World Cup: 2016 World Cup — Team Europe

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tobu

Registered User
Jan 10, 2013
2,141
1,173
Bratislava, Slovakia
Giving it a shot...

Offence
Vanek (Aut) - Kopitar (Slo) - Gaborik (Svk)
Tatar (Svk) - Nielsen (Den) - Hossa (Svk)
Boedker (Den) - Girgensons (Lat) - Niederreiter (Sui)
Roussel (Fra) - Eller (Den) - Zuccarello (Nor)

Defense
Chara (Svk) - Streit (Sui)
Josi (Sui) - Sekera (Svk)
Ehrhoff (Ger) - Visnovsky (Svk)
Seidenberg (Ger)

Goalies
Halak (Svk)
Andersen (Den)
Hiller (Sui)
 

begbeee

Registered User
Oct 16, 2009
4,158
30
Slovakia
First: I feel insulted as a Slovak hockey fan.
Second: The Slovak ice-hockey association should officialy prostest this tournament or something like that.
Third and mostly: I do believe, nonono, I do know, that the most of eligible slovak players - probably all of them - will boycott this tournament. Suddenly they start to be injured, families, whatever.

Book it.
 

Exarz

Registered User
Jan 1, 2014
2,415
339
Helsinki
First: I feel insulted as a Slovak hockey fan.
Second: The Slovak ice-hockey association should officialy prostest this tournament or something like that.
Third and mostly: I do believe, nonono, I do know, that the most of eligible slovak players - probably all of them - will boycott this tournament. Suddenly they start to be injured, families, whatever.

Book it.

I really hope that not just the Slovaks, but also the Swiss, German, Austrian and Danish players (and the other players that probably will play on this team).

This is really stupid and I would be offended, especially if I was Slovakian or Swiss since they were the two best candidates to play in the World Cup, to not represent my own country.

Imagine if only Canada, Sweden, Finland, USA, Czech Republic and Russia were to play at the 2018 Olympics, then they send two IOA (Independent Olympians Athletes) teams, one from Europe and one U23 team from North America. Ridiculous!
 

begbeee

Registered User
Oct 16, 2009
4,158
30
Slovakia
All I know is the interview with Hossa from late November:
"It would not be comfortable. It would be weird and not just for us."
Players feel it´s stupid, believe me. There is not absolutely any motivation. Visnovsky or Gaborik in team Europe? haha, forget it!
 

Canuckistani

Registered User
Mar 15, 2014
1,627
171
Toronto
I can't see any self-respecting Slovak or Swiss player agreeing to play on this farce of a team. It's an insult.

What bettman is saying is basically: "your national team is crap even though you have the results to prove otherwise."

And what jersey would this joke team wear? Who will coach them?
 

ebis

Registered User
Dec 10, 2012
596
0
Czech Republic
Absolute joke, good luck trying to persuade Slovak NHLers to participate. I hope the other "all-star" countries will have enough pride to boycott this farce too.
 

connor macdavid

Press Box Rat
Dec 24, 2008
1,676
0
Ottawa
What has to be remembered is that this is a tournament put on by the NHL and the NHLPA, not the IIHF. They want to market their own players, not players from other leagues.

Of course that makes the idea of calling it a 'World Cup' farcical, but the fact is the league can do whatever it wants.

I'm more insulted as a multi-sport follower that the NHL and NHLPA have the gall to call a tournament featuring an Under-23 team and a conglomerate of countries under one umbrella a "World Cup".

:help:

I sincerely hope this tournament crashes and burns, and that participation in the Olympics returns for 2020.
 

FiLe

Mr. Know-It-Nothing
Oct 9, 2009
6,897
1,260
Yeah. The point, of course, is to maximize the amount of NHL players in this tournament. They're snubbing Slovakia and Switzerland because at least half the players in those squads would be from various European leagues.

Therefore, it'd also be nice if there were some strategic injuries and declinations from teams that can barely ice a full NHL roster, like Finland and Czech Republic, as an act of solidarity. They'd be forced to ice half-euro squads as well. It'd be nice to hear from the suits after that.

Even better: Russia ices a full-KHL team, bluntly stating that "yep, these really are the best we have". Well, they'd have to take Ovie and Datsyuk to not make it completely blatant, but the rest could actually be from the old continent. It'd be a rare case where I could actually root for Team Russia to take it all, since that would be the mother of all take thats. :laugh:
 

Canuckistani

Registered User
Mar 15, 2014
1,627
171
Toronto
What has to be remembered is that this is a tournament put on by the NHL and the NHLPA, not the IIHF. They want to market their own players, not players from other leagues.

The only countries capable of icing a team with just NHLers are Canada, USA and Sweden.

The rest will need non-NHLers, unless the NHL plans on filling in their rosters with North Americans, which I honestly wouldn't put past them.
 

ebis

Registered User
Dec 10, 2012
596
0
Czech Republic
Yeah. The point, of course, is to maximize the amount of NHL players in this tournament. They're snubbing Slovakia and Switzerland because at least half the players in those squads would be from various European leagues.

Therefore, it'd also be nice if there were some strategic injuries and declinations from teams that can barely ice a full NHL roster, like Finland and Czech Republic. as an act of solidarity. They'd be forced to ice half-euro squads as well. It'd be nice to hear from the suits after that.

Even better: Russia ices a full-KHL team, bluntly stating that "yep, these really are the best we have". Well, they'd have to take Ovie and Datsyuk to not make it completely blatant, but the rest could actually be from the old continent. It'd be a rare case where I could actually root for Team Russia to take it all, since that would be the mother of all take thats. :laugh:

I wouldn't be surprised if the "all-star" team needs a couple of euro players as well. If I count correctly, there are only 36 "Rest of Europe" NHL players (including AHLers who play an NHL game once in a while). 12 of those are Slovak, 10 Swiss - the most insulted countries. Without them, the team would only have 14 players (and that's assuming everyone is healthy and motivated enough to sacrifice time with his family and risk an injury to play for some "the Rest" team). I don't think many Swiss and Slovaks will be willing to participate, maybe 1-2 from each country, still not enough to make an NHL-only team.

EDIT: Sorry, forgot about 5 Germans.
 
Last edited:

FiLe

Mr. Know-It-Nothing
Oct 9, 2009
6,897
1,260
The rest will need non-NHLers, unless the NHL plans on filling in their rosters with North Americans, which I honestly wouldn't put past them.
How many countries could fill a squad by plugging the holes using drafted kids playing in the AHL or junior leagues?

I know Finland could do that, since all they need is three or four d-men if everyone else is healthy. But could the Czechs or Russians?
 

Bagge

Registered User
May 4, 2013
1,602
307
Copenhagen
All I know is the interview with Hossa from late November:
"It would not be comfortable. It would be weird and not just for us."
Players feel it´s stupid, believe me. There is not absolutely any motivation. Visnovsky or Gaborik in team Europe? haha, forget it!

Is the interview in English? And could you find it for me? I'm in a discussion on a danish facebookgroup arguing about this all star team
 

ebis

Registered User
Dec 10, 2012
596
0
Czech Republic
Allan Walsh, the agent of a lot of the Rest of Europe players (maybe even a majority of them):

"Some players believe this should be limited to players playing for their country. What are you playing for if it's "Team Young Guns" or European All Stars? What are you playing for? That's a problem. It's an issue."
 

Canuckistani

Registered User
Mar 15, 2014
1,627
171
Toronto
I feel insulted on behalf of the Slovaks and Swiss.

You can add Canadians and Americans as well.

We'll be losing our best young stars to the kiddie team (that would have included Crosby, Toews and Doughty in 2010).

The World Cup is a joke on so many levels.
 

Erikfromfin

Registered User
May 18, 2013
4,280
1,653
Jea im bummed because of the gimmick teams but cant even comprehend how slovaks swiss germans etc feel.
 

TheTwelfth

Registered User
Jan 6, 2014
1,107
227
The Tardis
Giving it a shot...

Offence
Vanek (Aut) - Kopitar (Slo) - Gaborik (Svk)
Tatar (Svk) - Nielsen (Den) - Hossa (Svk)
Boedker (Den) - Girgensons (Lat) - Niederreiter (Sui)
Roussel (Fra) - Eller (Den) - Zuccarello (Nor)

Defense
Chara (Svk) - Streit (Sui)
Josi (Sui) - Sekera (Svk)
Ehrhoff (Ger) - Visnovsky (Svk)
Seidenberg (Ger)

Goalies
Halak (Svk)
Andersen (Den)
Hiller (Sui)

Seeing this, I can't understand how this team is gonna make the tournament more competitive, when you remember that Sui/Slo have an established system in the NT that the players know, chemistry from previous tournaments etc.

I mean, is Eller and Zuccarello a big upgrade from KHL/Slovak league players (sorry Slovak posters, but the name of your league slips my mind). And that defensive core is barely better than what Switzerland can put up themselves (sure Chara is a big upgrade, but Visnovsky and Sekera are replaceable by Swiss players). It all seems to be a knee-jerk reaction because Kopitar is so popular.
 

TheTwelfth

Registered User
Jan 6, 2014
1,107
227
The Tardis
You can add Canadians and Americans as well.

We'll be losing our best young stars to the kiddie team (that would have included Crosby, Toews and Doughty in 2010).

The World Cup is a joke on so many levels.

I feel insulted that Sweden is given pretty much their Olympics team when nobody else is. Is this a way of forgetting about us, or trying to be nice or something?
 

roto

Registered User
Oct 26, 2009
612
11
Yeah. The point, of course, is to maximize the amount of NHL players in this tournament. They're snubbing Slovakia and Switzerland because at least half the players in those squads would be from various European leagues.

Therefore, it'd also be nice if there were some strategic injuries and declinations from teams that can barely ice a full NHL roster, like Finland and Czech Republic, as an act of solidarity. They'd be forced to ice half-euro squads as well. It'd be nice to hear from the suits after that.
Would KHL (or other European leagues) really release their players to this kind of showcase event of NHL, which is a farce and all profit goes to NHL? I guess one point of this tournament format is that NHL don't need to negotiate with other leagues: they'll have a NHL tournament for NHL/AHL players.

I wonder how long it takes before someone makes a "Hitler hears about the new ice hockey World Cup format" video to Youtube ...
 

lamini

Registered User
Nov 30, 2011
444
287
Prostějov
How many countries could fill a squad by plugging the holes using drafted kids playing in the AHL or junior leagues?

I know Finland could do that, since all they need is three or four d-men if everyone else is healthy. But could the Czechs or Russians?

Czechs can do it using NHL players only (well, some of them are more AHLers with few NHL games), still close to 40 "NHL"ers
 

Canuckistani

Registered User
Mar 15, 2014
1,627
171
Toronto
I feel insulted that Sweden is given pretty much their Olympics team when nobody else is. Is this a way of forgetting about us, or trying to be nice or something?

Give the NHL time. They'll think of way to screw over Sweden too, maybe by using Swedes to fill in gaps in the Finnish/Russian teams.
 
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