WC: Rank these WHC gold medal winning teams

[tade]

Hey, everyone! Just got this idea, I would like to see what would be your ranking of these gold medal winning teams from WHC. I have included teams from 2004 to 2015.

Please take into considerations not only how they looked on paper, but also how these teams performed on the ice.

Here are all rosters (plus best team scorer from each team), to make it easier for you:

2004 Team Canada
G: Luongo, Denis, Giguère
D: S. Niedermayer, Bouwmeester, Staios, Brewer, Morris, N. Schultz, W. Mitchell, Heward
F: Smyth, Horcoff, R. Niedermayer, G. Murray, B. Morrison, Cooke, J.P. Dumont, P. Bergeron, Friesen, Heatley (11 PTS), Briere, Morrow, Williams, Shantz
Coach: Babcock

2005 Team Czech Republic (NHL lock out)
G: Vokoun, Hnilička, A. Svoboda
D: Å légr, T. Kaberle, Kubina, Å paček, Židlický, Fischer, F. Kaberle, Hejda
F: Jágr (9 PTS), Čajánek, Ručinský, Dvořák, Prospal, M. Straka, Hemský, Výborný, Hlaváč, P. Sýkora, Vašíček, Varaďa, Vrbata, Průcha
Coach: V. Růžička

2006 Team Sweden
G: Liv, J. Holmqvist, Henriksson
D: Timander, Mag. Johansson, N. Kronwall (10 PTS), Hållberg, R. Sundin, A. Holmqvist, Jönsson
F: Martensson, Mattsson, Samuelsson, Mat. Johansson, Franzen, J. Lundqvist, A. Karlsson, Melin, Emvall, Zetterberg, Hannula, M. Nylander, Nordquist, N. Bäckström, Jonsson
Coach: Bengt-Ake Gustafsson

2007 Team Canada
G: C. Mason, Roloson, C. Ward
D: Brewer, Commodore, Hamhuis, Jackman, Murphy, Phaneuf, N. Schultz, S. Weber
F: C. Armstrong, Cammalleri, Chimera, Doan, Lombardi (12 PTS), Mayers, McClement, Nash, E. Staal, J. Staal, Toews, Williams
Coach: A. Murray

2008 Team Russia
G: Nabokov, Eremenko, Biryukov
D: Grebeshkov, Kalinin, Korneyev, A. Markov, D. Markov, Nikulin, Proshkin, Tyutin, Vorobiev
F: Afinogenov, S. Fedorov, Gorovikov, Kovalchuk, Morozov, Mozyakin, Ovechkin, Radulov, Semin (13 PTS), Sushinski, Tereshchenko, Zaripov, Zinovjev
Coach: V. Bykov

2009 Team Russia
G: Bryzgalov, Eremenko, Koshechkin
D: Atyushov, Grebeshkov, Kalinin, Korneyev, Nikulin, Proshkin, Tverdovsky, Vishnevskiy, Volchenkov
F: Frolov, Gorovikov, Kovalchuk (14 PTS), Kuryanov, Morozov, Mozyakin, Perezhogin, Radulov, Saprykin, Tereshchenko, Zaripov, Zherdev, Zinovjev
Coach: V. Bykov

2010 Team Czech Republic
G: Vokoun, Pavelec, Å těpánek
D: Barinka, BlaťÃ¡k, Čáslava, Gřegořek, Mojžíš, Němec, F. Novák, Rachůnek, Rozsíval
F: Červenka, Hubáček, Jágr (7 PTS), KaÅ¡par, KlepiÅ¡, Koukal, Kvapil, Marek, Novotný, Rolinek, M. Růžička, Vampola, Voráček
Coach: V. Růžička

2011 Team Finland
G: Vehanen, Lassila, Hovinen
D: Jaakola, Kukkonen, Lepistö, Niskala, Puistola, Salmela, Väänänen, Välivaara
F: Aaltonen, Mik. Granlund, Immonen (12 PTS), Joensuu, N. Kapanen, M. Koivu, Komarov, Lahti, Lajunen, Nokelainen, Pesonen, Pihlström, Pyörälä, T. Ruutu
Coach: Jalonen

2012 Team Russia
G: Varlamov, Barulin, Biryukov
D: Biryukov, Denisov, Emelin, Kalinin, Medvedev, Nikitin, Nikulin, Ryasensky
F: Datsyuk, Ketov, Kokarev, Kulemin, Kuznetsov, Malkin (19 PTS), Ovechkin, Perezhogin, Popov, Semin, Shirokov, Svitov, Tereshchenko, Zherdev
Coach: Bilyaletdinov

2013 Team Sweden
G: Enroth, Markström, Gustafsson
D: S. Kronwall, Tallinder, Granberg, Fransson, Edler, Gustafsson, Fälth
F: S. Hjalmarsson, Pettersson, Lindberg, Järnkrok, J. Lundqvist, Eriksson (10 PTS), D. Sedin, Persson, Ericsson, D. Axelsson, H. Sedin, Danielsson, Thörnberg, Jämtin, Landeskog
Coach: P. MÃ¥rts

2014 Team Russia
G: Bobrovsky, Vasilevski, Khudobin
D: Zubarev, Denisov, Kutuzov, Orlov, Yakovlev, Chudinov, Belov, Medvedev
F: Ovechkin, Tikhonov (16 PTS), Malkin, Plotnikov, Zaripov, Kulemin, S. Kalinin, Anisimov, Shirokov, Dadonov, Burmistrov, Schipachev, Loktionov, Kuznetsov
Coach: Znarok

2015 Team Canada
G: Smith, Jones
D: Hamhuis, Ekblad, Muzzin, Barrie, Wiercioch, Savard, Burns
F: Hall, Couturier, Duchene, Schenn, Eberle, Eakin, Giroux, MacKinnon, Ennis, Toffoli, R. O'Reilly, Crosby, Spezza (14 PTS), Seguin
Coach: McLellan

2016 ???

Would like to create a good discussin about this, thanks for your opinions!

Click to read more...

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

I don't know if they're the best or not, but 2015 Team Canada is the most amazing team you will see in this tournament for a very long time. You just knew going into that Russia game, it was a matter of time until they demolish them, and to have it at the mecca of International Hockey tournaments,in Prague, pure magic.

 

[tade]

I don't know if they're the best or not, but 2015 Team Canada is the most amazing team you will see in this tournament for a very long time. You just knew going into that Russia game, it was a matter of time until they demolish them, and to have it at the mecca of International Hockey tournaments,in Prague, pure magic.

Agreed, for me, 2015 Team Canada is the best out of all these teams. Pretty comfortably. Elite players with totally dominant performance through the whole tournament, probably minus like one period against Sweden. I'll decide later on my full ranking.

 

[tade]

2010 Czech republic is imo definitely the team with the 'greatest heart.' It's incredible what they achieved with such a weak roster. They were almost done already in group stage but managed to come back - won against Canada, then won QF and SF games, both in SO. And then they were able to shut down stacked Russian team (in gold medal game) which was full of star players like Datsyuk, Kovalchuk, Malkin, Ovechkin, Semin, Fedorov, Mozyakin...

Jagr, Vokoun really carried this team in a big way. But it was amazing team effort, no doubt.

 

[xxxx]

By including both rosters and performance:

1. 2015 Team Canada

2. 2012 Team Russia

then I don't know. I know the canadian team in 2007 didn't lost a single game, and then in 2008, the russian team had to be good when beat our quite strong roster

it's tough, all the teams at the end won the gold and all of them had to beat tough opponents. The czech team in 2010 might be almost least impressive on paper, but I remember they even lost to Norway in group stage. So getting from that to a gold-medal game where they beat basically russian olympic team with Ovechkin, Malkin, Datsyuk, Gonchar, Kovalchuk, Semin, Fedorov, and others; that is impressive. The czech team in 2005 was on paper very good, and I don't remember much else, but they beat US, Sweden, and Canada in the playoffs, so.

And I shouldn't forget the russian team in 2012, imo the second best gold-medal team in the last decade. Didn't lost a game, their score against Sweden, Czechs, and Finland and Slovakia (the last two in medal-round) was 21-7 + they had Malkin playing his probably best hockey of his career. (btw that's the season he had 50 goals and 109 points in 75 games to win the Art Ross, Hart, and Lindsay trophies.) He dominated the tournament with 11 goals in 10 games + 19 points. He also scored a hat trick in semifinal game.


Overall, I would say that the last year's canadian team will be hard to beat by anyone in the upcoming futurue. Maybe we will try to do that this year, who knows

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

2012 and 2015 were the most dominant gold medal winning teams. 2011 was amazing with such a weak roster.

 

[xxxx]

it would be also interesting to somehow rank the gold-medal games - which one do you find the best? In whatever way you choose to look at it. I would go with the most entertaining, that would probably be 2008 between Canada and Russia. But the most favorite would be 2015 gold-medal winning the tournament for Sid, also after 7 years, and against Russia, and 6-1 on top of that...doesn't get much better than that in terms of this tournament.

 

[Erikfromfin]

Hard to remember all but id go something like this

1. 2012 Russia (Malkin was unstoppable)
2. 2005 Czech (Lockout.. Last shades of hockey superpower Czech?)
3. 2015 Canada (Blizzed tournament)
4. 2008 Russia (Russias long draught ended in Canada)
5. 2011 Finland (Middle generations golden moment + Granlund show)
6. 2014 Russia ("Home" ice advantage at Minsk)
7. 2006 Sweden (Golden double)
8. 2009 Russia (Not so exciting as year before)
9. 2004 Canada (Heatley was magic back then)
10. 2013 Sweden (Sedins came and won)
11. Czech 2010 (Came together so well)
12. Canada 2007 (Young team with lots of energy)

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

In terms of entertainment IMO:

1. 2008 Russia
2. 2011 Finland
3. 2015 Canada
4. 2009 Russia
5. 2010 Czech Republic
6. 2005 Czech Republic
7. 2012 Russia
8. 2004 Canada
9. 2014 Russia
10. 2006 Sweden
11. 2013 Sweden
12. 2007 Canada

 

[tony d]

Team Canada last year was pretty good, they're my choice.

 

[Paxton Fettel]

1. Canada 2015 & Russia 2012

3. Czechia 2005

4. Russia 2008

5. Everyone else

 

[JackSlater]

It's obviously the 2015 Canadian team. That team had a ridiculous +51 goal differential and set the record for most goals scored in the history of the tournament. The second part is quite surprising given the current era. No other team has a roster on paper that matches it, which is sad given that it's not an awe inspiring lineup. They did play very well together though.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

It's obviously the 2015 Canadian team. That team had a ridiculous +51 goal differential and set the record for most goals scored in the history of the tournament. The second part is quite surprising given the current era. No other team has a roster on paper that matches it, which is sad given that it's not an awe inspiring lineup. They did play very well together though.

Funny thing was, they only had 4 players from the 2014 Olympic Gold team. And 2 of them were the 3rd string goalie and 7th defenseman.

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

Funny thing was, they only had 4 players from the 2014 Olympic Gold team. And 2 of them were the 3rd string goalie and 7th defenseman.

8 or more of those players could very well be on the 2018 Olympic team. It was a sign of things to come heading into the next Olympics. A special team.

 

[xxxx]

Funny thing was, they only had 4 players from the 2014 Olympic Gold team. And 2 of them were the 3rd string goalie and 7th defenseman.

+ Duchene was 14th forward two times, and in the other games he played 14:28 (Austria), 13:12 (Finland), 7:56 (US), 7:24 (Sweden).

 

[1Gold Standard]

8 or more of those players could very well be on the 2018 Olympic team. It was a sign of things to come heading into the next Olympics. A special team.

You think close to 10 or more? No way! based on players named to the World Cup and various other projections of who fills out that roster, not seeing that change much between now and 2018, nowhere close to 10 players from the WHC 2015 will be on the 2018 Olympic Team, my guess is more like 6 max.

It wasn't that special of a team. a fun team to watch light it up, but the difference was they were well coached and highly motivated...which is what is most important in winning that B level tournament.

 

[babylonzoo]

I know it's outside the scope, but the 1994 team canada was also pretty stacked and didn't lose a game.
They demolished a sweden team with a very good sundin at 6-0 in the semi.

Team included:
Sakic，shanahan, kariya, arnott, brindamour, blake, ranford, robitaille, verbeek just to name a few

 

[JackSlater]

You think close to 10 or more? No way! based on players named to the World Cup and various other projections of who fills out that roster, not seeing that change much between now and 2018, nowhere close to 10 players from the WHC 2015 will be on the 2018 Olympic Team, my guess is more like 6 max.

It wasn't that special of a team. a fun team to watch light it up, but the difference was they were well coached and highly motivated...which is what is most important in winning that B level tournament.

But I have it on good authority that the 2015 Canadian World Championship team was at least 65% of the best possible Canadian team!

In all seriousness, you're right that it's a team where things just came together really well. Sometimes that just happens in international hockey, and it's nice to see.

 

[Canuckistani]

Top 5

1. 2015 Canada (the greatest post-Soviet team, by a mile)
2. 2012 Russia (the Malkin show, destroyed Sweden, Finland and Slovakia)
3. 2008 Russia (a great team that beat an equally great Canada in the final)
4. 2005 Czech Rep (lots of top players during the lockout)
5. 2014 Russia (fantastic team but they played weak opponents)

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

You think close to 10 or more? No way! based on players named to the World Cup and various other projections of who fills out that roster, not seeing that change much between now and 2018, nowhere close to 10 players from the WHC 2015 will be on the 2018 Olympic Team, my guess is more like 6 max.

It wasn't that special of a team. a fun team to watch light it up, but the difference was they were well coached and highly motivated...which is what is most important in winning that B level tournament.

Hall
Ekblad
Muzzin
Duchene
Eberle
Giroux
Mackinnon
Seguin
Crosby.

8 or so, just a possibility.

 

[1Gold Standard]

Hall
Ekblad
Muzzin
Duchene
Eberle
Giroux
Mackinnon
Seguin
Crosby.

8 or so, just a possibility.

And those are my 6.

As much as I like Muzzin, unless it's a Kunitz/Crosby type of situation and Doughty all of a sudden can't play with any other LHD, Muzzin never sees the inside a Team Canada dressing room. Reilly and Murray will make it before Muzzin does.

Eberle? will be displaced by an abundance of better forwards (centers) moving to play RW. too many deficiencies in Eberle's game to warrant an A team spot. Great B team player though.