Who would you choose for Team Canada

[kmad]

Mario Lemieux at center over Joe Sakic?

Brad Richards is also better suited for center than Vincent Lecavalier as he's far superior defensively.

This team lacks defensive forwards.

Over the past few years, Team Canada has made a point of adding grinders. Your Drapers, Maltbys, Doans, Morrows, Pecas, etc... they'll have a couple of them again.

the team reflects the new values of NHL hockey - speed, talent and scoring.

 

[RoyIsALegend*]

the team reflects the new values of NHL hockey - speed, talent and scoring.

Again... Mario Lemieux at center over Joe Sakic?

You want SPEED and you put Lemieux in the middle and Sakic on the wing?

 

[kmad]

Again... Mario Lemieux at center over Joe Sakic?

You want SPEED and you put Lemieux in the middle and Sakic on the wing?

Switch them if it'll make you feel better. Lemieux is better at clutch faceoffs, and puck possession will be extremely important against behemoths like the Czech Republic, so I put Lemieux at center.

 

[sunb]

Lemieux - Sakic - Iginla
Kariya - Thornton - Richards
Heatley - Lecavalier - Bertuzzi
Gagne - Marleau - St. Louis
13th: Yzerman

Pronger - Niedermayer
Jovanovski - Redden
Blake - Foote
7th: Regehr

Brodeur
Luongo
3rd: Theodore

If Yzerman decides to drop out, replace him with Smyth

I feel like Canada will elect to choose guys like Kariya, St. Louis, Gagne, Marleau and Richards over guys like Nash, Spezza and Smyth since they are excellent skaters. Staal and Crosby are a bit too inexperienced at this point to get a call.

The scary thing is that if Canada had a Team B, it'd likely win Silver or Bronze.

TEAM A

Lemieux - Sakic - Iginla
Kariya - Thornton - Richards
Heatley - Lecavalier - Bertuzzi
Gagne - Marleau - St. Louis

Pronger - Niedermayer
Jovanovski - Redden
Blake - Foote

Brodeur
Luongo


TEAM B

Nash - Staal - Murray
Tanguay - Spezza - Crosby
Smyth - Peca - Recchi
Shannahan - Primeau - Ryder

Morris - Regehr
McCabe - Hannan
Phaneuf - McLaren

Theodore
Turco


The crazy thing is that you can even have a third-string team that would still compete for a medal!

TEAM C

Morrow - Allison - Doan
Stillman - Briere - O'Neil
Cooke - Brind'Amour - Lindros
Yzerman - Horcoff - Hunter

Desjardins - Van Ryn
Boucher - Stuart
Hamhuis - Rathje

Ed Belfour
Curtis Joseph


Even the fourth string team is competitive

TEAM D

Sanderson - Savard - Bergeron
Morrison - Comrie - Hartnell
Madden - Scatchard - Williams
Torres - Fisher - Dumont

Warrener - Souray
Brewer - Brisebois
Smith - Phillips

Giguere
Roloson

 

[pei fan]

Phaneuf will not make this team.There is no way you can leave McCabe off this team.The youth movement will be represented by Stall and Crosby and I wouldn't mind seeing Spezza.Hopefully Wayne will do the right thing and pick the best players and not his old cronies.............but......that's alot of hoping .

 

[espo*]

Phaneuf will not make this team.There is no way you can leave McCabe off this team.The youth movement will be represented by Stall and Crosby and I wouldn't mind seeing Spezza.Hopefully Wayne will do the right thing and pick the best players and not his old cronies.............but......that's alot of hoping .

please PEI FAN.......................no McCabe,please.

 

[Belamor]

I think Shane Doan is guaranteed a spot since he plays for Gretzky, just like Yezerman and Lemieux if they decide to go.

 

[pei fan]

please PEI FAN.......................no McCabe,please.

I have watched him play a number of games.........it's not just the stat's.......
but he's actually really good.I will say that Kaberle is a big part of that combination working so well. They are a perfect fit........and no I'm not a Toronto fan.

 

[pei fan]

I think Shane Doan is guaranteed a spot since he plays for Gretzky, just like Yezerman and Lemieux if they decide to go.

Gretzky doesn't have the luxury of picking Doan unless his play improves tremendously to justify it.Gretzky already has a "nepotism" problem.

 

[espo*]

I have watched him play a number of games.........it's not just the stat's.......
but he's actually really good.I will say that Kaberle is a big part of that combination working so well. They are a perfect fit........and no I'm not a Toronto fan.

You're not concerned about his skating on the big ice? I am,i've watched him plenty this year too and he still looks so damn "thick" out there going east-west.I'm not a regular McCabe basher at all.........just don't think he's a good fit for that tourney and we have enough offense from the back-end that his services are not really required.

I dunno,maybe they'll put him on.But i hope they don't myself.if he does get named andplays well...................you'll never hear me say another bad word about him again.

 

[Slitty]

The scary thing is that if Canada had a Team B, it'd likely win Silver or Bronze.

TEAM A

Lemieux - Sakic - Iginla
Kariya - Thornton - Richards
Heatley - Lecavalier - Bertuzzi
Gagne - Marleau - St. Louis

Pronger - Niedermayer
Jovanovski - Redden
Blake - Foote

Brodeur
Luongo


TEAM B

Nash - Staal - Murray
Tanguay - Spezza - Crosby
Smyth - Peca - Recchi
Shannahan - Primeau - Ryder

Morris - Regehr
McCabe - Hannan
Phaneuf - McLaren

Theodore
Turco


The crazy thing is that you can even have a third-string team that would still compete for a medal!

TEAM C

Morrow - Allison - Doan
Stillman - Briere - O'Neil
Cooke - Brind'Amour - Lindros
Yzerman - Horcoff - Hunter

Desjardins - Van Ryn
Boucher - Stuart
Hamhuis - Rathje

Ed Belfour
Curtis Joseph


Even the fourth string team is competitive

TEAM D

Sanderson - Savard - Bergeron
Morrison - Comrie - Hartnell
Madden - Scatchard - Williams
Torres - Fisher - Dumont

Warrener - Souray
Brewer - Brisebois
Smith - Phillips

Giguere
Roloson

Team A: Sure looks good... can only really be challanged by the Russians or the Czechs.

Team B: Eh... longshot for Bronze. US/Finnish caliber really, would get beaten by Russia, Czechs, and Sweden 9 times out of 10.

Team C: Compete for a medal? -More like comete to make it out of the group stage.. and they are kinda iffy on that, someone has to screw up for them to progress.

Team D: Competive... well... yes.... with Italy and Kazahstan.

 

[Daily Special]

You know our depth is insane when Marleau isn't making any of these teams.

Once SJ GM Doug Wilson opens the purse strings to get Marleau a deserving 1st line winger someone has actually heard of to play with, his numbers will turn heads enough that someone else isn't considered. The popular opinion in SJ is that is coming in 06.

 

[Macman]

I'm beginning to think Crosby has to be on this team. He's getting better every game and by February will be hitting his stride. Can you imagine him feeding Gagne and Nash? Yikes. Hopefully, Yzerman and Lemieux will do the right thing and not go. And hopefully Gretz will also do the right thing and not take Doan or maybe Smyth.

 

[Alfons]

I think Canada should go with this team:


Crosby Thornton Iginla
Nash Spezza Heatley
Gagne Lecavalier Richards
Smyth Draper Doan
Staal

Redden Pronger
Niedermayer Foote
Blake Staios

Luongo
Brodeur
Turco

Think they should leave Sakic, Kariya, Lemieux and Yzerman: There are better players today. Not sure on the defence though. Aside from Redden and Niedermayer I think it´s hard because of the large rink. Not all of the big guys can play good defensive hockey on big ice and some players don´t seem to have a good season, for example Hannan and Blake. I also question the defensive play (especially on big ice) of Brewer, Jovanovski and McCabe. Don´t know about Pronger on big ice?

 

[Slitty]

I think Canada should go with this team:


Crosby Thornton Iginla
Nash Spezza Heatley
Gagne Lecavalier Richards
Smyth Draper Doan
Staal

Redden Pronger
Niedermayer Foote
Blake Staios

Luongo
Brodeur
Turco

Think they should leave Sakic, Kariya, Lemieux and Yzerman: There are better players today. Not sure on the defence though. Aside from Redden and Niedermayer I think it´s hard because of the large rink. Not all of the big guys can play good defensive hockey on big ice and some players don´t seem to have a good season, for example Hannan and Blake. I also question the defensive play (especially on big ice) of Brewer, Jovanovski and McCabe. Don´t know about Pronger on big ice?

Sakic > Spezza
Kariya > Gagne

Yzerman, and to a lesser extent Lemeuix I agree with you on.

 

[jcpenny]

Lemieux and Yzerman have no buiness on this team sorry. They are not playing healthy and are not the shadow of what they used to be. We have great upcoming guys its time to let them play. Offense should look like this:

Gagne-Sakic-Iginla
Heatley-Thornton-Nash
St-Louis-Lecavalier-Bertuzzi
Darper-Marleau-Doan

 

[big_steve]

Kariya > Gagne

Anyway, here's my forward lines:
Mario Lemieux-Joe Sakic-Jarome Iginla
Simon Gagne-Joe Thornton-Rick Nash
Ryan Smyth-Jason Spezza-Dany Heatley
Brad Richards-Vincent Lecavalier-Martin St. Louis
13th Forward- Eric Staal

 

[therealdeal]

Lemieux and Yzerman have no buiness on this team sorry. They are not playing healthy and are not the shadow of what they used to be. We have great upcoming guys its time to let them play. Offense should look like this:

Gagne-Sakic-Iginla
Heatley-Thornton-Nash
St-Louis-Lecavalier-Bertuzzi
Darper-Marleau-Doan

Oh, that last line is god awful, no Richards, no Staal, no Smytty?

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

I find it hard to believe that they can keep Jason Spezza off the team with the way he's playing right now. If he's not on the team, than that's just scary how deep they are.

 

[ShaneDoan]

Have to say that im quite jealous about Canadian level of hockey. Every year there comes new super-talents especially this year Crosby,Spezza...of course Rick Nash is quite newcomer too.

 

[joe_shannon_1983*]

Here is who I would pick as of right now for Team Canada:

C:
Sakic
Thornton
Lecavalier
Richards

LW:
Lemieux
Gagne
Smyth
Draper

RW:
Iginla
Heatley
Bertuzzi
St.Louis
Doan

D:
Pronger
Blake
Niedermayer
Foote
Redden
Jovanovski
McCabe

G:
Brodeur
Luongo
Theodore

I make these picks for the following reasons:

At forward, you have to have some experienced players (Lemieux), some physical players (Smyth, and Doan), some wingers (Smyth, Doan, Bertuzzi, and St.Louis), and some defensive conscience (Draper). You can't have a team full of young guys, nor can you have a team full of finesse guys, nor can you have a team full of centres, nor can you have a team full of pure offensive players. A team full of Crosby's, Spezza's, and Staal's don't give you nearly the same chances of winning that my team does. Any team that has more than one of Crosby, Spezza, or Staal on it starts to suffer in my opinion.

The defense also has a nice blend of two-way players, guys who are very good at both ends of the ice, which I feel is important to a defensive core. Pronger, Niedermayer, Blake, and Redden are all superb at both ends of the ice. Then you have specialists such as Foote (defense), McCabe (offense), and Jovanovski (physicality) rounding out the defense core.

As for the goaltenders, all three guys are capable of stepping in should need be. A wealth of talent, experience, and clutch ability provided by these three goaltenders.

 

[Bouchard]

G:
Luongo
Brodeur


Extra: Turco

D:
Blake
Foote
Niedermayer
Redden
McCabe
Pronger

Extra: Jovonovski

F:
Bertuzzi
Gagne
Heatley
Iginla
Lecavalier
Richards
Thornton
Staal
Morrow
Tanguay
Crosby
St. Louis

Extra: Doan

Just me, of course.

 

[jcpenny]

Oh, that last line is god awful, no Richards, no Staal, no Smytty?

No Smyth cuz i think hes overrated, Richards could be in there and Staal can wait four years. Kariya should be considered too.

 

[therealdeal]

No Smyth cuz i think hes overrated, Richards could be in there and Staal can wait four years. Kariya should be considered too.

See the Oilers record when Smyth plays, and when he doesn't, the numbers speak for themselves.

Anyways, they need some experience if they don't take Yzerman and Lemieux, and Smyttys got it.

 

[koko27]

Nash Sakic Iginla
Gagne Spezza Heatley
Crosby Lecavalier Richards
Smyth Thornton Doan

Extra : Staal

Niedermayer
Pronger
McCabe
Redden
Blake
Foote

Extra : Boowmester

Luongo
Brodeur
Theodore