Staal would have been a better selection at the time than Crosby. Staal was top 5 in points when the roster was announced, and his game has always lended itself well to shifting over to the wing. Our center depth was (on paper) really good with Sakic and peak Lecavalier, Thornton and Richards down the middle. Crosby was ~PPG at the time the roster was announced, but really turned it on in the second half. In hindsight Crosby looks like the more notable omission, but at the time Staal would have fit better on that particular team. Guys like Spezza rarely make Canadian best on best teams; he wasn't displacing any of the four centers already on the roster, and at the time wasn't experienced in playing the wing.
Of course, there is no reason why both Staal and Crosby couldn't have both been on the team, along with Paul Kariya and Patrick Marleau. But, while Smyth, Doan, Bertuzzi and Draper shouldn't have been named to the team in the first place, the guys who we were counting on (Thornton, St. Louis, Lecavalier, Iginla, etc.) didn't do a whole h*** of a lot. And, the defense was in shambles with Niedermayer missing the tournament and Pronger and Blake playing injured. Boyle would have been a good add to replace Niedermayer, but Gretzky went with Bryan McCabe instead. Bouwmeester was the best puck mover on defense and ended up being our best overall defenseman that tournament, which isn't saying much.