Biggest national team snubs ever?
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Steazy Doo
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- Jan 31, 2013
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ManofSteel55
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Gretzky wasn't that good at shootouts or breakaways. Lindros, Sakic, Yzerman and Fleury all should have been put in the shootout ahead of him.
86Habs
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- May 4, 2009
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Sakic was injured and didn't play in the Czech game.
With respect to Gretzky, if I'm Crawford I don't go down in a shootout while leaving the best player in hockey history on the bench. I would have gone with Fleury, Nieuwendyk, Gretzky, Yzerman and Lindros, in no particular order. For his part, Crawford doesn't regret his decision to leave Gretzky off his list of shooters.
Big Phil
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No, I know. As I said there were other reasons. Trottier did play on Canada in 1981 though and maybe if the Oilers and Isles didn't hate each other and Sather wasn't coaching then Trottier plays for Canada. I know he wanted to play on U.S.A. because of his appreciation for living in the States for his career, but there still had to have been some sort of falling out with Canada - at least in my mind - to make him play for a team that had no chance at winning.
Big Phil
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This is what drives me nuts with coaches. You lost. Hence, you or the team did something wrong. If you want to be a great coach you DO have regrets for the failures you did. You second guess things everytime you lose, that is the entire point of getting better! You think Pete Carroll would call a pass in traffic in the Super Bowl a few years ago again? Or does he give the ball to Marshawn Lynch for the obvious rushing touchdown?
It is obvious Crawford didn't give much thought to the shootout or to beating anyone but the Americans. If he were a good coach, he'd have regrets with things.
Big Phil
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2014 didn't make sense to me and I think they were being completely unfair to him. It is obvious Babcock didn't want him on the team, and the same thing can go for Subban. Which is why neither player played much. But my question with St. Louis is why? How in the world does a coach not think he can't contribute more than Chris Kunitz? The roster was pretty stacked, I'll give it that, but there as certainly room for the reigning Art Ross winner.
2010 is a different case. It is hard to see where he fits in. Not that he couldn't fit in, because I personally had him on my team. I think that there are a couple of names (Bergeron, Morrow) I would have taken off and put in St. Louis (or even Stamkos who was left off too). I understand they probably wanted some sandpaper on the wing with Morrow and with Bergeron he was picked for his defense and faceoff specialty. So really, when it comes down to it, 2010 was stacked to the hills, and they had loads of skill so it might have just been a case of a numbers game. Ask Mike Green.
JackSlater
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I don't know that anything went down between Trottier and Hockey Canada. Trottier grew up right next to the American border and is half Cree, which was a factor in playing for USA. His perspective was probably different than most of the Canadian players.
I also wouldn't consider Bobby Hull a snub in 1972. Canada could only pick NHL players and Hull wasn't one. Keon was probably Canada's biggest snub that year. Firsov was the biggest snub in 1972 though, if I understand it correctly that he would have played if not for Bobrov.
Big Phil
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I'd call him a snub because this was called "Team Canada". It wasn't Team NHL. The NHL was being anal about it because of the upstart WHA. It just goes to show you that the NHL and even the NHLPA weren't terribly concerned that the Russians would be a threat anyway. Just another example of how terribly run that team was.
Peiskos
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I would argue Canada is somewhat exempt from "snubs" Canada has a ridiculous amount of elite depth that there is always going to be numerous elite level players left off the roster, there is just only so much room on the bench.
So when people mention St. Louis being left off the 2010 Olympic Team, Taylor Hall from the 2014/2016 Olympics/WCOH..a young Crosby off of 2006 Olympic Canada or even Yzerman or Sakic in the 1991 Canada Cup..its really wasn't a big deal as the final teams were still considered absolutely loaded.
So when people mention St. Louis being left off the 2010 Olympic Team, Taylor Hall from the 2014/2016 Olympics/WCOH..a young Crosby off of 2006 Olympic Canada or even Yzerman or Sakic in the 1991 Canada Cup..its really wasn't a big deal as the final teams were still considered absolutely loaded.
Mine are for Canucks off the top of my head:
Pettersson for team Sweden this year (leads SHL in points, top prospect outside the NHL)
Gaudette for team USA this year (leads NCAA in points, Hobey Baker favourite)
Alex Edler probably would have been a better choice over Niklas Hjalmarsson for the World Cup of Hockey last year.
Edler also would have been a better choice than Tallinder, Murray, and Johansson for the 2010 Olympics (I believe he may have been injured in January but I don't think he was selected at all)
Mikael Samuelsson should DEFINITELY have been on the 2010 Swedish team over the has-been second-rate Euro-league trash they put on that roster.
Consider this:
You can have Mattias Weinhandl, who had played 182 NHL games and zero in the preceding three years, who you put on the same line as the Sedins
OR
You can have Mikael Samuelsson, who actively plays with the Sedins in the midst of a 30 goal campaign.
He also should have been on there in favour of Fredrik Modin but at least Modin was an NHL player that season.
Pettersson for team Sweden this year (leads SHL in points, top prospect outside the NHL)
Gaudette for team USA this year (leads NCAA in points, Hobey Baker favourite)
Alex Edler probably would have been a better choice over Niklas Hjalmarsson for the World Cup of Hockey last year.
Edler also would have been a better choice than Tallinder, Murray, and Johansson for the 2010 Olympics (I believe he may have been injured in January but I don't think he was selected at all)
Mikael Samuelsson should DEFINITELY have been on the 2010 Swedish team over the has-been second-rate Euro-league trash they put on that roster.
Consider this:
You can have Mattias Weinhandl, who had played 182 NHL games and zero in the preceding three years, who you put on the same line as the Sedins
OR
You can have Mikael Samuelsson, who actively plays with the Sedins in the midst of a 30 goal campaign.
He also should have been on there in favour of Fredrik Modin but at least Modin was an NHL player that season.
BeersHockey
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Maybe not of epic proportions, but I thought Justin Faulk's omission from USA WC team was shocking. Especially for a team that badly needed offensive support. Should have made it over at least two other D, probably three. (Jack & Erik Johnson, Niskanen). God, that was an embarrassing team.
JackSlater
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It was the IIHF World Championship. Hull wasn't exactly cut, but Canada didn't invite him (which he didn't like) while USA did. To USA's credit Hull has called that an important confidence boost in his career. Considering that Hull hadn't made the NHL yet it wasn't a big snub, but it did very likely swing the result of a best on best tournament ten years later.
Jaykay
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AmericanDream
Thank you Elon!
still to this day my mind explodes thinking about this one....what made it funnier was Connor wasn't good enough for the WJC team, but then invited him to the World Championships in April that year lol!!
AmericanDream
Thank you Elon!
absolutely, that is why Hull said he would never switch because USA Hockey gave him that chance/boost of confidence in his career. so many people boo him for his decision which has always been the most idiotic thing to me..Hull had every right to pick either country, those that do not know his childhood and the amount of time he spent in the states just wanted to hate the guy period. Mom is American, only one of the HUll sons NOT born in the US, but spent a lot of time here in his youth. He made the right call obviously, but still to this day people call him a traitor and that just sickens me..
JackSlater
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I have some different thoughts on Hull. I agree that he had the right to pick, and I respect that he never switched. I detest when players switch. He mostly grew up in Canada (spent his father's off season in Ontario, moved to Winnipeg at eight, then moved to Vancouver with his mother and calls it his hometown) but he at least does have a legitimate connection to USA. I consider him mostly a Canadian player and I would certainly have preferred that he play for Canada (due to him primarily growing up in Canada, not because of how great he became) but even then I must agree that he probably made the right decision for himself professionally. There are far more egregious cases than Hull's in international hockey. In international hockey I would boo Hull but outside of that context he shouldn't be booed for his decision or called something stupid like a traitor.
AmericanDream
Thank you Elon!
well I will disagree, I have no issues with players switching, as long as they have the birth right to do, people like us have no right to bitch about it - that is purely my opinion but still respect you and others on it.
as for Hull, they he spent a lot of time here in the States as well, I read books from his dad and stories on the family, they were here a ton...he picked college hockey as well in the states over the CHL which was his choice as he wanted to be in the states...again, no point to go into any further, Hull said multiple times he wanted to play for Canada first for obvious reasons, they were the best in hockey (or right there with the USSR depending how you look at it)...at that time USA hockey was second rate at international tournaments, finally turning the corner at the 1987 Canada Cup, where Hull got cut from team USA...but any American hockey follower does not blame Hull for not wanting to play for the US first as we simply had nothing in place like we do now.
Trottier and Tony Esposito switching to the US is something completely different in my eyes...
JackSlater
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Hull being primarily from Canada is probably his biggest motivation for wanting to play for Canada at first. I agree that Trottier and Esposito are different, similar to (though politically different from) Stastny playing for Canada in 1984. Those types of switches shouldn't be allowed, and at this point I don't think that they would be under IIHF rules. That was the Canada Cup though so the nationality rules were probably a bit loose. Hull's situation isn't even the same as with guys like Deadmarsh or Pominville who had barely any American connection and still played for USA. Hull's decision is at least defensible since he was at least partially raised there.
86Habs
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Is this supposed to be an insightful post? Deserving players can be left off national teams (i.e., "snubbed") and those teams can still go on to win. Especially the 1991 Canada Cup, a tournament which many would argue didn't see anything close to the best Soviet team being iced.
