All-Time International Teams

[sapinvert]

The other, somewhat more controversials, suggestions were switching Provost and Cournoyer (longevity, and Provost arguably had the best season, too) and Galchnyuk with Cammalleri.

I really dont see Hamrlik and Gorges as close. Hamrlik was, by default, the #1 D-Men for a while.

Both Provost and Cournoyer are on the 1960's Habs team as right wingers... and I think Cournoyer deserves the first spot. As for Cammalleri, his longevity in Montreal (only 2 seasons 1/2) is the primary reason why he was left out.

I'll try to open another thread to continue those discussions as this is not linked to international teams.

 

[jcbio11]

Slovakia
Pavol Demitra - Peter Stastny - Marian Hossa
Igor Liba - Jozef Golonka - Peter Bondra
Ladislav Nagy - Jozef Stumpel - Marian Gaborik
Miroslav Satan - Michal Handzus - Ziggy Palffy

Zdeno Chara - Lubomir Visnovsky
Andrej Meszaros - Andrej Sekera
Robert Svehla - Milan Jurcina

Vladimir Dzurilla
Jaroslav Halak

Man, historically we are stacked. What's crazy is that so much of that talent was 90s, early to mid 2000s. We're kind of fading away now, especially compared to the glory days. I still think that only one WCH gold medal is an underachievement of that generation, but I guess that's what happens when most of your talent is speedy skilled forwards, while lacking in the goaltending and defense department. Now we're kind of the opposite at international level. Stacked at goalie position, okay to good at defense, kind of lacking at forward.

Anyway to nitpick a little bit, because that's always easier than coming up with a roster of my own, I'd make a Stastny line for the chemistry, have them be the 1B line, while 1A is the Gaborik Demitra Hossa aka the Trencin connection.

Satan, especially based on his international resume needs to be higher, he can't play on the checking line anyway, so 3rd line for him.

Liba I am not sure about, maybe Zednik, Ciger or someone else from the older eras.

Svehla was a beast, he should be paired up with Chara to make the best shutdown duo ever. This would push Visnovsky to 2nd pairing, he can pair with Sekera to make it the mobile speedy puck moving pairing.

Milan Jurcina absolutely does not make the all time Slovakia roster, Meszaros questionable as well. Off the top of my head, Richard Lintner, Ivan Majesky, Lubomir Sekeras are all better choices.

Goalies I agree with.

 

[jcbio11]

We weren't out to intimidate and outpower our opponents like Canadians, to outskate them like Finns do, to outskill them like Soviets/Russians did/do, to frustrate them with an overally good game like Swedes, to lose no matter how loaded we look as Slovaks always do (JK, sort of).

That hurt. That really hit too close to home. Not saying you're wrong.

 

[VMBM]

Firsov played LW before he switched to center late in his career. He's out of position at RW.

If you can really call him a 'center' in that Tarasov's experimental top unit of the 1971-72 season. His position was quite unique in hockey: a 'midfielder' would probably be the closest description. Like I've said before, in his book Valery Kharlamov does not make any distinction between Firsov's and Gennady Tsygankov's roles/positions.

 

[Horvath Broncos]

The finnish team is very good. Few changes i would make though. Petri Skriko i would switch to Ville Nieminen. But that is mainly because of I have been a fan of his since he was still a junior. Though I still think he was better than Skriko ever was.

Another change would be Rinne or Rask insted of Ylönen. Sure Ylönen is a legend but let's be real he was never considered being one of the best goalkeepers in the world whereas Rask and Rinne have been.

I would also love to have Petteri Nummelin in the team somehow. I could see a case for him over Niinimaa for sure. He should atleast be HM. But so should a couple of other guys who mainly played in the europe.

 

[Namba 17]

My Russia would be very traditional - I don't see any reasons to break proved lines:

Kharlamov - Petrov - Mikhailov
Krutov - Larionov - Makarov
Mogilny - Fedorov - Bure
Ovechkin - Datsyuk - Malkin
Firsov, Maltsev

Vasiliev - Zubov
Fetisov - Kasatonov
Markov - Konstantinov
Gonchar

Tretyak
Khabibulin

 

[Eye of Ra]

Norway.

Patrick Thoresen - Knutsen - Zuccarello
Skröder - Vikingstad - Trond Magnussen
Erik Kristansen - Skaare - Petter Thoresen
M.Olimb - Bastiansen - K.Olimb

Trygg - Holös
Tommy Jakobsen - Myrvold
Norstebö - Tollefsen

Haugen
Volden

classic norway hockey song

 

[Eye of Ra]

Lets do a Denmark.

Mikkel Bödker - Frans Nielsen - Jannik Hansen
N.Ehlers - Heinz Ehlers - Jens Nielsen
Kim Staal - Peter Regin - O.Bjorkstrand
Frederik Storm - Lars Eller - Nichlas Hardt

Philip Larsen - Jesper Duus
Daniel Nielsen - Jesper Daamgard
Oliver Lauridsen - Jesper.B.Jensen

Frederik Andersen
Peter Hirsch

 

[Eye of Ra]

´


Latvia
Martins Karsums - Sergei Zholtok - Helmuts Balderis
- Zemgus Girgensons -
- - -
- - -

Sandis Ozolins - Karlis Skrastins
Oskars Bartulis - Arturs Kulda
- -

Arturs Irbe
-

Poland
Wojtek Wolski - Mariusz Czerkawski
Krzysztof Oliwa - -
- - -
- - -

- -
- -
- -

Peter Sidorkiewicz
-
.

Indrasis - Zholtok - Balderis
Darzins - Sprukts - Belavskis
Daugavins - Fanduls - Karsums
Pantelejevs - Nizivijs - Znarok

Ozolins - Skrastins
Kulda - Bartulis
Ignatjevs - Lavins
Tribuncovs - Galvins

Irbe
Skudra


Regarding Poland, Wolski and Sidorkiewicz never played for Poland, both of them was part of Team Canada.

Mariusz Czerkawski - Wojciech Tkacz - Jacek Płachta should be a line. Here is a nice video of that line when they are dominating in World Championship 2000 B-level:



All time team:

Mariusz Czerkawski - Wojciech Tkacz - Jacek Płachta
Roman Steblecki - Jan Stopczyk - Bogdan Migacz
Wieslaw Jobczyk - Jerzy Christ - Piotr Kwasigroch
Mieczysław Jaskierski - Kryzsztof Oliwa - Leszek Laszkiewicz

Andrzej Kadziolka - Henryk Gruth
Jerzy Pots - Andrzej Szczepaniec
Pawel Dronia - Adam Borzecki

Walery Kosyl
Andrzej Tkacz

 

[Albatros]

At least Zabawa, Klisiak, Ziętara, Cholewa missing I think.

 

[Bhrangerfan0809]

Interested to see if you guys think some of the new NHL players since this was posted in 2016 would slot into all-time teams for their respective countries.

Laine and Rantanen would pretty easily slot into Finland’s wings, not sure who else would make the jump.

 

[NyQuil]

Always hard to compare player from different eras. I based my team on WC.

Team Germany
Dieter Hegen-Erich Kühnhackl-Marcus Kuhl
Helmut Steiger-Gerd Trunschka-Joachim Ziesche
Marco Sturm-Markus Egen-Alois Schloder
Ernst Höfner-Leon Draisaitl-Tobias Rieder

Udo Kießling-Christian Ehrhoff
Rainer Philipp-Dennis Seidenberg
Uwe Krupp-Uli Hiemer

No Miroslav Sikora?

 

[Pasha71]

I think we need to add Viktors Hatulevs to Latvia. He was the first Soviet player drafted by the NHL (1975, Philadelphia). Unfortunately, he obviously couldn't go to the NHL back then, and then alcoholism killed his career (and eventually him as well).

He played both D and F.

 

[Doctor No]

Walery Kosyl

Kosyl deserves Hall of Fame for his mask alone:

 

[Pasha71]

If we do Belarus, we'll have to put Andrei Mezin in goal. He played for Belarus in several Olympiads, including 2002 (remember the Miracle on Ice 2, when Belarus beat Sweden in the quartefinals?). Both Kostitsyn brothers and Mikhail Grabovski should make the team as well, as should Ruslan Salei.

If we do Kazakhstan, then we definitely need to nominate Boris Alexandrov, a gold Olympic medalist (1976).

For Ukraine, Dmitri Khristich and Alexei Zhitnik (even though he eventually switched to Russia).

 

[Pasha71]

If we ever do Lithuania (a very unlikely event), Darius Kasparaitis and Dainius Zubrus will easily make the team. Granted, Kasparaitis played a lot for Russia, but eventually he switched back to Lithuania.

 

[sr edler]

Laine and Rantanen would pretty easily slot into Finland’s wings, not sure who else would make the jump.

Why is it Finland can't produce more centers or Finnish centers can't translate to the NHL on a bigger/broader scale? I've wondered this for a while now but I don't think anyone's given me a satisfactory enough answer so far. Saku Koivu ran into injury problems because of an unfortunate combination of size/early playing style, with a slightly underwhelming NHL career as a result, and Olli Jokinen was just a very good bad team scorer with a suspect-ish overall game.

Lately both Mikael Granlund and Teuvo Teräväinen has transitioned from center to winger, with better overall results. On the flip side you have Sebastian Aho, who have switched sides with Teuvo. But anyways, it seems most Finnish star players are either a goalie or a winger. Just like Sweden has produced tons of quality defensemen lately. It must be something with the national systems/youth programs/leagues....

 

[kaiser matias]

Kosyl deserves Hall of Fame for his mask alone:

Isn't that a Swedish forward there? If so it would make it the 1972 Olympics, as Sweden boycotted 1976?

 

[Doctor No]

Isn't that a Swedish forward there? If so it would make it the 1972 Olympics, as Sweden boycotted 1976?

Best evidence I received when I posted the tweet was that it was from the 1973 Worlds.

Some good pictures in that Twitter thread downstream, too.

 

[kaiser matias]

Best evidence I received when I posted the tweet was that it was from the 1973 Worlds.

Some good pictures in that Twitter thread downstream, too.

Indeed that is some interesting discussion and photos.

And didn't say before but definitley a neat mask.

 

[Theokritos]

Kosyl deserves Hall of Fame for his mask alone:

Funny fact: 40 years later Kosyl had a guest appearance in Mad Max: Fury Road with his old mask.

 

[Neutrinos]

Does anybody really believe a team of:

Busher Jackson - Morenz - Bill Cook
Joliat - Nighbor - Bathgate

Clancy - Claghorn


Would beat a team of:

Kariya - Crosby - Iginla
Sakic - Lindros - Yzerman

Pronger - Stevens

 

[Neutrinos]

According to the OP, not a single Canadian player born after 1965 should be on either Team Canada

 

[VanIslander]

No Esposito? No Sakic? No Iginla?

Oh, wait.

This thread is NOT at all about international teams in hockey history.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

No Esposito? No Sakic? No Iginla?

Oh, wait.

This thread is NOT at all about international teams in hockey history.

Well. Feel free to contribute.