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World Cup: Canada vs Sweden - who got the best D at world cup?

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Paul4587 said:
Orr won scoring titles. He beat out the top forwards of that era. Karlsson is putting up great numbers but he's not dominating the forward competition like Orr was and he is nowhere near as good in his own end as Orr. Orr could also kill penalties almost single handedly by playing keep-away with the opposition.
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No one plays keep away these days. Maybe for a few seconds but no one tries to kill a penalty like that.
 
I don't know about comparing them on their own,

BUT

Canada's D will match up seamlessly with the forwards on that team. This is where the gap widens and it'll be evident on the ice IMO.
 
caymanmew said:
No one plays keep away these days. Maybe for a few seconds but no one tries to kill a penalty like that.
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No one played keep away those days either... except Orr. For the talk of how offence was so much higher in those days, which is true, Orr was still a much bigger offensive outlier than Karlsson is.
 
+ means Sweden have advantage.
- means Canada have advantage.

Karlsson - Doughty (++)
Karlsson have more flair, but Doughty is more reliable. Karlsson has probably the edge here since we can expect less structured play than in the NHL.

Hedman - Weber (++)
Quite even, but Hedman is still the easy choice. Better skating and playmaking vs physicality and shot, but both teams have better PP alternatives.

Ekman-Larsson - Burns (-)
The two wild horses. I think Burns at his best is the better player, but not by a huge margin. Burns should be key for Canada's PP and overall offense. Slight edge for Burns.

Lindholm - Pietrangelo (--)
Two young reliable defensemen with very few flaws. I'll give Pietrangelo the edge because of merit, but Lindholm can surprise.

Hjalmarsson - Vlasic (---)
Easy choice. Vlasic is the best shut down defenseman in the league, and better with the puck than Hjalmarsson.

Strålman - Bouwmeester (--)
Both had somewhat disappointing seasons, but two reliable decent two way defensemen. I'll give Bouwmeester the edge since he's proven himself so many times already, and he has great chemistry with Pietrangelo.

Ekholm - Muzzin (-)
Pretty even. Ekholm is probably a bit better/talented, but Muzzin is an excellent role player. He can add a lot of stability. Ekholm feels a bit superfluous.

Overall, Canada are clear favorites imo, based on 5on5 play.

PP
Karlsson and Ekman-Larsson should be the top contributers for Sweden, compared to Burns and Weber for Canada. IMO, Burns has the best point shot in the league, but Karlsson have a very good shot too, and Sweden have more PP depth on the blueline imo. I'll call it even.

PK (--)
Pretty much all of the players are excellent PK'ers, but I'll give Canada a clear edge since they have two D pairs that are used to playing with eachother, and since they have more system players.

Overall, Canada wins.
 
Close but I would still go with Canada's group. An argument can be made for either.
 
DoobeeDoobeeDoo said:
Sweden has a better top 3, but Canada has a better top 6.
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Should've said that Canada has a better top 5.

Kind of a joke that Jake Muzzin got on the team over guys like Kris Letang, Mark Giordano, & P.K. Subban.

Even guys like Tyson Barrie, Brent Seabrook, T.J. Brodie, & Dougie Hamilton had better cases for making Team Canada than Jake Muzzin.

Not calling Jake Muzzin a scrub, but Team Canada could've picked a lot of players more deserving than Muzzin.
 
Depends which end of the ice we're talking about. Offensively, Id take Sweden. The problem is that i dont see many quality chances for any team against Canada's D. Ofcourse there will be some but then they have to beat Price. Tall order.
 
I think that Sweden does. Canada doesn't have someone with an impact like Karlsson's. They skimped too much on offensive D IMO and have a couple of weaker links when Sweden has none.
 
alex716 said:
+ means Sweden have advantage.
- means Canada have advantage.

Karlsson - Doughty (++)
Karlsson have more flair, but Doughty is more reliable. Karlsson has probably the edge here since we can expect less structured play than in the NHL.

Hedman - Weber (++)
Quite even, but Hedman is still the easy choice. Better skating and playmaking vs physicality and shot, but both teams have better PP alternatives.

Ekman-Larsson - Burns (-)
The two wild horses. I think Burns at his best is the better player, but not by a huge margin. Burns should be key for Canada's PP and overall offense. Slight edge for Burns.

Lindholm - Pietrangelo (--)
Two young reliable defensemen with very few flaws. I'll give Pietrangelo the edge because of merit, but Lindholm can surprise.

Hjalmarsson - Vlasic (---)
Easy choice. Vlasic is the best shut down defenseman in the league, and better with the puck than Hjalmarsson.

Strålman - Bouwmeester (--)
Both had somewhat disappointing seasons, but two reliable decent two way defensemen. I'll give Bouwmeester the edge since he's proven himself so many times already, and he has great chemistry with Pietrangelo.

Ekholm - Muzzin (-)
Pretty even. Ekholm is probably a bit better/talented, but Muzzin is an excellent role player. He can add a lot of stability. Ekholm feels a bit superfluous.

Overall, Canada are clear favorites imo, based on 5on5 play.

PP
Karlsson and Ekman-Larsson should be the top contributers for Sweden, compared to Burns and Weber for Canada. IMO, Burns has the best point shot in the league, but Karlsson have a very good shot too, and Sweden have more PP depth on the blueline imo. I'll call it even.

PK (--)
Pretty much all of the players are excellent PK'ers, but I'll give Canada a clear edge since they have two D pairs that are used to playing with eachother, and since they have more system players.

Overall, Canada wins.
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this . . . I think this sums it up very well. Its very close, but I believe there is a slight edge to Canada
 
ijuka said:
I think that Sweden does. Canada doesn't have someone with an impact like Karlsson's. They skimped too much on offensive D IMO and have a couple of weaker links when Sweden has none.
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please explain who are the weaker links
 
DoobeeDoobeeDoo said:
Should've said that Canada has a better top 5.

Kind of a joke that Jake Muzzin got on the team over guys like Kris Letang, Mark Giordano, & P.K. Subban.

Even guys like Tyson Barrie, Brent Seabrook, T.J. Brodie, & Dougie Hamilton had better cases for making Team Canada than Jake Muzzin.

Not calling Jake Muzzin a scrub, but Team Canada could've picked a lot of players more deserving than Muzzin.
Click to expand...

The only thing I would say in Muzzin's defense is that he does play in western time zone and not everyone is so familiar with his game. There has to be a reason he was picked to make the hardest hockey team to make
 
I would give a very slight advantage to Sweden. But it's because Canada did not bring his best defense imo. Don't understand why letang and Subban are not there. Even on their wrong side they are sill better than Muzzin and Bouw imo.
 
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