2014 Team Canada

[The Guvnah]

Zorro's 2014 Team Canada Olympic roster:

John Tavares - Sidney Crosby -Steven Stamkos
Eric Staal - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry
Rick Nash - Jonathan Toews - Mike Richards
Martin St.Louis - Patrice Bergeron - Claude Giroux
Andrew Ladd

Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook
Drew Doughty - Shea Weber
Kris Letang - Alex Pietrangelo
PK Subban

Carey Price
Roberto Luongo
Martin Brodeur

I know I will take alot of heat for this but I was actually thinking/debating about adding Brad Marchand to this team, HAHA.. He definitely is a easy player to hate, great to play with, and very hard to play against.. But in a short tournament like this, most countries, especially Canada, usually don't take these kinds of risks.. HAHA..

Good lord that's a scary team. I think Crawford makes it in over Brodeur though. Mr. Guru is right about the nearly all right-handed defense corps though, but who do you take out? I think all 7 of those guys finds a place on any top 20 defensemen list you can make right now.

[doulos]

I know I will take alot of heat for this but I was actually thinking/debating about adding Brad Marchand to this team, HAHA.. He definitely is a easy player to hate, great to play with, and very hard to play against.. But in a short tournament like this, most countries, especially Canada, usually don't take these kinds of risks.. HAHA..

Hockey Canada has done stupid things like bring Patrice Cromier (twice) to the World Juniors, and even Steve Downie was a risky pick (actually Marchand played on both of those teams with Downie as well)

At the Olympic level though they have the luxury of being able to get away from those types of players I suppose.

[27Blue]

Feel free to add your team to this thread Mr. Guru.. I am interested to see your predictions for Team Canada's roster..

If Hamhuis/Campbell are on this team over Letang/Alex P because they are left handed shots, that would be a major mistake.. You really can't take Keith, Seabrook, Doughty, and Weber off the team.. And Alex P, is really coming into his own.. I could play D on this team though, HAHA.. Its that darn good..

Please add your team though MG..

AP will be top pairing d-man on this team... you need d-men who can skate, make good decisions and play sound positionally. physicality is an over-rated attribute for the Olympics. I also don't think LD and RD mean less on the big ice.

[MXHockey]

I think Zorro threw out a great roster.

Crawford/Brodeur - debatable for sure.


I'm not sure why, but I see Boyle being on this team. Not sure at whose expense, but I think he'll be there.


Cheers.

[Big Ev]

I think too many of you are trying to build an all-star team here. That ver well might work on the big ice, but TC is gonna need solid role players, and solid defensemen, not just offensive stars and offensive d-men. Having Keith, Letang, and Subban is probably overkill already. I don't have a team suggestion right now but there will probably be some guys who make it who many didn't think about because they need to fill a variety of roles.

[MXHockey]

I think too many of you are trying to build an all-star team here. That ver well might work on the big ice, but TC is gonna need solid role players, and solid defensemen, not just offensive stars and offensive d-men. Having Keith, Letang, and Subban is probably overkill already. I don't have a team suggestion right now but there will probably be some guys who make it who many didn't think about because they need to fill a variety of roles.

Good point. Maybe we see a Hamhuis or Gorges make it.

[bctopdawg]

As much as many of us dislike him, for his unmatched physical game bring Milan Lucic along.

It would be fun watching those US forwards fumble the puck around the boards with the thought of that "train" running them over

[JagrBomb]

I think too many of you are trying to build an all-star team here. That ver well might work on the big ice, but TC is gonna need solid role players, and solid defensemen, not just offensive stars and offensive d-men. Having Keith, Letang, and Subban is probably overkill already. I don't have a team suggestion right now but there will probably be some guys who make it who many didn't think about because they need to fill a variety of roles.

keith is great at D, and letang/subban are some of the top puck moving dmen in the league.

add in guys like doughty and weber who are great defensively, and there isn't much room for a guy like gorges/methot. if they want someone like that they'd rather insert seabrook who they can pair with keith.

there may be surprises for the forward selection, but i think D will be pretty much a given.

doughty, weber and keith should be locks. letang will be in if healthy, so that gives you at least 4. then you have pietrangelo, subban, seabrook...there's way too many options before they would go with a guy who just blocks/hits.

not to mention the russian ice is bigger than the nhl standard (correct me if i'm wrong). that means guys who can play the transition game (letang, subban, etc) should be that much more effective.

[The Guvnah]

keith is great at D, and letang/subban are some of the top puck moving dmen in the league.

add in guys like doughty and weber who are great defensively, and there isn't much room for a guy like gorges/methot. if they want someone like that they'd rather insert seabrook who they can pair with keith.

there may be surprises for the forward selection, but i think D will be pretty much a given.

doughty, weber and keith should be locks. letang will be in if healthy, so that gives you at least 4. then you have pietrangelo, subban, seabrook...there's way too many options before they would go with a guy who just blocks/hits.

not to mention the russian ice is bigger than the nhl standard (correct me if i'm wrong). that means guys who can play the transition game (letang, subban, etc) should be that much more effective.

I agree with this completely. A guy like Duncan Keith is not your prototypical offensive defenseman. Can he step into the rush? Definitely. But he does all those other little things very well too. Same goes for Seabrook, dude is a 30-point player, which hardly qualifies one for offensive d-man status. I wouldn't call Doughty an offensive d-man either. He can hit and defend with the best of them. The reason those guys are on most lists is because they play a multi-faceted game. They do what is asked of them.

[Mr. Guru]

Feel free to add your team to this thread Mr. Guru.. I am interested to see your predictions for Team Canada's roster..

If Hamhuis/Campbell are on this team over Letang/Alex P because they are left handed shots, that would be a major mistake.. You really can't take Keith, Seabrook, Doughty, and Weber off the team.. And Alex P, is really coming into his own.. I could play D on this team though, HAHA.. Its that darn good..

Please add your team though MG..

All I know is you can't have one left handed defender on the team.....That is absurd.

Not sure why you think Seabrook is a lock either.

Keith is 100% on the team if healthy. He is our best lefty. Weber Doughty are shoe ins. Letang is most likely a guarantee too.

In my opinion, Marc Staal, Francois Beauchemin, Dan Hamhuis, and/or Brian Campbell (all lefties) have a better shot at making the team than Seabrook. In that order too.

I'll go out on a 'limb' and role with:

Keith (L)- Weber (R)
Staal (L)- Doughty (R)
Beauchemin (L)- Letang (R)
Pietrangelo (R)

Balanced D with Pietrangelo's ability to step into any role in case of injury/suspension/bad play.....which could happen.

Each pairing has a 'shutdown and puckmover'. Each paring has a lefty and a righty. Staal and Beauchemin's role are immediately defined. You need that in a short tournament like this.

Some might laugh at the thought of Beauchemin even having a chance to crack the almighty Canadian roster, but if he continues to play anything like he did this year I would have no problem playing him over other guys like Seabrook and Subban.

I am pretty confident (if healthy) Staal will be on the team in some capacity. He would be a 2nd best lefty going.

Like Ev said, you're not building a fantasy team here. To add to that this Canadian team is so stacked that the skill difference is very minimal. Intangibles are more of a factor: experience, leadership, character, etc.. Also, a team's offensive zone entry/dump ins are usually based on which hand the defenders shoot.

[Big Ev]

I agree with this completely. A guy like Duncan Keith is not your prototypical offensive defenseman. Can he step into the rush? Definitely. But he does all those other little things very well too. Same goes for Seabrook, dude is a 30-point player, which hardly qualifies one for offensive d-man status. I wouldn't call Doughty an offensive d-man either. He can hit and defend with the best of them. The reason those guys are on most lists is because they play a multi-faceted game. They do what is asked of them.

You're right, but having both Subban and Letang is redundant IMO, that's mainly what I was concerned with, those two. Also Seabrook, I wouldn't have him on this team as I don't think he is currently one of the best Canadian d-men out there, a slight regression over the last few years.

If healthy and playing well, I'd have Marc Staal on my team. Big-time player and will be able to shut down the other team's stars on the big ice. Having two big guys in Staal and Weber on two different pairings would be great.

I also think Phaneuf might get consideration if they want another leftie.

Right now my D would be Keith, Weber, Staal, Letang, Doughty, Pietrangelo, and Phaneuf. I think that is a good balance between defense and offense from the back-end.

[Mr. Guru]

Thought about Phaneuf, Ev. But he would be so exposed on the big ice it would be very very bad.

[Big Ev]

As much as many of us dislike him, for his unmatched physical game bring Milan Lucic along.

It would be fun watching those US forwards fumble the puck around the boards with the thought of that "train" running them over

I don't think he'd be as effective on big ice, but I might agree. I think Clutterbuck might be a better option for his better skating ability, but i think people would laugh at me if I said Cal Clutterbuck would make the Olympic team

[Big Ev]

Thought about Phaneuf, Ev. But he would be so exposed on the big ice it would be very very bad.

as long as you make him a bottom-pairing D it would be fine. And most countries bottom-pairs would be meh

[MXHockey]

Phaneuf and Lucic, both good players, but bad options for 2014.