he is very much on the bubble for Team Canada. Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price is a virtual lock to be the starter, while 2010 Olympic starter Roberto Luongo is likely to make the team as well.

That leaves Fleury in a battle with the likes of the Minnesota Wild's Josh Harding and Mike Smith of the Phoenix Coyotes.

Penguins goalie coach Mike Bales told Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star that Fleury would likely make the team if the decision were up to him.

"Obviously, Marc is one of the best goalies in the NHL," Bales said. "He's playing great, goaltending at the elite level, playing well at the right time. In my opinion, should they (Team Canada) consider him Absolutely."

Like Seguin, though, Fleury has failed to rise to the occasion in big games over the past couple of years. That will ultimately cost him an Olympic berth.

Dion Phaneuf

It's difficult to pinpoint one area of strength for the Canadian Olympic team, but its depth on defense is something to behold. Team Canada is likely to carry eight blueliners, but there are about 15 that could legitimately stake a claim to a spot on the team.

Among them is Toronto Maple Leafs rearguard Dion Phaneuf, who missed out on the 2010 team after his play dropped off considerably while with the Calgary Flames.

Phaneuf is often maligned by observers for one reason or another, but he has really established himself as a leader with the Leafs. He is Toronto's captain and willing to do the little things necessary to win games.

His offensive production has actually lessened, as he is just 17th in scoring among Canadian defensemen with 15 points, but he has a plus-13 rating and is a feared open-ice hitter.

The complete package is impressive and led the Leafs to sign him to a seven-year extension.

Unfortunately for Phaneuf, though, the extension may be his biggest thrill of the next couple of months. Phaneuf is definitely in the running for a spot on Team Canada, but he has so much talent to contend with.

With Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, P.K. Subban, Jay Bouwmeester, Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Weber and Drew Doughty likely ahead of him in the pecking order, Phaneuf will have to overcome Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Dan Boyle of the San Jose Sharks in order to make the roster.

It's a definite possibility, but the odds aren't on Phaneuf's side as the official announcement looms.

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Hockey Canada will assemble a star-studded roster of world-class and future Hall of Fame forwards and defensemen for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but none of those players, including Sidney Crosby, will have the biggest impact on the team's chances of winning back-to-back gold medals.

The color of Canada's medal, if it wins one at all, will be determined by the performance of the goaltenders, none of whom should instill much confidence in fans across the hockey-crazed nation.

Goaltending goes in cycles, and Canada is now in the midst of its worst era in years. There's no Patrick Roy, Ed Belfour, Curtis Joseph or Martin Brodeur in his prime to calm the concerns over the possibility of mediocre goaltending at the Olympics.

The competition for the starting job is more wide open than it's ever been since NHL players started competing at the Olympics in 1998.

Most countries have to choose from two or maybe three standout candidates for the No. 1 role, but Canadian head coach Mike Babcock has five players to consider (six if you include Cam Ward), with none of them holding a distinct advantage over the others. There's nothing worse for an Olympic coach than having to choose between a bunch of good-but-not-great goaltenders.

Montreal Canadiens netminder Carey Price recently talked to TSN about the criticisms of Canada's goaltending.

I don't think you can take it personally. You can use it as motivation. We all believe that we have strong goaltenders in our country and I think all three of us believe in our abilities, and we believe we can all deliver a gold medal.

When Canada reaches the quarterfinals and beyond, it's going to oppose legitimate gold-medal contenders with better starting goaltenders, which could be a real problem because Team Canada was shut out three times when it last played on the Olympic stage overseas.

This squad will have plenty of offensive firepower in Sochi, but the adjustments that the forwards and defensemen must make on the larger ice surface won't be easy, and it may impact the offense's ability to match its scoring output from Vancouver (32 goals).

"It's definitely the angles with the ice being a little wider, it'll throw you off slightly," Price said when asked about adjusting to the Olympic-sized ice.

If the Canadians find themselves in a defensive battle with one of the nations in the chart below, many of which have rosters full of players with lots of experience on international-sized ice, the defending gold medalists could be in trouble.

Unlike the NHL playoffs, where a team is able to overcome a few horrendous performances from its starting netminder and still win a seven-game series, there will be no room for error at the Olympics. Once Canada reaches the quarterfinal stage, one loss will prevent it from winning back-to-back golds for the first time in over five decades.

The problem for Canada is that no one in the NHL would choose any of their Olympic camp goalies in a winner-takes-all situation where one loss ends a gold-medal dream.

Vancouver's Roberto Luongo, who went 5-0 with a 1.76 GAA and won the gold-medal game over the United States in 2010, is the leading candidate to start Game 1 of the group stage versus Norway. But Luongo wasn't even the starter on his own team for most of the 2013 season, and his history of failing in important playoff games won't instill too much confidence in Babcock.

Corey Crawford could have been last year's Conn Smythe Trophy winner after a fantastic Stanley Cup run with the Chicago Blackhawks, but the 28-year-old has zero international experience.

Price appeared to be the clear-cut starter before a late-season dip in performance and disappointing 2013 playoff run raised questions about his candidacy for the No. 1 job. Phoenix Coyotes starter Mike Smith has shown flashes of brilliance in the NHL, but he hasn't shown enough consistency with only one season of more than 15 wins.

The other goaltender invited to the camp was 24-year-old Braden Holtby, who despite his impressive playoff performances for the Washington Capitals over the last two years, has only one season of experience as a starting goalie in the NHL.

Exceptional goaltending is able to carry a good-but-not great team to the gold-medal game, with the most recent examples being Dominik Hasek's brilliance for the Czech Republic in 1998 and Ryan Miller's MVP performance for the United States three years ago.

A poor performance at this position can also be the downfall of an otherwise near-perfect team, which is why Canada should be worried about its goaltenders as the Sochi Games approach.

Whenever the opposing team has the advantage in net, there's always a cause for concern. This is a situation that Canada will probably face multiple times in Sochi, which is why mediocre goaltending would lead to another Turin-like disaster at the next Olympics.

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Nicholas Goss is an NHL columnist at Bleacher Report. He was a credentialed writer at the 2011 and 2013 Stanley Cup Final, the 2012 NHL playoffs and the 2013 NHL draft.