Olympics: State of USA Hockey after another disappointing Olympics (Merged)

[sharks9]

Should be able to roll Eichel and Glachenyuk down the middle at the Olympics come 18, so there's definitely room to hope from a pure skill standpoint. Though 18 MAY be just a bit early in their careers to expect top 6 roles in a best on best out of them unfortunately.

Really not much down the middle going forward right now that looks that good at the moment.

Galchenyuk will be 24 at that point, which would be a perfect age for him to be in the top 6.

Eichel will only be 21 so for him I'd say he'll be too young.

 

[SanDogBrewin]

I question whether Team USA has any true leaders. Parise and Suter both recently ditched their former teams that they were leaders for in order to pursue their personal goals. Callahan is holding out for big money (and may be traded) That's a big problem and one reason why you see the inconsistency of effort, IMO.

I'm losing a lot of faith in USA being able to meet expectation and win gold, so it'd almost be preferable to come in with lower expectations

Seeking monetary reward in the NHL when you become a free agent has nothing to do with lack of leadership and/or losing a one goal game to a very deep Canada team.

The US development in the USHL and College talent or players that play in or go to the CHL has my hopes very high. Just hope, if the NHL does agree to let players play in 2018, Lombardi and Bowman don't leave anyone behind this time.

 

[Chris Hansen]

My chief point is that "leadership" isn't much more than a talking point for media and fans. Almost all athletes who have made it this far all have some leadership qualities.

I mean, really, we're fans who are talking about this as if we have the slightest clue which of these guys is a "good leader" (whatever that really means) and which guy isn't.

The parsimonious way to view USA's failure would be that the roster itself had rather obvious problems. Going a step further and harping on about a lack of leadership is as unqualifiable as it is unnecessary. The issue is much more readily obvious (and easily exemplified) than that.

Coaching was questionable as well, but everyone knew that going in. Bylsma has been out of his element for years.

 

[Pilky01]

The US is only getting better. The NCAA is getting stronger and stronger. Any panic over this Olympic result is just short sighted.

People still haven't learned that you don't win games by looking at the roster...

Yep. It is why Latvia, Norway and Switzerland can occasionally jump up and almost beat Canada's all star team. Navel gazing at your roster is worse than useless, it is counter productive.

No Canadian fans should be calling this an overreaction, we do the same when we don't make the finals in the WJ's let alone Olympics.

Canada has won 2/4 NHL gold medals and is favoured to make it 3/5. The US team is not Canada. Canada has the most talent on their roster by a country mile. USA Hockey is getting way ahead of themselves if they are thinking "gold or nothing".

I was half expecting Canada would be in the bronze medal game, and I felt like Team Canada would have still came out to win. 1998 and 2006 were very humbling for the entire national program. Maybe the US program could use some similar humbling.

 

[Sergei Shirokov]

Canada has won 2/4 NHL gold medals and is favoured to make it 3/5. The US team is not Canada. Canada has the most talent on their roster by a country mile. USA Hockey is getting way ahead of themselves if they are thinking "gold or nothing".

I was half expecting Canada would be in the bronze medal game, and I felt like Team Canada would have still came out to win. 1998 and 2006 were very humbling for the entire national program. Maybe the US program could use some similar humbling.

That not my point, clearly USA fans have the right to be frustrated, they made controversial decisions & left some of there best offensive players off the team, then got shutout in back to back games against decent opponents.

And with the population there country has & the amount of people playing hockey in there country, they have every right to feel unhappy that there country isn't closer to Canada's level in terms of elite stars.

 

[Osprey]

My chief point is that "leadership" isn't much more than a talking point for media and fans. Almost all athletes who have made it this far all have some leadership qualities.

I mean, really, we're fans who are talking about this as if we have the slightest clue which of these guys is a "good leader" (whatever that really means) and which guy isn't.

The parsimonious way to view USA's failure would be that the roster itself had rather obvious problems. Going a step further and harping on about a lack of leadership is as unqualifiable as it is unnecessary. The issue is much more readily obvious (and easily exemplified) than that.

Coaching was questionable as well, but everyone knew that going in. Bylsma has been out of his element for years.

It is? If it's not the roster, the leadership or the coaching, what is the issue and how is it so "readily obvious"?

It seems to me like you just have an opinion that leadership isn't a problem. That's fine, but that doesn't make my opinion wrong. I don't have all of the answers, but you shouldn't start thinking that you, instead, do. If the answers are "readily obvious" to you, then you're exemplifying the same level of conceit that you think that you're criticizing. It's very hard to say anything with authority from our couches, so we have to guess at what we think is the problem, and that goes for all of us.

 

[Pilky01]

That not my point, clearly USA fans have the right to be frustrated, they made controversial decisions & left some of there best offensive players off the team, then got shutout in back to back games against decent opponents.

And with the population there country has & the amount of people playing hockey in there country, they have every right to feel unhappy that there country isn't closer to Canada's level in terms of elite stars.

As I said, roster navel gazing is useless. Bobby Ryan wouldn't have made a lick of difference. The US was dominated by Canada and too devastated to put up a fight against Finland. Roster selection would not have changed anything. They beat Russia, but then the best team in the world ended their tournament.

 

[FlyerFire]

That kind of statement is exactly why American fans are pissed off

 

[BMOK33]

Seeking monetary reward in the NHL when you become a free agent has nothing to do with lack of leadership and/or losing a one goal game to a very deep Canada team.

The US development in the USHL and College talent or players that play in or go to the CHL has my hopes very high. Just hope, if the NHL does agree to let players play in 2018, Lombardi and Bowman don't leave anyone behind this time.

I don't think either guy seeked monetary reward...as a matter of fact both could have gotten more money elsewhere, both were pretty much forced by their wives to go to Minny...I don't necessarily think either had a problem with it both being from there or the general area themselves but my guess is if Parise and Suter were single guys they would not have signed in Minnesota....just a hunch.

 

[NSHPreds1835]

What in the hell happened today? Did the U.S. just come out flat or was Finland just that good? Personally I would have given Miller the start today after Quick played yesterday but it probably wouldn't have made a difference.

 

[Kharkov]

What in the hell happened today? Did the U.S. just come out flat or was Finland just that good? Personally I would have given Miller the start today after Quick played yesterday but it probably wouldn't have made a difference.

Finns scored 2 goals with nearly no time between them. Before that US was good and players really playing well, and yeah they did after those 2 goals but probably they didnt believe that they can win anymore.

 

[Vinsanity89]

Too many scrub passengers on the team like Dustin Brown, David Backes, Ryan Kesler, Shattenkirk, Zach Parise etc.

God Zach Parise was useless. Patrick Kane was also an embarassment.

 

[SanDogBrewin]

I don't think either guy seeked monetary reward...as a matter of fact both could have gotten more money elsewhere.

"Parise and Suter both recently ditched their former teams that they were leaders for in order to pursue their personal goals."

I was answering to ^this^ having nothing to do with leadership in the Olympics for both players and NHL free agency - no correlation. The city they chose to play in has nothing to do with my answer.

I think no matter where they played, Parise and Suter would still be leaders.

 

[Chris Hansen]

It is? If it's not the roster, the leadership or the coaching, what is the issue and how is it so "readily obvious"?

It seems to me like you just have an opinion that leadership isn't a problem. That's fine, but that doesn't make my opinion wrong. I don't have all of the answers, but you shouldn't start thinking that you, instead, do. If the answers are "readily obvious" to you, then you're exemplifying the same level of conceit that you think that you're criticizing. It's very hard to say anything with authority from our couches, so we have to guess at what we think is the problem, and that goes for all of us.

What? I said the roster and the coaching are the issues.

As for the second part of your post... Maybe. But basing an opinion on something you can't qualify or quantify is a pretty difficult position to support. You have no idea what kind of leaders these players are.

The roster was clearly flawed from the beginning. I'm not the only one who has the answers; tons of people were saying this months ago, not just me.

 

[Esq]

Too many scrub passengers on the team like Dustin Brown, David Backes, Ryan Kesler, Shattenkirk, Zach Parise etc.

God Zach Parise was useless. Patrick Kane was also an embarassment.

Kane didn't produce, but he carried the offense at times, and certainly pulled along the dead weight of Parise/Kesler on his lines for shifts on end.

 

[KaseMeOutside]

i think they simply chose the wrong coach, and our weakness at center(aka no true superstar) was exposed a bit.

i said this in other threads but if this is how bylsma was gonna use faulk he never shoulda made the team and they should have brought yandle instead and if we remove bylsmas politics we get EJ or JJ in the orpik spot and i think that makes some difference

 

[Bookman]

Kane didn't produce, but he carried the offense at times, and certainly pulled along the dead weight of Parise/Kesler on his lines for shifts on end.

HAH! Dude misses 2 penalty shots, one he didn't even earn, takes dumb penalties that help put the game out of reach, and he's the good guy?

Kane was the #1 goat of the game for me.

 

[hockey diva]

What? Lol. The women's team was 3.5 minutes and one inch away from winning gold. Ease up on the amateur dramatics.

The women's team should have won that game and choked. The men's team did not get the job done either. Plenty of blame to go around from USA management on down.

 

[ALMO to BURE]

Kane didn't produce, but he carried the offense at times, and certainly pulled along the dead weight of Parise/Kesler on his lines for shifts on end.

In the first period, on the first PK, Kesler went behind the out of position Quick, knelt down on the goal line, made himself big and blocked a sure goal with his face. When Kelser was putting his entire NHL season on the like for his country Kane was sitting in the box. Kesler played great. I believe that he was a minus -1 after being on 6 PK's.

Don't tell me Kesler doesn't have heart or that Kane carried him!!!

 

[ALMO to BURE]

[mod]

The bronze was theirs for the taking but the team who wanted it more won.

Oh and stop trashing Canada on twitter. You have a great team, be proud of them.

 

[Goose]

U.S. could have won gold this tournament. Close lose to Canada then they emotionally had nothing left and didn't care about the bronze.

U.S. Hockey is fine.

 

[CanadaKid]

4th place finish is not a disappointment for the United States. The US is not Canada where NOT winning the Gold Medal is a disaster.

 

[RandV]

What in the hell happened today? Did the U.S. just come out flat or was Finland just that good? Personally I would have given Miller the start today after Quick played yesterday but it probably wouldn't have made a difference.

Finland did the same to Canada in '98. You feel dejected for not making it to the gold medal game and lack motivation, but Finland being perennial underdogs doesn't care and just wants to win so they hit you full tilt in the Bronze medal game.

As for the state of US hockey? I think people forget that going into 2010 the Americans were probably considered to be a 5th-6th place team. Then they gelled very quickly and beat everyone, until losing in overtime against Canada in the gold medal game.

So going into these Olympics with their high scoring rate against defensively suspect teams, I think they may have got a little overrated. They can beat Russia and the Czech's, but I'd say the odds would be against them in an elimination game against Canada or Sweden, and of course while it's a little different they just lost to the Finns in the Bronze medal game.

They're rapidly getting better but they aren't on par with Canada just yet, and probably the same with Sweden. They're great on the wing and in net but could be stronger down the middle and on D.

 

[islesfan186]

There have been only two American Cup-winning captains in NHL history: Hatcher and Brown, both of whom were very underwhelming captain material and whose teams likely won in spite of it.

Brown was fantastic in the playoffs when the Kings won the cup.

I couldn't believe the lack of effort in today's game. Complete No Shows in the third.
If Herb Brooks were still alive, I would love to have heard his opinion on the US teams "effort" in todays game.
And so what if it's just for bronze. You're in the Olympics, representing your nation! You don't quit until the final buzzer sounds. 95% of that bench (coaches most definitely included) need to look in the mirror and do a serious gut check!

 

[SirClintonPortis]

The moments I saw(whole third period) in the Finland game, I thought we were still running a 1-2-2 even when we were trailing? Were my eyes decieving me?