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Predict both WC Groups

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A

1. Czech Republic
2. Russia
3. Switzerland
4. Belarus
5. Slovakia
6. Sweden
7. Denmark
8. Great Britain

B

1. Canada
2. USA
3. Germany
4. Latvia
5. Finland
6. Norway
7. Kazakhstan
8. Italy
 
Omotenashi said:
Group A
Extremely even top 4. Russia should be the strongest on paper, but I rank Switzerland very highly this tournament. Good roster with a lot of experience and very solid goaltending. But really any of the top 4 can win this. Slovakia could still grab a QF spot if they get things working and one of the top 4 underperform. Belarus is certainly good enough to get points from everyone as well, but I would be surprised if they make the QF.
1. Russia
2. Switzerland
3. Czech Republic
4. Sweden
5. Slovakia
6. Belarus
7. Denmark
8. Great Britain

Group B
On paper Canada and USA are a step above everyone else in this group and should make the QF comfortably. Latvia and Germany will battle for the last QF spot but are also good enough to make Finland work hard for their spot (but as always Finland might overperform versus how strong they look on paper). I would give Latvia a very small edge versus Germany. Norway should be good enough to challenge Latvia and Germany, but would also here be surprised if they are consistent enough to really challenge for QF. Kazakhstan could be able to beat Norway if their Goaltending proves to be decent, but I don't expect them to achieve much more than that.
1. Canada
2. USA
3. Finland
4. Latvia
5. Germany
6. Norway
7. Kazakhstan
8. Italy
Click to expand...

Their defense surely is one of the - if not the - best. However, I don't think that their offense is really superior to the other teams' offense.
 
SoundAndFury said:
By lots you mean 3: Kalnins, Daugavins and Indrasis :laugh:
Click to expand...
I actually compiled the NHLe of every player in the Latvian group. Whether you believe it or not, but the Latvian forward base (top 12 vs top 12) is actually better than the Finnish one. And that's accounting for age related drops in performance.

Their defensemen are better, but the overlap is huge. Finland, Germany and Latvia are all very close.
 
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Namejs said:
I actually compiled the NHLe of every player in the Latvian group. Whether you believe it or not, but the Latvian forward base (top 12 vs top 12) is actually better than the Finnish one. And that's accounting for age related drops in performance.

Their defensemen are better, but the overlap is huge. Finland, Germany and Latvia are all very close.
Click to expand...

exactly my point. finlands team is pretty good khlers and good liiga players + 2 nhlers, latvia have a squad full of good khlers and germany have a squad full of borderline nhlers, very good del players (which would be good liiga players), so its all very close.

same with sweden vs slovakia/belarus.

everything can happen in this tournament, the bigger teams have never had such weak squads.
 
Namejs said:
I actually compiled the NHLe of every player in the Latvian group.
Click to expand...
Because NHLe is a bogus stat purely dependant on player's role in the team :) It's nice when players can farm that sweet NHLe playing for Riga or Vityaz as opposed to Jokerit.
 
SoundAndFury said:
Because NHLe is a bogus stat purely dependant on player's role in the team :) It's nice when players can farm that sweet NHLe playing for Riga or Vityaz as opposed to Jokerit.
Click to expand...
Or they can farm it in Liiga, by enjoying luxurious PP1 time. It averages out when comparing larger datasets spanning several seasons. It's pointless when comparing individual players without added context, sure. I'm not doing that here.

And, no, there's not a lot of farming going on in Riga. Actually, their NHLe in KHL lines up with their NHLe in other leagues, which means it has predictive value.
 
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Namejs said:
And, no, there's not a lot of farming going on in Riga. Actually, their NHLe in KHL lines up with their NHLe in other leagues, which means it has predictive value.
Click to expand...
Indrasis, Rihards Bukarts, Dzierkals :laugh: Their NHLe matches other leagues/teams? Really? Come on now.

In any case, NHLe aside, it's one thing to compare forwards and another thing to say Latvia which has 1,5 decent defensemen is equal to Finland. But I guess that's what happens when the definition of "good player" is dropped low enough for Cibulskis to fit it.
 
Antiillafire said:
Slovakia below GB? That would call for the instant firing of Ramsay
Click to expand...

Sorry, i looked at your roster, its bad..at least i think so.

2 d-men i recognized were Knazko, Nemec and neither are pro players atm, at international level
About 5, 6 forwards that i knew

If Huska is your starting goalie...yikes!.
and if its Hudacek...double yikes!.
 
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SoundAndFury said:
Indrasis, Rihards Bukarts, Dzierkals :laugh: Their NHLe matches other leagues/teams? Really? Come on now.

In any case, NHLe aside, it's one thing to compare forwards and another thing to say Latvia which has 1,5 decent defensemen is equal to Finland. But I guess that's what happens when the definition of "good player" is dropped low enough for Cibulskis to fit it.
Click to expand...
Indrasis was 0.57 PPG in his two years with Dynamo Moscow. He's 0.63 PPG with Dinamo Riga over his last 4 years there. I wouldn't exactly call it farming, dude.

Dzierkals has actually improved his game over the last few years.

Bukarts NHLe is made up mostly of his stint in DEL. 0.46 PPG there. The NHLe's are weighted. And, yes, there are similar players on the Finnish roster.

Seriously, you're relying on some knee jerk assumptions now.
 
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A

1. Czech Republic
2. Russia
3. Sweden
4. Slovakia
5. Switzerland
6. Belarus
7. Denmark
8. Great Britain

B

1. Canada
2. USA
3. Finland
4. Latvia
5. Germany
6. Kazakhstan
7. Norway
8. Italy
 
GeorgeLeafer12 said:
Sorry, i looked at your roster, its bad..at least i think so.

2 d-men i recognized were Knazko, Nemec and neither are pro players atm, at international level
About 5, 6 forwards that i knew

If Huska is your starting goalie...yikes!.
and if its Hudacek...double yikes!.
Click to expand...

and who does gb have, that makes them better than slovakia, lets hear it.
 
GeorgeLeafer12 said:
Sorry, i looked at your roster, its bad..at least i think so.

2 d-men i recognized were Knazko, Nemec and neither are pro players atm, at international level
About 5, 6 forwards that i knew

If Huska is your starting goalie...yikes!.
and if its Hudacek...double yikes!.
Click to expand...
So because you don’t recognize the players, they are instantly bad? :help:
 
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GeorgeLeafer12 said:
Sorry, i looked at your roster, its bad..at least i think so.

2 d-men i recognized were Knazko, Nemec and neither are pro players atm, at international level
About 5, 6 forwards that i knew

If Huska is your starting goalie...yikes!.
and if its Hudacek...double yikes!.
Click to expand...

This is showing a little arrogance towards the top European hockey leagues, I think. On the ice there is a chance that Slovakia might struggle against Britain due to inexperience, but on paper there is no question that even with the roster we have, Slovakia is the better team.
 
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GeorgeLeafer12 said:
Sorry, i looked at your roster, its bad..at least i think so.

2 d-men i recognized were Knazko, Nemec and neither are pro players atm, at international level
About 5, 6 forwards that i knew

If Huska is your starting goalie...yikes!.
and if its Hudacek...double yikes!.
Click to expand...

Guessing you are a Fin, so I would have assumed that you would recognize at least the Liiga players, two of which won the title, even assisted/scored the winning goal in the last game of the final.
 
Last edited:
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Neat to see how no one agrees. I honestly am so excited because this tournament is so even! So many things could happen. Then, even after this, the quarters will be amazing. Looking at every single prediction... all 4 quarters are going to be close games.

I'll give it a go but I honestly have no idea because this isn't the world juniors and some of the lesser ranked nations can easily upset everyone. Eg. if Denmark beats the Czechs, I really won't be that surprised or Belarus beating the Swiss. Remember, the last tourney like this (2018 Olympics) starting with Slovakia beating Russia on Day 1.

A group is insanely tight. I expect 'upset' after 'upset' and the standings to be extremely tight. (I know nothing about GB and am putting them last because of this, apologies of I'm missing something)

A

1. Switzerland
2. Russia
3. Sweden
4. Czechs
5. Slovakia (it pains me to not have them in quarters and I do think they can get there)
6. Belarus (same thing, they are growing and starting to make some noise)
7. Denmark (I think they are missing most their top guys?)
8. GB (pure ignorance, I cant' name one guy on roster)

B is a little more straightforward

1. Canada (all NHL team moreorless with the best goalie in Kuemper)
2. Finland (similar to gold medal team and will gel and be well structured)
3. USA (mostly NHL team with 3 NHL goalies)
4. Latvia
5. Germany (normally I'd take Germany over Latvia but I think the German's are missing 4 of their best 6 players in Stutzl, Drai, Grubauer and Kahun)
6. Kazakhstan
7. Norway
8. Italy​
 
FTR.. I think Canada, US, Sweden, Finland, Swiss, Czechs and Russia are all legit medal favourites with Canada as the Gold fav (they have more NHL players than the other 6 combined and Kuemper in net). So watch the 3 medalists be Slovakia, Latvia and Belarus!
 
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Group A:

1. Russia
2. Sweden
3. Czechs
4. Switzerland
5. Slovakia
6. Denmark
7. Belarus
8. GB

Hard to predict. Top 4 could be either way but if Sweden and Russia play at their level, they will be the top two.

Group B:

1. Canada
2. Germany
3. Finland
4. USA
5. Latvia
6. Norway
7. Kazakhstan
8. Italy

Finland have not won against the germans since 2016. They are strong and difficult opponent even without the top nhl:ers. Canada is Canada, allways on top, whatever the roster. It was hard to decide between Latvia and USA, could be either way. Finland as a third, because I trust our team.

And for the rest of the tournament. Of course I want my country to win, but if thats not going to happen, then be it Switzerland for the very first time.
 
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A

1. Russia
2. Czech Republic
3. Switzerland
4. Sweden
5. Denmark
6. Belarus
7. Slovakia
8. Great Britain

B

1. Canada
2. Finland
3. Latvia
4. Germany
5. USA
6. Norway
7. Kazakhstan
8. Italy
 
I hope there will be a lot of surprising results but I'm afraid that the most interesting thing about the groups will be whether Germany or Latvia snatches the fourth place in Canada's group.

Perhaps Slovakia also has a chance to make it to the QFs in the other group if they have a good tournament.

I hope there is a lot of open play by the smaller teams as there is no worry about relegation.
 
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