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The 2014 Olympic Squads - A preview


Commandant

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Bobby Ryan being skipped isn't a big deal. The bigger deal is picking Cam Fowler over Keith Yandle. Yandle on his worst day is a better defender than Fowler on his best.

I would take Fowler & Yandle over Martin or Orpik.

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This was another case of over-thinking, and perhaps a little bit of the cart pushing the horse. Orpik and Martin are clearly given preferential status because of Bylsma being the head coach. As for Ryan, he's probably the fourth best offensive player the Americans have after Kane, Kessel, and Parise, and they definitely should have found a spot for him. The 'third-line penalty killer' argument is malarkey, as Canada has demonstrated in the past. It will never go exactly as you draw it up, so you want to go with the most talent available.

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Parise Backes Kessel

Kane Stepan Ryan

Pacioretty Statsny Kesler

Saad Pavelski Brown

Smith Okposo

Suter Yandle

McDonagh Carlson

J.Johnson E.Johnson

Shattenkirk

Quick

Miller

Schneider

That was not easy.

Meh, not so bad lol.. Fowler & Faulk come as a surprise to me. JVR on large ice. Im not too sure.

Quick Miller & Howard is also pretty silly. The 3rd goalie will probably never participate. Imo, best to bring a young player along to gain experience for future national events.

FInally, off the cuff, I think MB should waive Murray and sign Jamie Macoun. That is all.

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Can't believe Burke bashed Ryan in the press. What an A-hole. If they get injuries before the Olympics, Ryan should tell them to suck it.

Egomaniacal people cant help themselves and say stuff like Burke and Cherry do.

"Narcissism- Deriving erotic gratification from admiration of his or her own physical or mental attributes" likely fits the bill for those 2 wouldn't you say.

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I think picking Howard over Bishop is possibly the stupidest thing I have ever seen. "we think his experience will be helpful". This season and last the only experience he has is as a loser.

It was definitely dumb, though Howard is the third string goalie. He likely won't see a second of ice time. Cam Fowler will be expected to play more than 15 minutes a game.

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Some lineups are puzzling.

I'm gonna lay down my own lineup cuz I'm excited about Olympics hockey :

Nash - Crosby © - Stamkos

Giroux - Tavares - Eberle

Getzlaf - Toews (a) - M. Richards

Perry - Bergeron - St-Louis

Hall and Carter or Staal as backups

(I don't have a clue about who can play off position, but one sure thing is that I want all three Crosby, Bergeron and Toews at C...)

Keith - Seabrook

Doughty - Weber (a)

Pietrangelo - Subban

Letang

(I don't have a clue about who can play off position)

Crawford - Price - Luongo (I don't have a clue which one will start)

9/14

5/7 (cuz I only listed 7)

2/3

Not so bad...

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Neal Crosby Stamkos

Tavares Toews Giroux

Nash Getzlaf Perry

Duchene E.Staal Bergeron

Benn Seguin

Keith Seabrook

Weber Subban

Bouwmeester Pietrangelo

Doughty

Luongo

Price

Holtby

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Some pretty big snubs from the different teams. Obviously a lot has been said about Ryan and Yandle (I can understand the reasons behind Ryan but Yandle is a real shocker), but how about Hedman not making Sweden? Russia leaving off Semin and Yakupov. Perhaps the weirdest one to me was Czechs leaving off Vrbata, but going with the 42 year old Nedved.

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Some pretty big snubs from the different teams. Obviously a lot has been said about Ryan and Yandle (I can understand the reasons behind Ryan but Yandle is a real shocker), but how about Hedman not making Sweden? Russia leaving off Semin and Yakupov. Perhaps the weirdest one to me was Czechs leaving off Vrbata, but going with the 42 year old Nedved.

Czechs skipped on numerous NHLers, like Hemsky ? 100% politics I would assume?

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Hemsky is on the team. Do you mean Hudler?

Bizarre they were both left off considering Hudler is on pace for a career year on a pretty bad team and Vrbata is on pace to tie his career, which was only 2 years ago (scoring 35 goals).

I feel kind of bad for them because they might not be as strong as the elite teams on paper, but I feel they have enough talent to pull off some major upsets and take a run at a medal. It's a shame they elected not to ice their best possible roster.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Smith has been very shakey lately and lil Carey also, so Bobby Lou seems a lock for starter and good for him after all the crap has had to put up with, basically since 2010, when he had a bad playoffs after winning Gold.

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Carey must be pissed at his teammates, making him look bad for Sochi.

On the other hand... Russia will be relying on Markov and Emelin for defense. Good thing they can turn to Anton Belov.

Will be interesting to see how Habs do there?

Price should have a chance to earn starter role during exhibition games I think? But, he really is off his game (it seems) and overplaying stuff; like, going for a big glove save when he could of simply been in normal goalie position and let puck hit him.

(but I am by no means a goalie critic, just seems that he is sliding and flip-flopping too much and also getting pissed off also, when normally was much more stoic)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Stamkos not medically cleared to go to Sochi. I think this is for the best - Stamkos at 70% isn't better than St-Louis or Giroux or Neal at 100%.

Yzerman better take St-Louis this time around, or there will be hell to pay.

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Looks like it's St. Louis. I'm just wondering if it's a decision based on sentimentality. I mean for a 38 year old to perform this well at this stage of his career is amazing. But being objective, I would think Neal fills the RW need much better. He also has that chemistry with Crosby already and is the pure goal scorer that Stamkos would have been for us during the games. He's consistently at 0.5 goals per game for the last 3 years.

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Looks like it's St. Louis. I'm just wondering if it's a decision based on sentimentality. I mean for a 38 year old to perform this well at this stage of his career is amazing. But being objective, I would think Neal fills the RW need much better. He also has that chemistry with Crosby already and is the pure goal scorer that Stamkos would have been for us during the games. He's consistently at 0.5 goals per game for the last 3 years.

being objective st. louis finished 1st in league scoring last season. and has 14 points in 15 games.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Kudos to Ovechkin for standing up and being the 1 russian doing media interview right after loss and acting more like a leader, he is maturing.

Finns could easily upset anyone with Rask.

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