Right Now, Greatest Era for USA Hockey???

[AmericanDream]

Outside of the Miracle on Ice (the guys drafted/eligible from 76-81), the greatest era for USA Hockey was 1987-1992. I am talking specifically about drafts in a row. That is the era that brought much of the 1996 World Cup Gold winners together, and the core group for 1998/2002 Olympics as well. These are the years that brought us Mike Modano, Jermey Roenick, Doug Weight, Billy Guerin, Keith Tkachuk, Derian Hatcher, Bryan Smolinski, Tony Amonte, etc, etc etc.. No doubt in my mind the greatest span for USA Hockey.

You can look at 2003 -2007 and make a nice case for that as well, but I think what has been happening since 2014 could be the best this country has ever seen.

I am going to go out and call this era 2014-2019 will be the best era of drafted players EVER for USA Hockey.

As of right now, there are 10 Americans in the top 20 for rookie scoring - half of the entire top 20 rookies are from the US. 2016 was a monster rookie crop as well with Matthews, Tkachuk, Werenski, Skjei, Guentzel, Dvorak, etc..

Here are the last 3 years of rookie classes entering the NHL (including this year) from the USA. I understand that some names are drafted at other years, just showing for reference the last 3 seasons of rookies in the NHL for this country and how crazy it has been.

2015.

Jack Eichel
Shayne Gostisbehere
Dylan Larkin
Noah Hanifin
Jaccob Slavin
Shane Prince
Jake McCabe
Andrew Copp
Frankie Vatrano
Connor Sheary
Bryan Rust
Mike Reilly
Austin Watson

2016.

Auston Matthews
Matthew Tkachuk
Zach Werenski
Brady Skjei
Jake Guentzel
Christian Dvorak
Ryan Hartman
Nick Schmaltz
Jimmy Vesey
Kevin LaBanc
Derek Forbort
Miles Wood
Brandon Carlo
Vinnie Hinostroza
Stefan Noesen
Stephen Johns
Scott Mayfield
Steve Santini
Zach Sanford

2017.

Brock Boeser
Clayton Keller
Alex DeBrincat
Kyle Connor
Will Butcher
Christian Fischer
Charlie McAvoy
Alex Tuch
J.T. Compher
Alex Iafallo
Blake Coleman
Sonny Milano
Anders Bjork
Sean Kuraly
Matt Grzelcyk
Tage Thompson
Jack Roslovic
Colin White
Luke Kunin

...my lord that is an insane amount of talent entering this league the past 3 years...I can't recall ever seeing this before for USA Hockey. Obviously not all of these kids will stay in the NHL, but for right now the vast majority of them are NHLers and will be for the future. This is still leaving out names like Yamamoto, Logan Brown, Casey Mittelstadt, etc as they are not NHL regulars or close to it yet.

Plus the 2018 draft that will have such talent as Brady Tkachuk, Oliver Wahlstrom, Quinn Hughes, Joel Farabee, Mattias Samuelsson, Jake Wise, Bode Wilde, Blake McLaughlin, etc...

And of course 2019- Jack Hughes.

Is this the greatest era for USA Hockey ever? Maybe if we ever get a true damn best on best one of the years we can see how they stack up...

Click to read more...

 

[FireGerardGallant]

2022 Olympic gold champs

 

[JiggsNY]

Yeah and it's not even a question. We're really being made to wait for it, first splitting USA and North America in the World Cup and then obviously no Olympics. I can't wait for 2022 olympics with prime Eichel Matthews Gaudreau Trouba Boeser Keller McAvoy Tkachuk Werenski Jones maybe the 2018 draft kids like Tkahuck Wahlstrom and of course Hughes. Making a line up out of those guys with 4 years of growth/potential added on is so exciting.

The fun part is it's not slowing down, each year there are more and more high end talents and that shows no signs of slowing in 2018 2019 and 2022 drafts

 

[lawrence]

Down the middle USA has eichel and Matthews but still gotta give it to the American team of the late 90s early 2000s usa

 

[Frannel]

Yeah and it's not even a question. We're really being made to wait for it, first splitting USA and North America in the World Cup and then obviously no Olympics. I can't wait for 2022 olympics with prime Eichel Matthews Gaudreau Trouba Boeser Keller McAvoy Tkachuk Werenski Jones maybe the 2018 draft kids like Tkahuck Wahlstrom and of course Hughes. Making a line up out of those guys with 4 years of growth/potential added on is so exciting.

The fun part is it's not slowing down, each year there are more and more high end talents and that shows no signs of slowing in 2018 2019 and 2022 drafts

Is it certain that NHLers are allowed to go to the Olympics in 2022?

 

[ookhaab]

Is it certain that NHLers are allowed to go to the Olympics in 2022?

It is not even likely at the moment

 

[ulvvf]

I agree, USA looks like they have a very good group of young players.

 

[naruto]

Is it certain that NHLers are allowed to go to the Olympics in 2022?

Theyll just claim that they wouldve won it if nhlers were allowed (see first post in this thread). Just like they already are for the 2018 olympics (see the espn article). Must be nice to be able to run your mouth without actually having to back it up.

'MURICA!

 

[canuck2010]

I don't think there is any question that the USA is stronger now than at any other time.

Truly there were very few top players on the Miracle on Ice team. In fact, many were not even of NHL caliber. Hence the miracle (more like divine intervention)

1996 a much better US roster from top to bottom, still not as talented as the Canadian one but capable of playing with them in a short series. Richter was phenomenal in those three games. Lafontaine is still my all time fav American player. I attended the USA Russia game in Ottawa and I remember the warm reception Canadian fans offered their favourite son Brett Hull lol.

I like the top end players that your 2015-2017 list provides but I think you have included a few pretenders in the mix. We'll see.

 

[MichaelFarrell]

I'm a huge USA hockey fan and I'm so happy to see the USA starting to really close the gap between them and Canada. I know we aren't there yet, but it sure is exciting to watch!

 

[tony d]

They're getting there, some very good talent coming out of the US in hockey the past few yrs. Be interesting to see how they do.

 

[canuck2010]

I didn't spend a ton of time with this so there might be an inaccurate accounting on the USA side as relates to on-ice position but not on numbers overall. I don't know the USA guys as well as the Canadians in that regard.

Based on only first-round draft choices from 2014- through 2017 I offer the following.

USA
Goalie 1 Defencemen 6 Forwards 21 for a total of 28

Canada
Goalie 0 Defencemen 14 Forwards 36 for a total of 50

The proof is in the pudding. We have never seen those numbers before.

 

[snipes]

Haven’t won a thing

 

[Siludin]

On paper, the USA is as good as anyone. Let's see if they can get over their mental block in major tournaments. It's a shame this year's Olympics doesn't showcase NHL talent.

 

[madinsomniac]

Its just a numbers thing... the US has 10 times tge population of Canada, but Hockey isn't as prevalent so less top athletes are exposed early to it. They are more likely to gravitate to Baseball, Football, or Basketball...

Id argue that as Hockey grew in the US, more kids played early, now we are seeing the end result of that

Here in Pittsburgh we have ice hockey history stretching back to the late 1800's, but it was never truly popular until Lemieux got here in the 80's... back then there were limited rinks, gear was hard to find, high schools rarely any programs.... my generation grew up playing hockey in the streets, tennis courts, the occasional pond, wherever we could .... but that drove more rinks to open up, more high schools to have teams, more local parks to put in areas to play... so the next generation has tons more exposure at an earlier age and with parents who know and love the game....

It only makes sense that as those kinds of stories spread, you see more top athletes from the us committed to hockey...

 

[Henkka]

Not a surprise. USA started their big hockey program in 1996 and usually it takes 2 decades until you see the real results.

All the kids have gone their whole life through this program.

Great work.

 

[canuck2010]

On paper, the USA is as good as anyone. Let's see if they can get over their mental block in major tournaments. It's a shame this year's Olympics doesn't showcase NHL talent.

Sorry, don't agree with that statement. The USA is still not at Canada's level.

 

[kylbaz]

My buddy works for Team USA hockey and there's a reason other countries are copying their model.

 

[AmericanDream]

Sorry, don't agree with that statement. The USA is still not at Canada's level.

by 2022 I think we very well might be.

we don't need to match the overall depth of the nation from Canada, just match a roster of 23 and for the first time since 1996 I think we will be pound for pound able to do so at EVERY position in 4 years. And as for 1996, we still were behind Canada overall, we lacked their highend talent...but this group could be something we simply haven't seen before ever for this country. let's just get a damn best on best tourney in the next 2-3 years to find out!

 

[besser]

2022, Matthews and Boeser on the same line

 

[Grub]

2022, Matthews and Boeser on the same line

Would be nice.

Matthews and Boeser are good friends of the ice.

 

[besser]

Would be nice.

Matthews and Boeser are good friends of the ice.

Yeah that’s pretty sweet

 

[Scott Malkinson]

Auston Matthews is all you need.

 

[Hanji]

I don't think there is any question that the USA is stronger now than at any other time.

Truly there were very few top players on the Miracle on Ice team. In fact, many were not even of NHL caliber. Hence the miracle (more like divine intervention)

1996 a much better US roster from top to bottom, still not as talented as the Canadian one but capable of playing with them in a short series. Richter was phenomenal in those three games. Lafontaine is still my all time fav American player. I attended the USA Russia game in Ottawa and I remember the warm reception Canadian fans offered their favourite son Brett Hull lol.

I like the top end players that your 2015-2017 list provides but I think you have included a few pretenders in the mix. We'll see.

Only capable of ‘playing’ with Canada in a short series’? Cmon, 1996 Team USA was simply a better team than Canada that year, even to the eye test.

Everyone remembers Richter’s heroics in the final game, but that team took 3 out of 4 from the Canadians overall, and ran roughshod through the best competition in the world with a 6-1 record (37 gf, 18 ga). Canada by contrast went 5-3 (26 gf, 26 ga)

That was easily the best American team in history.

 

[canuck2010]

Only capable of ‘playing’ with Canada in a short series’? Cmon, 1996 Team USA was simply a better team than Canada that year, even to the eye test.

Everyone remembers Richter’s heroics in the final game, but that team took 3 out of 4 from the Canadians overall, and ran roughshod through the best competition in the world with a 6-1 record (37 gf, 18 ga). Canada by contrast went 5-3 (26 gf, 26 ga)

That was easily the best American team in history.

Yes, I believe it was the best American team in history and regardless of the outcome, the USA still did not have the overall talent that Canada possessed.

Plus at the time Canada had a big handicap behind the bench with Glen Sather and Marc Crawford. Too dumb to put two centers on the ice for a final key faceoff.

But anyway we're off topic.