McDavid(‘24)-Crosby (‘14)-(‘14) Bergeron
Marchand (‘24)- Mack (‘24)- (‘24) Point
Benn (‘14)- (‘14) Getzlaf-(‘14) Perry
Marleau (‘14)-(‘14)Toews- (‘14) Carter
Extras: (‘24) Marner, (‘24) Stone
(‘14) Vlasic-(‘24) Makar
(‘14)Keith-(‘14) Weber
(‘24) Morrisey- (‘14) Doughty
(‘14) Subban- (‘14) Pietrangelo
(‘14) Price
(‘14) Luongo
(‘14) Smith
That is the gold medal favorite right there.
On an unrelated note, here is Russia’s lineup:
Kaprizov (24) - Malkin (14) - Radulov (14)
Ovechkin (14) - Datsyuk (14) - Kucherov (24)
Panarin (24) - Kuznetsov (24) - Svechnikov (24)
Barbashev (24) - Anisimov (14) - Nichushkin (24)
Extra: Kovalchuk (14), Kulemin (14)
Sergachev (24) - Zub (24)
Provorov (24) - Orlov (24)
Gavrikov (24) - Markov (14)
Extra: Voynov (14), Tyutin (14)
Shesterkin (24)
Bobrovsky (14)
Extra: Sorokin (24)
Player notes:
-Malkin, 27, is at his peak, second in points per game after Crosby this seaso, and outproduces Crosby in the playoffs and the Olympics
-Ovechkin, 28, good for 51 goals in 78 games and some big hits to keep the defence honest
-Despite Ovechkin’s presence, it was this peak version of Radulov, 27, who was Russia’s best winger at the 2”14 Olympics. It is unfortunate that Radulov’s peak was played outside the NHL, he would have been a 100 point winger akin to Kaprizov if he was in his peak now
-Sergachev seems to have finally matured into a 1D this season, perfect timing for this thread and for Russia
-Bobrovsky was at his peak in 2014 and posted excellent numbers at the Olympics, unfortunately the Russians only used him as a backup, its hard to say which Vezina caliber goalie should start for Russia, I went with Shesterkin, 28, but can’t go wrong here
Prediction: Silver medal.