At what point did the the Unites States surpass Russia as Canada's biggest rival?

[BigDaddyLurch]

The problem is those 'SOME THINGS' tend to be self serving, as apposed to being blanket condemnations of said actions across the board.
So yeah, it's selective bullshit activism.

...I agree that LIFE is self serving...other than that, we'll have to agree to disagree...

 

[Curufinwe]

I agree, and I don’t at all understand how it’s in any way “political”

This tournament isn’t a real international tournament, it’s an NHL tournament.

What’s the difference between kucherov and Ovechkin playing last night in an NHL exhibition game with a different jersey than normal and playing next week for their NHL teams?

This is just bullshit activism making stupid decisions that make no logical sense.

Someone said Sweden and Finland would ‘boycott’. How? They’re NHL players under contract, the NHL controls all of this shit, not ‘Sweden’ or ‘Finland’.

So f***ing stupid

The NHL cannot make Swedish and Finnish players play extra games outside of the regular NHL schedule without the agreement of those players.

Deal with it, buddy.

 

[ToDavid]

I agree, and I don’t at all understand how it’s in any way “political”

This tournament isn’t a real international tournament, it’s an NHL tournament.

What’s the difference between kucherov and Ovechkin playing last night in an NHL exhibition game with a different jersey than normal and playing next week for their NHL teams?

This is just bullshit activism making stupid decisions that make no logical sense.

Someone said Sweden and Finland would ‘boycott’. How? They’re NHL players under contract, the NHL controls all of this shit, not ‘Sweden’ or ‘Finland’.

So f***ing stupid

The teams are being managed by their respective countries’ hockey federations, not the NHL. So unless the NHL wanted to trot out knockoff teams “NHL Players from Sweden” and “NHL Players from Finland”, they did have to listen to those countries.

They’ve also already announced plans to expand the tournament in future iterations which will mean working with the IIHF and more national hockey federations. Spurning them by including Russia in this seems like a pretty bad way to start that relationship.

Russia made their own bed. And this tournament has been a smash success without them.

 

[Mick Riddleton]

Well russia has been irrelevant for a long time in hockey vs Canada. They would have lost all the games in this tourny. Czechs would have been better, I do not miss them in the least.

 

[Soundwave]

1996.

 

[Jets4Life]

1996

 

[ColbyChaos]

You’re kidding right ?

Russia has 6 NHL d men playing 20+ minutes a night and 10 playing 18+ a night.

Finland has 2 (two) d men playing 18+ a night in their roster


I think you clearly messed up and backpedaling now. Just accept your loss and move on

How many are even close to as good as Heiskanen that’s right zero

 

[eramosat]

Hmmm. Never, really. It's just gotten muddy ever since Russia was, you know, not allowed to compete in international play of any kind. Not that there was much international play...but if they were playing in the Five Nations Cup right now, they would be a contender.

USA has definitely gotten good at hockey. But chief rival? That requires some serious chops to overcome the long-term rivalry Canada and Russia have had at this sport, no offense.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I would say this is far more pronounced because of the WJCs where the US has done a lot better this century than previously and made massive gains because of the USMNTDP. You also have both Primetime Olympics featuring a Gold Medal game between the two. Hopefully the next one has a better outcome for my team in terms of the Olympics.

 

[ViD]

How many are even close to as good as Heiskanen that’s right zero

Sergachev is very close

Miro 5+20 in 50 this season

Serg 10+26 in 51

 

[featherhawk]

When Russia was banned from competitions I guess.

This firmly however they were catching for some time prior to that.

 

[Hoek]

when you have Shesterkin as your goalie anything could happen. For some reason fans here don't count goalies as a part of the team.

Pretty sure Vasi would be starting. He has better numbers this season and is the "big game" guy with 2 cups and a Conn Smythe to his name. Or even Bob might have an edge with being a defending cup champ.

 

[ViD]

Pretty sure Vasi would be starting. He has better numbers this season and is the "big game" guy with 2 cups and a Conn Smythe to his name. Or even Bob might have an edge with being a defending cup champ.

Yeah, I really don’t know who I would start

Sorokin has had a great season too, so I might take him over Bob as the third goalie

 

[T REX]

....so you cannot understand why SOME THINGS are larger than Hockey??...

I can think of a lot of things larger than hockey. I'll leave it there. No one will ever ignore what's going on outside of the rink. I'll give an example so no one thinks I am making a political statement. Layla, the Blues superfan...Tripp Nugent from the Lightning(RIP)...Liam Fitzgerald from Boston...I can go on and on and on...make no mistake. There are MUCH bigger and much larger, MORE important things going on in the world.

 

[Strangle]

The NHL cannot make Swedish and Finnish players play extra games outside of the regular NHL schedule without the agreement of those players.

Deal with it, buddy.

But they have no problem playing against and with Russian players in the NHL?

Take your bullshit somewhere else, buddy. It’s dumb and isn’t logical. Deal with that

 

[Toby91ca]

And Igor is already playing bad while the rangers not only have a much better Dcore than a hypothetical team Russia, but they as a whole also play better defense as a whole. 36 year old Malkin and Ovechkin aren’t going to be back checking and they weren’t even good defensively 10 years ago either.

36 year old Malkin? He’ll be 39 in a few months.

 

[TheBlob]

All politics aside, i'd love the Russians to be back in international hockey. It was a power trio, now we kinda expect Canada or USA to win by default.

 

[Bradely]

Regardless of the political situation, that's crazy to not want to have seen players like Kucherov, Ovechkin, Bobrovski, Panarin, etc. play at the highest level.

There are things more important than hockey.

 

[devo09]

Between 1996-2002. By 2002 it was a done deal

 

[moropanov]

All politics aside, i'd love the Russians to be back in international hockey. It was a power trio, now we kinda expect Canada or USA to win by default.

Russia wasnt any better than Sweden or Finland last 20_30years. Arguably worse than Swe who has Olympic gold in best on best.

 

[Curufinwe]

But they have no problem playing against and with Russian players in the NHL?

Take your bullshit somewhere else, buddy. It’s dumb and isn’t logical. Deal with that

European democracies aren't playing sports against a dictatorship waging an illegal war in Europe. Cope harder, dude.