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World Cup: 2016 World Cup — Team USA

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SanDogBrewin said:
Absolutely right Faulk should be on the US team. I also think Carlson is better though.
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hockeykicker said:
john carlson?
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I disagree. Carlson's very good, I just prefer Faulk. I was shocked when Suter, McD, Faulk, and Carlson weren't the first 4 selected. Thought it was an easy decision. I expected only one of Buff/Shattenkirk to make it, so i'm not surprised by Shattenkirk's omission. And really any combo of Yandle, Leddy, Greene, Niskanen, or Erik Johnson would've been fine by me for the remaining spots. The inclusion of Jack Johnson.....that is not fine.

My defense would've been

Suter-Faulk
McD-Carlson
X-Buff/Shattenkirk
X

With any of the players I mentioned filling in the last spots.
 
The only dmen better than Justin Faulk for USA is Suter. This is abundantly clear.

Byfuglien does provide grit and offense that those 2 can't match though



Seriously, even Jack Johnson would understand if Torts left him off
 
I can't wait to see the first exhibition game. I mean, games between USA and Canada are always something to watch, let alone at this level, even if it's just a pre-tournament game. But this one in 2004 was too, and look what happened:



 
Hutton said:
The only dmen better than Justin Faulk for USA is Suter. This is abundantly clear.

Byfuglien does provide grit and offense that those 2 can't match though



Seriously, even Jack Johnson would understand if Torts left him off
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Well this whole espn article about roles blabla stops making sense when you hit Jack Johnson if you ask me .. what's that supposed to be: patriotic mascot?
They were going with the pedal to the medal with the 1996 team and the best players available. They transformed Pat Lafontaine into a PP ice time only player if I remember correctly and the only strategic nomination was Joel Otto, since they wanted to have a centerman being able to play Eric Lindros, size wise.
They put the best team, wanted zo be the best team and believed to be the best team finally. This references to Brooks 80 Olympic team is nonsense, the right not the best players (with Mullen signing an nhl contract, which better ones?), and this tournament turned out to be one of the anomalies in sports, biggest upsets ever, not freaking rule how to build winning teams
 
Ryan Callahan had surgery today and will be out for 5 months. Won't be participating in the World Cup.
 
Yeah, I also think Nick Foligno is a realistic option, otherwise maybe Maroon, Hendricks or Kreider.
 
Sucks for Callahan but that's good for USA, now we can add a player that can actually play hockey and wasn't just there by the grace of Tortorella....Hopefully Johnson or Kessel. I'd be happy with either.
 
 
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GPF said:
Well this whole espn article about roles blabla stops making sense when you hit Jack Johnson if you ask me .. what's that supposed to be: patriotic mascot?
They were going with the pedal to the medal with the 1996 team and the best players available. They transformed Pat Lafontaine into a PP ice time only player if I remember correctly and the only strategic nomination was Joel Otto, since they wanted to have a centerman being able to play Eric Lindros, size wise.
They put the best team, wanted zo be the best team and believed to be the best team finally. This references to Brooks 80 Olympic team is nonsense, the right not the best players (with Mullen signing an nhl contract, which better ones?), and this tournament turned out to be one of the anomalies in sports, biggest upsets ever, not freaking rule how to build winning teams
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what are you talking about?

That 96' team made a lot of [MOD] calls, and didn't go for just the most talented team.

They left guys who still were playing at a relatively high level in favor of tougher types like Deadmarsh and Guerin who neither were star players yet.

They left off guys like Craig Janney, Ed Olczyk, Kevin Stevens, etc who were all getting a bit older in the tooth.

They went with more younger guys like Smolinski and McEachern.

They also had Lafontaine as more than just a power play specialist, he had a regular shift.

That team won, because it was built to match up with Canada and did so wonderfully. Anything else is just nonsense.
 
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a little bit more info on Callahan and possible replacements:

To Lombardi, Callahan was going to provide necessary leadership to the group. Lombardi compared Callahan to Chris Drury and Jamie Langenbrunner on the 2010 United States Olympic team — guys who weren’t the top offensive performers on the team but players that gave it the right attitude in the big moments.

“Obviously he plays a certain type of game, but he also brought the Drury element,” Lombardi said. “If he’s not going to be there the issue is going to be do we maybe look for a little something different. He’s a Drury and that doesn’t exist on trees.”

“Those guys were there for leadership. It’s one of the things we talked about. People said, ‘why are you taking Drury and Langenbrunner?’ They were perfect for what we wanted them for.”

(Team USA director of hockey operations Jim Johannson) “Obviously Ryan Callahan is a premier penalty killer in the league so are you looking for a premier penalty killer or, ‘OK, other guys are going to have to pick up the slack there and now we have an opportunity to put something else in the lineup?’”

Kessel reportedly came in second place in Conn Smythe Trophy voting given to playoff MVP but there’s a belief that Kessel isn’t a rounded all-around player, and Team USA seemed to pick a group that fits the grinding 200-foot system of coach John Tortorella.
“I think particularly when you look at some of the match ups, we have a lot of talent but I think it’s critical to win this thing we have to have a team and we need an identity,” said Lombardi who tried to use the history of the 1996 US World Cup team as a guide for building this collection of players.

Johannson predicted some final choice will come in August.

“The reality on the timing is technically you don’t have to name a replacement until 24 hours before the start of the tournament,” Johannson said. “Obviously we’re not going to wait that long and let the player know – I’m just guessing here that it’ll be sometime in August that we’ll make that decision and make sure the player knows more importantly for his preparation and preparedness for the event.”
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http://sports.yahoo.com/news/team-u...ahan-replacement-for-world-cup-142005455.html
 
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Reading between the lines, seems there's a lack of respect for Kessel's 200 foot game from team USA's braintrust, a la Hall with TC's braintrust. In the NHL, both guys have looked lazy and disinterested, at times, when it comes to back checking/ taking care of their own end of the ice. Some have gone so far as to call them, ' coach killers'...

Still Kessel was team USA's most dangerous forward in Sochi, and no one on TC has shown the kind of chemistry with Crosby that Hall has.

Both Kessel and Hall have been lights out wearing their respective nation's uni's. Their respective national sides are better with them, than without, sans doubt...

To me, the braintrust's philosophical approach to the game, and assuaging some monumental egos, have come at the expense of giving their A teams the best possible chance of winning...

The saying, ' penny wise , pound foolish' comes to mind.
 
True Hockey Fan said:
Kessel undergoes surgery. He sustained hand injury in the 1st round of the playoffs.



btw, according to TribLive, T.Johnson/K.Okposo/K.Palmieri are the likely candidates to replace Callahan.
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Palmieri turned into a very strong two-way animal last year in NJ. Alongside Zajac, they were taking on the toughest competition of the Devils and Palmieiri always showed a good amount of grit/fiestiness in rivalry games. He also started to play the PK as well.

If they are trying to replace what Callahan brought, I think Palmieiri gives them the best chance out of that trio. However, his reputation is not remotely close to Callahan who has been that hard-working defensive PK forward for the last several years and the other two, as of right now, are definitely better players.
 
I think that if they want to replace Callahan in his original role, Dustin Brown has to be the first guy on the list.
 
Zippy316 said:
Palmieri turned into a very strong two-way animal last year in NJ. Alongside Zajac, they were taking on the toughest competition of the Devils and Palmieiri always showed a good amount of grit/fiestiness in rivalry games. He also started to play the PK as well.

If they are trying to replace what Callahan brought, I think Palmieiri gives them the best chance out of that trio. However, his reputation is not remotely close to Callahan who has been that hard-working defensive PK forward for the last several years and the other two, as of right now, are definitely better players.
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http://teamusa.usahockey.com/news_article/show/671487?referrer_id=701370

Palmieri it is.
 
Good choice. He can bring some of the same type of qualities Callahan would have with grittiness and working hard. He also seems to be able to bring it up a level for big games.
 
So happy Palmieri made the team. He is a vert talented player who can play a gritty style. This is well deserved.
 
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