Olympics: Your Country's 2022 Roster? (Assuming NHL participation)

[Eye of Ra]

Denmark has no defense, and their forwards except for Eller and Bjorkstrand are in steep decline. It looked like Denmark was closing in on the big hockey nations for many years, but they haven't been able to sustain it.

I think Slovakia and also Latvia can put stronger teams than Danmark on the ice.

no defense? denmark defensive is bunch of good shlers + philip larsen. i dont see how latvia have better defensive.

 

[Elvs]

no defense? denmark defensive is bunch of good shlers + philip larsen. i dont see how latvia have better defensive.

Yes, Denmark has "no defence" in a best on best tournament, and neither does Latvia. Slovakia has a clear edge on both in that department.

But aside from Denmark's top line, I comfortably prefer everything else Latvia has up front, and I think Merzlikins is a better goaltender than both Andersen and Halak. And to top things off, I think Latvia typically plays the best system of any nation outside the top 6 except for Switzerland. Possibly because they are a tight group consisting of many players from Dinamo Riga.

Not saying I think there's much seperation between these three nations at all, though. Any games between them in a best on best tournament could go either way.

 

[Mathieukferland]

Yes, Denmark has "no defence" in a best on best tournament, and neither does Latvia. Slovakia has a clear edge on both in that department.

But aside from Denmark's top line, I comfortably prefer everything else Latvia has up front, and I think Merzlikins is a better goaltender than both Andersen and Halak. And to top things off, I think Latvia typically plays the best system of any nation outside the top 6 except for Switzerland. Possibly because they are a tight group consisting of many players from Dinamo Riga.

Not saying I think there's much seperation between these three nations at all, though. Any games between them in a best on best tournament could go either way.

Does Kristers Gudlevkīs have any magic left in him? The goaltending performance against Canada in Sochi still remains the best I have seen in my life

 

[PanniniClaus]

Denmark has no defense, and their forwards except for Eller and Bjorkstrand are in steep decline. It looked like Denmark was closing in on the big hockey nations for many years, but they haven't been able to sustain it.

I think Slovakia and also Latvia can put stronger teams than Danmark on the ice.

I will agree that the Danish defense is a weak spot. A healthy Freddie Anderson and a currently in form Seb Dahm give the Danes as good, if not better goaltending than the Slovaks.

The best of the Slovak D is quite old save for Cernak.

Denmark have young forwards with more potential than the Slovaks have.

They have a top top line and potential PP unit with a piping hot Ehlers and then Bjorkstrand. Eller can win key faceoffs.

N Jensen/Regin/Boedker offer a solid 2nd line, veteran presence.

Then there are some interesting players like Blichfeld/True/Rondbjerg

If Frans is up to it he can center the 4th line with a banger like P Russell or guys like M From and N Olesen.

Jesper Jensen, Poulsen and Storm offer bottom 6 options. I just don't see how this team is not on par with Slovakia if they are healthy. Any losses of key players and they could slide back to the 11-12 range. Potential is there to be 7th or 8th.

 

[kudla]

I will agree that the Danish defense is a weak spot. A healthy Freddie Anderson and a currently in form Seb Dahm give the Danes as good, if not better goaltending than the Slovaks.

The best of the Slovak D is quite old save for Cernak.

Denmark have young forwards with more potential than the Slovaks have.

They have a top top line and potential PP unit with a piping hot Ehlers and then Bjorkstrand. Eller can win key faceoffs.

N Jensen/Regin/Boedker offer a solid 2nd line, veteran presence.

Then there are some interesting players like Blichfeld/True/Rondbjerg

If Frans is up to it he can center the 4th line with a banger like P Russell or guys like M From and N Olesen.

Jesper Jensen, Poulsen and Storm offer bottom 6 options. I just don't see how this team is not on par with Slovakia if they are healthy. Any losses of key players and they could slide back to the 11-12 range. Potential is there to be 7th or 8th.

Have to agree here, our offense is a bit worse than Denmark and even Latvia on paper. But I am sure we will be better in a few years. Both of these nations seem to have lost some gas meanwhile Slovakia has been slowly crawling out of grave

Denmark have young forwards with more potential than the Slovaks have.

I doubt this unless you still consider Ehlers and Bjorkstrand young

 

[PanniniClaus]

Have to agree here, our offense is a bit worse than Denmark and even Latvia on paper. But I am sure we will be better in a few years. Both of these nations seem to have lost some gas meanwhile Slovakia has been slowly crawling out of grave

I doubt this unless you still consider Ehlers and Bjorkstrand young

For this tourney only..Slovaks have some young players that will bring them back into the fight in the future. I was alluding to True, Blichfeld and Rondbjerg as young guys that could make a difference at the Olympics as they are playing in the AHL.

 

[Elvs]

I will agree that the Danish defense is a weak spot. A healthy Freddie Anderson and a currently in form Seb Dahm give the Danes as good, if not better goaltending than the Slovaks.

The best of the Slovak D is quite old save for Cernak.

Denmark have young forwards with more potential than the Slovaks have.

They have a top top line and potential PP unit with a piping hot Ehlers and then Bjorkstrand. Eller can win key faceoffs.

N Jensen/Regin/Boedker offer a solid 2nd line, veteran presence.

Then there are some interesting players like Blichfeld/True/Rondbjerg

If Frans is up to it he can center the 4th line with a banger like P Russell or guys like M From and N Olesen.

Jesper Jensen, Poulsen and Storm offer bottom 6 options. I just don't see how this team is not on par with Slovakia if they are healthy. Any losses of key players and they could slide back to the 11-12 range. Potential is there to be 7th or 8th.

The way I see it, Denmark clearly has the advantage with Ehlers/Bjorkstrand/Eller over Tatar/Panik/Jurco. But there's hardly any differance between N Jensen/Regin/Boedker and Cehlarik/Hrivik/Hudacek, or Blichfeld/True/Rondbjerg and Ruzicka/Pospisil/Studenic.

And I disagree of your assessment of Slovakia's defence. Cernak is top 4 defenseman in the NHL, with more offensive flair than he gets to show on a stacked Lightning team which has no room for him on the PP. Sekera is still a savvy veteran defenseman, as is Chara (although I question how effective he will be in the Olympics next year, if he continues to play). On the other hand, Martin Fehervary is on good track, and could very well be Slovakia's 2nd best defenseman in the tournament.

Martin Marincin and Christian Jaros are nothing special, but still used to practicing and competing against NHL competition. Both are questionable to even make Slovakias olympic team, while they would probably quite easily play top 4 minutes on Denmark's team. All in all, Slovakia has at least seven or eight defenseman who's arguably better than any Danish defenseman except for Philip Larsen.

Andersen certainly has the capacity to be better than Halak. But in the last couple of seasons he hasn't been. In a short tournament like the Olympics, it's more or less 50/50 who's gonna be better between them.

Again, a game between Slovakia and Denmark could go either way. It basically comes down to Denmark's top line vs Slovakia's defence. In any game where Ehlers/Eller/Bjorkstrand can be shut down, Slovakia is the pretty clear favourite to win, imo.

 

[Eye of Ra]

I would actually say that Latvia have better offensive right now than both Denmark and Slovakia.

Teodors Blugers - Rodrigo Abols - Rudolfs Balcers
Miks Indrasis - Kaspars Daugavins - Martins Dzierkals
Ronalds Kenins - Zemgus Girgensons - Lauris Darzins
Rihards Bukarts - Andris Dzerins - Robert Bukarts

 

[Elvs]

I would actually say that Latvia have better offensive right now than both Denmark and Slovakia.

Teodors Blugers - Rodrigo Abols - Rudolfs Balcers
Miks Indrasis - Kaspars Daugavins - Martins Dzierkals
Ronalds Kenins - Zemgus Girgensons - Lauris Darzins
Rihards Bukarts - Andris Dzerins - Robert Bukarts

I agree. Latvia doesn't have any forward of the same calibre as Ehlers or Tatar – but they have the most depth up front and the best goaltender, imo. It's gonna be interesting to see what team Latvia can assemble at the World Championship in Riga next month. I would not be shocked to see them write history on home ice and reach the semi finals.

No matter how you rank the nations, in a best on best tournament, I think there's a pretty distinct drop off behind Slovakia/Latvia/Denmark (who I rank 9-11 behind Switzerland and Germany), down to the next tier of nations like Norway, France and Austria.

 

[Eye of Ra]

I agree. Latvia doesn't have any forward of the same calibre as Ehlers or Tatar – but they have the most depth up front and the best goaltender, imo. It's gonna be interesting to see what team Latvia can assemble at the World Championship in Riga next month. I would not be shocked to see them write history on home ice and reach the semi finals.

No matter how you rank the nations, in a best on best tournament, I think there's a pretty distinct drop off behind Slovakia/Latvia/Denmark (who I rank 9-11 behind Switzerland and Germany), down to the next tier of nations like Norway, France and Austria.

Norway really lost a step, its sad. They had so many good players...Knutsen, Skröder, Vikingstad, Tollefsen, Myrvold, Jakobsen, Trygg, Holtet, M.Hansen..and younger versions of Thoresen, Olimb Brothers, Bastiansen....

 

[Eye of Ra]

France:

Texier - Da Costa - Roussel
Rech - Bellemare - Bertrand
Bozon - Claireaux - Perret
Douay - Berthon - Bougro

Gallet - Auvitu
Thiry - Morant
Guebey - Chakiachvili

Buysse
Ylönen

 

[Eye of Ra]

The thing with Finland is that they have many youngsters who might explode at any time. Kakko, Kotkanemi, Tolvanen, Kuokkanen, Ruotsalainen, Puljujärvi, Kupari, Luostarien, Välimaki, Juolevi, Jokiharju, Heniola, Lundell etc.....all good players but could become world class anytime joining the other world class players such as Barkov, Teuvo, Aho, Laine, Rantanen, Hintz, Heiskanen, Lindell and half american Ristolainen. If this happens, Finland would be just as good as Canada and USA on the paper. Heck, even without the youngers tunring into star players they still have lots of decent players and that classic sisu stuff that is so strong in some Finnish players that even players playing in Euro League might be choosen, a mammoth tank like Tyvräinen perhaps or Antilla. Or even Sakari Manninen.

And as always, they have good goalies and coaches.

 

[SOLR]

Surprised that none of the Swedish posters are including Holtz, who is pretty mature for his age, while Swedish winger depth is a near disaster after the 2 first lines. Raymond I understand, work in progress, yadi yada.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Surprised that none of the Swedish posters are including Holtz, who is pretty mature for his age, while Swedish winger depth is a near disaster after the 2 first lines. Raymond I understand, work in progress, yadi yada.

Arvidsson, A.Kempe, Bratt, Olofsson, Burakovsky etc is far from near disaster. Holtz is not at their level yet.

 

[EHCler]

Potential Team Germany fpr the Olympics

Grubauer
Niederberger
Treutle

Seider - Gawanke
Holzer - J. Müller
Nowak - Abeltshauser
Wissmann


Kahun - Draisaitl - Reichel
Peterka - Stützle - Tiffels
Michaelis - Sturm - Rieder
Bokk - Eder - Ehliz
Eisenschmid,
Bergmann

That are definitly the most talented group of forwards Germany at least I can remember.

 

[Czechboy]

Potential Team Germany fpr the Olympics

Grubauer
Niederberger
Treutle

Seider - Gawanke
Holzer - J. Müller
Nowak - Abeltshauser
Wissmann


Kahun - Draisaitl - Reichel
Peterka - Stützle - Tiffels
Michaelis - Sturm - Rieder
Bokk - Eder - Ehliz
Eisenschmid,
Bergmann

That are definitly the most talented group of forwards Germany at least I can remember.

They will be very competitive! 2026 will be even better. Drai will still be world class but by 2026... Stutzl and Seider might be in Norris and Hart talks as well.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Linus Ullmark
Robin Lehner
Jacob Markström

Victor Hedman - Mattias Ekholm
Jonas Brodin - John Klingberg
Rasmus Dahlin - Hampus Lindholm
OEL - Rasmus Andersson

Gabriel Landeskog - Nicklas Bäckström - William Nylander
Filip Forsberg - Mika Zibanejad - Elias Lindholm
Richard Rakell - Elias Pettersson - Adrian Kempe
Joel Eriksson Ek - William Karlsson - Jesper Bratt
Andre Burakovsky, Viktor Arvidsson

 

[BigBadBoar]

OK, my Czech roster projection (of course assuming everybody's healthy etc). Maybe with a few surprises.

Vítek Vaněček
Petr Mrázek
Šimon Hrubec

Michal Kempný - Jakub Zbořil
Filip Hronek - Radko Gudas
Radim Šimek - Libor Šulák
Libor Hájek - Michal Moravčík

David Pastrňák - David Krejčí - Ondřej Palát
Jakub Vrána - Tomáš Hertl - Dominik Kubalík
Jakub Voráček - Martin Nečas - Pavel Zacha
Filip Zadina - Radek Faksa - Filip Chytil
Dmitrij Jaškin - David Kämpf

Overall, solid goaltending, very good forwards, questionable defense which would need to rely a lot on Hronek and Kempný.

 

[Czechboy]

OK, my Czech roster projection (of course assuming everybody's healthy etc). Maybe with a few surprises.

Vítek Vaněček
Petr Mrázek
Šimon Hrubec

Michal Kempný - Jakub Zbořil
Filip Hronek - Radko Gudas
Radim Šimek - Libor Šulák
Libor Hájek - Michal Moravčík

David Pastrňák - David Krejčí - Ondřej Palát
Jakub Vrána - Tomáš Hertl - Dominik Kubalík
Jakub Voráček - Martin Nečas - Pavel Zacha
Filip Zadina - Radek Faksa - Filip Chytil
Dmitrij Jaškin - David Kämpf

Overall, solid goaltending, very good forwards, questionable defense which would need to rely a lot on Hronek and Kempný.

I'll be really interested to see how many NHL players we cut for Euro ones... eg. in this example (which is excellent) we've got Jan Rutta for Moravcik and Francouz/Rittich for Hrubec. I still remember when we had no room for Hudler because we already had 2 guys that can score on the wing.lol

 

[Speyer]

Potential Team Germany fpr the Olympics

Grubauer
Niederberger
Treutle

Seider - Gawanke
Holzer - J. Müller
Nowak - Abeltshauser
Wissmann


Kahun - Draisaitl - Reichel
Peterka - Stützle - Tiffels
Michaelis - Sturm - Rieder
Bokk - Eder - Ehliz
Eisenschmid,
Bergmann


That are definitly the most talented group of forwards Germany at least I can remember.

This looks like a very good team for a country outside the top 6. If their young players develop well Germany will probably overtake us (Switzerland) from a best on best point of view...

 

[BigBadBoar]

I'll be really interested to see how many NHL players we cut for Euro ones... eg. in this example (which is excellent) we've got Jan Rutta for Moravcik and Francouz/Rittich for Hrubec. I still remember when we had no room for Hudler because we already had 2 guys that can score on the wing.lol

Hrubec is a very good goalie, I made this projection based on the players' recent performances. Of course the situation may change rapidly until december and Francouz or Rittich may even be no.1 goalie, that's possible. Regarding Rutta, I did not like his performances in the last months, Moravčík is simply a type of defender who would fit better on the team. Obvisously, other people may see it differently.

Regarding the Hudler thing: Hudler is and always has been a primitive moronic personality and I don't wonder he never made the OG team, be it 2010 or 2014. Neither Hadamczik nor Růžička liked him, and that was one of the very few things Hadamczik and Růžička could ever agree upon. Otherwise, the 2014 team was strange with some weird omissions (above all Vrbata and Hejda), but with Hudler, I completely understand that. There were some hints than even Patrik Eliáš as one of the veteran players was against the posibility of inviting Hudler. He has simply been that guy not many other guys used to be OK with, and his after-career drunkard "perfomances" just underlined it all. Sometimes you simply must take a guy with a moron personality on the roster and hope for the coach to handle him, but Hudler wasn't this caliber of a superstar player.

 

[Goodman68]

OK, my Czech roster projection (of course assuming everybody's healthy etc). Maybe with a few surprises.

Vítek Vaněček
Petr Mrázek
Šimon Hrubec

Michal Kempný - Jakub Zbořil
Filip Hronek - Radko Gudas
Radim Šimek - Libor Šulák
Libor Hájek - Michal Moravčík

David Pastrňák - David Krejčí - Ondřej Palát
Jakub Vrána - Tomáš Hertl - Dominik Kubalík
Jakub Voráček - Martin Nečas - Pavel Zacha
Filip Zadina - Radek Faksa - Filip Chytil
Dmitrij Jaškin - David Kämpf

Overall, solid goaltending, very good forwards, questionable defense which would need to rely a lot on Hronek and Kempný.

Interestingly, both Chytil and Zacha were designed as centers, but they are clearly doing better on the wing. Too bad, the centers are scarce goods.

 

[BigBadBoar]

Interestingly, both Chytil and Zacha were designed as centers, but they are clearly doing better on the wing. Too bad, the centers are scarce goods.

I think they can both play a winger or a C quite equally, which is always good. The same with Nečas. I don't think we would have any lack of C's. Kämpf can play C as well, and there are still Kovář or Špaček I did not pick for this projection but who should as well be among the players under consideration. Our weak sport is clearly the defense.

 

[Czechboy]

Hrubec is a very good goalie, I made this projection based on the players' recent performances. Of course the situation may change rapidly until december and Francouz or Rittich may even be no.1 goalie, that's possible. Regarding Rutta, I did not like his performances in the last months, Moravčík is simply a type of defender who would fit better on the team. Obvisously, other people may see it differently.

Regarding the Hudler thing: Hudler is and always has been a primitive moronic personality and I don't wonder he never made the OG team, be it 2010 or 2014. Neither Hadamczik nor Růžička liked him, and that was one of the very few things Hadamczik and Růžička could ever agree upon. Otherwise, the 2014 team was strange with some weird omissions (above all Vrbata and Hejda), but with Hudler, I completely understand that. There were some hints than even Patrik Eliáš as one of the veteran players was against the posibility of inviting Hudler. He has simply been that guy not many other guys used to be OK with, and his after-career drunkard "perfomances" just underlined it all. Sometimes you simply must take a guy with a moron personality on the roster and hope for the coach to handle him, but Hudler wasn't this caliber of a superstar player.

I have to ask.. does Hejda have a primitive moronic personality as well?lol

 

[Goodman68]

I think they can both play a winger or a C quite equally, which is always good. The same with Nečas. I don't think we would have any lack of C's. Kämpf can play C as well, and there are still Kovář or Špaček I did not pick for this projection but who should as well be among the players under consideration. Our weak sport is clearly the defense.

I took it according to the fan ratings. I know it's tricky and as it was written, they will find a scapegoat .. But they praise the players for this season .. I just have to correct it a bit, Chytil played centers at the end of the season, I think he played the wing at the beginning, as well as last year. And some of them see it more on the wing, according to Zacha it was quite obvious to them, excellent on the wing, allegedly bad in the center. As I write, it's just a fan's eye
Otherwise yes, Nečas in the middle will not have a problem and the problem is defense. Obviously, we must hope that these promising players will fulfill their potential.