Avs in Sochi 2014

[MvpKinnon]

It's still very early but at least something to talk about before the season.

With guys like Duchene, Landeskog, Varlamov, Stastny, Johnson, Hejda.. All possible injuries aside, who do you think will play in the Winter Games?

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[JLo217]

It's still very early but at least something to talk about before the season.

With guys like Duchene, Landeskog, Varlamov, Stastny, Johnson, Hejda.. All possible injuries aside, who do you think will play in the Winter Games?

Duchene, Stastny, Landeskog, Varly, and Hejda. HM to Parenteau if he keeps playing like last year.

I really don't think Johnson makes it at this point. Unless he has a stellar start to the season and comes out like a gang buster.

 

[FrostyBear21]

It's still very early but at least something to talk about before the season.

With guys like Duchene, Landeskog, Varlamov, Stastny, Johnson, Hejda.. All possible injuries aside, who do you think will play in the Winter Games?

Landy and Staz are locks IMO. Staz did too well in the WC last year for me to see them snubbing him. Landy's defensive game would help Sweden out immensely IMO. Hejda's likely as well, but that's only because I don't know many of the Czech d-men, and I don't know if they're any better than Hejda is at shutting down the opposition. Dutchy very well could be, but it all depends on who else gets the call for Canada and how much of a mix of vets and young guns they want. The Canadians are LOADED. ROR is also a candidate if CAN wants a defensive game. EJ...I think it depends on how well he does this season leading up to the Olympics. Same goes for Varly.

Outside of them, I don't think it's likely anyone else on the Avs will be playing. Bordy and Highlander are too gritty for the Olympics, our defensemen suck (outside of EJ, Hejda and Barrie - and Barrie's a victim of Canada's depth), Jiggy's not as good as Price or Schneider, Olver's barely a tweener, Tangs is a victim of the Canadian depth, Mitchell's not that good for the Olympics IMO, and PAP is with Tangs and Barrie on the victim of depth list. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised to see PAP and Barrie if they're having very good seasons and/or injuries strike for the Canadians.

That's how I see it, anyways.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Duchene, Stastny, Landeskog, Varly, and Hejda. HM to Parenteau if he keeps playing like last year.

I really don't think Johnson makes it at this point. Unless he has a stellar start to the season and comes out like a gang buster.

Johnson makes it. PAP no way and Matt has a chance if he gets off to a good start and plays with the same 2 way game he did last season.

The rest make it.

 

[Avs_19]

I think EJ will have to be very good in the first half of the season in order to crack the US roster, it still might not be enough.

Landeskog, Varlamov, Stastny, and Hejda should all make it.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

Varlamov is all but confirmed as Russia's starter unless Bobrovsky is playing out of his mind and Varly stinks the joint up.

Hejda will make the Czech team if not injured I'm sure. Would be bittersweet to see Hejduk play too.

Landeskog is a lock for Sweden.

Stastny & EJ are locks for USA as far as I'm concerned. Stastny has lit up two WC's in a row and is their best offensive center. EJ is a much needed right-handed guy with shutdown defense and superb skating for the international ice. People saying Bogosian, Carlson or Shattenkirk over him are out to lunch imo. Plus, 8-defenders are taken this year.

Duchene has an outside chance if he has a hot start and they take him along as a 13th/14th forward.

Can't think of anyone else in our system that has a team to go to.

 

[Cypher]

Varlamov is all but confirmed as Russia's starter unless Bobrovsky is playing out of his mind and Varly stinks the joint up.

Hejda will make the Czech team if not injured I'm sure. Would be bittersweet to see Hejduk play too.

Landeskog is a lock for Sweden.

Stastny & EJ are locks for USA as far as I'm concerned. Stastny has lit up two WC's in a row and is their best offensive center. EJ is a much needed right-handed guy with shutdown defense and superb skating for the international ice. People saying Bogosian, Carlson or Shattenkirk over him are out to lunch imo. Plus, 8-defenders are taken this year.

Duchene has an outside chance if he has a hot start and they take him along as a 13th/14th forward.

Can't think of anyone else in our system that has a team to go to.

Say what? Homerism aside, Varlamov is no where near a lock as the starter. I'd take the Vezina winner over him unless Varly plays unreal to start the season.

Stastny, Hejda, Landeskog and Varlamov should all represent their country at the Olympics.

Duchene and Johnson have an outside chance.

 

[Avs_19]

Say what? Homerism aside, Varlamov is no where near a lock as the starter. I'd take the Vezina winner over him unless Varly plays unreal to start the season.

FWIW, Slava Malamud (Russian reporter) was tweeting about Team Russia the other day and he had this to say about who starts in Sochi:

Right now, it's a tossup. If they perform at the same level in 2013, Varly gets the nod, by virtue of more National team experience

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Say what? Homerism aside, Varlamov is no where near a lock as the starter. I'd take the Vezina winner over him unless Varly plays unreal to start the season.

Stastny, Hejda, Landeskog and Varlamov should all represent their country at the Olympics.

Duchene and Johnson have an outside chance.

It has nothing to do with Homerism in the first place though. During the time when WC rosters were being discussed, Varly wasn't going to play in the WC's at all because he had the 2014 Sochi job locked up already. He is there guy for the Olympics. They wanted Bobrovsky and Bryzgalov to play in the WC's to figure out who would be backing Varly up.

But when Bob declined the invitation, he ended up playing anyway.



As for the rest of the rosters. IMO I don't think any of our guys(Outside of Varly and probably Hejda) are locks.

Landeskog isn't a lock IMO. He should make the team, but if he has a slow start to the year I wouldn't be all that surprised to see him left behind. Same thing with Stastny. He probably deserves a spot on the team after his last couple international performances, but if he also starts off poorly he could be left behind to.


I don't think Duchene, or ROR have much of a shot. Duchene maybe if he has an explosive PPG+ season going at the mid way point. After that theres all but 0% chance of any of our guys making an Olympic team.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

Say what? Homerism aside, Varlamov is no where near a lock as the starter. I'd take the Vezina winner over him unless Varly plays unreal to start the season.

Stastny, Hejda, Landeskog and Varlamov should all represent their country at the Olympics.

Duchene and Johnson have an outside chance.

Winning the Vezina in the NHL isn't a big deal in KHL politics regarding Olympic rosters. Varlamov has shown up to play for Team Russia numerous times and was the best goalie in the KHL during the lockout. They weigh other criteria much higher than what Bobrovsky has achieved thus far.

Which is why I said unless Varly sucks and Bob is playing unreal, which I highly doubt will happen at this point. Bobrovsky was one of the worst Vezina winners in recent history (Subban and the Norris too) imho. The lockout shortened season allowed for players not normally known for such strong finishes to play well over a half season instead of a full season.

Given 82 games, Suter and Lundqvist would have won imo.

 

[Mr Serious]

TSN put together their preliminary roster for Canada and there were no Avs listed on it. I think it's going to be hard for any of our Canadian players to crack the team.

 

[Avs_19]

TSN put together their preliminary roster for Canada and there were no Avs listed on it. I think it's going to be hard for any of our Canadian players to crack the team.

Crosby, Toews, Bergeron, Stamkos, Giroux, Getzlaf, Staal, and Tavares are all centers and they're all ahead of Duchene. Richards is also probably ahead of Duchene because he can play a checking role in the bottom six.

Realistically, Duchene has no chance as a center or winger. There would need to be quite a few injuries to top Canadian players for him to be considered.

 

[Mr Serious]

Crosby, Toews, Bergeron, Stamkos, Giroux, Getzlaf, Staal, and Tavares are all centers and they're all ahead of Duchene. Richards is also probably ahead of Duchene because he can play a checking role in the bottom six.

Realistically, Duchene has no chance as a center or winger. There would need to be quite a few injuries to top Canadian players for him to be considered.

Yeah, I agree with that. Barring some great showing by Duchene and the injury bug biting the other hopefuls I don't see any of our Canadian players making it.

Varlamov, Landeskog, Stastny, EJ, and Hejda all have better shots at cracking the roster for their respective countries.

 

[chet1926]

Stastny and Johnson will both be on team USA. Stastny is a lock, and I'd be shocked if they didn't go with the Johnson/Johnson pairing again as they were stellar the last time around.

Varly will be on Russia, even if he isn't the starter. It will be him and Bob as they are the 2 best goalies for Russia.

I'd be shocked to see Duchene left off of Canada, with the way he has played in previous international events. I know there are a lot of great players for Canada, but to leave off a player as explosive as Duchene would be rather short sighted. His speed is a game breaker, and in a tournament like this you need a game breakers. Honestly I'd rather have a player like Duchene over Getzlaf or even Eric Staal. They already have lots of play makers and goal scorers, why wouldn't they want someone that can bring something slightly different to the table? I'd want variety, it makes you all the tougher to stop.

Landeskog will be on team Sweden.

Hejda should make it for the Czechs.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

As of now Duchene doesn't make it. The only way that changes is if he is top 3 in scoring by selection time and is playing great 2 way hockey.
Staz, EJ, Landy and Varly are the locks.

If Duchene is close to leading the league in scoring and gets a long look, you also have to look at O'Reilly. He's starting the year on Duchene's wing. He fits team Canada's ideal 4th liner for international play, just needs more scoring. If he plays with Duchene and puts up great numbers I think he also gets a look.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I honestly wouldn't care if only a select few went and guys like EJ and Duchene stayed home. I'd rather they be rested for the stretch run.

 

[niwotsblessing]

Duchene's skating ability + the bigger ice surface in Sochi might be the deciding factor. If Canada tries to "bulk up" they may find that strategy doesn't translate. The Vancouver games were played on NHL sized ice, this time is different.

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

As expected Duchene has been invited to the Orientation camp. No O'Reilly or Parenteau though.

 

[Freudian]

Varlamov, EJ, Stastny, Hejda and Landeskog are my picks. Duchene is going to have to have a fantastic first half to make it. There are a lot of great Canadian centers and a lot of forwards very very good reputation to beat out. It's easy to leave out younger guys.

 

[tigervixxxen]

How many that get invited to camp will get left off the Olympic roster?

 

[Hesher]

Varlamov, Stastny, Landeskog will be there for sure, EJ and Hejda will probably make it too. I can't see Duchene making team Canada. He would need an absolutely insane start to the next season to make it IMO.

 

[The Kingslayer]

TSN put together their preliminary roster for Canada and there were no Avs listed on it. I think it's going to be hard for any of our Canadian players to crack the team.

Injuries are about the only way any of our kids get in. Canada is stacked down the middle.

 

[CoachBadkitten]

Stastny and EJ both made U.S camp. No surprise there.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

How many that get invited to camp will get left off the Olympic roster?

25 forwards were invited for either 13 or 14 spots on the team.

Duchene is likely(IMO) ahead of Ladd, Neal, Kunitz, J Staal, Marchand, Eberle and Lucic already.

So that's 7 guys there. Then he's likely in a dog fight with Couture, Hall, E Staal, Eberle, Giroux, Sharp, Nash, Thornton and Carter for the last few spots.


Crosby, Toews, Stamkos, Bergeron, St Louis, Getzlaf, Perry are all locks IMO.


So, 7 spots are a Guarntee IMO, and then theres about 11 guys looking for the final 6 spots.


If Duchene can play on the Wing I think he'll have a real good shot at making it. If he's stuck at C and cant play the Wing he wont. But if he goes to the Camp and goes to the Wing and plays well there, I could see him having a spot in the Top 9 on the wing because of his speed that would be so useful on the open ice.


I don't think guys like Lucic, Marchand, Neal, etc. are going to be good options because they aren't that quick for the open ice. Even Thornton and the Staal brothers may struggle.


Ideally I think this is what Canada should go with on the International Ice:


Stamkos - Crosby - St Louis
Hall - Toews - Sharp
Tavares* - Getzlaf - Perry
Duchene* - Bergeron - Richards
Couture*

* - All interchangeable from line to line.

That leaves a lot of damn good names off the list, such as the Staal Brothers, Nash, Thornton, and Carter. But IMO those guys outside of Carter just don't have the speed to compete on international ice. Perry and Getzlaf could even be replaced for some speedier guys in Carter/Eberle/Nash.


It is pretty crazy how deep Canada is offensively though. We could easily build 2 teams capable of Winning gold Offensively. But we don't have the Goaltending or Defense to match.

 

[Avs71]

Suter-Byfuglien
Johnson-Johnson
Leddy-Trouba
Gardiner-Jones
Yandle-Shattenkirk
DeKeyser-Bogosian
Fowler-Falk
Martin-Carlson
Orpik-
McDonagh-

Not pairings, just in terms of right/left handed, in no particular order. I don't really see any locks on the right side.