I did not say Canada had NO depth in ice dance, as you just stated. I said the depth was not all that great. Which, being that their 3rd best team could not qualify for the free dance, shows they do in fact not have much depth at the moment. As it is, they only held on to their third spot for next near by the skin of their teeth, with their top two teams getting 5th and 8th. I also stated that they will be deeper next year, with the return of V/M. Their current top 2 teams (W/P, G/P) are elite; beyond that, none of their teams are competitive on the world stage at the moment. That is what is meant by saying they do not have depth. We saw the result of that with the US ladies: though Kwan and one or two other US ladies dominated the world for over a decade, there weren't any ladies coming up behind. As a result, the US went nine straight years with no lady on the podium. Depth means you have at least 5-6 skaters/ teams at any one point who could be competitive on the world stage. The US STILL lacks depth in ladies, even though they placed 3 in the top 10 at worlds. Beyond the three who were sent and the injured Edmonds, there really is nobody coming up and ready to take the world by storm.
no country in ice dance has 5 or 6 teams that could podium... in ice dance, having 2 or 3 elite teams is a huge luxury. USA,Canada and Russia have depth IMHO. YMMV.
Paradis Ouellette were surprise 3rd place finishers at Nationals... Many expected other teams to place ahead.... Paul Islam probably would have placed higher. etc etc.
and the 5th place of Weapo was unfortunate and unexpected. Many put them on the podium, top two and even some thought they would be winning it all. Canada didn't have a great competition in ice dance for the first year in many. It's been on the podium for MANY years in a row. I am sure many other countries envy the Canadian depth as it is right now.
Have a look at this... this year, was the first time Canada didn't win a medal in 10 years ... no other country has done so. 3 different teams. I'd call this depth.
2006 Canada Calgary Bulgaria Albena Denkova / Maxim Staviski Canada Marie-France Dubreuil / Patrice Lauzon United States Tanith Belbin / Benjamin Agosto
2007 Japan Tokyo Bulgaria Albena Denkova / Maxim Staviski Canada Marie-France Dubreuil / Patrice Lauzon United States Tanith Belbin / Benjamin Agosto
2008 Sweden Gothenburg France Isabelle Delobel / Olivier Schoenfelder Canada Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir Russia Jana Khokhlova / Sergei Novitski
2009 United States Los Angeles Russia Oksana Domnina / Maxim Shabalin United States Tanith Belbin / Benjamin Agosto Canada Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir
2010 Italy Turin Canada Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir United States Meryl Davis / Charlie White Italy Federica Faiella / Massimo Scali
2011 Russia Moscow United States Meryl Davis / Charlie White Canada Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir United States Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani
2012 France Nice Canada Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir United States Meryl Davis / Charlie White France Nathalie Péchalat / Fabian Bourzat
2013 Canada London United States Meryl Davis / Charlie White Canada Tessa Virtue / Scott Moir Russia Ekaterina Bobrova / Dmitri Soloviev
2014 Japan Saitama Italy Anna Cappellini / Luca Lanotte Canada Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje France Nathalie Péchalat / Fabian Bourzat
2015 China Shanghai France Gabriella Papadakis / Guillaume Cizeron United States Madison Chock / Evan Bates Canada Kaitlyn Weaver / Andrew Poje
2016 United States Boston France Gabriella Papadakis / Guillaume Cizeron United States Maia Shibutani / Alex Shibutani United States Madison Chock / Evan Bates
To get back on topic. We are still waiting to hear about Orford and Hill.. Have they retired? I don't think there would be another partner change or split in their case ?