IIHF World ChampionshipDiscuss International Tournaments like the WJC, Olympics, and World Cup, as they take place, or discuss past tournaments. performances.
Suter - Yandle J. Johnson - McDonagh E. Johnson - Orpik Carlson
When I first saw your D-pairings I thought, "I can do better than that!"
After 10 minutes of trying to come up with something better, I realized I can't.
However, I disagree with your assessment of E Johnson. I think he is the weakest link. He might be, at best, the 7th D-Man for the U.S. in Sochi.
I also worry that time will catch up with Orpik by 2014.
When I first saw your D-pairings I thought, "I can do better than that!"
After 10 minutes of trying to come up with something better, I realized I can't.
However, I disagree with your assessment of E Johnson. I think he is the weakest link. He might be, at best, the 7th D-Man for the U.S. in Sochi.
I also worry that time will catch up with Orpik by 2014.
and Pronger isnt American, so you might be combining a few different things here..
That's actually really funny. Reviewing that post - I made the mistake of opening several different windows on my browser from the International Tournaments forum and then getting distracted along the way.
I really hope you guys take my initial suggestion "E. Jones, Orpik and Pronger - and also Seth Jones." It will be a great team
I meant Erik Johnson.
But I don't know how the hell I managed to include Pronger...it's not like Team Canada is contemplating him as part of the team.
ETA - you know what I think I did? As part of my response I must have been reading your posts and for some reason, through a freudian slip or something, absent mindedly pasted Pronger on to my post. But if you want him - you can have him
Last edited by UsernameWasTaken: 08-25-2012 at 01:20 AM.
Still seeing a lot of JVR on rosters without Stepan. Frankly I just don't see this. The US is much deeper at wing than at center and other than the really high pick, JVR has never had anything over Stepan. Stepan has a higher point per game average, plays better defense and is consistently healthier. Maybe the early injuries for Riemsdyk are a fluke, but he's never made 80 games in his first three years in the league. Now maybe JVR puts it all together this year and dominates with the Leafs, and I'll quickly change my tune, but for now not so much.
The same goes for Wheeler. He finally had a career year last year in terms of points, but he won't be a goal scoring winger on the team and his defense isn't better than some of the other options.
As for Erik Johnson, he's a tough nut to figure out how to crack but here's my theory. With the Avalanche and less so the Blues, he was expected to be the Chris Pronger on the team, to use a guy who just came up in conversation. He was expected to move the play and be the shut down guy and basically control the entire ice. Frankly he doesn't seem to have the mental ability to do that for now, maybe he'll develop it later, maybe not. However he's played really well for the US, much like Jack Johnson, and there seems to be something that clicks in these two guys that they seem to tone it down and play a much simpler game. I think for Erik it's because he's not asked to be the #1 all around guy and he's tasked with much simpler ice time and assignments. I'm not sure how things work out over the next season and a half (hopefully we have one), and if Fowler, Faulk, Carlson or whoever leaps forward and passes him, but now I think he makes the team and makes a contribution.
I have some questions: Pominville or Ryan ? Stepan or Legwand / Dubinski ? Has N.Foligno a chance to make the team ? And what about Wheeler, Booth, Okposo and Malone ?
I have some questions: Pominville or Ryan ? Stepan or Legwand / Dubinski ? Has N.Foligno a chance to make the team ? And what about Wheeler, Booth, Okposo and Malone ?
McDonagh has a really good chance to be on that team. No doubt about it. I just tryed to pick one version of the U.S. team. My olympic take was only "try", it was really not my final descision.
