At this point Finnish roster looks like this:
Laine-Barkov-Rantanen
Lehkonen-Koivu-Granlund
Aho-Filppula-Teräväinen
Komarov-Haula-Jokinen
Lehterä, Armia will fight for fourth line spots and Pulju will fight against Rantanen.
Lindell-Ristolainen
Määttä-Vatanen
Jokipakka-Nutivaara
Juolevi, Honka will fight for roster spots
Rask
Rinne
Saros
With no respect for line pairings since I don't watch SK regularly...South Koreas lineup?
Pajic is a name I frankly haven't heard in a long time. Slovenian league guys don't get in either because their league is like a beer league. Ziga Pance and Miha Verlic will definitely be there. Not sure if the Rodmans will be in play but we'll see. Problem with Slovenia is age, not a single forward on the usual team under 25, and the two D who are 24 and 22 aren't very good though Repe might have a future. We'll see what becomes of Drozg and Simsic, I think they should consider calling Simsic up for the Olympics.Forwards: (not sure what the lines will looks dont know Slovenia well at all besides Kopitar)
Sabolic-Kopitar-Mursak
Jeglic-Ticar-Pajic
Urbas-M.Rodman-Ograjansek
Pesut-Ogrizek-D.Rodman
Zupan/Terlikar
Defense:
Gregorc-Pavlin
Kranjc-Kovacevic
Pepe-Vidmar
Pretnar/Stebih
Goalies:
Kroselj
Gracnar
Senk
Pajic is a name I frankly haven't heard in a long time. Slovenian league guys don't get in either because their league is like a beer league. Ziga Pance and Miha Verlic will definitely be there. Not sure if the Rodmans will be in play but we'll see. Problem with Slovenia is age, not a single forward on the usual team under 25, and the two D who are 24 and 22 aren't very good though Repe might have a future. We'll see what becomes of Drozg and Simsic, I think they should consider calling Simsic up for the Olympics.
Team Finland:
Laine(-98)-Barkov(-95)-Rantanen(-96)
Lehkonen(-94)-Koivu(-83)-MiGranlund(-92)
Aho(-97)-Filppula(-84)-Teräväinen(-94)
Komarov(-87)-Haula(-91)-Armia(-93)
Ma.Granlund(-93), Jokinen(-83) (Puljujärvi,Donskoi,Hartikainen,Korpikoski,Lehterä)
Määttä(-94)-Ristolainen(-94)
Lindell(-94)-Vatanen(-91)
Nutivaara(-94)-Lepistö(-84)
Hietanen(-85)-Jokipakka(-91)
(Honka,Juolevi,Salmela,Kukkonen,Jaakola,Pokka)
Rask(-87)
Rinne(-82)
Saros(-95)
(Raanta,Niemi,Koskinen,Lehkonen,Metsola)
Bolded= Lock if healthy
Team Finland:
Laine(-98)-Barkov(-95)-Rantanen(-96)
Lehkonen(-94)-Koivu(-83)-MiGranlund(-92)
Aho(-97)-Filppula(-84)-Teräväinen(-94)
Komarov(-87)-Haula(-91)-Armia(-93)
Ma.Granlund(-93), Jokinen(-83) (Puljujärvi,Donskoi,Hartikainen,Korpikoski,Lehterä)
Määttä(-94)-Ristolainen(-94)
Lindell(-94)-Vatanen(-91)
Nutivaara(-94)-Lepistö(-84)
Hietanen(-85)-Jokipakka(-91)
(Honka,Juolevi,Salmela,Kukkonen,Jaakola,Pokka)
Rask(-87)
Rinne(-82)
Saros(-95)
(Raanta,Niemi,Koskinen,Lehkonen,Metsola)
Bolded= Lock if healthy
I agree with this. Although Lehkonen could take Komarov's spot and Rantanen could play RW in Koivu's line. Then add Pulju LW to first, I have faith in him.Team Finland:
Laine(-98)-Barkov(-95)-Rantanen(-96)
Lehkonen(-94)-Koivu(-83)-MiGranlund(-92)
Aho(-97)-Filppula(-84)-Teräväinen(-94)
Komarov(-87)-Haula(-91)-Armia(-93)
Ma.Granlund(-93), Jokinen(-83) (Puljujärvi,Donskoi,Hartikainen,Korpikoski,Lehterä)
Määttä(-94)-Ristolainen(-94)
Lindell(-94)-Vatanen(-91)
Nutivaara(-94)-Lepistö(-84)
Hietanen(-85)-Jokipakka(-91)
(Honka,Juolevi,Salmela,Kukkonen,Jaakola,Pokka)
Rask(-87)
Rinne(-82)
Saros(-95)
(Raanta,Niemi,Koskinen,Lehkonen,Metsola)
Bolded= Lock if healthy
U.S.A roster
Gaudreau-Pavelski-Kane
Pacioretty-Matthews-Eichel
JVR-Stepan-Kessel
Tkachuk-Kesler-Wheeler
Parise, Galchenyuk
The reason I put Tkachuk on LW instead of Galchenyuk is because of how pissed off that line would make other teams. Absolutely perfect grinder/agitator line, lots of drawn penalties I'd assume and almost impossible to strip off the puck. I'd swap Galchenyuk with JVR throughout the tournament (never been a fan of JVRs play)
Suter-Big Buff
McDonaugh-Shattenkirk
Faulk-Carlson
Werenski, Jones
If we could have a 4th D pairing we'd be ****ing unstoppable, but we don't so Werenski and Jones will have to prove they're better than the six above them.
Bishop, Schneider, Quick are the obvious goalies (Schneider probably takes it in 2018)
I'm really liking how hard it is to pick this team now. Couple years ago it would have been cut-and-dry, but there's so much talent coming from the States now that you actually have to think about who to take. The fact that Ghost Bear, Trouba, Fowler, Krug, Carlo, Leddy, and Hanifin are all passed shows how deep our defense is getting. I think this team can compete with Canada next olympics, and may actually be the favorite by 2022.
The depth of Canada is ridiculous at all positions. Canadian "D" team could win the tournament theoretically and it could definitely win a medal. It's absolutely insane.
Forsberg - Bäckström - Nylander
Arvidsson - Wennberg - Rakell
Steen - Zetterberg - Silfverberg
Johansson - Backlund - Lindholm
Nyquist, Zibanejad
Lindholm - Karlsson
Hedman - Hjalmarsson
Ekman Larsson - Klingberg
Klefbom - Larsson
Lehner
Lundqvist
Markström
Zibby as 3rd center, Zetterberg can be there for leadership, but he has regressed even more this year.