GDT: All Encompassing 4 Nations Discussion.

[BlueOil]

Did the Boston crowd boo the Canadian national anthem? I hoped they wouldn't, but pretty much expected they would.

Canadian national anthem booed, but only lightly, at 4 Nations hockey tournament

 

[TruBlueFan1970]

In all honesty, I'll be glad when this tourney is over and we get the season going again and approach the trade deadline. Other than the US-CAN game, I haven't watched any of it. Just not that interested. I'm sure many love this kind of thing though and are enjoying it.

 

[Robb_K]

I was glad to see that Team Canada rose to the occasion and made sure they'd beat Finland. Binnington played reasonably well except for a couple not-so good plays. I still think it was safer playing him than Hill. I expect The Tournament Finals game to be competitive and well played. I think it's too close to predict. But I hope Canada can win it. I hope Binnington can rise to the occasion, and play his best game, and our offence can play better, and score more freely against Team USA's suffocating close checking game.

 

[TruBlueFan1970]

I was glad to see that Team Canada rose to the occasion and made sure they'd beat Finland. Binnington played reasonably well except for a couple not-so good plays. I still think it was safer playing him than Hill. I expect The Tournament Finals game to be competitive and well played. I think it's too close to predict. But I hope Canada can win it. I hope Binnington can rise to the occasion, and play his best game, and our offence can play better, and score more freely against Team USA's suffocating close checking game.

If rumors are true that both McAvoy and Matt Tkachuk are injured and won't play, then it will definitely give an advantage to Canada. McAvoy was a beast defensively in the 3-1 USA win.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

If rumors are true that both McAvoy and Matt Tkachuk are injured and won't play, then it will definitely give an advantage to Canada. McAvoy was a best defensively in the 3-1 USA win.

McAvoy is out. Both Tkachuks expected to play and Quinn Hughes joining team.

 

[SirPaste]

Yea I would say Hughes in for McAvoy isn't a bad trade.

 

[BadgersandBlues]

I love the fact that America has so much depth these days. McAvoy out? No worries, we'll just tap one of our Norris trophy winners to jump in.

 

[Mike Liut]

Yea I would say Hughes in for McAvoy isn't a bad trade.

Hughes can’t play unless there’s an injury

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Hughes can’t play unless there’s an injury

I’m sure someone from Vegas can explain to US team how to make sure someone has convenient injury.

 

[Mike Liut]

I’m sure someone from Vegas can explain to US team how to make sure someone has convenient injury.

Truth

 

[BadgersandBlues]

 

[ChicagoBlues]

USA will win 4-3 in OT.

 

[Klank Loves You]

Ill be honest. Im not super invested in who wins tomorrow. But this will be the best hockey we've ever seen. Im going to enjoy it before the NHL runs it into the ground.

 

[TheDizee]

Ill be honest. Im not super invested in who wins tomorrow. But this will be the best hockey we've ever seen. Im going to enjoy it before the NHL runs it into the ground.

They should consider merging the Winter Classic into this tourney in the future.

Nobody cares about the WC anymore, but this would be a shot into the arm for that event as well.\

USA vs CANADA outdoors? And in the snow possibly? Count me in.

 

[Mike Liut]

Ill be honest. Im not super invested in who wins tomorrow. But this will be the best hockey we've ever seen. Im going to enjoy it before the NHL runs it into the ground.

I was thinking about this earlier. I think every year would be too much. Maybe every 2-3 years.

And just think if we were a cup contender and having to worry about injuries.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

They should consider merging the Winter Classic into this tourney in the future.

Nobody cares about the WC anymore, but this would be a shot into the arm for that event as well.\

USA vs CANADA outdoors? And in the snow possibly? Count me in.

Not a bad idea.

 

[TheDizee]

Not a bad idea.

2 week break featuring ONLY outdoor games across US & Canada and ONLY cold climates. Not going to have outdoor games in Tampa or Miami again. Gold Medal game at the Premier outdoor venue for that given year.

This tourny has LOTS of potential but it is important for the NHL to not overplay it like its done with outdoor games in general. They also need to get this tourny up in team totals, 8 would be ideal.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

2 week break featuring ONLY outdoor games across US & Canada and ONLY cold climates. Not going to have outdoor games in Tampa or Miami again. Gold Medal game at the Premier outdoor venue for that given year.

This tourny has LOTS of potential but it is important for the NHL to not overplay it like it’s done with outdoor games in general. They also need to get this tourny up in team totals, 8 would be ideal.

I like it!

 

[ChicagoBlues]

For Jordan Binnington’s sake, I hope Canada wins 2-0 while being outshot.

 

[Xerloris]

For Jordan Binnington’s sake, I hope Canada wins 2-0 while being outshot.

I could go for a record breaking Tugnutt 70+ save performance from Binny.

 

[Cotton McKnight]

I was thinking about this earlier. I think every year would be too much. Maybe every 2-3 years.

And just think if we were a cup contender and having to worry about injuries.

I was thinking that teams GMs and Owners will likely sour on the in season tourney because of potential loss of revenue from missing the playoffs or not going as far because of an injury occurring in the tourney.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I didn’t care that much about the winner until the booing episodes. I’ll root for one of two outcomes: USA wins, or Binnington puts on a heroic stand-on-my-head performance that forces Canada to respect him. He’d score the GWG too.

 

[Brian39]

For all of the hand-wringing about Binner and Hockey Canada's goaltending selections, I think that Canada got the overall 2nd best goaltending of the 4 teams in the round robin. All of Canada, Sweden, and Finland saw their goalies allow multiple softies and look mechanically unsound. I don't think that Binner's best game was as good as the best goalie game we saw from Sweden or Finland, but both of those teams also got a goalie game that was worse than Binner's worst performance.

Lankinen was dreadful against Canada and the decision to leave him in so long before going to Saros probably cost them that game. Make no mistake, the Canada vs Finland game was won in net. Moneypuck had the expected goals at 4.004 to 1.755 in favor of Finland (excluding the empty netter). Binner allowed a stinker and Finland made a hell of a push at the end, but Lankinen was significantly worse than Binner was and that push at the end doesn't completely erase how well Binner played. Gustavsson looked shaky on the 2 goals he allowed vs Finland. Both were cross-crease plays, but he left his 5 hole massively wide open on goal #1 and then goal #2 was a flub that squeaked around him. I wouldn't call either a bad goal, but you can't allow both of those on just 4 shots against in 1st period. And then the OT winner against Ullmark was at least as soft as the worst goal Binner has allowed. All in all, Sweden's 2 goalies had a -1.65 goals above expected in this game, which cost them their tournament.

That's a game each for Sweden and Finland where their goalies allowed more than a goal above expected. Binner had 2 games with a negative goals above expected, but they were -0.54 and -0.69. He didn't dig a hole for his team nearly as deep as the worst hole Sweden and Finland had to try and overcome.

Avoiding the deep low meant that he statistically outperformed most of the field. Binner's SV% is 4th of the 8 goalies who saw action in the tournament and 2nd among the 6 goalies who played a single second in a game that was played before the championship matchup was set. His .892 isn't an impressive number, but it looks better than the .882, .870, .813, and .811 posted by Ullmark, Saros, Gustavsson, and Lankinen.

I get people making the argument that Canada could have gotten better goaltending and that Binner has allowed a softie each game. If the goalies were selected a week before the tournament then I think we'd have seen Blackwood and/or Thompson in these games. And I think it is reasonable to think that they would have had a good chance to outperform what Binner has done so far. But none of that means that Binner hasn't done his job. Binner was 'good enough' against Sweden and locked it down when needed with a few huge stops before Marner won it in OT. He got noticeably outplayed by Helly vs the USA, but he assisted on Canada's only goal with a nice play and was good enough that Canada would have at least gotten to OT if they had scored 2 goals. And then he was genuinely good against Finland to help them clinch a spot.

The general consensus entering this tournament is that Canada had the worst goaltending and that their path to success was for them to simply get goaltending that was 'good enough' to allow their superior offense to thrive. Binner has done that while 2 of the countries with a perceived edge in net watched their goalies give away games that turned out to be tournament-enders.