I think Grubauer likely is considered the superior goalie at this point of their careers. Halak barely gets any playing time for Vancouver since they rely on Demko not to have a worse record than the Coyotes.
Has Germany and Switzerland surpassed Slovakia?
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JabbaJabba
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Shawn Heins 44
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I would not read too much into this game to be honest. It was a really bad showing by a Swiss team of which only an handful of players have a shot at the Olympics.
I think we do tend to get overrated from time to time on here (dont get me wrong, we have some really nice results in the last decade) but this game is really no threshold of power.
Czechboy
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To be honest, I don't know.lol I just used NHL.com and clicked on Swiss.
McTavish was born in Switzerland, while his father was playing there.
But he's already played in an IIHF tournament (U18s) for Canada. If he wants to play for Switzerland now I believe it will require 4 years of playing in Switzerland
Also included in the picture is the German-born Nico Daws although he has already represented Canada in a sanctioned tournament, thus being unable to represent Germany.
Not that he would be anywhere close to making the German Olympic team even if he was eligible.
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I was wondering why I had no idea he was German. Again, I was just trying to add to the conversation by quick screen caps and nationality from NHL.com.
Thank you to both posters for pointing out that McTavish and Daws aren't playing at the upcoming Olympics.
It actually makes the argument even closer as the biggest NHL roster (Swiss) just shrunk by one.
Germans were always going with Grubauer.. if he gets injured, I'm not sure who plan B is with Greiss retired.
I still don't know which nation is best right now. I think it's extremely close.
My opinions:
Best D in the group is Josi.
Best G is Grubauer followed very closely by Halak.
Best D group in general is Slovakia (add in a good goalie and that is their big strength)
Best F is Draisaitl and, I never get to use this appropriately, AINEC!
Best F group is the Swiss
Since none of the nations can field an all NHL team - I think the best group of Euro's is the Slovaks. I'm sure some will rightfully disagree.
3 entirely different strengths for each nation.
I was surprised to see only 4 Germans (plus Grubauer) in NHL since I keep reading how Bokk, Peterka and Reichel will be locks for their teams. Having said that... I think Grub (G), Drai (F) and Seider (D) is the best elected 3 of the 3 nations. I'm sure some will rightfully disagree.lol
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Antiillafire
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Eye of Ra
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i want to see slovak team made up of tipsport extraliga players vs czech team made up of extraliga players
tobu
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To be fair, KHLers aged 22 on average. Tipsporters aged 23 on average.
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That'd be fun! I'd watch that for sure. Do the Slovak's get some of their good players in the Czech Extraliga?
Antiillafire
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Don’t worry you guys can use any czechs in Slovak league
. Czechs would control the game either way but I don’t think it would be blow out. But Czech league has top end talent that is hard to match. One thing about this tournament has shown me how good of a coach Ramsay is. He may be the best coach in international hockey in terms of getting the most out of players. Although I do disagree with line combinations he chooses on occasion.
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I don't think it'd be a blowout at all. I think it'd be a great game to watch! I think some of the better Slovak D are in Extraliga and we might have a good goalie or 2? I see 2 Slovaks in top 20 in Extraliga. 2 of the top 3 D scorere in Extraliga are also Slovak! Godla and Tomek are top 10 for goalies.Don’t worry you guys can use any czechs in Slovak league
Not sure if those players would be need for the Slovak extraliga team or not?
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Definitely a great start. He's 12 games into his NHL career... I'd wait before putting him up there with Makar and Josi. I do think he'll be elite though and a Norris contender in future years. MInd you, I thought Stutzl would be a .ppg player this season as well... he's not even a .5ppg so far and was over .5ppg last season. Rookie slumps, sophomore jinxs etc. I also thought Reichel and Peterka would be NHL regulars today. It's a tough curve!
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We’re talking about Seider. Who I had reservations about this year but he hasn’t had any problem adjusting to the NHL.
He is likely the favourite for the calder at this juncture, and deservedly so. He has went into Detroit and taken that #1 D spot as a rookie.
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His teamate is also a strong contender for the calder... Lucas Raymond. Detroit has a good thing going.
He is 2nd in D minutes behind Hronek who plays the same position.
He is 1st in points for D though.
Amazing first 16 games for sure.
This is sort of off topic, but what do you guys think team Europe roster would be if World Cup were to be played this season with the same format as 2016?
Would any non-NHLers make it? There is enough there to make an all-NHL team.
Just doing a quick glance, it looks like a pretty strong team. Top 9 forwards and top 4 Ds look like they belong with best-on-best, strong in goal also.
Would any non-NHLers make it? There is enough there to make an all-NHL team.
Just doing a quick glance, it looks like a pretty strong team. Top 9 forwards and top 4 Ds look like they belong with best-on-best, strong in goal also.
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Czechboy
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I think the point of that team is to make sure it is all NHL players.
You could make a very good team of the non big 5 and Czech players.
Grubauer, Andersson, Merzilkins maybe?
Kopitar, Drai, Josi, Seider, Stutzl, Tatar, Cernak, Ehlers, Zucarrelo etc.
Having said that, I hope to never see a team like that again and hope all the nations boycott the notion.
I hear you, I hated that also, I just asked as a matter of curiosity. I also asked to see if more talent has developed outside of top 6, which appears that it has.
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Drai elevating his game alone makes that team better.
Definitely some good Goalies.
Kopitar as a 2C is amazing.
I feel like I missed out on some very good players but in theory the team would have Hart nominees (Drai), Norris nominees (Josi) and Vezina nominees (Grub). Nice start for sure!
This is just not true.
Slovak team had players like Kristof, Ceresnak, Knazko, Tomek, Roman, Rosandic, Hrehorcak,Griger, Ivan, Koch who are not in Slovak league.
10/22 not from Slovak league, including some key players. And the Russian team was Russia B, and did not have KHL stars.
