IIHF World ChampionshipDiscuss International Tournaments like the WJC, Olympics, and World Cup, as they take place, or discuss past tournaments. performances.
I'll be interested in seeing the direction Hockey Canada goes. Will they adapt the roster to the international size ice or stay the course with the usual suspects?
Possible alternates (or to make the team if Iggy and/or St. Louis retire or regress) - RNH, Duchene, Seguin, Eberle, P. Bergeron
Weber-Doughty
Keith-Seabrook
Myers-Pietrangelo
Possible Alternates/Injury fill ins - Letang, Boyle (if his game doesn't regress too much)
Cam Ward
M.A. Fleury
C. Price
-not going to argue the order of the goalies, if Pittsburgh wins another cup or two, he'll likely get the call, if Ward continues being playoff money (if his team ever makes it), he will, if Price continues his upward trend he is. Its way to early to tell, but these three should be the three we see.
Probables: M. Richards, Getzlaf, Letang, Pietrangelo, Fleury, Ward
Too many possibles to begin listing.
Then there are always guys no one ever thinks of that have a chance of making it. Not just 3 years before the tournament, but the year of. If I had to pick MY team I would go on this basis:
First, I would take the dominant Vancouver line of M. Richards - Toews - Nash as a line. There's a line right there that I think can play on the big ice and has three guys who can kill penalties. Next I'd take Getzlaf - Perry as a pair. Both guys would be better on small ice, I admit, but their chemistry and talent are worth it. They thrived with a guy like Morrow who helped them cycle the puck but they'd need more finesse this time. That leaves two center spots open. I'm giving them to Crosby and Stamkos, the two most offensively talented Canadians. I wanted to put Giroux at center but I feel like he's the one center most able to play wing without losing much so I'm gonna put him on Crosby's right. This is all I would commit to firmly:
x - Crosby - Giroux
x - Stamkos - x
x - Getzlaf - Perry
M. Richards - Toews - Nash
Last year M. Richards, Giroux, and Toews were regular PKers (~2:00 SH mins/game) on their team. Perry killed some (~1:30) though his numbers are down this year, and Nash barely kills PKs although we know he is capable. It is probably a good idea to another take a PK guy. If a guy like J. Staal or O'Reilly finds his offensive game then they could be a candidate, you don't want to simply take a PK specialist as your 13th guy. Other possiblities are Marleau, Zajac, and Bergeron. Interesting fact: Sean Couturier is second this season amongst forwards in SH TOI/G (behind teammate Max Talbot).
If you pressed me I'd probably choose Hall, Marleau, Skinner and E. Staal as my remaining forwards, and then the best offensive PKer at the time (J. Staal, Zajac, O'Reilly, Couturier, etc.) giving me something like this:
Hall - Crosby - Giroux
E. Staal - Stamkos - Marleau
Skinner - Getzlaf - Perry
M. Richards - Toews - Nash
(Extra)
The problem for me comes in the defense. Look at these guys: Weber, Letang, Doughty, Pietrangelo, Green, Burns, Subban, Seabrook. What do they all have in common other than the fact they're all great, Canadian defensemen? They're right sided defensemen (at least, from what I can gather). Personally, I've got Weber, Letang, Doughty, and Pietrangelo making it regardless. Letang can play LD, but I don't know if I'd want him there permanently. Keith is an automatic at LD. If we roll with that we have...
Keith - Doughty
Letang - Weber
x - Pietrangelo
(Green)
I think I need a shutdown but mobile LD for that final pairing, but that's easier said than done. Call me crazy but what about a guy like Hamhuis?
In net the three clear front runners are Fleury, Ward, and Price.
Anyway, I'm sure most will disagree with me and of course we're still years away, so this was basically a useless post, but I enjoyed thinking about it.
Stamkos - Crosby - Giroux (Crosby + Giroux would be sex on ice)
Duchene - Getzlaf - Perry
Nash - Toews - Richards (Amazing line for Canada in the last Olympics)
Hall - RNH - Tavares
Skinner
Weber - Letang
Doughty - Phaneuf
Pietrangelo - Subban
Keith
John Tavares Sidney Crosby Claude Giroux
Taylor Hall Steven Stamkos Martin St Louis
Jeff Skinner Jonathan Toews Jamie Benn
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Ryan Getzlaf Corey Perry
Drew Doughty Duncan Keith
Shea Weber Kris Letang
Mike Green Alex Pietrangelo
Remember, this is THREE years from now. A lot of young guys will be better, and people like pronger will be on their way out
Top Canadian Players in Tiers:
Obviously there's a **** ton of talent to choose from. One thing that I noticed last olympics was that there was a strong vetera presence (Pronger, Niedermayer), and I expect this will follow. I think Thornton/Iginla will be the leaders of this team (maybe Crosby will get the C though). It depends on how these players develop because RNH will be 21 at this time, Seguin and Hall will be in their primes, and players like Heatley will probably be on their way out but may rebound.
As a slightly biased Oilers fan, I would be stoked to see the line of Hall-RNH-Eberle be the next Marleau-Thornton-Heatley
2010 Team Canada candidates: Choose 6 Defensemen from December 2008 (Seabrook and Keith don't break 20% voting, Doughty not included, overwhelming votes for Phaneuf (91%) and Bouwmeester (75%)) http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=581768
So much can change in 2 and a half years. Some players fall out of contention and others rise up. Everyone should bookmark this thread and revisit in 2 years when they are putting the camps together for the 2014 squad and see how accurate the predictions were.
A lot of people got 9/12 forwards, that's pretty good. Most people had a real tough time predicting the defense. I think it's gonna be the inverse this time. I think most people will get about 6 or 7 forwards correct and 4 or 5 defensemen right.
The 2014 Olympics is on a larger ice surface so we will need more team speed. On an NHL surface, size has it's advantages but that is neutralized on a larger ice where the game is much more wide open.
__________________
I told ya so. I was right all along!
Probables: M. Richards, Getzlaf, Letang, Pietrangelo, Fleury, Ward
Too many possibles to begin listing.
Then there are always guys no one ever thinks of that have a chance of making it. Not just 3 years before the tournament, but the year of. If I had to pick MY team I would go on this basis:
First, I would take the dominant Vancouver line of M. Richards - Toews - Nash as a line. There's a line right there that I think can play on the big ice and has three guys who can kill penalties. Next I'd take Getzlaf - Perry as a pair. Both guys would be better on small ice, I admit, but their chemistry and talent are worth it. They thrived with a guy like Morrow who helped them cycle the puck but they'd need more finesse this time. That leaves two center spots open. I'm giving them to Crosby and Stamkos, the two most offensively talented Canadians. I wanted to put Giroux at center but I feel like he's the one center most able to play wing without losing much so I'm gonna put him on Crosby's right. This is all I would commit to firmly:
x - Crosby - Giroux
x - Stamkos - x
x - Getzlaf - Perry
M. Richards - Toews - Nash
Last year M. Richards, Giroux, and Toews were regular PKers (~2:00 SH mins/game) on their team. Perry killed some (~1:30) though his numbers are down this year, and Nash barely kills PKs although we know he is capable. It is probably a good idea to another take a PK guy. If a guy like J. Staal or O'Reilly finds his offensive game then they could be a candidate, you don't want to simply take a PK specialist as your 13th guy. Other possiblities are Marleau, Zajac, and Bergeron. Interesting fact: Sean Couturier is second this season amongst forwards in SH TOI/G (behind teammate Max Talbot).
If you pressed me I'd probably choose Hall, Marleau, Skinner and E. Staal as my remaining forwards, and then the best offensive PKer at the time (J. Staal, Zajac, O'Reilly, Couturier, etc.) giving me something like this:
Hall - Crosby - Giroux
E. Staal - Stamkos - Marleau
Skinner - Getzlaf - Perry
M. Richards - Toews - Nash
(Extra)
The problem for me comes in the defense. Look at these guys: Weber, Letang, Doughty, Pietrangelo, Green, Burns, Subban, Seabrook. What do they all have in common other than the fact they're all great, Canadian defensemen? They're right sided defensemen (at least, from what I can gather). Personally, I've got Weber, Letang, Doughty, and Pietrangelo making it regardless. Letang can play LD, but I don't know if I'd want him there permanently. Keith is an automatic at LD. If we roll with that we have...
Keith - Doughty
Letang - Weber
x - Pietrangelo
(Green)
I think I need a shutdown but mobile LD for that final pairing, but that's easier said than done. Call me crazy but what about a guy like Hamhuis?
In net the three clear front runners are Fleury, Ward, and Price.
Anyway, I'm sure most will disagree with me and of course we're still years away, so this was basically a useless post, but I enjoyed thinking about it.
Great post. A Hall-Crosby-Giroux top line would be absolutely sick.
In 44 posts, only 1 single person has included Luongo in their lineup.. Really? I know he's been trending downward for a while but he still won a gold for Canada last year and he still had 15 playoff wins last year.
