The "next generation"

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Preds666

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Feb 27, 2002
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I am going to stick with Canada, closely followed by USA (producing a lot of prospects nowadays) and Russia. There is an insane amount of talented Russian forwards "popping" up, but I don't see as many defensemen of the same calibre.

I honestly don't think there will be a lot of changes in terms of player depth, compared to how it is now. Finland could likely pass Sweden, but I don't see a new "World Power" when it comes to producing hockey stars.
 

Drake1588

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Jul 2, 2002
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Finland's development program over recent years has really been producing some fine players, and I expect that to manifest itself gradually in future international tournaments.
 

Cole Caulifield

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Apr 22, 2004
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wilka91 said:
In your opinion, what country has the best "next generation" of players?

How about Russia?

Kovalchuk
Ovechkin
Malkin
Zherdev
Frolov

:banana:

How about Canada ?

Nash
Heatley
Bouwmeester
Thornton
Horton
Staal
Crosby

:banana: ;)
 

Bill McNeal

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Jul 19, 2003
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If I were to pick a country with the players most likely to win a scoring title, I'd say Russia with Kovalchuk, Ovechkin and Malkin.

Overall depth though, I'd pick Canada.

US has also come a long way, with some promising kids coming up.
 

Cwood2

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Feb 6, 2004
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Until another country starts producing goalies at the same rate, it's going to be Canada.

M.A. Fleury should be on this list.
 

Zine

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Feb 28, 2002
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Rostov-on-Don
Finland seems to be producing some great "next generation" goalies.
Noronen
Lehtonen
Toivonen
Tuukka Raask will be awsome
 

Bill McNeal

Registered User
Jul 19, 2003
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Montreal
Zine said:
Finland seems to be producing some great "next generation" goalies.
Noronen
Lehtonen
Toivonen
Tuukka Raask will be awsome

Agreed. Won't be long before the league is dominated by Finnish goalies along with French-Canadians. Anybody can fill me in on how Finland has become so good at developing goalies lately? You can trace Quebec's production to Patrick Roy, but what spurred this in Finland?
 

PinkFloydLives

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May 14, 2004
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The Albino said:
Anybody can fill me in on how Finland has become so good at developing goalies lately? You can trace Quebec's production to Patrick Roy, but what spurred this in Finland?


Maybe because of the great Kari Takko? :D
 

Rabid Ranger

2 is better than one
Feb 27, 2002
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Murica
Canada will have the most overall depth and quality for the forseeable future. IMO, the nation that will come closest in the next ten or so years is the U.S. followed by Russia. The other major hockey playing countries have stellar prospects, but not at all positions, and not in sheer numbers. I'll do a list of some American prospects to keep an eye out on:


Ryan Miller
Al Montoya
Patrick O'Sullivan
Dustin Brown
Rob Schremp
Ryan Suter
A.J. Thelen
Mark Stuart
Zach Parise
 

leafaholix*

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Rabid Ranger said:
Canada will have the most overall depth and quality for the forseeable future. IMO, the nation that will come closest in the next ten or so years is the U.S. followed by Russia. The other major hockey playing countries have stellar prospects, but not at all positions, and not in sheer numbers. I'll do a list of some American prospects to keep an eye out on:


Ryan Miller
Al Montoya
Patrick O'Sullivan
Dustin Brown
Rob Schremp
Ryan Suter
A.J. Thelen
Mark Stuart
Zach Parise
I'd say that Russia is ahead of the U.S. by a fair margin.
 

William H Bonney

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Feb 27, 2002
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Leafaholix said:
I'd say that Russia is ahead of the U.S. by a fair margin.

How so? Russia has the more dynamic forward prospects, but their defense and goalie prospects aren't even remotely close to the US.
 

Rabid Ranger

2 is better than one
Feb 27, 2002
31,014
11,020
Murica
Leafaholix said:
I'd say that Russia is ahead of the U.S. by a fair margin.


In what way, because of one or two forward prospects? Neither the defense or goaltending is close IMO.
 

leafaholix*

Guest
Mobey said:
How so? Russia has the more dynamic forward prospects, but their defense and goalie prospects aren't even remotely close to the US.
The only position that the U.S. has the definate upper hand in is goaltending. Russia's forwards are clearly the second best group in the world to Canada... and I'd have to look over their defense situation, but with guys like...

Dmitri Kalinin
Denis Grebeshkov
Anton Babchuk
Kirill Koltsov
Fedor Tjutin
Anton Volchenkov
Max Kondratiev

... their future on the blue line looks pretty good.
 

William H Bonney

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
24,472
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Leafaholix said:
The only position that the U.S. has the definate upper hand in is goaltending. Russia's forwards are clearly the second best group in the world to Canada... and I'd have to look over their defense situation, but with guys like...

Dmitri Kalinin
Denis Grebeshkov
Anton Babchuk
Kirill Koltsov
Fedor Tjutin
Anton Volchenkov
Max Kondratiev

... their future on the blue line looks pretty good.

I'll gladly take the following:

Jordan Leopold
Mike Komisarek
Paul Martin
David Hale
J.M. Liles
Brooks Orpik
Ryan Whitney
Ryan Suter
Mark Stuart
Keith Ballard
Tim Gleason
Ron Hainsey
 

leafaholix*

Guest
Mobey said:
I'll gladly take the following:

Jordan Leopold
Mike Komisarek
Paul Martin
David Hale
J.M. Liles
Brooks Orpik
Ryan Whitney
Ryan Suter
Mark Stuart
Keith Ballard
Tim Gleason
Ron Hainsey
As would I... but the difference on defense isn't as huge as Russia's advantage up front.
 

leafaholix*

Guest
Mobey said:
Combined with the goaltending advantage it is.
Russia hasn't produced much goaltending in years and have managed to finish ahead of the U.S. constantely.
 

leafaholix*

Guest
Mobey said:
Like the 96 world cup, or 02 olympics?
I don't keep track of where the U.S. and Russia finish in tournaments.

It would be interesting to see where each team has finished in tournaments both countries have participated in over the last 5 years.
 
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