IIHF power rankings for the men olympics

[Eye of Ra]

Swiss, germany and czechia should be higher up.

Click to read more...

 

[Czechboy]

Swiss too low.. agreed. The margins are tiny though. 9 or 10 team tourney... Expect upsets!

 

[Hinterland]

Swiss, germany and czechia should be higher up.

Switzerland and Germany should actually be lower, the Chinese and the Slovaks higher. The Chinese could surprise due to their chemistry.

It's all difficult to predict though. I expect a pretty even Steven tournament

 

[SportsFan94]

My power rankings:

1. Russia
2. Finland
3. Canada
4. Czech Republic
5. Sweden
6. Germany
7. Switzerland
8. Slovakia
9. USA
10. Latvia
11. Denmark
12. China

 

[Puck Dogg]

Bookies rankings. Russia's implied probability to win is 36,4% at lowest, China is at 0,1%.

ROC
Finland
Canada
Sweden
Czech Republic
USA
Germany
Switzerland
Slovakia
Denmark
Latvia
China

 

[kudla]

1. Finland
2. Russia
3. Switzerland
4. Sweden
5. Canada
6. Czech Republic
7. Germany
8. Slovakia
9. USA
10. Denmark
11. Latvia
12. China

 

[Speyer]

Switzerland is missing some of its key players and a lot of the others are declining because of age. They also lack a standout coach that could optimize the talent at his disposal. So I think they are ranked in the right spot.

 

[Czechboy]

Czech media went Finland, Russia, Canada, Czech for Top 4.

I still see Tiers.

Tier 1 Finland and Russia

Tier 2 almost everybody else as this is very even

 

[Eye of Ra]

Switzerland is missing some of its key players and a lot of the others are declining because of age..

who

 

[Eye of Ra]

1. Finland
2. Russia
3. Czech Republic
4. Switzerland
5. Germany
6. Canada
7. Sweden
8. Latvia
9. Slovakia
10. USA
11. Denmark
12. China

 

[Shawn Heins 44]

who

You mean missing? I assume he was mainly referring to Malgin who is still in the hotel until he tests positive. I agree with our rankings to start the tournament, we have not had an ideal preparation with lots of Covid going on, but the teams all seem to be so close together that I would not be surprised if we climb up a few spots by the weekend.

 

[Speyer]

who

Like Shawn Heins 44 said Malgin but also Simion who have Covid and Scherwey who is injured are missing. As far as the players who are declining go you can pretty much take your pick...

 

[Marioesque]

Czech media went Finland, Russia, Canada, Czech for Top 4.

I still see Tiers.

Tier 1 Finland and Russia

Tier 2 almost everybody else as this is very even

I see tiers too.

Finland, Russia

Canada, Sweden, Czech, Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia

USA, Denmark, Latvia, China.

USA out of the last group might surprise me though and get more than 1 win. Anything can happen in a tournament. Even China winning, considering where the games are played. This would likely involve opponents being quarantined and having to forfeit to China.

 

[Namejs]

I see tiers too.

Finland, Russia

Canada, Sweden, Czech, Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia

USA, Denmark, Latvia, China.

USA out of the last group might surprise me though and get more than 1 win. Anything can happen in a tournament. Even China winning, considering where the games are played. This would likely involve opponents being quarantined and having to forfeit to China.

What separates Slovakia and Latvia or Denmark?

If you forget the history and the country names and all the images of past glory and just zoom in on the actual physical players representing each country, what you see is the most evenly matched tournament in decades. Even more so than in 2018.

There's an overlap in quality between pretty much every team. China included. Spencer Foo would make the roster of every team, arguably even Russia.

China is perfectly capable of beating other teams. There's only a 50% chance Latvia loses both against Sweden and Finland in regulation, according to bookies. Russia can easily get beaten by the Swiss in the opening game.

There's so much luck involved here that assigning these teams to tiers makes little sense.

 

[Czechboy]

What separates Slovakia and Latvia or Denmark?

If you forget the history and the country names and all the images of past glory and just zoom in on the actual physical players representing each country, what you see is the most evenly matched tournament in decades. Even more so than in 2018.

There's an overlap in quality between pretty much every team. China included. Spencer Foo would make the roster of every team, arguably even Russia.

China is perfectly capable of beating other teams. There's only a 50% chance Latvia loses both against Sweden and Finland in regulation, according to bookies. Russia can easily get beaten by the Swiss in the opening game.

There's so much luck involved here that assigning these teams to tiers makes little sense.

I do see Finland and Russia ahead of everyone personally.

If Danes but us tomorrow I won't even flinch to be honest.

Remind me... Do Latvians play together all year or am I completely mistaking you for a different country? That could be a big advantage too!

 

[SEALBound]

I can't express how much I hate the font in the OP graphic.

 

[Marioesque]

What separates Slovakia and Latvia or Denmark?

My ignorance on their strength in this tournament. You're most likely right and there is no reason to rank them in different tier.

 

[Namejs]

I do see Finland and Russia ahead of everyone personally.

If Danes but us tomorrow I won't even flinch to be honest.

Remind me... Do Latvians play together all year or am I completely mistaking you for a different country? That could be a big advantage too!

What does ahead mean? The difference in quality between the NHL and KHL is significantly greater than that of KHL and SHL/etc. There are no NHL players here.

In the context of past tournaments, the ones we are used to, this is a completely different ball game. Yes, I do agree that Russia and Finland look a little better than the rest, but in this type of a tournament it doesn't really mean much. Usually, it would take a small miracle for Latvia to beat Canada, Sweden or the Czechs. This time around it wouldn't even really be a major upset.

No, Latvians don't play together all year, but the turnover of players in the national team is pretty small and our roster for the World Champs in 2021 was almost identical. And we actually looked better in the game vs. Finland back then, we had more chances, but lost in OT.

So, once again, I don't think it carries any meaning to assign us (or Denmark, etc.) to the 3rd tier.

 

[Puck Dogg]

I can't express how much I hate the font in the OP graphic.

I also wonder why IIHF has to make dad jokes on their power rankings, it comes across they don't take the tournament serious.

 

[stastny12]

My ignorance on their strength in this tournament. You're most likely right and there is no reason to rank them in different tier.

You did well.

Slovaks have one of the best skating teams, which also plays modern and dynamic hockey and have the best defense of the three mentioned by wide margin. In addition, very likely two top 10 players for upcoming draft can be found in the roster. On the other hand, there is a fairly old team from Latvia and an even older team from Denmark, which can't match the pace of young Slovaks.

Furthermore, not even two months ago much weaker Slovak team played against pretty much same Latvian team (as they have here at the Olympics) and Slovakia won easily 6-2.

 

[Antiillafire]

What separates Slovakia and Latvia or Denmark?

If you forget the history and the country names and all the images of past glory and just zoom in on the actual physical players representing each country, what you see is the most evenly matched tournament in decades. Even more so than in 2018.

There's an overlap in quality between pretty much every team. China included. Spencer Foo would make the roster of every team, arguably even Russia.

China is perfectly capable of beating other teams. There's only a 50% chance Latvia loses both against Sweden and Finland in regulation, according to bookies. Russia can easily get beaten by the Swiss in the opening game.

There's so much luck involved here that assigning these teams to tiers makes little sense.

Haven’t we beaten you last few times we’ve played. Also that doesn’t account for the strides taken by our two top 5-10 talents for upcoming draft since than. I remember that 1-0 game from last year, Slafkovsky was dominant and your squad basically had to hold and bear hug him the entire game with refs looking other way. Still, I agree with you the qualities are pretty even. Should be a great game.

 

[DoyleG]

I also wonder why IIHF has to make dad jokes on their power rankings, it comes across they don't take the tournament serious.

Karen,

Its called humor. They do the same with the power rankings for the world championships.

 

[Namejs]

Haven’t we beaten you last few times we’ve played. Also that doesn’t account for the strides taken by our two top 5-10 talents for upcoming draft since than. I remember that 1-0 game from last year, Slafkovsky was dominant and your squad basically had to hold and bear hug him the entire game with refs looking other way. Still, I agree with you the qualities are pretty even. Should be a great game.

4 wins for Latvia and 4 for Slovakia over the last 8 games since 2015.

Yeah, the kids have been definitely overhyped domestically.

 

[kudla]

This must be one of the more homer-bias posts I've read on these boards over these last 10+ years. Seriously, I'm not exaggerating. I've noticed that this is a bit of a theme for Slovakian posters.

Latvia has the 5th youngest team in the Olympics. You're basically making things up.

17 year old players, even if they might end up playing in the NHL one day, are way below their peak. Slafkovsky has recorded 4 points in 21 games in a mediocre Liiga and is ranked 11th in terms of PPG in the Finnish junior league. He clearly has been extremely hyped up domestically. He shouldn't even be on the team, but somehow he's going to be a game-changing globetrotter in your view.

This is so ridiculous that it's downright funny.

As for the 2:6 exhibition game, I had to look it up. We used several Swiss-based players (such and Sejejs and Andersons who both play in the 2nd division there) and were missing several key players (Darzins, Indrasis, Ri. Bukarts and a few more). Our goalie was a semi-pro 20 year old who isn't even among the top 10 goalies in our domestic semi-pro league this season and has been miserable in his few games in the KHL.

The shots in that game were 39 vs. 28 in favor of Latvia.

Seriously, dude, just look up and compare the players on both teams. The game's going to be a coin toss.

In terms of player quality the teams are really similar, but I could totally see Latvia getting outplayed by our system. Slovak team is better than it looks on paper, though I would not be surprised if we lost.

 

[Namejs]

In terms of player quality the teams are really even, but I could totally see Latvia getting outplayed by our system. Slovak team is better than it looks on paper, though I would not be surprised if we lost.

You're continuing to make things up as you go. What system specifically are you referring to? Do elaborate.

The Latvians are coached by Vitolins who coached the Russian national team and won gold in the Olympics 4 years ago. He has coached several leading KHL sides for over a decade winning the cup 2 times. He's widely considered to be the brains of the Znaroks-Vitolins duo which dominated Russian hockey for a while.

Latvians are well-coached, very disciplined and play extremely tight, two-way hockey with a lot of physical play and have done so for quite a long time now. To say that they're going to be outplayed by a mediocre Slovakian side **tactically** is just pure fantasy.