OTTAWA -- Is there such a thing as a soft underbelly on the back-to-back defending Olympic champions?
You wouldn't think so when on Monday, the first day of World Cup of Hockey training camp for Team Canada, the fourth line had Claude Giroux between Matt Duchene and Joe Thornton.
That's right, fourth line.
But I'm here to tell you that losing defenseman Duncan Keith (right knee rehab) was a huge blow, no matter how skilled this team is. And not only because his stand-alone talent speaks for itself, but also because his absence puts more pressure on a Canadian left side on defense that isn't as deep as the rest of this otherworldly squad.
"Pretty nice luxury to lose a player like Keith and be able to replace him with a player with [Jay] Bouwmeester's international experience and ability," a Western Conference coach requesting anonymity said via text message. "That said, they may miss Keith's offense; his puck movement from the left side of the ice and his ability to get up ice. I think Canada is going to face some teams who are really going to approach their games with a strong defensive approach and their D will be huge in countering that. Losing him on the power play may also force the coaching staff to be a little more creative, depending on what they were planning with setups and left/right shot combinations."
And, frankly, that's putting it mildly. Next to Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews and Carey Price, Keith was on a list of about four or five players Team Canada would have considered irreplaceable, again in large part because of that left-right concern.
That's no disrespect to Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who was outstanding at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and has continued to elevate his game ever since, but the reality is that Jake Muzzin is a newcomer to this stage and the respected Bouwmeester has some miles on him. As such, the drop-off from Keith is real. Whereas if Canada had lost Norris Trophy winner Drew Doughty or veteran stud Shea Weber on the right side, there would have been replacement options such as P.K. Subban, Kris Letang or Brent Seabrook, such is Canada's ridiculous high-end depth on the right side.
Which begs the question some Canadian hockey fans have had in the aftermath of Letang, Seabrook and Subban not making this team: Why does the left-right thing matter so much?
"It's just a simple thing," began Team Canada coach Mike Babcock on Monday before going on to answer the question in a complicated way.
To quickly sum up the Canadian head coach's detailed, X's-and-O's answer, the left-right balance matters to him greatly in the areas of puck possession and transition.
"It does make a huge difference," Doughty said Monday, echoing his coach. "Most teams in the league will do the lefty-righty combo. It's really important to have."
Except Team Canada might not get it completely in this tournament. There was Alex Pietrangelo on Monday, skating on the left side of fellow righty Brent Burns on what appears to be the third pairing.
No big deal, insisted Pietrangelo.
"It's a bit of an adjustment, but when you have the quality of players we have, it's not really an issue," shrugged the newly named St. Louis Blues captain. Pietrangelo said he played three or four games last season for the Blues on the left side.
"It was different, but it worked out," he said. "I look at it this way: If I can be versatile and play on both sides, it's like a switch-hitter in baseball, right? If you can play both sides, it should just benefit you."
Babcock spoke with Pietrangelo a few weeks ago to see if he'd be willing to try it. No sweat, said Pietrangelo.
What it means is that Canada could open the tournament with four righties in the top six, which is not ideal. But the coaching staff might think that's what makes the most of the talent at hand.
Keith's injury has had other repercussions: Vlasic played well with Doughty in Sochi but now finds himself at the start of camp replacing Keith and thus pairing with Weber, while Muzzin logically gets paired with his Kings pal, Doughty.
Still, if Keith were here, I believe Muzzin would have been the seventh defenseman. Now he's in a top-four role -- just more domino effect from Keith being out.
And while Pietrangelo downplayed his switch to the left side, it's clearly a big adjustment for others.
"For me, if I have to go play on the left side -- not that I'm bad at it -- but it's definitely not as comfortable," said Doughty. "And defensively, it's different with your stick positioning on one-on-one, or even just exiting your zone or taking a D-to-D pass; you're looking at your partner rather than up ice right away. So it's hard to play on your off side, but once you get used to it, it's like anything else; once you keep practicing it and playing it, it gets easier. But if you basically haven't played it in years and get thrown on the left side, it's going to be a challenge."
Added Weber: "It seems like a simple thing [switching to the left side], but everything's different. Your body is accustomed to turning predominantly one way for the most part on the one side of the ice. It can be done -- guys are good players and can adjust -- but it does take a little bit of time to get used to it."
In fact, Weber played on the left side when Seth Jones entered the league with the Nashville Predators.
"I would catch myself just drifting over to the right all the time because it was just an automatic, subconscious thing," said Weber. "There's an adjustment, for sure."
If Pietrangelo can comfortably handle it, that's going to go a long way toward Team Canada having the kind of top-six blue-line machine that propelled the squad to an unreal defensive performance in Sochi.
Still, Keith is a special player, as he showed in winning the Conn Smythe Trophy in 2015.
"He's one of the best, man," Team Canada goaltender Corey Crawford, Keith's Chicago Blackhawks teammate, said Monday. "He can make plays all over the ice. He just makes everyone better around him. Obviously, Canada wants a guy like that to be here. But it is what it is."
Veteran head coach Ken Hitchcock, missing out on his first best-on-best tournament in a long time -- he was a part of the Canadian staff from 2002 in Salt Lake City through Sochi -- had a first-row seat to observe Keith's impact at the 2010 and 2014 Olympic Games.
"Duncan was never afraid of the stage," Hitchcock said this weekend. "Bigger the game, better he played; he could play in all situations."
Yes, Team Canada was able to overcome the injury loss of Steven Stamkos before the 2014 Olympics and of John Tavares during the tournament. But again, top-shelf forward depth is rarely an issue for Team Canada.
Keith's injury could be more impactful.
If Canada wins again, it will be a testimony to a great coaching staff and a defense corps that adjusts swimmingly.
If the host team loses? Canadian fans will want to know why Subban or Letang wasn't on the team.
"The great thing about being in Canada, you can second-guess all the players, and there's always someone who got left off," said Babcock. "What I find is, if you win, when you win, they don't ask you any questions. If you don't win, they ask lots of questions."