Who would you choose for Team Canada

[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

then then

 

[ShaneDoan]

Quite strange that you don`t accept Staal to team, he must be one of the biggest suprises this year NHL.

 

[wilka91*]

IMO Gretzky shouldn't select Smyth because of the few seconds of insanity he showed at the Worlds against the Czechs.

 

[big_steve]

IMO Gretzky shouldn't select Smyth because of the few seconds of insanity he showed at the Worlds against the Czechs.

Yeah, they should do that and ignore Smyth's play this season and his contributions to Team Canada in the past.

 

[joe_shannon_1983*]

IMO Gretzky shouldn't select Smyth because of the few seconds of insanity he showed at the Worlds against the Czechs.

I can understand why you might think that way.

However, some could argue that Smyth's few seconds of insanity that he showed against the Czech Republic is exactly why they SHOULD select Smyth for Team Canada.

Team Canada is going to need to have some grit and tenacity if they want to bring the best team possible to the Olympics. They need to have a couple of guys like Ryan Smyth who are willing to exert some physicality, even dirtiness, on the opposition.

All of this will ring true at the Olympics, especially against some of the bigger or more physical teams like the Czech Republic (who ironically are Canada's biggest threat, and were only beat in the 2004 World Cup because of physical players like Smyth and Doan; all of the finesse players on Team Canada folded like a tent against the Czech Republic in the 2004 World Cup).

History has shown that as much as you need your Joe Sakic's and Mario Lemieux's to win, you also need guys like Ryan Smyth and Shane Doan to win.

Every successful team needs one or two Claude Lemieux type players on it.

 

[jcpenny]

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.

Im not overlooking what hes doing for EDM, its that i think there are better players than him that should be on this team. Hes a good player no question and a great warrior but we have plenty of that on this team.

 

[joe_shannon_1983*]

and a great warrior but we have plenty of that on this team.

Does Canada really have that many warriors? I think that if Canada picks the team most here want them to pick, then they lack warriors.

Crosby, Spezza, and Staal are not warriors. They are pretty much finesse players, who have not been in any real wars in their playing careers.

Even Richards, Lecavalier, Gagne, Sakic, and St.Louis, are not typical warriors, at least as it relates to being willing to go into the trenches, battle, and do the dirty work.

In my opinion, Smyth should be on this team, with no questions asked. For a few reasons:

1) He provides a lot of experience, due to him having been through the wars with Team Canada before. Canada has some experience. But the more experience, the better. Smyth provides a resume full of international experience.

2) He provides a lot of grit and tenacity, which will be needed especially in checking situations and penalty killing situations. Canada lacks grit and tenacity, especially with all of the guys mentioned earlier in the post. Smyth provides this grit and tenacity.

3) He provides modest scoring prowess, making him a very good bottom line role player, a guy capable of playing well defensively as well as chipping in the occasional goal. Canada, if they take all of the players mentioned earlier in the post, will have too many chiefs and not enough indians. In other words, too many stars and not enough role players. And we have seen how that works in recent years by looking at teams like the Rangers from 1998-2004, or to a lesser extent, the Avalanche in 2004. Smyth provides a solid, dependable, and versatile role player.

It can also be said that a guy like Doan also deserves to be on the team for the exact same reasons listed above for Smyth.

 

[therealdeal]

IMO Gretzky shouldn't select Smyth because of the few seconds of insanity he showed at the Worlds against the Czechs.

Yeah, and Hamrlik shouldn't be selected because of the incident with Fleury, and Vokuon shouldn't go because he called Heatley a murderer.

 

[Captain_Cunney]

My team would look like this:

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

Extra : Staal or Draper

Defence:
Niedermayer - Foote
Pronger - Redden
Regehr - Blake

Extra : McCabe (his d coverage scares me too much to have him top 6, no matter how many pts he puts up.

Goalies:
Brodeur
Luongo
Turco/Cujo

 

[flamesfanont]

God no, please no McCabe! This guy is great offensively but defensively he is a nightmare! He will get burned huge on the big ice. Not a chance!

 

[wildone26*]

Nash-Thorton-Gagne
Heatley-Spezza-Iginla
Richards-LeCavalier-Sakic
Smyth-Lemieux-Draper

Spares: St. Louis, Bertuzzi, Tanguay, Marleau, Staal

Pronger-Niedermayer
Foote-Blake
Redden-Jovanovski

Spares: McCabe, Haanan, Rhegher

Luongo #1
Brodeur #2
Theodore #3

 

[katodelder]

oops... Gagne... of course... edit:

(Gagne)-Sakic-Iginla
Doan-Thornton-Heatley
Smyth-Lecavalier-St. Louis
Bertuzzi-Richards-Draper
Lemieux

Pronger-Blake
Niedermayer-Foote
Redden-Regehr
Jovanovski

Brodeur
Luongo
Joseph

 

[joe_shannon_1983*]

Lemieux-Sakic-Iginla
Doan-Thornton-Heatley
Smyth-Lecavalier-St. Louis
Bertuzzi-Richards-Draper
Crosby

Pronger-Blake
Niedermayer-Foote
Redden-Regehr
Jovanovski

Brodeur
Luongo
Joseph

I hope that the team looks something like that.

Although no Gagne? I think he is a lock at this point. He made the team when he was putting up 40 point seasons in the NHL. He will definitely make the team this year when he is putting up a 100 point season.

I think that by removing Crosby, and inserting Gagne, your team would be perfect.

 

[wildone26*]

Gagne is one of the biggest locks of the locks. He is one of the best all around players in the country, and in the NHL today.