World Cup 2016: Best On Best?

[Jack Butler]

Do you consider the 2016 World Cup to be a best on best tournament?

Click to read more...

 

[Jack Butler]

Some pros and cons:

Pro - the best players in the world will be there.

Con - team NA possibly diluting the talent on the 2 NA teams.
- team Europe...

 

[tony d]

Yeah I do, the top 6 hockey nations are there. A good young guns team, best of Team Europe. I'm expecting a great tournament.

 

[Elvs]

No.

Most of the best players are there. But if the gimmick teams were removed we could potentially see all 6-8 teams go at it the way Canada vs USA have been doing.

 

[tade]

Nope.

 

[Paxton Fettel]

Team NA23 will lose on purpose against either Canada or USA in the semifinal, so it's not really best on best. Team Europe doesn't seem to care, I would have rather seen Switzerland and Slovakia.

 

[Paxton Fettel]

Just put the top 6 teams in one group with the top 4 qualifying for the playoff round.

 

[Dallas Winston]

Yes who gives a **** about Slovakia or Switzerland. They have no chance anyways

 

[Orange Dragon]

Yes who gives a **** about Slovakia or Switzerland. They have no chance anyways

Slovaks and Swiss? No one gives a **** about Team Europe.

 

[Dallas Winston]

Who has the potential to actually have a chance and not get destroyed like 10-0

 

[Elvs]

Yes who gives a **** about Slovakia or Switzerland. They have no chance anyways

I wonder which hurts the most...

Is it Canada needing the shootout to beat Switzerland in the 2010 Olympics?

Is it Canada losing to Switzerland 1-4 at the 2010 WC?

Is it Canada needing OT to beat Switzerland at the 2011 WC?

Is it Canada losing to Slovakia at the 2012 WC?

Is it USA losing to Slovakia at the 2012 WC?

Is it Canada losing to Switzerland at the 2013 WC?

Is it USA losing to Slovakia at the 2013 WC?

Is it USA losing to Slovakia at the 2015 WC?

Take your pick. I already know what defenders are gonna say next. "Yeah well we didn't have all our best in the WC's". Well neither did they. And who do you think suffered more from it? Who has more depth to choose from?

And I didn't even bring up all the other times Slovakia and Switzerland put up close fights with Canada and the U.S. Or the times when they challenged, and some times beat, Sweden, Finland, Russia and the Czechs.

Slovakia and Switzerland are a step behind the big 6, but they are defenitely ahead of the rest. Yet they are being thrown into the same category as Slovenia, France, Italy and Austria on these forums. With comments like this:

Who has the potential to actually have a chance and not get destroyed like 10-0

 

[tade]

Yes who gives a **** about Slovakia or Switzerland. They have no chance anyways

Who? People from Slovakia and Switzerland, at the very least, and hockey is pretty popular sport there. No one gives a **** about Team Europe.

 

[86Habs]

No, of course not

 

[holyprime]

I wonder which hurts the most...

Don't bother, some people choose to be ignorant.

On topic: No it is not. Luca Sbisa plays for Team Europe. There are several swiss dmen better than him currently playing in the NLA. There are several other players on that team that wouldn't belong in a best-on-best as well.

It's what you get when the main goal is to fill a tournament with as many players from your league as possible.

 

[xxxx]

delete

 

[JackSlater]

Two simple questions -

1. Can USA select all of its best players?

2. Can Canada select all of its best players?

Since the answer to both questions is very clearly no, it can't be considered a best on best. The existence of the gimmick teams also gets in the way even if USA and Canada were free to select whoever they wanted, but the biggest issue is the answer to those two questions.

 

[Gary Nylund]

The poll results seem to confirm what some others (notably TrueHockeyFan) have been saying all along - since there is no official definition for "best on best", opinions vary. Of course there will always be those who insist that they have a monopoly on the truth ...

I have said before that I don't view this as best on best but on the other hand, these are the best players in the world playing each other so I can absolutely understand people who do view it that way and don't think it's worth arguing over.

Not voting in this poll.

 

[kp61c]

the existence of the team north america makes this question rhetorical

 

[JackSlater]

The poll results seem to confirm what some others (notably TrueHockeyFan) have been saying all along - since there is no official definition for "best on best", opinions vary. Of course there will always be those who insist that they have a monopoly on the truth ...

I have said before that I don't view this as best on best but on the other hand, these are the best players in the world playing each other so I can absolutely understand people who do view it that way and don't think it's worth arguing over.

Not voting in this poll.

Yes, True Hockey Fan has indeed done a good job of providing evidence that some people are inevitably wrong. Also funny that you know it isn't a best on best but refuse to vote.

Interested in seeing anyone who claims that it is a best on best answer the question of whether USA and Canada can select all of their best players. The answer an obvious, and also explains why it is not a best on best.

 

[Dallas Winston]

Yeah let's act like those two countries have any kind of chance against Canada in a best on best.

 

[Canuckistani]

Two non-national teams and two teams with an age restriction.

Clearly not.

 

[Voodoozz]

Yeah let's act like those two countries have any kind of chance against Canada in a best on best.

There's always a chance. Canada humiliated Switzerland 3-2 in a shootout at the 2010 OG.(BEST ON BEST) Canada destroyed Latvia 2-1 at 2014 OG. (BEST ON BEST)

 

[daver]

Yes who gives a **** about Slovakia or Switzerland. They have no chance anyways

A lot more people than those who give a **** about your opinion.

 

[86Habs]

The poll results seem to confirm what some others (notably TrueHockeyFan) have been saying all along - since there is no official definition for "best on best", opinions vary. Of course there will always be those who insist that they have a monopoly on the truth ...

I have said before that I don't view this as best on best but on the other hand, these are the best players in the world playing each other so I can absolutely understand people who do view it that way and don't think it's worth arguing over.

Not voting in this poll.

Well, it has been defined a certain way since 1976, when the first Canada Cup was held. No one argues that the pre-1998 Olympics, annual World Championships, '79 Challenge Cup or Rendez-Vous '87 are "best-on-best", and there is a reason for that. The fact that several of these tournaments produced excellent hockey and involved most of the best players in the world (such is the case with this current World Cup) is beside the point.

It's certainly OK for this World Cup to be considered/defined as something a bit different, and for people to enjoy the hockey, but when certain teams are prohibited from selecting who they deem to be their "best" players, well, the tournament can't really be called best-on-best.

 

[Elvs]

There's always a chance. Canada humiliated Switzerland 3-2 in a shootout at the 2010 OG.(BEST ON BEST) Canada destroyed Latvia 2-1 at 2014 OG. (BEST ON BEST)

Don't forget when Russia destroyed Slovakia in a 1-0 shootout victory at the 2014 OG (BEST ON BEST). Or those times Slovakia beat Russia and Sweden at the 2010 OG (BEST ON BEST).

Or that time in the WC 2012 when Slovakia beat Canada. Sure it wasn't best on best. And poor Canada only had Duncan Keith, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, John Tavares, Ryan O'Reilly, Patrick Sharp, Jamie Benn, Andrew Ladd etc.

Meanwhile, Slovakia who has so many great players everywhere in the world to chose from, didn't suffer at all with no Marian Hossa, no Marian Gaborik, no Lubomir Visnovsky, no Andrej Meszaros, no Jaroslav Halak and no Peter Budaj. Afterall, Michal Sersen > Duncan Keith.