The rosters for the 4-Nations Face-Off were officially unveiled on Wednesday and there was no shortage of players on the Toronto Maple Leafs invited to the tournament.

Each of the four countries participating will have a player who normally dons the Blue and White representing their national colours. Auston Matthews will captain the United States, William Nylander will play a key role for Sweden, Jani Hakanpaa will bring some defensive depth for Finland, and Mitch Marner will be among the critical players for Canada.

While there are plenty of Leafs players expected to attend this tournament, one can argue that there should have been more than four players invited. John Tavares has made a strong case to be in contention for Canada’s fourth line, one of Anthony Stolarz or Joseph Woll could be a better option in net for Team USA, and there is an argument to be made that Oliver Ekman-Larsson might be a better option than someone like Erik Karlsson.

The same certainly applies to Chris Tanev, who was another Leaf having a strong season that was notably left off Canada’s roster. His absence is a lot more baffling because some of the defencemen they went with instead are confusing: specifically, the inclusions of Colton Parayko and Travis Sanheim over Tanev are head-scratchers, no matter how you slice it.

One can understand the rationale behind why Parayko and Sanheim were chosen to round out Canada’s defensive core. The former is a Stanley Cup champion who has plenty of experience handling difficult minutes, can be used in all situations, and can be relied on to score at least 25 points or more in a season. Sanheim has come into his own in recent years, coming off a career season and well on track to surpass those numbers this season while also logging big minutes for the Philadelphia Flyers.

These two blueliners certainly do a lot for their respective teams, but the logic of their inclusion falls apart when you consider that Canada already has players who can do what they do but are much better at it, such as Alex Pietrangelo and Cale Makar. If anything, there should be more of a balance in terms of playing style. One of Canada’s deficiencies is an elite shutdown defenceman, and there’s no one better in that department than Tanev.

Tanev has better possession numbers, scoring chances, shots and goals percentage, and high-danger chances than Parayko and Sanheim ay 5-on-5. In fact, Tanev’s xGA/60 of 1.74 is the second-best among NHL blueliners who have played at least 350 minutes at 5v5, behind only Vladislav Gavrikov of the Los Angeles Kings. By contrast, Parayko has a clip of 2.54 while Sanheim’s is worse at 2.78.

This fact alone makes the decision to leave out Tanev a questionable one, compounded by the fact that there are also a lot of question marks in the crease for Canada. The tandem of Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill and Sam Montembeault on paper is by far the weakest for the Red and White in a major international tournament since NHL players were first allowed to participate in the Olympics. Those concerns would have been alleviated if the defence in front of them was steady but the inclusions of Parayko and Sanheim jeopardize that because they are not as strong in that department as Tanev.

Some will argue that Tanev does not bring a lot of offence and the injury concerns have not subsided even if he has been relatively healthy over the past few years. His tendency to block shots regularly takes a toll on the body and leaves him susceptible to ailments which has been the case throughout his career.  But what he lacks in point production is made up for in his steady presence in the defensive end while being a strong puck mover and very disciplined.

No one is suggesting Tanev should have been on the top pair and running the power play, but platooning one-half of Canada’s shutdown pair would have been a far better option than hoping that Sanheim and Parayko can hold their own defensively. It would also take some pressure off the likes of Makar, Devon Toews, and Josh Morrissey who may be leaned on more when it becomes apparent that their No. 6 defence options are holding them back in their own end.

All of which is to say that Tanev would have been a far better option than one of Sanheim and Parayko. He is vastly superior to them both based on the underlying metrics, he has been among the best shutdown defencemen this season and does what it takes to help his team win games.

With how many questions were surrounding Canada going into this tournament, having two inferior defensive options compared to Tanev is only going to add to the concerns that fans have about their ability to emerge as the winners.