Levitate said:
first, i think canada only has the real advantage in terms of guys like Thornton, Heatley, and Nash. the other guys like Doan, Gagne, etc, can have their equivalents found on other teams. Not that they're bad players, but they're not quite a "step above" like the other three I mentioned. They provide Canada with good depth in this tournament but they're not special talents that other teams can't have.
and second, this isn't a NA style, NHL tournament. being a NHL player in this tournament doesn't exactly mean you're better for it than a player who's played his career in europe. They're used to the ice and the rules and the styles of play that are successful in this setting. they're no slouches or "no talents" just because they're not in the NHL when it comes to a tourney like this.
that all being said, Canada does have very good talent and depth obviously and certainly should be considered a favorite as long as they aren't terribly rusty...but I could easily see them being knocked off if they don't play 100%. Heatley at 70% isn't going to win them this tourney if the rest of the team follows suite
Gimme a break. The DDT line was one of the most dominant lines in the WC, and that included Doan and Draper. Canada has what, 10 forwards who were 20 goal scorers at least in the last year? These guys are franchise players, people put so much into the 'bigger ice surface.' If the bigger ice surface is so much of a difference maker how come Canada dominated it in 2002, followed up by the Americans, both of whom were not brought up on the 'big ice.' Canada has shut down Peter Forsberg on the 'big ice' with guys like Maltby Doan and Draper. Big ice isnt that big of a factor. The biggest factors are talent, systems, team chemistry, luck.
Its so typical that people dont want to give guys like Doan and Marleau credit just because they're not flashy like Kovalchuck. Maybe they don't score as many goals, but goal scoring is not the only factor that makes a good hockey player. These guys are great all around, and I dont want to throw a word like 'two-way' around because that makes it seem as if they're only mildly offensively talented. Marleau scored a hat trick against Kipper in the playoffs last year.
And if you look at a 'grinder' like Fischer, he had pretty big numbers in Europe last year. So take our 'grinder,' put him in Europe 'on the big ice' and he becomes a dominant player. Want to know why? The European leagues simply do not have the same top level talent the NHL has.
Think about this: Everyone here is so excited about Ovechkin playing in this tournament. Well he sure did great in the WJC...oh wait, as soon as he played a formidable team, he got completely shut down! He got shut down by guys that are about 100th on Canada's best-on-best depth chart, wait till he plays guys that are 10-20 on the best on best depth chart, not just for Canada, for any team. He didnt do much in the WC, I don't know why anyone would think hes going to be amazing in this tournament.
Granted everything I say could be completely wrong. Canada could easily not medal, its anyone's tournament. But to say we're that much less skilled than any other team is to not look at the facts.
he hasn't done many super-huge blunders.
