Team NA if the tournament was held 10 years ago

[Number 57]

So I got curious and wanted to see what the team would have looked like 10 years ago when Sid was just coming off a 102-pts rookie season after the lockout. Just like McDavid now, Crosby was considered a generational talent and was already among the league's best forwards after just 1 season.

So using the same rules as today (age cutoff Oct 1st, gotta be 23 and under, USA or CAN born) this is the team I came up with:

Rick Nash - Sidney Crosby - Jeff Carter
Pierre-Marc Bouchard - Eric Staal - Nathan Horton
Zach Parise - Jason Spezza - Ryan Getzlaf
Chris Higgins - Derek Roy - Mike Richards
*Joffrey Lupul, Patrice Bergeron

Jay Bouwmeester - Dan Hamhuis
Dion Phaneuf - Keith Ballard
Ryan Whitney - Brent Seabrook
*Duncan Keith

Marc-Andre Fleury - Cam Ward - Pascal Leclaire

One interesting thing is that there would only be 4 worthy Americans for this squad, none in key positions, which is a big difference from today.

Do you think team NA of 2006 is better than 2016? Would the team back there had made any noise against the top countries?

Click to read more...

 

[Brewsky]

Man US hockey has come a long way after that 2000s drought.

 

[ManyIdeas]

Itd be more interesting removing those that wouldnt make tc

 

[Sky04]

Don't know who's better or who would win, but I'd say the 2016 is far more entertaining to watch.

 

[Ace]

Itd be more interesting removing those that wouldnt make tc

It would be against the spirit of the exercise though. Team Canada and team USA aren't allowed to have the players. It's part of what makes team USA so bad. They left a ton of talent stuck on team north america.

 

[ulvvf]

It would be against the spirit of the exercise though. Team Canada and team USA aren't allowed to have the players. It's part of what makes team USA so bad. They left a ton of talent stuck on team north america.

No it was torts that did that. Who would he take from that team? JG I think everyone would have take, execpt for torts, he prefer Abdelkader.

Either way, it is not over yet for USA

 

[Barrie22]

So pretty much the 2004-5 team canada world jr squad that just destroyed the competition.

 

[Xokkeu]

Man US hockey has come a long way after that 2000s drought.

Our 2003 draft was absolutely stacked, one of the big reasons we won the WJC for the first time. Ryan Suter, Dustin Brown, Mark Stuart, Ryan Kesler, Patrick Eaves, Matt Carle, David Backes, Jimmy Howard, Zach Parise. Blake Wheeler, Drew Stafford, Corey Schneider, David Booth, Brandon Dubinsky, Alex Goligoski the next year.


Obviously not all these guys were ready in 2006, and I can't remember how far along they were but at least Suter and Brown were in the NHL.

 

[Bixby Snyder]

This whole Team NA U24 is a stupid concept, but if your gonna do it, it has to be close to a 50-50 split US/CAN like this current team is otherwise it's just a second team Canada for Canadians to stroke their egos over.

 

[Back in Black]

This whole Team NA U24 is a stupid concept, but if your gonna do it, it has to be close to a 50-50 split US/CAN like this current team is otherwise it's just a second team Canada for Canadians to stroke their egos over.

So what your saying is the "Canadian U24" kids are better than Team USA, and you’d rather make team NA weaker by adding more "US U24" kids??????

 

[Bixby Snyder]

So what your saying is the "Canadian U24" kids are better than Team USA, and you’d rather make team NA weaker by adding more "US U24" kids??????

Uh no that's not what I'm saying. The team is pretty even USA/CAN, if it wasn't for the American players this team wouldn't be as good as it is. My point is that the team shouldn't exist. A true world championship is where each country makes one team with it's best players and we don't have that here.

 

[Back in Black]

Uh no that's not what I'm saying. The team is pretty even USA/CAN, if it wasn't for the American players this team wouldn't be as good as it is.

I know it wasn’t, I was just teasing you!

Stay thirsty my friend!

 

[Bixby Snyder]

I know it wasn’t, I was just teasing you!

Stay thirsty my friend!

I'm always thirsty.

 

[Dodospice]

I'm thinking the team would look something like this:

Staal- Crosby- Horton
Nash- Spezza- Lupul
Bouchard- Bergeron- Carter
Parise- Richards- Getzlaf
Roy

Bouwmeester- Hamhuis
Phaneuf- Seabrook
Whitney- Ballard
Keith

Ward
Fleury
Leclaire

PP1:
Staal- Crosby- Nash
Phaneuf- Spezza

PP2:
Bouchard- Bergeron- Lupul
Bouwmeester- Whitney

Line 1: We got 2 guys coming off fantastic seasons in Staal and Crosby, then throw in a big body in Horton who almost scored 30 goals.

Line 2: Nash was a PPG player who scored 30+ goals in a shortened season, Spezza is a big time playmaker and Lupul is coming off a year where he almost scored 30 goals.

Line 3: Bouchard is a shifty playmaker coming off a good season, Bergeron scored 30+ goals and had a 70 point season in a very strong sophomore campaign and Carter brings wheels and goal scoring to this line.

Line 4: Parise, Richards and Getzlaf are 3 gritty players coming off solid rookie campaigns. This line brings a little bit of everything to the table.

D1: Bouwmeester is the leader on defence, coming off his best pro season to date. Hamhuis is a nice complement to his game and this should be their go to pairing.

D2: Phaneuf coming off a wonderful rookie season and possesses a big booming shot from the point. Seabrook had a solid rookie campaign and is the only right handed shot on the point.

D3: Whitney is a puck moving defence who should be able to break out of his zone and contribute on the PP. Ballard is an older player here coming off a good season and gets the nod over Keith.

Goalies: Ward coming off a cup win gets the nod between the pipes with Fleury backing him up.

This team would have had 14 players who at one point or another, contributed to their countries at the highest for a long period of time.

 

[Six Assets]

Man US hockey has come a long way after that 2000s drought.

They've come so far that they're about to head home after the Group Stage

 

[Brewsky]

They've come so far that they're about to head home after the Group Stage

LOL well to be fair, their core going forward is stuck in the North America team (Eichel/Matthews/Ghost/Gaudreau/Jones/Gibson/Hellebuyck).

 

[McBrom7]

LOL well to be fair, their core going forward is stuck in the North America team (Eichel/Matthews/Ghost/Gaudreau/Jones/Gibson/Hellebuyck).

Larkin, too! Also don't forget guys drafted this year in Matthew Tkachuk and Clayton Keller who I think will have fantastic careers. Future looks bright!

 

[CanadianPantherFan]

I have no doubt in my mind this would work again and would've worked in past like indicated by that lineup. The concept needs to stay.

 

[Luger]

There weren't enough American stars at the time to take away U23 Americans. US has gotten progressively stronger over the last 60 years and will be equal to Canada in 20 years. There are 30% fewer Junior players in the US than in Canada now, and many of the top athletic talents play basketball, baseball, football and now even soccer. But hockey has grown for years so in 10 years, there will be as many Junior players in the US as in Canada, so in 20 years, there will be something close to parity between the two nations.