The best WJC teams

[xxxx]

The 2010 team was missing Tavares, Stamkos (NHL goal leader), Duchene, Kane, O'Reilly, Myers and Del Zotto.

Oh my goodness. I already knew that we missed Tavares, Stamkos, DZ and Myers, but I forgot Duchene, Kane and O'Reilly ....what a team that would've been.


To answer the OP - I think that the teams in 2009 and 2015 were the best.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Finland had a tough road to Gold having to beat Canada, Sweden and Russia. Respect. Offense 5/5

 

[xxxx]

Finland had a tough road to Gold having to beat Canada, Sweden and Russia. Respect. Offense 5/5

This I agree with. Finland also always found a way to come back. The team effort and the skill was really something I hadn't seen much before from other teams than Canada.

 

[Yakushev72]

or the flipside of that argument, your boys were lucky that Hall Duchene Seguin were busy with their NHL teams....otherwise...

And in the time period you are referencing, 2007-16. Team Canada 2015 edition was the best team, names and quality of play. I believe close to if not half the team are already NHL players or have played NHL games. So, it would be them.

There is a different thread for discussion of these conjectures.

 

[1Gold Standard]

This I agree with. Finland also always found a way to come back. The team effort and the skill was really something I hadn't seen much before from other teams than Canada.

Ya, Finland was a highly entertaining team this year, fun to watch...they make my Top 3 list for favorite teams over the past decade. and 'd like to see Puljujarvi and Laine return for the 2017 tourney.

 

[Sensinitis]

or the flipside of that argument, your boys were lucky that Hall Duchene Seguin were busy with their NHL teams....otherwise...

And in the time period you are referencing, 2007-16. Team Canada 2015 edition was the best team, names and quality of play. I believe close to if not half the team are already NHL players or have played NHL games. So, it would be them.

That's one thing that really takes away the legitimacy of the WJC imo. Simply because the point of the tournament should be to determine which nation has the best prospects, just like the Olympics/WorldCup/WC are there to determine which nation has the best adult/professional hockey players.
For instance, no one takes the WC seriously because there are many important players missing every year, therefore the winner is not given full credit as the best.
I feel like the WJC is taken much more seriously than the WC, but it shouldn't.
Canada is literally missing their 2-3 best U20 players every year, and still consistently hit the medal round, which suggests they would likely win every single year if all players were available.

 

[xxxx]

I know that we didn't win in 2013, but I'm fairly convinced that, from between the years 2010 and 2016, we would've won at least two more golds.

2010 - absolutely
2011 - almost the same - we missed Seguin, Hall, Duchene, Skinner (31g, 63pts that season)
2012 - maybe (Couturier, RNH, Johansen)
2014 - the weakest team of all, but missed MacKinnon, Monahan, Rielly. MacK and Monahan scored 46 goals together in the NHL that season, with Reilly 124 points for them together)
2016 - we missed Ekblad, Bennett, McCann, and Fabbri, + injured McDavid

out of these five tournaments, I'm 100% sure we would have won at least two more golds (2010, 2011 most likely)

 

[nutbar]

Going back further

USSR 1989
Czechoslovakia 1990
Sweden 1993
Canada 1993 (What a matchup that was vs Sweden that year)

 

[JackSlater]

Going back further

USSR 1989
Czechoslovakia 1990
Sweden 1993
Canada 1993 (What a matchup that was vs Sweden that year)

I wouldn't put the 1993 Canadian team very high (despite some great names). They were carried to gold by Manny Legace.

 

[leafsfuture]

2009 Canada was beastly.

Russia almost won, but even then, the way we rolled Sweeden in the final was crazy.

Tavares, Eberle, Hodgson lit the world on fire.