thephillyflu
Registered User
- Oct 14, 2011
- 231
- 0
Which guys do you people see as being on the squad for the 2014?
Just a few of years back (like our olympics win or so) I thought we'd be useless by that time, since we had no high picks, and all our stars were aging...
But now some really good defenders have been coming up and it looks quite good actually, we'll have the 3rd best D-line up after Canada and USA if Larsson, Ekman-Larsson and Hedman keep this path. Even if they don't get a lot better we'll still probably have the 3rd best. Our forward corps doesn't look that good though and it's crucial that Sedins and Zetterberg keep a high level of play since they are the only three possible pure top6ers I could see except Loui, Landeskog and Bäckström. Luckily though Sedins play best with a role player, a crash the net smasher/sniper like Hörnqvist would probably be even better than Burrows.
It's just 2 years though, so some won't have panned out yet so I don't think we'll se that many players born in the 90's.
However, this is my hypothesis:
Sedin - Sedin - Hörnqvist
Loui - Bäckström - Landeskog
Steen - Berglund - Zetterberg
Franzén - M. Johansson - Silfverberg
Zibanejad, Pääjäärvi
Karlsson - OEL
Edler - V. Hedman
Enström - A. Larsson
Kronwall - Grossmann
Lundqvist
Enroth, Lindbäck
Possible forwards: Stålberg, Järnkrok, J. Larsson, Hagelin, Josefson, Krüger, M. Backlund.
Possible defenders: J. Ericsson, Erixon, Rundblad, Hjalmarsson, Oduya, Murray.
Possible goalies: Lehner, Markström.
I'm not that sure of Franzén, Silfverberg or Adam Larsson though out of the top18. Out of my benchwarmers Pääjäärvi and Zibanejad is a coin-toss with many other players, I don't think either of those will be on the squad but I couldn't find 2 others that will either.
Franzén will be recently turned 34, but I can't see him losing that much in 2 years that the "possibles" will take his place. Rundblad and Erixon might as well burst out any season now, and Grossmann/Kronwall/Ericsson might just fight for 1 spot. The D looks really good.
The O looks okay, it still waaay better than Finland and Slovakia's offense. And it's somewhat a draw with the Czech's, if Sedin's and Zetterberg keep this current quality we have a slight edge, if they get worse it's a draw. But however I view this our O is way worse than USA, Russia and Canada.
Goalies all depends on Lundqvist. If he's like he is now, and not hurt, we have probably (USA have great goalies also) best goalies. If he's injured or lost his way we might as well have the worst goalies. But I can't see him losing much at all in 2 years, he should more likely be entering his peak right about 2014. It seems to me our squad will be the 4th (maybe 3rd ahead of russia, depending on their D and G prospects) best on paper when all is said and done. 3rd best D and 4th-5th best O, probably with THE best goalie.
Canada and USA WILL have the best squads on paper. They are top 2 in every category except maybe Canada in goalies depending on how Price etc will pan out. However paper doesn't mean everything, our 2006 squad was probably only the 3rd best on paper, and Finland went to the final with the 6th best squad.
What do you guys think? Which players will be on the squad? And will we have a good chance at the gold - meaning how does our team stand up to others? Though I don't assume much activity on this thread since it's in this subforum. I'd give the go-ahead to guess other nations squad as well but I guess there are already threads for that.
Just a few of years back (like our olympics win or so) I thought we'd be useless by that time, since we had no high picks, and all our stars were aging...
But now some really good defenders have been coming up and it looks quite good actually, we'll have the 3rd best D-line up after Canada and USA if Larsson, Ekman-Larsson and Hedman keep this path. Even if they don't get a lot better we'll still probably have the 3rd best. Our forward corps doesn't look that good though and it's crucial that Sedins and Zetterberg keep a high level of play since they are the only three possible pure top6ers I could see except Loui, Landeskog and Bäckström. Luckily though Sedins play best with a role player, a crash the net smasher/sniper like Hörnqvist would probably be even better than Burrows.
It's just 2 years though, so some won't have panned out yet so I don't think we'll se that many players born in the 90's.
However, this is my hypothesis:
Sedin - Sedin - Hörnqvist
Loui - Bäckström - Landeskog
Steen - Berglund - Zetterberg
Franzén - M. Johansson - Silfverberg
Zibanejad, Pääjäärvi
Karlsson - OEL
Edler - V. Hedman
Enström - A. Larsson
Kronwall - Grossmann
Lundqvist
Enroth, Lindbäck
Possible forwards: Stålberg, Järnkrok, J. Larsson, Hagelin, Josefson, Krüger, M. Backlund.
Possible defenders: J. Ericsson, Erixon, Rundblad, Hjalmarsson, Oduya, Murray.
Possible goalies: Lehner, Markström.
I'm not that sure of Franzén, Silfverberg or Adam Larsson though out of the top18. Out of my benchwarmers Pääjäärvi and Zibanejad is a coin-toss with many other players, I don't think either of those will be on the squad but I couldn't find 2 others that will either.
Franzén will be recently turned 34, but I can't see him losing that much in 2 years that the "possibles" will take his place. Rundblad and Erixon might as well burst out any season now, and Grossmann/Kronwall/Ericsson might just fight for 1 spot. The D looks really good.
The O looks okay, it still waaay better than Finland and Slovakia's offense. And it's somewhat a draw with the Czech's, if Sedin's and Zetterberg keep this current quality we have a slight edge, if they get worse it's a draw. But however I view this our O is way worse than USA, Russia and Canada.
Goalies all depends on Lundqvist. If he's like he is now, and not hurt, we have probably (USA have great goalies also) best goalies. If he's injured or lost his way we might as well have the worst goalies. But I can't see him losing much at all in 2 years, he should more likely be entering his peak right about 2014. It seems to me our squad will be the 4th (maybe 3rd ahead of russia, depending on their D and G prospects) best on paper when all is said and done. 3rd best D and 4th-5th best O, probably with THE best goalie.
Canada and USA WILL have the best squads on paper. They are top 2 in every category except maybe Canada in goalies depending on how Price etc will pan out. However paper doesn't mean everything, our 2006 squad was probably only the 3rd best on paper, and Finland went to the final with the 6th best squad.
What do you guys think? Which players will be on the squad? And will we have a good chance at the gold - meaning how does our team stand up to others? Though I don't assume much activity on this thread since it's in this subforum. I'd give the go-ahead to guess other nations squad as well but I guess there are already threads for that.
My bet is sedins and zäta wont even play in sochi
