Olympics: All-Star Team & Tournament Awards | MVP: Selänne

[con310*]

How is Kessel the best forward? He was a complete no show when the games actually mattered. He raked up points against lesser opposition and then coasted thru with 1 assist after.

I would say Kunitz was a better forward in the Olympics as he didnt disappear in the medal games and was playing good when it matters

He showed up more than most US forwards even in the last two games. Kane was an absolute ghost in every game...guy might as well stayed home

 

[kihei]

Selanne had a great tournament and was a big part why Finland won a Bronze medal, so that choice is okay with me.

 

[kivaerijo]

Typical that Canada wins but is barely represented on these.

Weber should be there over Karlsson.

Weber should be there instead of doughty

 

[RorschachWJK]

He played well in the bronze game and against Russia. They probably factored in also the age, his captaincy and the story that team Finland made in this tourney.

Also, nobody really stood out from the other top four teams. An argument could be made for Price or Karlson, I guess.

 

[ThatGuy22]

Feel like they got everything more or less right except Granlund on the allstar team over Carter or Toews. Weber could have been there over EK but it was very close

Lundqvist and Price both got individual recognition, don't really see much of an issue there.
Congrats to Teemu

Besides their names being Carter and Toews, what did they do that they deserve to be named allstars instead of Granlund in the Tournament? Granlund was 3rd in the Tourney in points. Teemu's MVP is a direct result of Granlund putting the puck on his stick in prime scoring area's constantly. He's not even known for his goal scoring, and he matched Carter in goals. Toews only had 3 points all tournament.

Granlund was the one driving play on that line, and certainly deserves his all-star/

 

[KPower]

Happy for Selanne, class act.

 

[vippe]

Lundqvist lets in the same amount of goals in one game as Price did all tournament

He also had to as many hard saves in that game alone as Price did in the entire tournament

 

[hitmen19]

Besides their names being Carter and Toews, what did they do that they deserve to be named allstars instead of Granlund in the Tournament? Granlund was 3rd in the Tourney in points. Teemu's MVP is a direct result of Granlund putting the puck on his stick in prime scoring area's constantly. He's not even known for his goal scoring, and he matched Carter in goals. Toews only had 3 points all tournament.

Granlund was the one driving play on that line, and certainly deserves his all-star/

you can have all the individual winners you want, I won't care. Good for selanne, he is a class act. I just want the gold

 

[Lonny Bohonos]

He also had to as many hard saves in that game alone as Price did in the entire tournament

I dont know why this is lost on many. The CDN team defense is the best I have ever seen.

They kept much of the shots from Sweden and US to low percentage and perimeter shots. Price played well but he was hardly tested.

 

[Namba 17]

This is what happens, when you give a possibility to choose all-stars to someone like Gusev
Don't mind Selanne-MVP, though. I think he was really huge for Finland and I'm not sure they would be able to win a bronze without him (as for Price - I'm sure Canada would win a gold with some AHL goalie - they were that good at defence).

 

[hirawl]

You can practically always make a case for everyone picked for the individual awards. Not a big deal. And I think they got pretty much everyone deserving named anyhow.

Teemu had the game and stats, especially in the big games, for the media to be able to pick him. Add to that his olympic history and age and all that plus the fact that no one really stood out more in their respective teams, it was a no-brainer. For the media I mean. They could, so they sure as hell did.

 

[boozeash]

Typical that Canada wins but is barely represented on these.

Weber should be there over Karlsson.

Weber was probably the worst defenseman in the GMG for Canada

 

[Dysentery]

Karlsson over MacDonagh, Doughty, Weber, Vlasic, and Pietrangelo? LOL.

Whoa whoa whoa....Doughty is one thing, but Vlasic, MacDonagh, and Pietrangelo Ahahahaha give me a break. Pietrangelo was the worse Dman on team Canada, and he has a ways to go. Probably the most over rated player on HF.

I was impressed with JBow though.

 

[Davebo*]

and selanne didn't?

Not as much as Rask - that's for sure...

 

[Stoat]

It's amazing how much some Canadians here give a rat's ass about these awards.

I wouldn't complain about any of All-Star/MVP/whatever picks if Finland would have won the gold.

Some of you Canadians are really being a good sport, others ...not so much.

Congrats for all the award winners (and Canada for gold)!

- Stoat

 

[SergeiMomessov]

I would give the MVP award to Carey Price.

All Star Team:

g Price

d Doughty, Karlsson

f Darzins, Selanne, Datsyuk

 

[edd1e]

There's a lot of bad winners in these boards. Canada this Canada that blaah blaah..

Canada wins Gold, let's in only 3 goals in the tournament, is that good enough? No! MVP must be Price and all star lineup must be Price, Doughty, Weber, Carter, Marleau and Toews..

You are really starting to sound obnoxious..

 

[plusandminus]

[/PHP]

Karlsson leading a tournament of all stars in scoring while not being on for a single goal? Yawn.

He also lead all Swedes in +/- with +5, despite playing a lot on the PP and little or no PK. He scored 8 points, second best swede scored 5.

Regarding the final, he intentially held back offensively in order to play it safe.

I like it when people look at both offence and defence. But it's strange to see great players' defensive play being critized more or less automatically just "because they are flashy and great offensively". If Karlsson didn't play bad defence, then don't say he did.
Be fair.

Scoring 8 points on a team that scored 17 goals, means he scored on almost 50 % of his team's goals. That's a lot! (I think only Gretzky and Mario Lemieux have accomplished that in the NHL during the last 40 or so years. Of course it's a lot different to do it during a whole NHL season, compared to doing it in 6 games, and it is not extremely uncommon.)

 

[DrunkKaner88]

The real MVP was that Latvian goalie vs canada

 

[DeVoice]

people got it rite...just jelly being spread about here.

or how bout IOC>>>>HBoards.

 

[MikeyP]

You do realize that although there is a large number of players registered in hockey in Canada there is a large number of female players,children playing for fun(house league) and an unbelievable number of adult men playing in leagues that are non competitive.My local arena has 4 sheets of ice that are occupied 5-6 hours a day by adults that wouldn't be good enough to play against high level 12 year olds.

This made me laugh. Mostly cause you just described me, but I do have fun

 

[MikeyP]

MVP is a tough one to call. I think I agree with Selanne winning it.

Price could've won it if the voting hadn't been done before the final, because getting a shutout in a gold medal game when the stakes are at their highest is huge, great team in front of you or not. Plus he shut out team USA in the semifinal which was one of the highest scoring teams in the tournament. Downplaying the importance of that game is to ignore the fact that USA only began to falter the last two games, but before that they blazed a trail. Two shutouts in the semifinal and gold medal games? You're crazy if you don't think Price deserved it, but I can see why he didn't win given that he played with an amazing team too.

Doughty was also deserving. He almost won the game against Finland by himself, and Canada wouldn't be in a completely different boat if he hadn't stepped up there. My only argument is that he didn't quite show in the final two games, where it mattered most. This is what a team effort is all about, different people stepping up in different situations and at different times, which is why I'm not surprised Canada won gold, but I don't think Doughty deserved to win either. Although since only the semifinal performance would've been considered, who knows if he was in the conversation or not?

Karlsson, like team USA, blazed a trail up until the gold medal match, where he all but disappeared and was ineffective. I'd even argue that he didn't have a great game against Finland despite scoring the GWG, but you can't discount coming up big when it matters. As I mentioned, gold medal game aside, he could very well have been in contention for MVP.

All in all, given the candidates and their situations, I think they choose correctly in picking Selanne.

I think I like this answer.. .this is what I am going with...

 

[604]

This made me laugh. Mostly cause you just described me, but I do have fun

Yep, I'm already starting to wonder if my 4 year old will pass me in the next year or two.

 

[Fataldogg]

He also had to as many hard saves in that game alone as Price did in the entire tournament

Pretty much. I'm not quite sure how the fans from Canada don't see this. Lundqvist was a goaltender who was actually tested throughout the tournament and in the Gold Medal game. Canada was out chancing Sweden 2:1, and the quality of chances was to Canada in a landslide.

The journalists who voted put both of their respective stats in context and found Lundqvist to be more impressive.

I think it speaks VOLUMES that Price was a 0.59GAA and .971SV% and didn't win tournament MVP or was voted to the all-star team. If Carey Price was as good as his numbers, he should have cleaned up, but he didn't. He wasn't tested, at all, throughout the tournament. Luongo had it exceptionally easy too. Their defense was the best of the tournament. Their goaltending wasn't in my opinion. IIHF just looked at the stats and picked their players. Not much insight into it.

Selanne was an appropriate pick too. He was a significant piece in carrying his team to a bronze medal that had no business being there without their top two centers. He was t-2nd in goals and t-6th in points, on team FINLAND (significantly less offensive depth than all the precious Canadian forwards) and had some of the most timely goals of the entire tournament. Granlund was an excellent choice too, for many of the same reasons of Selanne.

Karlsson should not have been voted to the all-star team? Are some of you kidding me? He was tied for first in points as a defense man and was tied for 2nd in goals. Sweden doesn't even medal without him and Lundqvist playing at the top of their game. I know, Canadian fans will say missing H. Sedin/Zetterberg the entire tournament didn't matter, and neither did Backstrom, but it mattered in a huge way. Karlsson carried the team to the medal round with strong support from Lundqvist. This was the most shallow Sweden team in a long time due to injuries.

No need to be sore winners too. The truth is, I don't have a problem with the all-star voting, even if I don't agree with some selections. It shouldn't have been all Canadian players, and for the most part, I think they got it right.

 

[ottawa]

I like Selanne and it is good to see him go out with a Bronze medal, but I don't think he should have won the MVP and I think he got it mostly out of respect...I would have personally given it to Doughty first, Karlsson second and then Selanne.