So this means that Gilles and Poirier can meet only one of the top 5 in each of their events, right? This gives them a great chance to make the GP finals with two seconds (or better).
Yes, they'll be at SCI (almost certainly with Sinitsina/Katsalapov, again) and one other event, yet to be determined, with one of the top three. They were also seeded last year, but got bowled over at both events by the S/K surge up from not even being at Worlds the previous year to being one of the very top teams. Outside of the seeded teams this time around, Guignard/Fabbri are the biggest; it will be interesting to see where they end up, as they'll up the competitiveness of whichever two events considerably.
Provisionally as far as the ice dance seeding goes, I think you can pencil in this:
Skate America: Hubbell/Donohue, _____
Skate Canada International: Sinitsina/Katsalapov, Gilles/Poirier
Internationaux de France: Papadakis/Cizeron, _____
Cup of China: Hubbell/Donohue, _____
Rostelecom Cup: Sinitsina/Katsalapov, _____
NHK Trophy: Papadakis/Cizeron, _____
The big question is what strategy Stepanova/Bukin and Chock/Bates choose to pursue in making their selections. One of of them is going to have to go against P/C at one of their events, probably Chock/Bates, unless Stepanova/Bukin decide that going to NHK outweighs the guarantee of not winning gold; they can also decide whether they want to prioritize doubling up with their countrymen in the top seed or not.
