Pick 6 defenders for Team USA 2022

[Dominance]

Regardless of the exact pairings, it’s definitely going to be scary. Lots of already good players smack in the middle of their primes.

 

[Stephen]

Looks like my opinion is pretty basic: Jones, Slavin, Hughes, McAvoy, Werenski and Carlson.

 

[Todd Parchment]

Jonesy, Trouba, Poink, Karlsson , Pesce Pete, Carlo. Good mix of youth and experience good size and gritty. Championship caliber

 

[KoozNetsOff 92]

Lol at anyone not voting for Carlson.

 

[majormajor]

Jonesy, Trouba, Poink, Karlsson , Pesce Pete, Carlo. Good mix of youth and experience good size and gritty. Championship caliber

Is there a Pink that comes with Poink?

 

[Hisch13r]

Hughes-McAvoy
Slavin-Carlson
Werenski-Jones

 

[Bankerguy]

Suter Jones
Slavin Carlson
Hughes McAvoy

Pretty well rounded if you ask me ...but not earth shattering.
Canada and Sweden are both better/deeper in all areas.

 

[filinski77]

Lol at anyone not voting for Carlson.

I agree. I can't really picture an Olympic team passing up on a guy that will still probably be very effective in 2 years (Carlson will be like 32), who has the best offensive pedigree of all USA players (so far). Especially not for someone with only a few years of NHL experience.

 

[Regal]

I agree. I can't really picture an Olympic team passing up on a guy that will still probably be very effective in 2 years (Carlson will be like 32), who has the best offensive pedigree of all USA players (so far). Especially not for someone with only a few years of NHL experience.

I can't imagine USA not taking him either, but the thread is for who posters would take and more posters here seem willing to go with youth over experience. Carlson has also been a bit of a polarizing player due to his underlying numbers, though interestingly, Jones doesn't get the same criticism for his.

 

[CatchyTune]

Lol at anyone not voting for Carlson.

In terms of RHD I would rather have any of Jones/McAvoy/Fox over a 32 year old Carlson.

 

[filinski77]

I can't imagine USA not taking him either, but the thread is for who posters would take and more posters here seem willing to go with youth over experience. Carlson has also been a bit of a polarizing player due to his underlying numbers, though interestingly, Jones doesn't get the same criticism for his.

Good point. I guess I would use the same logic if I was picking for my own country (Canada): I would much rather have Hall or Tavares over Marner. They are all relatively similar regarding how good they actually are, but I'd rather have someone with 2-3x as much experience.

 

[danpantz]

Lol at anyone not voting for Carlson.

He's got the third most votes

 

[Dr Salt]

I would 100% want Hughes Slavin McAvoy and Fox there. I'll throw Jones in there as well, 6 is hard to pick.

 

[majormajor]

Carlson has also been a bit of a polarizing player due to his underlying numbers, though interestingly, Jones doesn't get the same criticism for his.

Apples and oranges. There was an article about Jones saying he isn't elite because his underlying stats dipped to a non-elite level this year. Jones had good but not elite numbers in Rel CF% and Rel xG%. That's not the same as Carlson's situation. Carlson had negative numbers in Rel CF%, and Rel xG%, as he often has in his career.

 

[34]

Jones, Slavvin, Carlson, McAvoy, Suter, Werenski

 

[b in vancouver]

Tonnes of great young American d-men.
One option I haven't seen raised though is that they could take the Krug-Carlo pairing. Sometimes it's helpful to take guys whom have chemistry already. Better defencemen out there but I'd consider it.

 

[Our Lady Peace]

Werenski - Jones
Slavin - Carlson
Hughes - McAvoy
Krug

 

[majormajor]

Tonnes of great young American d-men.
One option I haven't seen raised though is that they could take the Krug-Carlo pairing. Sometimes it's helpful to take guys whom have chemistry already. Better defencemen out there but I'd consider it.

The issue is that among the better D-men, there are also better pairings to choose from. Slavin-Pesce and obviously Werenski-Jones.

 

[M2Beezy]

Gardiner Niskanen
Goligoski Shattenkirk
Yandle Petry

 

[b in vancouver]

The issue is that among the better D-men, there are also better pairings to choose from. Slavin-Pesce and obviously Werenski-Jones.

You're right.
Crazy how many good American d-men there are at the moment. Kinda forgot about the Slavin-Pesce pairing. There'll be 10 d-men left off the roster that all would've made it not that long ago. - like I mentioned Carlo, and know there's no chance he'll end up on the roster and an after-thought at best, but there's more than a few US teams over the past 20 years that would've killed to have another big shutdown d-man like him. Just kinda wanted to mention the pairing.
It really shows the growth in the States with defence as Canada has always had a decided edge but as guys like Weber, Keith and Doughty age out, the States really looks like they're in a better position going forward.

 

[GIN ANTONIC]

IMO you have to have these guys as near locks if not already...

Jones
Slavin
McAvoy
Werenski
Carlson

Then you have these guys who are young but already really really good and should be very much in the conversation for 2022...

Fox
Hughes

That’s 7 right there and you would be fine going with that group but there’s also these tried and true top dmen who have pedigree, leadership, experience and are still playing really well (Suter more than McD but he’s older...

Suter
McD

Then you have this group of guys who are good and would be totally fine on the roster but I think just a bit below the other the others mentioned...

Pesce
Trouba
Carlo
Krug
DeAngelo
Fowler

I think the other guys listed in the poll aren’t really in consideration. So to me, those are the tiers and depending on what happens the next few seasons we could see some shuffling but that top 5 looks locked in to me with the last two spots up for grabs between the young guys and old guys.

 

[ViD]

I would 100% want Hughes Slavin McAvoy and Fox there. I'll throw Jones in there as well, 6 is hard to pick.

‘Throw Jones in?”. Jones is a better all around d man than anyone you named

 

[Playmaker09]

LD locks

Slavin
Hughes

RD locks

Jones
McAvoy
Carlson

The only tough choice is the last LD. Suter/McDonagh/Werenski are all candidates that I'm not crazy about. Krug isn't necessary with Carlson and Hughes already there.

I like Fox if he or any of the RD can slide to LD comfortably, but he's unfortunately probably the victim of a numbers game.

I probably settle for Suter on the bottom pair.

Slavin - Jones
Hughes - McAvoy
Suter - Carlson

 

[WingsMJN2965]

Looks like my opinion is pretty basic: Jones, Slavin, Hughes, McAvoy, Werenski and Carlson.

Same. Werenski was my last pick and appears to have been validated.

You could arguably put Suter in there for veteran experience, though.

 

[Pitaya]

Same. Werenski was my last pick and appears to have been validated.

You could arguably put Suter in there for veteran experience, though.

Suter is no slouch - the guys still a great defenseman playing tons of minutes, hes top-6 imo