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Olympics: Canadian forward who you were most impressed by

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Basically I'm only mentioning players who exceed my expectations, I mean we knew what some guys would provide and how good they would be.

Benn, Tavares, Carter are the first few. I think everyone agreed Tavares was really good despite being stuck on the 4th and deserved more minutes prior to injury. Benn really came to play and stood out, I thought he would be lost in the fray but he was really noticeable throughout. Carter i was skeptical off, his offense was decent, but his defense and back checking was stellar and surprised me.
 
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I'd say Nash. He's such an unbelievably versatile and gifted player and athlete. Be it a 1st line scorer and on the 1st PP unit, or as a 3rd line shutdown winger on the 1st PK unit; he can do it all. Amazing talent. I hope Taylor Hall buys and studies lots and lots of video on how he plays the game and gets rid of those give-aways.

JT was also amazing. You know you're country is DAMN DEEP in talent when JT is your 4th line C. He'd easily be the 1st line C on most countries, if not the 2nd line C on the couple of exceptions (and even that is arguable).

All the Canadians played the system to perfection, and showed just how talented they were in being able to play a smart two-way game. I don't think they ever really exploded offensively because Canada was never behind for one second in any game, so they never really had to turn up the offensive game and lay a full on assault. If they did, they could've laid any country to waste with their scoring talent. With that said, they STILL managed to massively out-chance their opponents. Just an amazing, amazing team. Perhaps the best Olympic hockey team ever assembled. But I might be a bit biased. ;)
 
I know he's not a forward, but I was really impressed with Bouwmeester. Has really rebounded well since struggling in Calgary.

Probably the most underrated defenseman on Team Canada.
 
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Crosby was the best forward, and I don't think there's a question. He controlled play no matter what opposing defencemen or forwards were on the ice. Toews was great as well.

Carter impressed me, which was nice since I had defended him since before he was even named to the team. Benn was very good, which both surprised and impressed me. He has great composure. Tavares looked predictably great in a limited role, and should be the #2 centre in 2018. Bergeron impressed me with his ability to dominate defensively while still contributing to offensive play. He was like a third defenceman on the ice while giving up nothing in the offensive zone.
 
Outside Crosby and Toews (who i think were easily the best two forwards on the team), Bergeron, Perry, and Marleau impressed me the most.

Marleau- This guy was just built to play for Babcock. Excellent skater, dependable defensively, cycles well. Never going to blow you away with any one aspect of his game, but was just solid all tournament long.

Bergeron- Much better offensively than most give him credit for. Seems to always make the right play.

Perry- Was actually really impressed with his speed, I have watched him quite a bit over the years, and he just seemed a step faster this tournament for some reason. He also is always around the net and creating havoc.

I thought Benn was excellent in the last 2 games, but not really over the entire tournament. That may have been different if he had been on the Duck line from the beginning.

Carter I thought was a bit touch and go. Had a couple very strong games, and certainly played better than I expected, but also had a few games where I didn't think he played particularly well (the first game being the most obvious).

Tavares looked good in his limited time, but I really don't get people fawning over how well he played. He played sheltered minutes, and certainly showed glimpses that he could have done more in a better situation, but hardly to the point of naming him as one of the most impressive players on TC.
 
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Getzlaf seemed like a big problem for the opposition during all the tournament, did like that ducks line a lot.
 
Toews and Benn really impressed me. But I would also add Bergeron--wow, I just have even more respect for his game after watching him play at the Olympics. He is really a complete player.
 
Scott Hall said:
My vote goes to Patrick Marleau - thought he was done and had no business being on this team. Played his role to a T and helped provide support and speed to whoever he wound up playing with.
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I'd like to echo this. I really questioned his selection (unlike Carter- who has proven in the past he belongs) but he had me eating crow right off the bat.

I called for Benn with Getzlaf and Perry just before it happened- not because I didn't like Duchene there, but since I wanted Duchene to replace Kunitz at the time- and those 3 were in control at all times out there. All 3 played great.

Not as impressed by JT as most (he was still good)- but I'll cut him slack for being in a totally different role than he's used to. Thought he was very good down low, but needed to be more of a shooter instead of deferring to his linemates.
 
I'm going with Benn as well. Real hard worker with great hands around the net.
 
Jeff Carter. I was really doubting his selection, but he sure contributed a ton both on the attack and on the defence.
 
Jamie Benn. Heard the guy was supposed to be good but was still meh on him, looks like I was wrong on him.
 
I am glad to see Marleau get a little love. He was the #3 point producing forward for team Canada and plays a solid defensive game.
 
Chris Kunitz performed above my expectations with his tenacity, work ethic and how he always seemed to be in good scoring position.
 
Jamie Benn was a scoring threat every game for Canada, and how about Carter, great speed and played a great neutral zone game throughout the whole tournament. I'd love to see how many turnovers he forced and how many takeaways he ended up with.

I never appreciated Carter's "complete" when he was in Philly, but for Team Canada last week he showed he has all the tools and could play in every situation of a game.
 
I thought Crosby and Toews were the two most dominant forwards, even if they didn't score much (nobody did, really). Most surprising/impressive for me was Jeff Carter - I thought he was a bit of a sketchy selection for this tournament, but he was excellent. A top 5 forward for us, when I expected him to be bottom 3.

Honestly though, absolutely everyone was good. Even guys who didn't get to play a tonne, like MSL and Duchene (and Tavares, pre-injury) were great when they played. We had no finish this tournament, but I really thought all of the forwards (and dmen) were playing good hockey. No one player carrying the team, but nobody dragging it down either, just solid from top to bottom.
 
Pilky01 said:
Yep. Anytime I saw him on the ice it felt like nothing could possibly go wrong.

I hate that Bergeron is such a great hockey player. :laugh:
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Bergeron had an excellent Olympics.

Carter and Benn pleasantly surprised.

Perry was a revelation after not impressing at the worlds recently.

This could have been the best defensive team of all time. Terrific defence that was as good as any defence I can recall in international competition. Forwards that tracked on the back-check as well as any group of forwards I can remember.

I still quibble with some of the selections. Kunitz played well in the final game, but is not a world-class player in my opinion. Martin St. Louis played okay, but I can see now (given his recent antics over wanting a trade out of Tampa Bay) why some in management didn't want him on the team. Sharp played better before he was named to the team than he did after he was selected (IMHO).

But, who cares? We won and we won impressively. When you win, everyone plays well.
 
It was such a good team that there isn't really any stand out guy that comes to mind, they all played their roles and they all accepted decreased minutes for the greater good. If I had to pick one I'd say Toews, he played a big role shutting down the Kessel JVR line against the Americans and he scored the opening goal in the final.
 
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