The 1996 team was still one of those teams that could have won. They had the name recognition on that team. But this wasn't 1991. In 1991 there was a ton of guys missing. The Soviets weren't a big threat anymore and the Americans were just starting to realize how good they could be. Sweden was okay, but that's about it. Either way, it was Canada's to lose in 1991 and even with Gretzky getting injured in the second to last game and a team that was missing a lot of talent, they still were better than the Americans. Just look at the laundry list of players not on Team Canada in 1991 who weren't there for a variety of reasons:
Mario, Bourque, Neely, Oates, Recchi, Roy, Gilmour, Nieuwendyk, Sakic, Yzerman, Francis, Hull joins the U.S. team, even Gartner not being there is an example. This team wasn't one Keenan was building to be super fast. It was a super grinding team with still good players but lots of talent missing. I don't know if there is room for the types like Nieuwendyk, Gilmour, Francis, etc. anyway, but the rest very much had a good case, and bad playoff or not (a rare one in 1991 for him) I don't think your team is worse with a guy like Gilmour on it.
But in 1996 we couldn't get away with that sort of thing anymore. 1991 I get it, Keenan could shape the team in his own image and we still win. 1987 was probably closer than it should have been as there was a lot of talent left off the team too. Maybe Keenan knew what he was doing, after all we won both, but this didn't work in 1996. Check out the names missing there:
Lemieux, Bourque, Roy, Kariya, Francis, MacInnis, Pronger, Recchi, maybe even Oates or Larry Murphy. At the very least, the first 6 names on here were expected to be on here. And there is no way we lose with them. Heck, if Mario is there he's leading the tournament in points and we win. Maybe just Bourque or Roy alone changes course just enough. But we just couldn't be lacklustre this time around. Glen Sather coaching had some nostalgia to it, especially with the old Oilers, but after Bowman backed out of coaching this team I just wonder why he was picked. He wasn't a coach by that time. Most of the coaches in the NHL were Canadian, so we had our pick.
By 1998 there was a panic. We ignored every other way to pick a team that we did in the past by forming a team that could beat anyone and solely looked at beating the Americans. We did that, but they weren't prepared. This was again a cocky way of picking teams. Bob Gainey and Bobby Clarke as well as Pierre Gauthier (why him?) involved. Then with Mario retired and Kariya getting hurt all of the sudden our roster looked thinner. Sakic got hurt in the quarter final and there goes a lot of our speed on the big ice. Niedermayer not picked for his speed on the back end. The goaltending was superb, no one picks anyone but the trio of goalies we had. Messier or even Francis not getting the invite over Zamuner was bad. I never got the Zamuner thing. It never made sense. Chris Kunitz bugged me being on the 2014 team, but I can at least see why he was picked being Crosby's teammate. Similar to if Hyman ever gets picked in 2026. But with Zamuner there was no reason for it. Mike Peca was the reigning Selke winner, why not him? If you want this ace in the hole that you think is a darkhorse to win why not pick a guy like Gilmour for that very same role? Then things like Corson being picked over Recchi. Recchi only got added once Kariya was out. Linden being there was not great either. Maybe he was still riding on his big game status, but even by then you could see he wasn't the same player anymore. Too many big bodies, not enough natural goal scoring ability or speed. Even Jeff Friesen is a better pick than these guys as he could fly at that time.