hey, new here, and pretty excited to find a message board with people who know what they're talking about. moving on...
this has probably been posted somewhere before, but i was wondering what everyone's rating of the teams would be, from 1 to 8. of course, it has to be on paper because there's no way to predict the outcome ofa single-game elimination.
1. Canada
Canada definitly has the deepest roster in the world (they probably could have made 2 teams). Like most of the other countries, they can put together 3 dangerous offensive lines. But unlike the other countries, they can put an absolute all star team on defense and in net as well. there's been a lot of complaining about the roster choices around the country, but i dont mind it (although i would have lecavalier in place of Gagne in a heartbeat). the roster would have been different if this were the olympics. but for an NHL ice surface, i think it's a great idea to bring guys like morrow, draper, doan and yzerman. it would have been nice to see primeau in place of maltby on the checking line, but they wanted to keep the chemestry of the doan-draper-maltby line from the world championships 2 years ago. I'm predicting Dany Heatly to be tournament MVP. I'm pretty dissapointed that they chickened out and didn't take bertuzzi. i would have loved to see him on a line with thornton and iginla over on the left. but oh well.
2. Czech Republic
The Czechs, I've noticed, aren't getting the respect they deserve. They have a good balance of offense and defense in their forward lines. A lot of people write off guys like jagr and havlat as headcases and whatever, but you've got to believe they'll show up in full force when they're playing for their country. with havlat, lang, jagr, hejduk, elias, straka, rucinsky, etc, they should be able to equal any team in the world for offense. And unlike Slovakia (which seems to be the sexy upset pick this year) they have a solid (although a little soft) defense corps, and a very good goaltender in Vokoun. I wouldn't trust Cechmanek or Prusek under pressure though. And as i said before, i think their defense can be exploited by a hard forecheck. Especially Tomas Kaberle. As a Leafs fan, he drives me nuts
3. Sweden
The Swedes have a good group of veteran stars to carry a lineup with a lot of younger players on it. But unlike Russia and the USA, the swedish stars are still very much in their prime. I think any country in the world should be scared of a team that can put alfredsson/sundin, forsberg, naslund, lidstrom and ohlund on the ice to start a game. And since the olympics 2 years ago, they've been able to get some scoring depth they never had before. the sedins have become decent NHL players, and freddy modin has looked awsome all year. They have some good very defensive-forwards (axelsson and holmstrom), and are very good at the top end of their defense. their weakness IMO is in their lower end defensemen, and especially in net. Tommy Salo is not the goaltender he used to be, and the other two are fairly unproven (i saw telqvist play in toronto this year, and he still needs a lot of work before he can win at this level). also, how is nylander not on the team? c'mon now...
4. Russia
Russia reminds me of the USA team in a lot of ways. they still have a lot of big names and bigtime talent, but much of the team was better 5 years ago. But unlike the USA, russia decided to include some young talent. obviously kovalchuk would be there, but it was nice to see them include ovechkin. so now we can all see what this kid can do before he gets the life sucked out of him as a washington capital. The defense is a little suspect at the bottom half, but should be solid enough, with a few guys who can really hit as well (kasparaitis, markov). They should have a fantastic powerplay, as fancy passing and big point shots seem to be a russian specialty. In net they look very solid (assuming they never have to play whoever their #3 is). Khabibulin and Nabokov are both top NHL goaltenders and have been playing pretty well under pressure these playoffs. In the end though, i dont think they'll have enough of a contribution from their 3rd and 4th lines to win it all
5. USA
The American roster was a bit of a head-scratcher to me, because i think they could have been a lot better off for now and the future by putting some young(er) talent on the team (scott gomez, mike york, mark parrish, John-Michael Liles, maybe even zach parise). Other than in net, it looks like leopold is the only player under 28 or whatever. This team can still score in bunches, but might a little slower than some of the other teams (brett hull is offically a stationary one-timer machine at this point of his career. seriously. all he does is take one timers.) it's nice to see my buddy craig conroy make it. i love that guy. they did bring a bunch of very good defensive forwards, so they look like a team that could sit on a lead very well. They have a solid defense corps, but some of those guys are absolutely too old (hatcher, chelios) to play against iginla, forsberg, jagr, sundin, hossa, and other strong, quick forwards (I can't wait for Iginla-Hatcher: round 2). the goaltending has potential, as conklin looked good at the worlds this year, but is innexperienced. Esche may or may not be playing because of injury, so i figure they'll bring dunham or maybe even john graham if he doesnt. I can't see them doing particularily well, because they're relying too heavily on thier veterans to keep up with the speedy young players of the world
6. Slovakia
This team will be the biggest mystery of the tournament, as they have the potential to score a ton of goals, and to have a ton scored on them at the same time. over the last few years slovakia has been producing some top NHL talent, but this is the first time they can put a contending team together. I think a lot of people are getting over-excited about the fact that another country has finally joined the ranks of the "contenders" in international play, and everyone is forgetting that there are some massive holes in this lineup. up front they look extremely well off, and should have no problems scoring goals. On defense they would be OK if they could program Chara to play all game. but they cant. and at some point, they're going to have some sub par talent on the ice against the best in the world. apart from Chara, they have nobody i would trust to play smart defensively in their own zone under pressure (although visnovsky will be great on the power play). As for the goaltending, the only one ive heard of is stana ( i think he plays in the AHL somewhere, but i cant be sure). this team should give everyone a run for their money, but isn't deep enough yet to win it all. but they're extremely young and will be a force for years to come
7. Finland
the Fins are always the hardest team to predict because they upset good teams like it's going out of style. on paper, they are lacking in offense like they are every year. But they always manage to keep games close with their tough checking style and solid defense. and with kiprusoff in net, i can see them giving Canada a bigger scare than usual. Up front they can only really put together one or maybe 2 strong offensive lines. but the finnish teams always have heart, and look for them to get big performances out of guys like ville nieminen and tuomo ruutu. On defense they have a decent core of NHL talent, but not nearly as good as the other teams. But i expect their defense to get a lot of support from backchecking forwards to even out the load. So on paper, they're the weakest of the "contenders", but i would actually bet on them in a game against slovakia or sweden. especially since finland has finally started to produce quality goaltenders in the last few years.
8. Germany
I'm not going to pretend to know anything about this team. the only players i've heard of are Sturm, Hecht, Marcel Goc, Christian Erhoff, Seidenberg, and Kolzig. and sturm and kolzig are the only ones who arent marginal NHL players at this point. what's annoying about the germans is that they always trap like crazy in international hockey, so we never beat them by as much as everyone thinks we should. But unless Kolzig plays out of his mind, i cant see them coming anywhere higher than 7th or 8th. they're the only team with no real shot at getting a medal.
so that's my take on it, and i'm interested to see what everyone else thinks
this has probably been posted somewhere before, but i was wondering what everyone's rating of the teams would be, from 1 to 8. of course, it has to be on paper because there's no way to predict the outcome ofa single-game elimination.
1. Canada
Canada definitly has the deepest roster in the world (they probably could have made 2 teams). Like most of the other countries, they can put together 3 dangerous offensive lines. But unlike the other countries, they can put an absolute all star team on defense and in net as well. there's been a lot of complaining about the roster choices around the country, but i dont mind it (although i would have lecavalier in place of Gagne in a heartbeat). the roster would have been different if this were the olympics. but for an NHL ice surface, i think it's a great idea to bring guys like morrow, draper, doan and yzerman. it would have been nice to see primeau in place of maltby on the checking line, but they wanted to keep the chemestry of the doan-draper-maltby line from the world championships 2 years ago. I'm predicting Dany Heatly to be tournament MVP. I'm pretty dissapointed that they chickened out and didn't take bertuzzi. i would have loved to see him on a line with thornton and iginla over on the left. but oh well.
2. Czech Republic
The Czechs, I've noticed, aren't getting the respect they deserve. They have a good balance of offense and defense in their forward lines. A lot of people write off guys like jagr and havlat as headcases and whatever, but you've got to believe they'll show up in full force when they're playing for their country. with havlat, lang, jagr, hejduk, elias, straka, rucinsky, etc, they should be able to equal any team in the world for offense. And unlike Slovakia (which seems to be the sexy upset pick this year) they have a solid (although a little soft) defense corps, and a very good goaltender in Vokoun. I wouldn't trust Cechmanek or Prusek under pressure though. And as i said before, i think their defense can be exploited by a hard forecheck. Especially Tomas Kaberle. As a Leafs fan, he drives me nuts
3. Sweden
The Swedes have a good group of veteran stars to carry a lineup with a lot of younger players on it. But unlike Russia and the USA, the swedish stars are still very much in their prime. I think any country in the world should be scared of a team that can put alfredsson/sundin, forsberg, naslund, lidstrom and ohlund on the ice to start a game. And since the olympics 2 years ago, they've been able to get some scoring depth they never had before. the sedins have become decent NHL players, and freddy modin has looked awsome all year. They have some good very defensive-forwards (axelsson and holmstrom), and are very good at the top end of their defense. their weakness IMO is in their lower end defensemen, and especially in net. Tommy Salo is not the goaltender he used to be, and the other two are fairly unproven (i saw telqvist play in toronto this year, and he still needs a lot of work before he can win at this level). also, how is nylander not on the team? c'mon now...
4. Russia
Russia reminds me of the USA team in a lot of ways. they still have a lot of big names and bigtime talent, but much of the team was better 5 years ago. But unlike the USA, russia decided to include some young talent. obviously kovalchuk would be there, but it was nice to see them include ovechkin. so now we can all see what this kid can do before he gets the life sucked out of him as a washington capital. The defense is a little suspect at the bottom half, but should be solid enough, with a few guys who can really hit as well (kasparaitis, markov). They should have a fantastic powerplay, as fancy passing and big point shots seem to be a russian specialty. In net they look very solid (assuming they never have to play whoever their #3 is). Khabibulin and Nabokov are both top NHL goaltenders and have been playing pretty well under pressure these playoffs. In the end though, i dont think they'll have enough of a contribution from their 3rd and 4th lines to win it all
5. USA
The American roster was a bit of a head-scratcher to me, because i think they could have been a lot better off for now and the future by putting some young(er) talent on the team (scott gomez, mike york, mark parrish, John-Michael Liles, maybe even zach parise). Other than in net, it looks like leopold is the only player under 28 or whatever. This team can still score in bunches, but might a little slower than some of the other teams (brett hull is offically a stationary one-timer machine at this point of his career. seriously. all he does is take one timers.) it's nice to see my buddy craig conroy make it. i love that guy. they did bring a bunch of very good defensive forwards, so they look like a team that could sit on a lead very well. They have a solid defense corps, but some of those guys are absolutely too old (hatcher, chelios) to play against iginla, forsberg, jagr, sundin, hossa, and other strong, quick forwards (I can't wait for Iginla-Hatcher: round 2). the goaltending has potential, as conklin looked good at the worlds this year, but is innexperienced. Esche may or may not be playing because of injury, so i figure they'll bring dunham or maybe even john graham if he doesnt. I can't see them doing particularily well, because they're relying too heavily on thier veterans to keep up with the speedy young players of the world
6. Slovakia
This team will be the biggest mystery of the tournament, as they have the potential to score a ton of goals, and to have a ton scored on them at the same time. over the last few years slovakia has been producing some top NHL talent, but this is the first time they can put a contending team together. I think a lot of people are getting over-excited about the fact that another country has finally joined the ranks of the "contenders" in international play, and everyone is forgetting that there are some massive holes in this lineup. up front they look extremely well off, and should have no problems scoring goals. On defense they would be OK if they could program Chara to play all game. but they cant. and at some point, they're going to have some sub par talent on the ice against the best in the world. apart from Chara, they have nobody i would trust to play smart defensively in their own zone under pressure (although visnovsky will be great on the power play). As for the goaltending, the only one ive heard of is stana ( i think he plays in the AHL somewhere, but i cant be sure). this team should give everyone a run for their money, but isn't deep enough yet to win it all. but they're extremely young and will be a force for years to come
7. Finland
the Fins are always the hardest team to predict because they upset good teams like it's going out of style. on paper, they are lacking in offense like they are every year. But they always manage to keep games close with their tough checking style and solid defense. and with kiprusoff in net, i can see them giving Canada a bigger scare than usual. Up front they can only really put together one or maybe 2 strong offensive lines. but the finnish teams always have heart, and look for them to get big performances out of guys like ville nieminen and tuomo ruutu. On defense they have a decent core of NHL talent, but not nearly as good as the other teams. But i expect their defense to get a lot of support from backchecking forwards to even out the load. So on paper, they're the weakest of the "contenders", but i would actually bet on them in a game against slovakia or sweden. especially since finland has finally started to produce quality goaltenders in the last few years.
8. Germany
I'm not going to pretend to know anything about this team. the only players i've heard of are Sturm, Hecht, Marcel Goc, Christian Erhoff, Seidenberg, and Kolzig. and sturm and kolzig are the only ones who arent marginal NHL players at this point. what's annoying about the germans is that they always trap like crazy in international hockey, so we never beat them by as much as everyone thinks we should. But unless Kolzig plays out of his mind, i cant see them coming anywhere higher than 7th or 8th. they're the only team with no real shot at getting a medal.
so that's my take on it, and i'm interested to see what everyone else thinks
