2016 World Cup Thread

[Eskimo Brother]

Just a heads-up.
Apparently, via ESPN's Projected Line-Ups, the Vancouver Canucks have some Russian player named Evgeni Kunetsov who had 77pts last year.
Might be a good season for them.
http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/1...fense-pairings

Oh ESPN, thou entertains like no other.

[AngelicAssassin0]

Oh ESPN, thou entertains like no other.

E-Exasperatingly
S-Stupid
P-People
N-Nightly

[pmorrow]

I'll be watching Team NA and Canada the most, and a bit Finland to see Laine.

It's tough, because I don't support the Team NA idea long term. Consider the fact that McDavid and Matthews would still be forced to play for this team in four years time, if the format stays the same. Collect your money, then turn this into a real world cup. This league blathers on about expanding the game to places like the UK and China, and then they do this entirely short-sighted format. I'm okay to see this once, but if they want to truly replace the Olympics, drop the gimmicks. This goes beyond McDavid and Matthews; there are arguably several good American players who would have made USA, and it feels very weird that there is a Czech team but no Slovak team in this tournament. I also love the Swiss as a potential darkhorse team to pull an upset.

[Dobbernomics]

Does anyone happen to know if some of the games are being live-streamed online by any chance?

[SensArmy93]

It's tough, because I don't support the Team NA idea long term. Consider the fact that McDavid and Matthews would still be forced to play for this team in four years time, if the format stays the same. Collect your money, then turn this into a real world cup. This league blathers on about expanding the game to places like the UK and China, and then they do this entirely short-sighted format. I'm okay to see this once, but if they want to truly replace the Olympics, drop the gimmicks. This goes beyond McDavid and Matthews; there are arguably several good American players who would have made USA, and it feels very weird that there is a Czech team but no Slovak team in this tournament. I also love the Swiss as a potential darkhorse team to pull an upset.

If I'm not mistaken, I think they did the NA and Euro teams for the first one because they didn't have time to do qualifying tournament(s).

[pmorrow]

So, looks like the players who didn't bow out because they stubbed their toe are in this tournament to win it. Pretournament games were shockingly intense one day one!

If I'm not mistaken, I think they did the NA and Euro teams for the first one because they didn't have time to do qualifying tournament(s).

Yeah, and I think they definitely intended this first tourney to be a cashgrab. I hope they scrap the gimmicks for the next tournament, but if you watched Team NA flying tonight you have to wonder what their plans are. The early reactions is that most people love it. Too bad, because there's no way the NHL forces McDavid, Eichel and Matthews to play for Team NA in 2020.

[Eskimo Brother]

So, looks like the players who didn't bow out because they stubbed their toe are in this tournament to win it. Pretournament games were shockingly intense one day one!



Yeah, and I think they definitely intended this first tourney to be a cashgrab. I hope they scrap the gimmicks for the next tournament, but if you watched Team NA flying tonight you have to wonder what their plans are. The early reactions is that most people love it. Too bad, because there's no way the NHL forces McDavid, Eichel and Matthews to play for Team NA in 2020.

Do we really know what the NHL would and wouldn't do after the glowing puck experiment?

[2014olympicgold]

I do like how there’s actual emotion in the game and it’s not like an All-Star game.

I also like seeing Auston Matthews. This tourney has done it’s trick on me and I’ll likely get an Auston Matthews jersey after the tournament hoping they go on sale.

[JagrBomb]

team NA odds went down to +1000 from +1200...maybe i should have bet more on them damn.

[Pengwin7]

team NA odds went down to +1000 from +1200...maybe i should have bet more on them damn.

12:1... 10:1...
The last Sportsnet article I forwarded to my hockey team had them at +2000 (20:1), mind you - that was late-July... but still... what oddsmaker missed the quality on that team!?!.
I said that was a bargain price.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/t...ld-cup-hockey/

[PenguinHunter]

I created a pool for the World Cup of Hockey.

World Cup Of Hockey Championship Challenge

[Shake]

Ryan O'Reilly replaces injured Tyler Seguin for Team Canada.

[pmorrow]

ROR isn't going to lose Canada any games, that's for sure. No problem with this pick. Just gives more ice time to other offensive forwards, while ROR is for certain a fixture on the PK and defensive zone starts.

[StuntMan12]

I like the ROR pick. Great defensive forward who can chip in offensively.

[RizzeeDizzee]

My second special cage match in honor of the WCOH is now live: http://www.dobberhockey.com/hockey-h...united-states/. This time it's the marquee first round match of Canada vs. USA - two teams who split their exhibition games. Check out the column as I go through six separate side-by-side comparisons to pick a winner. And like last week, I added several fantasy tidbits that will be of interest and importance to poolies even if they're among those who aren't jazzed about the match itself.

Note that the version posted now (8:30AM Eastern Wednesday 9/14) doesn't reflect O'Reilly being swapped in for Seguin. It doesn't change much (one less Cup win for Canada, two more golds, a slightly higher average age, but I sent Dobber a revised column so you might see a different version (same link) if you read this later.