Let’s talk Olympic rosters 2022

[IceHockeyDude]

Sweden's PP units:

Bäckström
Forsberg Pettersson
Klingberg Hedman
OMG

Rakell Zibanejad Olofsson
OEL/Dahlin Karlsson
Very good - Olofsson could really rip them with feeds from EK. Both OEL and Dahlin great at zone entries.

That blueline looks phenomenal and then there's Pettersson. Zibanejad took sometime to hit his peak but now he is among the best centers.

 

[pucksakes666]

Is this still likely not happening?

 

[MrOT]

Is this still likely not happening?

As far as I know it's likely happening. Anyone else have any later news?

 

[MrOT]

Fehr Expects NHL Players Will Participate In The Beijing Olympics, But.... - Sports Talk Florida - N

This argument settles it IMO. It's too good a marketing opportunity for the NHL to the Chinese market to pass on. I think we can expect this to happen. Cheers hockey fans!

 

[Voight]

Because there are different sized rinks all over the world. Who knows how it is in Peking.

I imagine they are building it from scratch and will go international size.

 

[jcs0218]

A younger look for Team Canada might be better but I doubt that will happen. If Crosby wanna go he’ll go (heck that might even be the case for someone like Doughty). But otherwise something like this would be nice:

MacKinnon - McDavid - Stone
Hall - Point - Scheifele
Marchand - ROR - Marner
Huberdeau - Tavares - Barzal

Makar - Pietrangelo
Theodore - Hamilton
Chabot - Ellis

There is 0% chance Crosby doesn't get picked.

1) He will still be good enough to play on the team, unless something completely shocking happens and he has a serious decline in 13 months.

2) Even if the shocking happens and he has a noticeable decline over the next 13 months, he would still be picked to be the leader and captain of the team. Team Canada would pick Crosby as their 13th forward before a player like Barzal, even if Barzal has surpassed him in 13 months (which isn't likely).

Crosby would have to decline to about a 45-50 point level for him to be left off the team, and that type of decline isn't likely to happen.

 

[jcs0218]

The roster size for the last Olympics was 25. Most teams went with 14 forwards, 8 defensemen, and 3 goaltenders.

Canada:

Huberdeau - McDavid - Marner
Stamkos - MacKinnon - Point
Marchand - Crosby - Bergeron
Couturier - O'Reilly - Stone

Extras: Scheifele, Barzal

On the bubble: Tavares, Hall, Lafreniere

Chabot - Pietrangelo
Rielly - Makar
Theodore - Doughty

Extras: Weber, Morrissey

On the bubble: Hamilton, Parayko

Price
Hart
Binnington

On the bubble: Holtby, Kuemper

 

[Juniorhockeyguru]

Marchand-Crosby-Bergeron
Huberdeau-McDavid-MacKinnon
Tavares-Point-Stamkos
Stone-Scheifele-Couturier

Extra Forwards
Barzal
Konecny

Pieterangelo-Doughty
Chabot-Makar
Rielly-Burns

Extra D-Men
Aaron Ekblad
Morrissey


Goalie
Price
Hart
Binnington

 

[Atas2000]

Could be that you’re right about the D (unless Karlsson bounces back massively or Dahlin lives up to the hype as soon as next season). Otherwise it might go:

Offense: Canada > Russia ~ USA > Sweden > Finland

Defense: Sweden ~ Canada ~ USA > Finland > Russia

Goaltending: Too uncertain to call

Over all: Canada > USA > Sweden > Russia > Finland

Makes sense​

No.

Russia still has the best offence. To compare it to US is laughable. And the Finns have long surpassed Sweden there.

If Canada's D looks like people picture it here it is not in the top tier. Below USA and Sweden and more like on par with Finnland nowadays.

Why is goaltending uncertain? It is pretty simple:
Russia

Canada, USA
Finnland

Sweden

Overall: Canada is overrated as always, Sweden still lacks forward depth and has a hole in goal with the King departing and no one to replace him, but a world class D to admire, same for US, but they have goaltending unlike Sweden, Finnland improved significantly in all areas but goaltending, but they still lack elite forward OR D-depth(people are jumping the gun on that), Russia's forwards are underrated as always, the D is by far not elite, but way more solid than it was and now has a top4, the goaltending is simply stellar, Russia's 4th goalie is still better than most nations top choices.

There are no favorites in this group as coaching and how they gel would play a role.

 

[IceHockeyDude]

No.

Russia still has the best offence. To compare it to US is laughable. And the Finns have long surpassed Sweden there.

If Canada's D looks like people picture it here it is not in the top tier. Below USA and Sweden and more like on par with Finnland nowadays.

Why is goaltending uncertain? It is pretty simple:
Russia

Canada, USA
Finnland

Sweden

Overall: Canada is overrated as always, Sweden still lacks forward depth and has a hole in goal with the King departing and no one to replace him, but a world class D to admire, same for US, but they have goaltending unlike Sweden, Finnland improved significantly in all areas but goaltending, but they still lack elite forward OR D-depth(people are jumping the gun on that), Russia's forwards are underrated as always, the D is by far not elite, but way more solid than it was and now has a top4, the goaltending is simply stellar, Russia's 4th goalie is still better than most nations top choices.

There are no favorites in this group as coaching and how they gel would play a role.

This post is going to get a lot of replies

 

[1989]

This post is going to get a lot of replies

Nah, he's always like that. It's pretty tiresome, honestly.

 

[Atas2000]

This post is going to get a lot of replies

Of course. It is the same evey time. Canada gets overrated by a mile, Russia gets underrated by a mile. It is a NA board full of homers. I don't expect anything else.

 

[Atas2000]

Nah, he's always like that. It's pretty tiresome, honestly.

The truth is so tiresome to the biased crowd. Nothing new here too.

 

[jcs0218]

No.

Russia still has the best offence. To compare it to US is laughable. And the Finns have long surpassed Sweden there.

If Canada's D looks like people picture it here it is not in the top tier. Below USA and Sweden and more like on par with Finnland nowadays.

Why is goaltending uncertain? It is pretty simple:
Russia

Canada, USA
Finnland

Sweden

Overall: Canada is overrated as always, Sweden still lacks forward depth and has a hole in goal with the King departing and no one to replace him, but a world class D to admire, same for US, but they have goaltending unlike Sweden, Finnland improved significantly in all areas but goaltending, but they still lack elite forward OR D-depth(people are jumping the gun on that), Russia's forwards are underrated as always, the D is by far not elite, but way more solid than it was and now has a top4, the goaltending is simply stellar, Russia's 4th goalie is still better than most nations top choices.

There are no favorites in this group as coaching and how they gel would play a role.

In response to the two sentences that are bolded/underlined:

1) Russia has Kucherov, Ovechkin, Malkin, and Panarin. This is impressive.

But Canada has McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby, and Point. Not to mention much better depth.

Would any other Russian forwards even make Team Canada? I don't think they would.

2) How can Canada be overrated when they haven't lost a best-on-best in 15 years? The 2006 Olympics was the last best-on-best they have lost. Since then, they have won: 2010 Olympics, 2014 Olympics, and 2016 World Cup.

They also won the 2002 Olympics and 2004 World Cup, making it 5 out of the last 6 best-on-best they have won.

Now I know past tournaments don't influence future tournaments. But you say "Canada is overrated as always", and I say "they almost always win so how can they be overrated as always?"

 

[jcs0218]

Of course. It is the same evey time. Canada gets overrated by a mile, Russia gets underrated by a mile. It is a NA board full of homers. I don't expect anything else.

Russia hasn't beat Canada in a game that mattered since the 2006 Olympics.

And before that was the 1981 Canada Cup.

 

[AintLifeGrand]

Helvetia/Switzerland

Fiala-Hischier-Meier
Kaufman- Malgin- Niederreiter
Bärtschi- Haas -Andrighetto
Thurkauf-Moser-Rod


Josi-Weber
Muller-Diaz
Kukan-Loeffel

Berra
Mayer

 

[Atas2000]

In response to the two sentences that are bolded/underlined:

1) Russia has Kucherov, Ovechkin, Malkin, and Panarin. This is impressive.

But Canada has McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby, and Point. Not to mention much better depth.

Would any other Russian forwards even make Team Canada? I don't think they would.

2) How can Canada be overrated when they haven't lost a best-on-best in 15 years? The 2006 Olympics was the last best-on-best they have lost. Since then, they have won: 2010 Olympics, 2014 Olympics, and 2016 World Cup.

They also won the 2002 Olympics and 2004 World Cup, making it 5 out of the last 6 best-on-best they have won.

Now I know past tournaments don't influence future tournaments. But you say "Canada is overrated as always", and I say "they almost always win so how can they be overrated as always?"

1.Kucherov, Ovechkin, Malkin, Panarin over the Canadians you named any day. Not by much of course. And that's what I mean, of course those Canadians are overrated here. But that isn't really where it starts. It starts exactly with overrating Canada's depth. I look at the rosters people draw up and I see what they do there because I know what the perception about those players is on this board.

And yes other russian forwards should make Team Canada if it was an objective decision. Of course we could argue if putting Bergeron on those rosters is not nearly the same as putting Datsyuk there.

Anyway, with Team Russia we have to look how to squeeze in a SCF team's top goal scorer on the 4th line. And then there is the usual NHL centrism by people who don't know anything outside the NHL. As I mentioned in this thread Kaprizov can easily be a top line forward for Russia, but the NHL crowd does not know him yet, so to them he virtually does not exist.

2.Thread title says 2022 and not let's compare past rosters. And winning and being overrated are not necessarily exclusive. The overrated Team Canada just lost the WJC gold. Deservingly. Everybody was talking about how this Team Canada was unbeatable this time. Yet, I did not see it in the tournament. They lost, yes, but if they won that one game they would still be overrated. So some of those past Canada teams were overrated, maybe some weren't but still not that dominant. They won, that's a different story. Canada harvested the benefits of destroying eastern hockey. They used their window, good for them. The NHL does the resr sabotagimg inyernational play. But that's in the past. When I see 2022 rosters drawn up I don't see impecable brilliance at all positions. Goaltending is just okay(for the best on best level, just like all other evaluations). The D is worse than that of Sweden and USA. Forwards are great as usual. I would still give a slight edge to Russia. They are certainly one of the favorites to win as always, but only one of them.

 

[Atas2000]

Russia hasn't beat Canada in a game that mattered since the 2006 Olympics.

And before that was the 1981 Canada Cup.

And that means what exactly? Try appropriate argumentation.

 

[Bures Elbow]

No.

Russia still has the best offence. To compare it to US is laughable. And the Finns have long surpassed Sweden there.

If Canada's D looks like people picture it here it is not in the top tier. Below USA and Sweden and more like on par with Finnland nowadays.

Why is goaltending uncertain? It is pretty simple:
Russia

Canada, USA
Finnland

Sweden

Overall: Canada is overrated as always....

....Canada overrated in 2010 and 2014? The World Cup in 2016?

Their forward group is bar none the best out there, 4 lines of superstars with a great mixture of speed, skill, scoring, defensive responsibility and grit.

 

[Atas2000]

....Canada overrated in 2010 and 2014? The World Cup in 2016?

Their forward group is bar none the best out there, 4 lines of superstars with a great mixture of speed, skill, scoring, defensive responsibility and grit.

That's what I mean. Overrated. 4 lines of superstars?

 

[Sky04]

Of course. It is the same evey time. Canada gets overrated by a mile, Russia gets underrated by a mile. It is a NA board full of homers. I don't expect anything else.

What has Russia won on a best to best again? How did they do on home soil? They're not underrated they're horribly flawed and look even worse going into 2022. Can't overrate Canada when they're 3-0n in all the best on best competition in the last decade.

USA is Canada's biggest threat right now, Russia isn't even in the rear view.

 

[jcs0218]

What has Russia won on a best to best again? How did they do on home soil? They're not underrated they're horribly flawed and look even worse going into 2022. Can't overrate Canada when they're 3-0n in all the best on best competition in the last decade.

USA is Canada's biggest threat right now, Russia isn't even in the rear view.

Russia's 3rd and 4th lines, plus their entire defense, look like garbage.

 

[jonlin]

Laine - Barkov - Rantanen
Teravainen - Aho - Kakko
Hintz - Kotkaniemi - Donskoi
Haula - Granlund - Kapanen


Heiskanen - Vatanen
Lindell - Heinola
Maatta - Jokiharju

Rask, Rinne, Korpisalo

This is our best shot ever to win gold.

Why would Granlund play center when he is a wing? Why isnt Hintz a C? Ristolainen is for sure on the team on small ice against NHL-competition. Why would Heiskanen-Vatanen be a pairing, you want Heiskanen with a defensive-minded D such a s Lindell to get the best outta him. Where is Armia? So many wrongs here.

 

[Iapyi]

Nah, he's always like that. It's pretty tiresome, honestly.

You're right 100%. I guess someone has to be the most biased poster.

 

[Dicky113]

You don’t break up Marchand, Crosby Bergeron. Make that a second or third line, fine, but you don’t shuffle known chemistry in a short tournament