bert
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- Nov 11, 2002
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World Cup: 2016 World Cup — Team Russia
- Thread starter MrGeno101
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But the KHL would certainly have a major say, if not final say, on participation. The explanation that KHL players would be named after the WC's doesn't make sense. There is general agreement that Radulov is the best Russian player in the KHL - why couldn't they just name him as a candidate now? How about Mozyakin, Shipachyov, Zaitsev, Belov, etc. All of these guys would clearly be candidates if the KHL would allow their players to participate. I have said consistently that I don't think the KHL will interrupt their regular season for this summer beach exhibition festival, and I won't believe it until there is credible evidence that they actually plan to get involved.
Russian fans have never forgiven Kulikov for personally delivering the Gold Medal for the 2009 World Junior Championships to Canada. He is of average talent, but he has so little energy out there, and he makes so many mistakes, that Russian fans dread the sight of him on the ice.
Caser
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- May 21, 2013
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My disliking of Kulikov comes from him being error prone more recently than 2009. Although this season I'm positively surprised by him, so I have no problems with him being named here.
About the roster itself, definitely Ovechkin-Kuznetsov, Panarin-Anisimov and probably Malkin-Kulemin combinations will be tried.
10 attackers already named with Radulov as a rather sure option as 11-th. Not many vacancies left here, as World Cup roster is a 23 man roster, so only 1 or 2 attacking roster spots free. There will be a fight for those at World Championships in May and the candidate list is pretty solid: Shipachyov, Dadonov, Mozyakin, Kalinin, Plotnikov, Tikhonov and possibly Kovalchuk.
Bit surprised to see Namestnikov, expected either another defender or Kalinin, but it's totally fine for me.
Nice to see Vasilevskiy as a third goalie, he is still the most talented Russian goalie prospect, he needs that kind of experience.
Naming only 3 D shows the lack of confidence in that area, still I'd say that Emelin, Marchenko, Zaitsev and Medvedev are the top candidates here. Actually I'd say going with only 7 D in the final roster would be logical in this case, but I doubt Znarok will do that, as he has pretty bad defender injury experience in the past World Championships.
Not world class, just good. And he pretended to be sick two times now when he was called up to the NT.
A Panarin-Anisimov combination means a top 3 line, doesn't it?
I would rather top 3 lines be centered by Malkin, Kuznetsov and Datsyuk.
I would rather top 3 lines be centered by Malkin, Kuznetsov and Datsyuk.
I get that you think that but I'm just saying, you're likely wrong here. Yes I know about Radulov I watch the KHL very regularly, but he has no name recognition in NHL territory. The whole point of the first roster releasing is to get the hype up, start the discussion, to get people excited and looking forward to the event, otherwise they could just release rosters a month before or two weeks before. Likely at the NHL's request the Russian federation released NHL names first, and will fill KHL names later because the target audience just isn't the audience that would get excited to see Radulov in the first round. Eventually Shipachyov and Kovalchuk and all the others will probably make it too, I don't know about Mozyakin because there are only 3 slots left and NHL fans really want to see Kovalchuk for some reason. The first 16 names, that's just for funsies, people in the US forum are like "why is Oshie in the original release he's not a top 23 US player much less a top 16 US player" it's nothing to do with where Oshie is in the lines or whatever. Oshie is a media figure, putting his name on the original list is a better headline than another player with less notoriety. Radulov has basically no notoriety here, even less than Namestnikov, I'm pretty sure he'll be on the roster eventually but he doesn't generate headlines in America and that's all the early roster release is about.
I just don't understand your point here? Why in the hell would the Russian Federation have any interest at all in "name recognition, getting the hype up, starting the discussion.?" Why would the Russian Federation have any interest at all in promoting or hyping this event, since to my knowledge, they are not getting a cut of the profits? As far as I know, they're not even getting their expenses paid. You seem to be saying that the Russian Federation is all jazzed about making this event a success, and I don't understand why they would really care about that? Also, I think you are completely wrong about Radulov not having name recognition in NA. He played junior hockey in Quebec, and he was an outstanding young NHL player before he went back to Russia to play in the KHL.
It's not like they care about hyping it, just Russian people in my estimation are actually reasonable people who don't do petty things just to spite others.
NHL to Russia, "hey could you release a jazzy opening lineup on promo day to get the hype going?"
Russia (in a 5th grader voice) "NO! I'm going to release a lineup with a few KHL players in it HAHA what will you ever do now!?"
^I guarantee you that's not what happened. Russian hockey federation hears NHL wants to do it's thing, they think it's best done a certain way, ok cool let's roll with it, no reason to be petty and childish it's literally just choosing which names to post on twitter. They don't have to care to not be little kids and troll, they just roll with it, this is how the NHL wants it, that's cool, it's just names to post on twitter.
I literally just asked the two guys next to me if they'd ever heard of Alexander Radulov and they had no clue. They had heard of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin by the way. Yes, to older, die-hard fans, niche level hockey fans like the ones on HF boards the name Radulov might ring a bell "oh I remember back then wasn't he playing with (team name) and he was pretty good" but that's not hype. Hype is "oh my gosh Russia is going to be so good they have Ovechkin and Malkin!" At least Namestnikov's nomination will get current lightning fans excited.
If you don't trust the KHL to follow through on it's word, if you don't want KHL players there, that's cool, but right now it seems like they will go.
Caser
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- May 21, 2013
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I think that Znarok will try to land four equal lines, not the top 3 line concept, since resources are there.
Why? Because names and stuff? Datsyuk may well play a bigger role on the 4th line by now.
Putting Kulyomin on th list of 16, I don't think so. Nothing against Kulyomin, but we all know what his role will be on that team.
It's fine to have 4 lines, but it's impossible to split the minutes equally. And even now Datsyuk>Anisimov.
I would put together 3 top lines and put Kulemin and Anisimov on 4th line, playing far less minutes.
I would put together 3 top lines and put Kulemin and Anisimov on 4th line, playing far less minutes.
Well then it's a good thing I'm not the coach.
I find the idea of these guys getting the same amount of playing time as Malkin or Panarin dumb.
I find the idea of these guys getting the same amount of playing time as Malkin or Panarin dumb.
Roster:
Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets, G
Semyon Varlamov, Colorado Avalanche, G
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning, G
Dmitry Kulikov, Florida Panthers, D
Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens, D
Dmitry Orlov, Washington Capitals, D
Artem Anisimov, Chicago Blackhawks, F
Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings, F
Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning, F
Nikolay Kulemin, New York Islanders, F
Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington Capitals, F
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins, F
Vladislav Namestnikov, Tampa Bay Lightning, F
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals, F
Artemi Panarin, Chicago Blackhawks, F
Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues, F
Caser
Moderator
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I think his role will be Malkin's sidekick, as it was at the last WC.
Well, I could agree that still Datsyuk > Anisimov, but when we add Panarin, chemistry turns the math around:
Panarin+Datsyuk < Panarin+Anisimov.
Caser
Moderator
- May 21, 2013
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Interesting interview with Russia NT scout Sergei Fedotov. He thinks that 13F+7D will be optimal and for forwards it will be Radulov + 2 two-way guys that can play at PK. Also mentions that it was decided to name only NHL-ers now, as they have daily experience of playing at smaller rinks and against the same opposition that wil be at the World Cup.
westc2
Registered User
Not sure if you realize it but Panarin and Anisimov are being carried heavily by Kane....take Kane away from that line and they just become an average scoring line.
Datsyuk + Panarin >>>>>> Anisimov + Panarin, no matter how much "chemistry" they have.
Chemistry is such an overrated thing. It really only matters when you're talking about 2 superstar players who regularly play together. Like you'd probably want to keep Seguin and Benn together on team Canada, or the Sedins on team Sweden.
If anything, they'll reunite the Panarin, Kuzy, Tarasenko line that won the WJC a few years ago.
Caser
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Kane is, of course, the cornerstone of that line, but 'carried heavily' is a bit of exaggerration. Imo, replacing Kane with Tarasenko could more or less work for NT.
Too much of the '>' for the combination that have never played together.
World Cup will consist of max 5 games, which means that there will be no time to waste searching for some new working combos and here some chemistry will be pretty valuable, at least just in terms of players knowing how to play with each other.
In 2011 Tarasenko played on the first line, Kuznetsov was centering the second, Panarin have been playing on different lines, don't exactly understand what do you suggest to reunite.
Anisimov gets the same minutes as Panarin in Chicago. Ask Chicago fans if they have objections.(btw, they don't play together all the time. Anisimov plays on the PK and Panarin on the PP and that's exactly how this should work on the NT.)
Paxton Fettel
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- Mar 3, 2006
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Yeah, right, whaterver makes you happy. Kane's PPG before Panarin 0,993, Kane's PPG this season 1,354, but they are just averahe without him... Then who the puck is Toews? A 4th line scrub who got carried by Kane?
The idea of a team game ist that good players make eachother better. If Panarin was just average Kane would maybe reach te point toal he has now by the end of the season, but probably not.
Because waht? Because Datsyuk is better than Anisimov? Yes, he is. But again, it'sa team game and the idea is to have lines that work. Datsyuk and Panarin are both great players, but Panarin is better of on that roster with a big guy doing the dirty work like Anisimov. There are enough players to feed him the puck.
That's exactly what we are talking about here. Russia's offence is superstars playing together.
Reunite what? What was Bragin's brilliant crap shot to unite them for a few minutes?
If you think that Markov and Orlov aren't top notch hten you don't know what you are talking about. Yes, Markov isn't in his prime, but his experience and vision are there. Orlov is underrated by ppl who don't know better than to read stats.
Kulikov isn't that great, but this list doesn't mean the people on the list are the best. Especially for Russia as the coaching staff decided to name KHL players later.
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