Olympics: medal predictions (no NHLers)

[Eye of Ra]

Someone like Krejci or Rask going could really change things for their teams

Rask is very good. But Finland already have very strong goalies in Olkinuora, Säteri and Metsola.

 

[Dhockey16]

This tournament is basically a glorified f***ing shit version of the EHT which most European hockey fans don’t give a shit about, so I don’t see the difference. I’ve never cared about the EHT, and I Wont now. I didnt watch a single game four years ago and I wont now. This is worthless to me.

That's your loss - the gold medal game between Russia & Germany was awesome. It's not the NHL, but the hockey is a still pretty damn good.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

Sweden success has always come with NHL:ers
- they are always no show without NHL:ers

2011 and 2014 were years Sweden did well in the WHCs with few and lackluster NHL reinforcements: silver and bronze medals.

If you mean at the Olympics, I’ll defer to 1994.

My point being: Sweden is more than able to disappoint with or without NHLers.

 

[Beau Knows]

Olympic Athletes from Russia should be heavy favourites to win gold.

 

[Elvs]

I do. Its still the olympics. But i rather ofc see NHLers.

China are in the WC Division 2A along with Australia, Croatia, Israel, Netherlands and Spain. Even without NHL'ers, they don't come close any other team on paper in this tournament.

For reference, Latvia scored eight (!) goals in the third period against Hungary, in the qualification back in august. Hungary ranks 21st on the world ranking. China is outside the top 30, right above Iceland.

Russia will obviously be favourites.

Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic comes in the tier after. But it's really wide open. Just like Germany nearly won gold in 2018, any team (again, except China) could medal.

 

[EK47]

That's your loss - the gold medal game between Russia & Germany was awesome. It's not the NHL, but the hockey is a still pretty damn good.

Don’t you get it? Watching this for me would not be a consolation it would just be a reminder of what it should have been. It would just piss me off even more. Today the stars in the Euro leagues are mostly the absolute bottom off the barrel that the NHL wouldn’t even touch with a ten foot pole. 15-20 years ago it wasn’t anywhere near that. The best SHL players were still good enough to be 2nd liners in the NHL and now they are simply not good enough to even warrant a second look. The state of it is just depressing.

 

[Elvs]

Don’t you get it? Watching this for me would not be a consolation it would just be a reminder of what it should have been. It would just piss me off even more. Today the stars in the Euro leagues are mostly the absolute bottom off the barrel that the NHL wouldn’t even touch with a ten foot pole. 15-20 years ago it wasn’t anywhere near that. The best SHL players were still good enough to be 2nd liners in the NHL and now they are simply not good enough to even warrant a second look. The state of it is just depressing.

Yeah, luckily for me, I'm a fan of Slovakia and in all likelyhood Simon Nemec and Juraj Slafkovsky will make their team now. Maybe even Dalibor Dvorsky. Those are some good reasons to watch.

Meanwhile, Slovakia has a legimate chance to earn a medal now. Not even gold is out of the question. While it's not a best on best tournament, a medal would surely rise the moral of some Slovak hockey fans after a very long and rough decade.

Germany made the finals worth watching in 2018. Because even in a tournament without NHL'ers, it would've been pretty cool to see them win. Hopefully they again, or one of Slovakia/Latvia/Denmark, can be that unique surprise story this time.

A final between the Czech's and Slovak's, two rivals/neighbours who otherwise would never meet in a gold medal game, would be kind of neat.

 

[jj cale]

It's still worth watching for me, I get to be in the very unusual position of being a fan of Canada in a hockey tournament where we are a sizeable underdog and that is fun for me, the challenge of it all. It harkens back to the days of old at the olympics where our young nobody kids were thrown to the wolves against the seasoned pro stars of the soviet union and had to hope for the best. Not quite as drastic but there's a little bit of that feeling, nostalgia can be nice.

And getting the chance to be underdog and beat Russia who is the obvious favorite is rather delicious to me. You just know that would be a dagger in their hearts and who doesn't love that?

Winning gold would be fun and pretty satisfying for me, it always is, so i'll be watching for sure.

 

[Czechboy]

It's still worth watching for me, I get to be in the very unusual position of being a fan of Canada in a hockey tournament where we are a sizeable underdog and that is fun for me, the challenge of it all. It harkens back to the days of old at the olympics where our young nobody kids were thrown to the wolves against the seasoned pro stars of the soviet union and had to hope for the best. Not quite as drastic but there's a little bit of that feeling, nostalgia can be nice.

And getting the chance to be underdog and beat Russia who is the obvious favorite is rather delicious to me. You just know that would be a dagger in their hearts and who doesn't love that?

Winning gold would be fun and pretty satisfying for me, it always is, so i'll be watching for sure.

I remember some of those pre pro on pro Olympics...

Joe Juneau lighting it up
Nedved for Canada
18 year old Lindros

 

[jj cale]

I remember some of those pre pro on pro Olympics...

Joe Juneau lighting it up
Nedved for Canada
18 year old Lindros

Nedved was handy to have along that year, him and Kariya really gave that team some offensive punch. That loss still rankles me when it's brought up and I think about it, we were all over sweden in O.T but just couldn't punch one through and then came the shootout, if that game gets played straight through I know we would have taken it. Another reason I am very vocal about hating shootouts to decide playdown games, it's atrocious and stupid. They say there is time constraints? there should never be time constraints on games of this magnitude, it's just an excuse...........you make the f***ing time man, it's a gold medal game for Gods sake, you don't decide them in shootouts. The time constraint thing is just a handy excuse for lack of commitment to the tournament itself and sheer laziness.

I'll argue that one until my last day on earth, ditch the goddamned shootouts in deciding games, or at the very least, I mean the very least, gold medal games.

 

[Lartsaman]

Gold: ROC
Silver: Canada
Bronze: Sweden

 

[Hasa92]

Finland and Russia are the favourites for the gold, Russia is by far the strongest team with their player material and Finland has the best coaching & chemistry + Finland has a Gold and a Silver from the last two IIHF champs so the Gold and Silver will be fought between these two teams unless they face & eliminate the other before the finals.

 

[ViD]

Russia actually had an insane team in 2018..

Kaprizov, Gavrikov, Zub, Barabanov became regular NHLers after that.

Kovalchuk and Datsyuk were past their primes but still played decent.

KHL superstars Gusev, Voynov, Shipachev were strong.

Shestyorkin and Sorokin were #2 and #3 goalies.

2022 team will be noticeable worse

 

[sakux]

Don’t you get it? Watching this for me would not be a consolation it would just be a reminder of what it should have been. It would just piss me off even more. Today the stars in the Euro leagues are mostly the absolute bottom off the barrel that the NHL wouldn’t even touch with a ten foot pole. 15-20 years ago it wasn’t anywhere near that. The best SHL players were still good enough to be 2nd liners in the NHL and now they are simply not good enough to even warrant a second look. The state of it is just depressing.

Why are you so adamant about pushing your views about the tournament on to others?

Sure it sucks that the NHLers won't be there. But it's still the Olympic games and that's always something special, no matter who's representing the teams.

 

[Bear12Good]

Gold : Finland
Silver : Russia

 

[EK47]

Why are you so adamant about pushing your views about the tournament on to others?

Sure it sucks that the NHLers won't be there. But it's still the Olympic games and that's always something special, no matter who's representing the teams.

Okay that’s your view I don’t share it. The content of the tournament is what matters to me, not whatever flimsy label you slap on it.

 

[Elias40]

Why are you so adamant about pushing your views about the tournament on to others?

Sure it sucks that the NHLers won't be there. But it's still the Olympic games and that's always something special, no matter who's representing the teams.

Because Sweden has about 150 players in the NHL+AHL, that's probably more than any other country in Europe. This means that the highest Swedish quality is concentrated in the NA. Sweden's medal chances are significantly higher with NHL players, not Europe. With players from Europe, Sweden is fourth or fifth team behind and it doesn't say anything about who has been doing hockey for a long time. For this reason, people in Sweden want a tournament against the best. For example, the Czech chance to win a medal without NHL players to growing significantly, Slovakia, Switzerland or Germany may surprise again.

 

[Czechboy]

Nedved was handy to have along that year, him and Kariya really gave that team some offensive punch. That loss still rankles me when it's brought up and I think about it, we were all over sweden in O.T but just couldn't punch one through and then came the shootout, if that game gets played straight through I know we would have taken it. Another reason I am very vocal about hating shootouts to decide playdown games, it's atrocious and stupid. They say there is time constraints? there should never be time constraints on games of this magnitude, it's just an excuse...........you make the f***ing time man, it's a gold medal game for Gods sake, you don't decide them in shootouts. The time constraint thing is just a handy excuse for lack of commitment to the tournament itself and sheer laziness.

I'll argue that one until my last day on earth, ditch the goddamned shootouts in deciding games, or at the very least, I mean the very least, gold medal games.

I totally agree on gold medal games going till it is over.

Conversely... I like ties. So I would just play 60 minute matches with no OT for the round robins.

Because of timelines... I'm fine with OT and shootouts in quarters and semis. But bronze and gold should be to the death!

Another Canada fan gripe on here... Not you... But if Canada plays for bronze or Canada doesnt send all NHL players... The number of NHL fan posters that come on here to let us all know they won't be watching the game is pathetic.lol. Are these people even fans of Canada? This whole I will only cheer is Crosby and McDavid is bonkers to me since I'm still excited about the upcoming Olympics. I'll be watching the ladies tourney closely too! It's about the country and the crest dammit!!!

Ok... Too much coffee this morning.

 

[Czechboy]

Russia actually had an insane team in 2018..

Kaprizov, Gavrikov, Zub, Barabanov became regular NHLers after that.

Kovalchuk and Datsyuk were past their primes but still played decent.

KHL superstars Gusev, Voynov, Shipachev were strong.

Shestyorkin and Sorokin were #2 and #3 goalies.

2022 team will be noticeable worse

That is an NHL all Star team. I had no idea they were that stacked! Who was the starting goalie if those 2 were 2 and 3?

 

[Czechboy]

Because Sweden has about 150 players in the NHL+AHL, that's probably more than any other country in Europe. This means that the highest Swedish quality is concentrated in the NA. Sweden's medal chances are significantly higher with NHL players, not Europe. With players from Europe, Sweden is fourth or fifth team behind and it doesn't say anything about who has been doing hockey for a long time. For this reason, people in Sweden want a tournament against the best. For example, the Czech chance to win a medal without NHL players to growing significantly, Slovakia, Switzerland or Germany may surprise again.

You mentioned it doesn't reflect how long Sweden has been playing. Czechs have been playing hockey for a while now, so has Canada.lol

You mention Czech chances go up... True... But there is not one Czech fan who is happy about this. We wanted to see Pastrnak necas and Hertl not a few zohornas and Gulas. Although, I will cheer for them to the end now!

Fairweather fans ...

Also... A swede complaining about their team when Canada and US may send retired players to play for them. If we are talking medal chances... Sweden wasn't even close to being the most affected. You were a strong medal contender before and you are still a medal contender now. Or did you think gold was a lock in the best on best? 4 other countries had a real big say in that.

You did notice Germany taking Russia to the finals last time, right?

 

[jj cale]

I totally agree on gold medal games going till it is over.

Conversely... I like ties. So I would just play 60 minute matches with no OT for the round robins.

Because of timelines... I'm fine with OT and shootouts in quarters and semis. But bronze and gold should be to the death!

Another Canada fan gripe on here... Not you... But if Canada plays for bronze or Canada doesnt send all NHL players... The number of NHL fan posters that come on here to let us all know they won't be watching the game is pathetic.lol. Are these people even fans of Canada? This whole I will only cheer is Crosby and McDavid is bonkers to me since I'm still excited about the upcoming Olympics. I'll be watching the ladies tourney closely too! It's about the country and the crest dammit!!!

Ok... Too much coffee this morning.

I agree, it's still hockey and my country is playing in it so I'll watch it,I really can't help it because I am too big of a fan, both of hockey and of Canadian National teams in hockey tournaments. I understand a little bit where some of our fans are coming from but in the end it falls flat to me. I mean, it's a team representing us in a hockey tournament and well, it's still hockey after all. I enjoy hockey and I want to win everything in it if Canada has a team in it, there are no exceptions. I know it's not a real test of who is the best this time, at this particular best on best, (I have a different grading system for who is actually the heavyweight champ overall based on several factors I won't go into here) and that's a shame but it's still interesting to me on the levels I have previously stated in my earlier posts.


Hey, if I will watch the Spengler and cheer for the Canadian team why wouldn't I watch a non best on best olympics that has a Canadian entry in it? I also watched and cheered for Canada for almost 3 decades in the olympics before NHL players played so I don't see any reason why I wouldn't now either.Will a win mean as much to me with no NHL players there? no, and it is obvious why It won't..............but it will mean something, every time a tournament is held in Hockey and a team is playing with a Maple Leaf on it's sweater it means something to me.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I have to think Russia is the huge favorite. The U.S. will likely ice a hodgepodge that may have some talent but I wouldn't expect much.

 

[Lartsaman]

That is an NHL all Star team. I had no idea they were that stacked! Who was the starting goalie if those 2 were 2 and 3?

Vasili Koshechkin from Metallurg Magnitogorsk was the starter. If I remember correctly, he played in all of their games. He was also one of the few players who was´nt part of either SKA or CSKA.

 

[Lartsaman]

I have to think Russia is the huge favorite. The U.S. will likely ice a hodgepodge that may have some talent but I wouldn't expect much.

A favourite yes, but huge? No. They are not that stacked as they were the last time.

 

[Czechboy]

(I have a different grading system for who is actually the heavyweight champ overall based on several factors I won't go into here

Please do!

My answer is Canada - 3 back to back best on bests, 5 of last 6 finals at the Skoda cup and the team they would've sent to these Olympics was ridiculous! Plus the next 2 1OV are Canadian. Results and 'on paper' are both there. FTR.. they could've sent their best, lost in the quarters and I'd still say Canada today.

Eg. US definitely has 'on paper' but they don't have that many great results at the senior level
Finns now have 'on paper' and 'results' but they've never gotten their best 'on paper' team together while getting tremendous results with their C teams (which is what they're now sending to the Olympics). I feel for them the most to be honest. I was dying to see their team and I'm not Finnish.

I actually feel the Russians are making some serious waves and doing a lot of things right!
1. they have an elite goalie factory that is unmatched
2. they only sent Russians that stayed in Russia to U20 and are definitely medal favorites
3. starting to see some good russian D's in the NHL and coming soon

Just need to figure out Centre.

No Canada at Spengler absolutely sucks! I love watching Czechs on most teams, the Czech team and the former Oilers who are all over that tourney. The matches against Canada are must watch! I could watch a Davos vs Canada match all day. Especially when it was that wizard looking dude coaching Davos! He was entertaining.