WC: 2017 Team Canada

[JackSlater]

It will be interesting to see this team in action. I'm not going to bother complaining about the goaltending too much. Pickard is a decent young goaltender. The defence has very good mobility, which is good. Vlasic is probably the best defensive defenceman in the world, but I'm not sold on the defensive abilities of the other defencemen. With a good system in place though they should be fine, especially with Canada's quality defensive centres.

Centre definitely looks like the strength of the team. If they run Scheifele-Giroux-O'Reilly-Couturier as the centres, then each line should be in a good position. Those are all good to great defensive centres, and they have each won this tournament before. I'm not sure if O'Reilly will be used at centre or on the wing (he has been Giroux's LW and Scheifele's LW the last two tournaments) but I hope that they take advantage of centre depth and use those four in those positions. The wingers are mostly quality players with good goal scoring potential. I am interested to see how they integrate the three rookie RWs.

Overall it should be a competitive team, and I look forward to seeing what it can do.

Not a very inspiring answer from Mitch on why he wants to play, just wanting to keep your hockey skills sharp sounds more like a guy who is going to summer school then a guy who really wants to spit fire and help Canada win 3 straight.He looked so blase with his non verbal signs too.Have to wonder just how effective a player for the tournament we are getting there. I think he may end up playing very little of a role on this team. I hope he proves me wrong.

Duchene with the right way to answer the question, really like that guy.

I found Marner's answers during interviews at the 2016 WJC quite offputting for similar reasons. He stressed multiple times that the team was playing well and needed to change nothing, even though that was clearly the opposite of the truth. Luckily games are won on the ice instead of on the mic, and Marner's on ice play can be very good.

 

[tade]

I wonder who will be the captain? O'Reilly, Giroux, Duchene?

 

[LiveeviL]

Team Canada consists from these winners:

2x Olympic Gold Medal
4x World Cup Gold Medal
10x World Championship Gold Medal
4x Memorial Cup Champion
3x U18 WJC Gold Medal
5x U20 WJC Gold Medal
1x AHL Calder Cup Champion

There's no Stanley Cup winner though.

In terms of real salary:

$87,488,000

What's the salary on D?

I stated in the team Sweden-thread that Sweden probably have the highest salary top 6 (will add 7th D man after round two, hopefully) D-men with 27, 416667 mill $. Does it hold true?

 

[Jablkon]

Good for you. The roster is indeed pretty much done, and certainly not as good as most here hoped, but it's competitive and there are young guys who should get some valuable experience. Cannot really complain.



Better to be Canada than anyone else. When losses are noteworthy, you know you're doing something right. It was funny to hear the critiques about Canada in this tournament circa 2015. The results of the tournament are meaningless given how the proportion of top players for each team varies so significantly, but some did indeed take a lot of joy in Canada having a few fluke quarterfinal losses (2012 and 2013 especially). No need to take critiques based largely on either delusion or jealousy very seriously.

Wasn't it mostly about criticising quality of that teams and that A,B,C,D teams excuses than about joy that you lost in quarters? Sorry to say that but only US and maybe swedes do something to match you on int competition. The rest, including russians, does not care, so as the fans. Fans are not really angry when they know their federations dont do enough..

 

[oooooooooohCanada]

Marners never been the best interview.

 

[McDrailers]

Mitchy Boy better play lights out and not that crap he pulled at the World Juniors. If I see that Mitch, the Mitch we saw in Helsinki, I'm going to be livid. I don't usually forgive such poor Hockey Canada performances so quickly. I'm only now just forgiving Skinner for his couple of crap performances at the WHC. Dylan Strome may never come off my crap list.

Glad im not the only crazy one. Still haven't forgiven MAF, Wedgewood, Malcom Subban, RNH, RNH, RNH or RNH for their WJC blunders.

 

[JackSlater]

I wonder who will be the captain? O'Reilly, Giroux, Duchene?

I assume that those are the main contenders. I am guessing that it will be Giroux as the most senior of those three and the longest serving NHL captain between he and O'Reilly. I expect that Vlasic will receive an A.

Wasn't it mostly about criticising quality of that teams and that A,B,C,D teams excuses than about joy that you lost in quarters? Sorry to say that but only US and maybe swedes do something to match you on int competition. The rest, including russians, does not care, so as the fans. Fans are not really angry when they know their federations dont do enough..

I don't understand what you mean. What jj cale and I are referring to is fans attempting to make an indictment of Canadian hockey based on a run of bad results in this tournament, as if these results are indicative of anything.

Glad im not the only crazy one. Still haven't forgiven MAF, Wedgewood, Malcom Subban, RNH, RNH, RNH or RNH for their WJC blunders.

Nugent-Hopkins was not the problem in 2013. That was the Steve Spott show. Fleury on the other hand did completely give away the 2004 WJC.

 

[Bear12Good]

My choice

O'Reilly C
Duchene А
Vlasic A

 

[doug88]

We play Switzerland tomorrow.

http://www.tsn.ca/hockey-canada/video/marner-excited-to-continue-season-with-team-canada~1112355

http://www.tsn.ca/hockey-canada/video/canada-aiming-to-use-its-skill-and-pace-at-whc~1112080


I am pretty interested in how the lines are gonna be and of course the game itself. Switzerland is pretty good team, plus don't forget they have already played like 4 exhibition games already. It's gonna be a tough test right away.

Ya we've already played 8 games (6 wins) which is insane.

Still thousands of tickets available for the game, such a shame. Geneva seems to be the only city in CH that fails to sell out NT games in both hockey and soccer...

 

[xxxx]

Not a very inspiring answer from Mitch on why he wants to play, just wanting to keep your hockey skills sharp sounds more like a guy who is going to summer school then a guy who really wants to spit fire and help Canada win 3 straight.He looked so blase with his non verbal signs too.Have to wonder just how effective a player for the tournament we are getting there. I think he may end up playing very little of a role on this team. I hope he proves me wrong.

Duchene with the right way to answer the question, really like that guy.

Uh, I think people put too much stock on what exactly players say. That he didn't say it doesn't mean he doesn't feel it. I rather want him to perform enthusiastically on the ice than saying he's super-honored and then playing poorly. And if you knew him you would know that he's like this all the time. He's maybe not "passionate" in his interviews, but he's all the more passionate on the ice, trust me.

I doubt he gets to play little, he's going to be one of the best forwards imo. His speed, skills, passing abilities and vision are absolutely elite. He didn't look great in the playoffs, but I think that has a lot to do with that health issue he had. (mono I think) I know I've said this many times, but I truly believe he's the next Patrick Kane of the NHL, literally. He's just that good and he's going to be a superstat. He already is in my books.

 

[oooooooooohCanada]

Marner was unreal when it mattered at the WJCs (vs Finland)..Team just sucked.

 

[Walshy7]

Marner was unreal when it mattered at the WJCs (vs Finland)..Team just sucked.

its very clearly posters setting themselves up to **** on Marner if he doesnt play to their expectations, this way they can quote back to these posts saying i said this before the tourny. Marner had mono (apparently) but that wont factor in because his bad interview means he isnt going to give his all at the world championships.

 

[TheDoldrums]

I watch every Leafs morning skate/practice/post-game interview and Marner is consistently uninspiring and not great at them. I wouldn't read anything into that. Even going back to London, he's always been a guy that didn't sound very smart when answering questions. But when he gets on the ice his hockey IQ and feel for the game is elite, obviously.

 

[JackSlater]

its very clearly posters setting themselves up to **** on Marner if he doesnt play to their expectations, this way they can quote back to these posts saying i said this before the tourny. Marner had mono (apparently) but that wont factor in because his bad interview means he isnt going to give his all at the world championships.

Not only are we all rooting for Marner to fail for Canada and salivating at the chance to bask in the glory of that failure and make posts about it, but the reason we want him to fail is because he plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs, of which we are all jealous. It's very clear.

 

[leafsfuture]

I watch every Leafs morning skate/practice/post-game interview and Marner is consistently uninspiring and not great at them. I wouldn't read anything into that. Even going back to London, he's always been a guy that didn't sound very smart when answering questions. But when he gets on the ice his hockey IQ and feel for the game is elite, obviously.

Yeah it's weird. Marner definitely has personality, but in interviews he is pretty lazy.

I think he's a kind of guy who would shine in a proper sit down 1-on-1 but for these quickies around the rink he tends not to give a crap

 

[Jacksonbobson]

is the game vs swiss going to be on TV anywhere?

 

[jj cale]

its very clearly posters setting themselves up to **** on Marner if he doesnt play to their expectations, this way they can quote back to these posts saying i said this before the tourny. Marner had mono (apparently) but that wont factor in because his bad interview means he isnt going to give his all at the world championships.

I have no idea what you said about him in the past, as a matter of fact this is the first time i can recall ever seeing you.

 

[jj cale]

Uh, I think people put too much stock on what exactly players say. That he didn't say it doesn't mean he doesn't feel it. I rather want him to perform enthusiastically on the ice than saying he's super-honored and then playing poorly. And if you knew him you would know that he's like this all the time. He's maybe not "passionate" in his interviews, but he's all the more passionate on the ice, trust me.

I doubt he gets to play little, he's going to be one of the best forwards imo. His speed, skills, passing abilities and vision are absolutely elite. He didn't look great in the playoffs, but I think that has a lot to do with that health issue he had. (mono I think) I know I've said this many times, but I truly believe he's the next Patrick Kane of the NHL, literally. He's just that good and he's going to be a superstat. He already is in my books.

I know he's a dandy little player, have watched the leafs lots this year, and it was clear he has talent out the wazoo. I just hope he brings that talent and really wants to be here and be part of the team, he sounded so uninspiring in the interview. I will take your word for it and just sit back and watch him be one of our best players like you say he will be.

 

[jj cale]

It will be interesting to see this team in action. I'm not going to bother complaining about the goaltending too much. Pickard is a decent young goaltender. The defence has very good mobility, which is good. Vlasic is probably the best defensive defenceman in the world, but I'm not sold on the defensive abilities of the other defencemen. With a good system in place though they should be fine, especially with Canada's quality defensive centres.

Centre definitely looks like the strength of the team. If they run Scheifele-Giroux-O'Reilly-Couturier as the centres, then each line should be in a good position. Those are all good to great defensive centres, and they have each won this tournament before. I'm not sure if O'Reilly will be used at centre or on the wing (he has been Giroux's LW and Scheifele's LW the last two tournaments) but I hope that they take advantage of centre depth and use those four in those positions. The wingers are mostly quality players with good goal scoring potential. I am interested to see how they integrate the three rookie RWs.

Overall it should be a competitive team, and I look forward to seeing what it can do.



I found Marner's answers during interviews at the 2016 WJC quite offputting for similar reasons. He stressed multiple times that the team was playing well and needed to change nothing, even though that was clearly the opposite of the truth. Luckily games are won on the ice instead of on the mic, and Marner's on ice play can be very good.

Yeah, that is where the rubber will meet the road. Overall I think it's a solid team, i am pretty hopeful.I get a feeling we may come out a little short this year but this team has the capability of winning the thing. It's hard to win 3 times in a row.

 

[Drij]

I wonder who will be the captain? O'Reilly, Giroux, Duchene?

O'Reilly and Duchene had A's last year. Duchene is a 6 year vet at the WHC so It could be him.

 

[WadeRedden]

Marner was unreal when it mattered at the WJCs (vs Finland)..Team just sucked.

Pretty clear that the HC Dave Lowry was the main reason that team underperformed so drastically. Their best offensive guys were underwhelming until the last 10 mins of their last game when they abandoned the structure and just let their talent do the work. Also, guys like Virtanen had huge discipline problems which reflects poorly on the coach.

As far as captains go, I'd expect it to be :

C:O'Reilly/Giroux
A: Duchene
A: Vlasic

 

[jj cale]

Pretty clear that the HC Dave Lowry was the main reason that team underperformed so drastically. Their best offensive guys were underwhelming until the last 10 mins of their last game when they abandoned the structure and just let their talent do the work. Also, guys like Virtanen had huge discipline problems which reflects poorly on the coach.

As far as captains go, I'd expect it to be :

C:O'Reilly/Giroux
A: Duchene
A: Vlasic

Very likely, maybe vlasic doesnt get an A but i would assume it's Reils,Duch and Giroux with the letters.

 

[WadeRedden]

Very likely, maybe vlasic doesnt get an A but i would assume it's Reils,Duch and Giroux with the letters.

Most teams give a letter to a member of the D corps. Vlasic has been a top-4 guy on the National team since Sochi so he's deserving.

 

[1Gold Standard]

1:30 EST for the Canada v Swiss pre-tourney tilt.

No Vlasic ...will only join the team in Paris. and no Hockey Canada posting yet of
lineup.

 

[SaltNPeca]

Imagine if hockey had "friendlies" and if every major tournament had a qualification process that was longer than the tournament itself.

Suggesting a "friendly" in hockey shows an innate misunderstanding of the game.

Have you watched any of the NHL All Star games?
Contact sports like Rugby, Hockey, and American Football don't work in a "friendly" format. All the greatest series and games have the imminent threat of personal injury and very high intensity.