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WJC: 2016 — Sweden Roster Talk

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Many posters will not follow the Swedish team won't realize how strong their roster is. I'm aware of the talent on the roster only position I'm not as familiar with is the goaltending. I remember Soderstrom being quite unconvincing in the Semis against Russia though, but maybe he has improved. Tbh the tourny is quite wide open as every team as their strength and weaknesses which can be exploited. There is no team head and shoulders above another among the hockey superpower countries this year.
 
Sweden is easily the favourite on paper. USA second and then Canada third.

That top six of Alex willy EK kempe holmstrom and Tima is actually quite a bit better than Canada's top six... And yes age will be a factor for sure.
 
WilliamNylander said:
Sweden is easily the favourite on paper. USA second and then Canada third.

That top six of Alex willy EK kempe holmstrom and Tima is actually quite a bit better than Canada's top six... And yes age will be a factor for sure.
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Is Timashov considered a lock for the tournament.?
 
Statsy said:
Quite a bit better?! Gimme a break. :shakehead
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An extra year of development makes a huge difference at the WJCs. Canada is pretty young this year.

In a tournament like this the older guys with experience tend to perform better. It's not a knock on Canada but just the way it goes, usually.
 
WilliamNylander said:
Sweden is easily the favourite on paper. USA second and then Canada third.

That top six of Alex willy EK kempe holmstrom and Tima is actually quite a bit better than Canada's top six... And yes age will be a factor for sure.
Click to expand...

I think it is pretty unlikely Timashov will be top six tbh (as you said in later post, he will very likely be pushed down to third line). It is looking like:

A. Nylander -- W. Nylander -- Eriksson Ek
Lindblom -- Holmstrom -- Kempe

will be the top two lines.

If those lines gel they could be dominant.

The first line has W. Nylander ofc and two very talented wingers... but the 2nd line would be a 1st line for the majority of AHL teams.

Lindblom, Holmstrom & Kempe fore-checking together, on the boards and around the net should be a pretty formidable prospect for a lot of the D men who are used to playing vs 'kids'... those three are 'junior' hockey players in name only really. People may look at Lindblom & Holmstroms draft position compared to say Canada's forwards and downplay/underestimate due to that... but make no mistake, if there was a 2014 re-draft tomorrow both go top 50 for sure. (and I am probably being conservative with that estimation.)
 
I think the age argument is overstated. Alex may do very well on your top six despite being younger than anyone on Team Canada. :)
 
Appleyard said:
I think it is pretty unlikely Timashov will be top six tbh (as you said in later post, he will very likely be pushed down to third line). It is looking like:

A. Nylander -- W. Nylander -- Eriksson Ek
Lindblom -- Holmstrom -- Kempe

will be the top two lines.

If those lines gel they could be dominant.

The first line has W. Nylander ofc and two very talented wingers... but the 2nd line would be a 1st line for the majority of AHL teams.

Lindblom, Holmstrom & Kempe fore-checking together, on the boards and around the net should be a pretty formidable prospect for a lot of the D men who are used to playing vs 'kids'... those three are 'junior' hockey players in name only really. People may look at Lindblom & Holmstroms draft position compared to say Canada's forwards and downplay/underestimate due to that... but make no mistake, if there was a 2014 re-draft tomorrow both go top 50 for sure. (and I am probably being conservative with that estimation.)
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Yeah I wasn't sure if Tima would play on line two or line three. Still think he will have a huge impact in this tournament.

Also agree that Sweden's forwards are being under rated, maybe because of draft pedigree. Both Nylanders are borderline top five picks, EK/Kempe went in the first round, Asplund/Grundstrom will go in the first round this year too. Lindblom/Holmstrom are very good prospects and have shown they can perform at the WJC already. Then you have Timashov who is already 200lbs and leading the QMJHL in scoring and probably the only reason why his team is competitive right now after losing their top players.

Some may disagree but I think Sweden is the team to beat this year.
 
Omg... Just seen the forwards Sweden has, unbelievable. They are the team to beat, I honestly don't think Canada has much of a chance defensing their gold..
 
How cool would it be to play with your brother in the world juniors on the same line. If it doesnt work Im sure the coach will change it. But wow, that is awesome. I hate the leafs but W. Nylander is going to be a damn good player, better then Marner (yep i said it)!
 
The interesting thing this year is that the top teams are more evenly matched than usual. I think that there are five teams with the talent to win. Even more strongly than is usually the case, the country that wins will be the one that succeeds best in coming together as a team. And it may not be the team that looks best early in the tournament. It will more likely be the team that keeps improving through the tournament. Figuring out which will be that team is guesswork at this point. Some years there are teams with talent so dominating they can win going away. Not this year.

Sweden is one of those five strong teams along with the US, Canada, Finland and Russia. Maybe the Czechs should be added. They seem to be coming out of a down period for their hockey. Over-confidence is usually an affliction of us Canadians in these tournaments. But a couple of the posters here seem to have caught the disease.
 
67Cup said:
The interesting thing this year is that the top teams are more evenly matched than usual. I think that there are five teams with the talent to win. Even more strongly than is usually the case, the country that wins will be the one that succeeds best in coming together as a team. And it may not be the team that looks best early in the tournament. It will more likely be the team that keeps improving through the tournament. Figuring out which will be that team is guesswork at this point. Some years there are teams with talent so dominating they can win going away. Not this year.

Sweden is one of those five strong teams along with the US, Canada, Finland and Russia. Maybe the Czechs should be added. They seem to be coming out of a down period for their hockey. Over-confidence is usually an affliction of us Canadians in these tournaments. But a couple of the posters here seem to have caught the disease.
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I posted same on Canada page
Very competitive year
Sorry Swedes- wide open- this is going to be a good one
Enjoy
 
clarkebr said:
I posted same on Canada page
Very competitive year
Sorry Swedes- wide open- this is going to be a good one
Enjoy
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It's extremely wide open. I'm not feeling too confident about this tournament actually, the goaltending is too bad imo.
 
WilliamNylander said:
Yeah I wasn't sure if Tima would play on line two or line three. Still think he will have a huge impact in this tournament.

Also agree that Sweden's forwards are being under rated, maybe because of draft pedigree. Both Nylanders are borderline top five picks, EK/Kempe went in the first round, Asplund/Grundstrom will go in the first round this year too. Lindblom/Holmstrom are very good prospects and have shown they can perform at the WJC already. Then you have Timashov who is already 200lbs and leading the QMJHL in scoring and probably the only reason why his team is competitive right now after losing their top players.

Some may disagree but I think Sweden is the team to beat this year.
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He's not even close to leading the Q in scoring. Nobody is close to Garland.
 
alex716 said:
I'm glad that you atleast backed up your point now. Now we can have a discussion.

There's no doubt that Canada's team is more talented, but it's slightly underaged, and that gives Sweden an edge.

I would definately pick Kempe, Lindblom and Holmström over Marner, Point and Virtanen. Eriksson Ek is not hugely behind Barzal. Very different players though. Timashov is atleast comparable with Konecny imo. Alex Nylander is not a top 6 player on the swedish roster, he might not even make the lineup, (I think he will) but Asplund and Vejdemo over Crouse and Strome is not a huge downgrade. Vejdemo is a deadly speedy winger who have really stepped it up this season, and Asplund is a very good two-way forward.

On D, it's harder to compare, but imo this is where Sweden really shines. The swedish D have a proven record of being defensively responsible against men. A bunch of PPG players in the canadian juniors doesn't impress me. Forsling, Larsson, Englund and Aho are all key players on their SHL teams, and two of them play on the top 2 teams in the league. In terms of offense, both Forsling and Aho were very productive last year, and they are even better this year. Larsson will most likely contribute quite a bit as well.
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As to the first bolded statement, I think you're on an island on your own with that opinion. Many people believe Point can be the best player in the tournament. Virtanen IS an NHL player, and Marner is a 4th overall pick in a super draft.

Even the seconded bolded part, I'd argue that most of Team Canada is capable of playing against Men, but because the AHL doesn't allow junior players to play a full season until they are 20 holds them back in that regard. I've seen the 'against men' argument before, but there is a reason that when these same players play in international tournaments(WJC U20-U18, Hlinka Tournament, Subway Series etc) the fact that most Canadians don't play against me doesn't matter, because they're still elite talents.
 
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Lineup vs Slovakia

Söderstöm(starting)
Källgren

Kempe - Hölmström - Lindblom
Lagesson - Aho

Eriksson Ek - W.Nylander - A.Nylander
Larsson - Carlsson

Grundström - Forsbacka Karlsson - Timashov
Ollas Mattson - Pettersson

Vejdemo - Ehn - Olofsson
Forsling

13th forward: Lööke
 
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