WC: 2017 Team Canada

[Bear12Good]

They might call Joe Hicketts and Jake Bean as well.

+ Dylan Strome)

 

[snipes]

+ Dylan Strome)

Or, imagine this Bear, we use our grown men at Men's events?

Canada has plenty of hockey players we can use at the WHC. Especially if the Olympics in 2018 will have NHL participation.

All of the bubble players will participate (O'Rielly, McDavid, Hall, Rielly, Ekblad, Murray, Parayko, Giroux, Seguin, etc.).

We don't need kids. Canada has plenty of grown men ready to win Gold for our country .

 

[1Gold Standard]

Or, imagine this Bear, we use our grown men at Men's events?

Canada has plenty of hockey players we can use at the WHC. Especially if the Olympics in 2018 will have NHL participation.

All of the bubble players will participate (O'Rielly, McDavid, Hall, Rielly, Ekblad, Murray, Parayko, Giroux, Seguin, etc.).

We don't need kids. Canada has plenty of grown men ready to win Gold for our country .

really? you consider Seguin a bubble player? IMO he's on the roster and would need to play some pretty uninspired hockey to lose his spot. McDavid has to be a lock as well imo. Giroux should be a lock, but there always seems to be a debate on him with whoever is running the show at HC.

The rest though are indeed on the bubble. I think Ekblad should sit this one out. He got banged up pretty good at the WCoH, is having a tough year and needs a lot of R&R this summer.

 

[snipes]

really? you consider Seguin a bubble player? IMO he's on the roster and would need to play some pretty uninspired hockey to lose his spot. McDavid has to be a lock as well imo. Giroux should be a lock, but there always seems to be a debate on him with whoever is running the show at HC.

The rest though are indeed on the bubble. I think Ekblad should sit this one out. He got banged up pretty good at the WCoH, is having a tough year and needs a lot of R&R this summer.

Yeah, Giroux is a lock (only mentioned him because he hasn't been on an Olympic team). Seguin hasn't been on an Olympic team either, likewise neither has McDavid. Personally, I have O'Rielly taking Getzlaf's spot in 2018. McDavid should be guaranteed a spot, but I don't want to write it in just yet. Same for Seguin.

What about Hall?

I have concerns with Ekblad. Two concussions in roughly 8 months, stagnant play. Besides, you would have to think Brodie, and Burns are ahead right now. We're very deep on D: Weber, Vlasic, and Doughty are likely locks. Subban, Murray, Parayko, Rielly, Ekblad, etc. all in the conversation.

Thoughts on Parayko? To me, he has the highest ceiling for any U24 D man.

 

[1Gold Standard]

Yeah, Giroux is a lock (only mentioned him because he hasn't been on an Olympic team). Seguin hasn't been on an Olympic team either, likewise neither has McDavid. Personally, I have O'Rielly taking Getzlaf's spot in 2018. McDavid should be guaranteed a spot, but I don't want to write it in just yet. Same for Seguin.

What about Hall?

I have concerns with Ekblad. Two concussions in roughly 8 months, stagnant play. Besides, you would have to think Brodie, and Burns are ahead right now. We're very deep on D: Weber, Vlasic, and Doughty are likely locks. Subban, Murray, Parayko, Rielly, Ekblad, etc. all in the conversation.

Thoughts on Parayko? To me, he has the highest ceiling for any U24 D man.

I'm thinking of Paris this spring, so I doubt Parayko will be available, but if the Blues get bounced in the 1st.rd, my expectation is that somebody from Hockey Canada calls him before the arena clears out... and he's off to Paris, as he should be in consideration for an Olympic team.


Just checked the standings. 1st. rd. Blues v Minnesota. Let me change that. Parayko may indeed be available. therefore, yes please.

I'll take me some of Schwartz as well.

 

[snipes]

[/B]

I'm thinking of Paris this spring, so I doubt Parayako will be available, but if the Blues get bounced in the 1st.rd, my expectation is that somebody from Hockey Canada calls him before the arena clears out and he
s off to Paris, as he should be in consideration for an Olympic team.

I'm not very high on the Blues, we've beat them twice and that hasn't happened in forever.

I think the Oilers go further in the West than the Blues. Although, to be objective, we both likely get bounced in the 1st round.

McDavid is a good Canadian boy, he'll play if he's available. Parayko will as well, Pietro would be huge too if we could get him. Pietrangelo is likely our captain at the 2017 WHC if he shows up. Talbot likely comes as well (he was fantastic for us, he's a legit #1 calibre NHL goalie).

Leafs, unlikely to make the playoffs. If they do, they'll get bounced quick. That gives us Rielly and Marner. Panthers look weak, so we could have Matheson and Ekblad.

Kings are on the outside looking in. Muzzin might be a bubble 2018 player, a good 2017 WHC might help his stock, he'd be a good addition. Doughty would be a definite decline I'd think.

NYI looking weak. Tavares and Hamonic could be nice options.

With the tournament in Paris for our group, I think we'll have a strong squad. Convincing the wives/girlfriends will be much easier with the tournament in Paris than other locations.

 

[Bear12Good]

Tavares accept invite 70-80%

 

[1Gold Standard]

I'm not very high on the Blues, we've beat them twice and that hasn't happened in forever.

I think the Oilers go further in the West than the Blues. Although, to be objective, we both likely get bounced in the 1st round.

McDavid is a good Canadian boy, he'll play if he's available. Parayko will as well, Pietro would be huge too if we could get him. Pietrangelo is likely our captain at the 2017 WHC if he shows up. Talbot likely comes as well (he was fantastic for us, he's a legit #1 calibre NHL goalie).

Leafs, unlikely to make the playoffs. If they do, they'll get bounced quick. That gives us Rielly and Marner. Panthers look weak, so we could have Matheson and Ekblad.

Kings are on the outside looking in. Muzzin might be a bubble 2018 player, a good 2017 WHC might help his stock, he'd be a good addition. Doughty would be a definite decline I'd think.

NYI looking weak. Tavares and Hamonic could be nice options.

With the tournament in Paris for our group, I think we'll have a strong squad. Convincing the wives/girlfriends will be much easier with the tournament in Paris than other locations.

Maybe, maybe not. we'll see who indeed gets bounced and who doesn't.

re: Pietro, would be a good addition, but asking some of these players to extend their season when they began them early and will be Olympic players is asking a bit much.

If he's up for it, great...but I'm not anticipating a lot of these A-team players, McDavid and Tavares aside, jumping at the chance to go to Paris. but Paris could be a motivating factor for the families, wives and gfs,

Doughty has nothing but distain for the World Championship. I remember a reporter asking him if he wanted to go to WC a few years back and he looked at the reporter like he wanted to punch him in the face and asked, why would I want to do that?

I can't remember what year that was exactly, but it was recently. He played in '09, so perhaps he just feels he's done his part.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Tavares accept invite 70-80%

72 %, imo

 

[Jeb99]

72 %, imo

No way. 56.7 % or a little less depending on weather conditions.

 

[therealdeal]

This team has a lot of potential if the NHL goes to the Olympics, and that it's in Paris.

But it also has the potential to be bad, if the NHL doesn't to go the Olympics, and the World Cup players decline due to fatigue, and the World Cup snubs decline (fair enough), then it could be bad.

 

[ToewsGretzky*]

Would love to see Canada complete the three-peat this spring in Paris or Cologne (not sure where the final is being played) seems like yesterday when there was a mini crisis doom and gloom about Canada not winning gold since 2007. Then bang 2015, 2016 Golds with two young teams with average ages of 24-25 years.

This tournament is a good test of depth. I think Canada will have another decent team this spring.

 

[JackSlater]

Would love to see Canada complete the three-peat this spring in Paris or Cologne (not sure where the final is being played) seems like yesterday when there was a mini crisis doom and gloom about Canada not winning gold since 2007. Then bang 2015, 2016 Golds with two young teams with average ages of 24-25 years.

This tournament is a good test of depth. I think Canada will have another decent team this spring.

Canada is in the Paris group, the semi-final and championship games are in Cologne.

 

[Bear12Good]

Cologne very nice city too)

 

[xxxx]

Here's my possible team. I'm very optimistc with projecting the line up, not only, but also given the fact that the tournament is in attractive locations (Paris, Cologne), with also what seems to be very solid arenas (with 15 and 17 thousand of capacity), and that it's the last tournament before the olympics (assuming the NHL participate). So:

Taylor Hall - John Tavares - Steven Stamkos
Matt Duchene - Nathan MacKinnon - Mark Scheifele
Sean Monahan - Ryan O'Reilly - Mark Stone
Jonathan Drouin - Ryan Johansen - Sam Reinhart

Mark Giordano - P.K. Subban
T.J. Brodie - Aaron Ekblad
Calvin De Haan - Hamonic / Barrie / Myers / Green / Tanev / Severson / Ellis

James Reimer, Calvin Pickard + maybe a goalie from the 1st round of the playoffs

Of course such a team would be great to watch. Maybe that Stamkos and Ekblad will rather pass, due to their recent health situation, but I think it's possible to have them both. Even if we got a lot of refusals, which I doubt, there is still tons of depth to cover for it, and it would still be a good team, not star-loaded, but very good still. There is Skinner, J.Staal, Hoffman, Henrique, Neal, Little, Horvat, Domi, R.Smith, Huberdeau, Sutter, Ennis, Cammalleri, Bennett, or Mantha, that I left out of the roster above. And then there will be 8 teams eliminated from the playoffs after the first round. Among those teams could easily be Edmotnon or Toronto, which could give us McDavid, Marner, or RNH and Eberle. Especially the chance of McDavid and Marner agreeing to go is high imo. So I think we'll be fine. Actually, I think that it could challange the team from 2015.

 

[xxxx]

This team has a lot of potential if the NHL goes to the Olympics, and that it's in Paris.

But it also has the potential to be bad, if the NHL doesn't to go the Olympics, and the World Cup players decline due to fatigue, and the World Cup snubs decline (fair enough), then it could be bad.

I agree. I hope that Paris and Cologne will work out its magic. There is a lot of reasons why the team could look great on paper, if all clicks. The team in 2015 wasn't a dream, it was a reality. It can happen again. And there are many good things that can help for that to happen this year imo.

Another two positive things that just crossed my mind - players could be also excited to win the golden-hattrick, something that hasn't been done in a long long time. Another positive thing is that last year Subban and MacKinnon wanted to go, but couldn't due to injuries.

 

[Bear12Good]

Here's my possible team. I'm very optimistc with projecting the line up, not only, but also given the fact that the tournament is in attractive locations (Paris, Cologne), with also what seems to be very solid arenas (with 15 and 17 thousand of capacity), and that it's the last tournament before the olympics (assuming the NHL participate). So:

Taylor Hall - John Tavares - Steven Stamkos
Matt Duchene - Nathan MacKinnon - Mark Scheifele
Sean Monahan - Ryan O'Reilly - Mark Stone
Jonathan Drouin - Ryan Johansen - Sam Reinhart

Mark Giordano - P.K. Subban
T.J. Brodie - Aaron Ekblad
Calvin De Haan - Hamonic / Barrie / Myers / Green / Tanev / Severson / Ellis

James Reimer, Calvin Pickard + maybe a goalie from the 1st round of the playoffs

Of course such a team would be great to watch. Maybe that Stamkos and Ekblad will rather pass, due to their recent health situation, but I think it's possible to have them both. Even if we got a lot of refusals, which I doubt, there is still tons of depth to cover for it, and it would still be a good team, not star-loaded, but very good still. There is Skinner, J.Staal, Hoffman, Henrique, Neal, Little, Horvat, Domi, R.Smith, Huberdeau, Sutter, Ennis, Cammalleri, Bennett, or Mantha, that I left out of the roster above. And then there will be 8 teams eliminated from the playoffs after the first round. Among those teams could easily be Edmotnon or Toronto, which could give us McDavid, Marner, or RNH and Eberle. Especially the chance of McDavid and Marner agreeing to go is high imo. So I think we'll be fine. Actually, I think that it could challange the team from 2015.

Very good roster)

+ Jeff Carter can accept invite?

 

[xxxx]

Very good roster)

+ Jeff Carter can accept invite?

Nothing is impossible, but maybe the LAK will be still playing.

 

[1Gold Standard]

interesting 1st rd. shaping up in the Metro. Pitt v CBJ. An early Pitt exit could see Letang. Schultz and Murray freed up to make the trip.

Good to see Schutlz get his career back on track after that Edmonton fiasco.

but a possible Letang Subban 1-2 combo in Paris would be entertaining. Schultz paired up with Hamhuis might work.

Sid going for the double Triple Gold is unlikely.

 

[Bear12Good]

interesting 1st rd. shaping up in the Metro. Pitt v CBJ. An early Pitt exit could see Letang. Schultz and Murray freed up to make the trip.

Good to see Schutlz get his career back on track after that Edmonton fiasco.

but a possible Letang Subban 1-2 combo in Paris would be entertaining. Schultz paired up with Hamhuis might work.

Sid going for the double Triple Gold is unlikely.

Pit win CBJ

 

[JackSlater]

interesting 1st rd. shaping up in the Metro. Pitt v CBJ. An early Pitt exit could see Letang. Schultz and Murray freed up to make the trip.

Good to see Schutlz get his career back on track after that Edmonton fiasco.

but a possible Letang Subban 1-2 combo in Paris would be entertaining. Schultz paired up with Hamhuis might work.

Sid going for the double Triple Gold is unlikely.

Good luck with Letang. It's been more than a decade since his last international game.

 

[1Gold Standard]

Good luck with Letang. It's been more than a decade since his last international game.

Not since the '07 Junior Gold. All the more reason for him to get back in the Team Canada jersey with Olympic roster spots are on the line.

what is happening with that now. apparently there's no deadline now.

I remember Bettman promising a decision on 2018 shortly after Sochi wrapped up.

 

[JackSlater]

Not since the '07 Junior Gold. All the more reason for him to get back in the Team Canada jersey with Olympic roster spots are on the line.

what is happening with that now. apparently there's no deadline now.

I remember Bettman promising a decision on 2018 shortly after Sochi wrapped up.

Just posturing from all sides right now. One mildly encouraging sign is that the NHL is working on creating two regular season schedules for next year (one with Olympic participation, one without) so it is feasible that they could go for quite some time before there was any internal pressure to make a definitive decision. One bad sign is that the NHL has been pretty open about having this issue as part of the negotiations for the next CBA, and we all know that those discussions have been consistently contentious.

 

[xxxx]

interesting 1st rd. shaping up in the Metro. Pitt v CBJ. An early Pitt exit could see Letang. Schultz and Murray freed up to make the trip.

Good to see Schutlz get his career back on track after that Edmonton fiasco.

but a possible Letang Subban 1-2 combo in Paris would be entertaining. Schultz paired up with Hamhuis might work.

Sid going for the double Triple Gold is unlikely.

I definitely think we could get a good goalie after the first round. If not Murray, it could be Talbot, it could be Jones, Dubnyk...we'll see. The olympics could potentionally be a motivation for them to go, as the third position is up to grasp. I would personally love to see Dubnyk to go, but on the other hand I rather wish him the success in the playoffs. But don't forget that he went to the Worlds 4 straight times in a row (10,11,12,13), so there could be some interest from him.

 

[JackSlater]

I definitely think we could get a good goalie after the first round. If not Murray, it could be Talbot, it could be Jones, Dubnyk...we'll see. The olympics could potentionally be a motivation for them to go, as the third position is up to grasp. I would personally love to see Dubnyk to go, but on the other hand I rather wish him the success in the playoffs. But don't forget that he went to the Worlds 4 straight times in a row (10,11,12,13), so there could be some interest from him.

I seem to recall that Dubnyk was reported as being upset with Hockey Canada in 2013. Something along the lines of him telling Hockey Canada that he would only go if he could be the starter, them agreeing and then going with Mike Smith at the end of the preliminary round. Dreger or Friedman reported it. He didn't go last year, but as with many players a chance at an Olympic position could possibly coax him.