Team Canada '96: What do you change?

This was not that bad of a team, it wasnt great but it was better than '98 ironically. They at least reached the finals. But a very old team in general I must say. That's what led to them losing to the USA, was their age, USA was very young at that time. In brackets is who I think should have replaced them.

Goalies

Joseph (Roy)
Brodeur
Ranford (Fuhr)

This was a big shocker. Brodeur I can see. Ranford probalby got the nod because of '91. Joseph wasnt a shock but he made that team even thought he was in the IHL that year for a holdout. Why in the world Roy wasnt picked is a myth. Did Sather have something against him? How he didnt get in there when he nearly won the Conn Smythe is absurd. Other than that Fuhr was still much more solid than Ranford IMO. He was still a very good goalie.

Defence

Coffey
Stevens
Desjardins
Niedermayer
Foote
Blake
Odelein (Bourque)
Cote (MacInnis)

Oh my! What a horrible defence! No wonder the speedy and bigger Americans ran us to the ground. When a 35 year old is your best defenceman then that's rough. Coffey had no gas left in him. '96 was his last good season. He carried way too much of the load. The offense lacked on that defence. I know MacInnis was hurt and Bourque chose not to play but could we have picked someone better than Cote and Odelein? How about Pronger? I'd have dug up Doug Harvey before I let Odelein anywhere near that ice!

Forwards

Lindros
Sakic
Messier
Gretzky
Yzerman
Fleury
Shanahan
Damphousse
C. Lemieux (Recchi)
Graves (Kariya)
Linden
Primeau (Lemieux)
BrindAmour
Verbeek (Oates)

Not a bad forward corps but not great either. Mess and Gretz were far past their prime even though both were around 100 points that year. Verbeek should have sat down. Put Oates in there. Graves and Primeau should have been replaced by Mario and Kariya. Mario chose not to play and Kariya was injured. Then get out Claude Lemieux and throw in Recchi's all around game.

That's a more formidable team. Sather coaching wasnt a bad idea, but giving all three ex-Oilers a "letter" on their shirt was questionable. Lindros or Sakic should have been given a shot at that time.

 

why in the ____ would you remove Joseph, at that time he was one of the top goalies in the league, but I guess it must have been his fault right.

 

Agreed. Joseph was incredible in 96. Unfortunately, Richter was a demigod.

 

I have never seen a player play like Richter did in that final game. A sheet of plywood in front of the net wouldn't have been any better.

 

Richter was the key. Canada, despite not having it's best possible team, was still the more dominant squad. Good thing Mike Richter was a freak!

 

IIRC, Scotty Bowman picked the team, then bailed on Team Canada before the tournament. They may have something to do with why Roy wasn't there, but I'm not sure. I'm sure it has a lot to do with why Scotty wasn't invited to be part of either of the Olympic teams.

 

Joseph has never in his life been a big game goalie. Look at Game 3 of the '96 World Cup. He just doesnt come through in the clutch. He may be the best goalie of all time in the 1st round, but after that its sketchy. All I'm saying is that there were better Canadian goalies than him at that time.

 

So you would put in an INJURED Grant Fuhr over an in his prime Joesph, that makes a lot of sense. Once again humor me how was it his fault that they lost since you are basically blamming him for the loss, I must have missed the ref's jersey he had on to not wave off the high stick goal. As well when we had Roy in net for an international competition what happened ?

 

I'm quite sure Roy turned the team down that year. I'm not sure if it was for an injury or he was still miffed at missing out in 87 and 91.

 

The only thing i'd change is me recording the semi-final game against Sweden so I could remember one of the greatest games I've ever seen.

 

No I'm not blaming Joseph for the loss all I'm saying is that in every other Int'l tourny Canada has always had the best goalie. This one they didnt. Roy would have been better than that. And Fuhr was only injured in the '96 playoffs not by the Fall of '96 I dont believe. Besides Roy would have played in all the games anyways. Joseph is just not a champion goalie. Fuhr won 5 Cups and one Canada Cup he performs well under pressure. But when the chips are down Jospeh chokes. Look at his career, he has a terrible Game 7 record. Not only that but how he lost in those Game 7s. Fuhr '96 wasnt Fuhr of '87 but he'd have come through in the clutch better. Or if you want to add another guy than throw in Belfour. I'd take a '96 Belfour over Joseph AND Fuhr. Don't tell me Belfour wasnt as good as Joseph.

 

Since I was rooting for the USA, I wouldn't have changed a thing!

 

With the way Richter played in the final two games, the U.S. would have won against any Canadian team. He was that damn good.

A few thoughts:
*This was a Canadian team hampered by injuries. Lemieux wanted to rest up for the upcoming season. Kariya suffered a broken foot before the tournament. Francis got hurt in training camp. I believe Yzerman and Sakic were less than 100 per cent. The defence was riddled with a series of injuries, too, so much so that Doug Bodger and Chris Pronger were the next guys on the list. (Pronger had just the one good playoff at that point). Adam Foote was, for my money, our best defenceman in the tournament, and even he was an injury fill-in.
*Joseph was great in that tournament. He played a great game against Sweden. He outplayed Brodeur in that tournament, and at the 1996 World Championships as well. Ranford over Roy was foolish, but keep in mind Ranford was the top goalie at the 1991 World Cup and the MVP at the 1994 Worlds. We won't go into Roy's prior snubs at Canada.
*Verbeek was actually coming off a career year that season.
*In the end, two things stood in Canada's way at this tournament: Mike Richter and health. You can't control how good the other goalie is, and you can't control injuries. A healthy Canada is a much different and much better Canada. Still, they probably wouldn't have been good enough to beat Richter.