Tournament Starts Today
- Thread starter Peter D.
- Start date
bustaheims
Active member
Nik the Trik said:
That's part of it, as well. I was looking through the roster, and there's a number of players on the team that I don't think would have been in serious consideration for Canada - and, I know that's something we can say about pretty much every country in this tournament, but, nevertheless, at this level, Canada is the standard that needs to be approached for teams to have a chance.
herman
Well-known member
Not that they would have picked them anyway, but TNA has a lot of promising US players in Gaudreau, Matthews, Eichel, Larkin, Gostisbehere, Jones, etc.
The US program is like what the Leafs were like a couple of years ago: promise in the prospect ranks, nearly a desert at the top, and chronically coached/managed by people stuck on an old formula after a brief taste of near victory.
The US program is like what the Leafs were like a couple of years ago: promise in the prospect ranks, nearly a desert at the top, and chronically coached/managed by people stuck on an old formula after a brief taste of near victory.
Heroic Shrimp
New member
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
The guy who introduced "Cory" Price and couldn't correctly pronounce French names in the starting lineup? I sure hope not.
Kin
New member
herman said:
Those are all talented players, sure, but I don't know if they would do much to close the talent gap when you consider the people who could be here for Canada but aren't.
Team USA just needs to learn what Canada had to learn after 06. No team, even Canada, is good enough to be too cute when picking a roster. You've got to bring the best of the talent you have and have a coach that can mold them into something.
Heroic Shrimp said:
It's not. They're using guys from Winnipeg and Vancouver.
Deebo said:
You know Kessel could have probably coached this team better than Torts did. Heck he could have probably ran the entire thing better than USA Hockey did.
Nik the Trik said:
This could very well be their Turin though, where they realize they need to re-think how they do things. And one thing that's really stood out to me with their rosters in the past couple of best-on-best tournaments has been their lack of a star centre. Pavelski's a really good player, but I don't know I've never really considered him like a top-10 centre of anything like that. And then they'd had Stepan, Backes, and Kesler behind him usually, and those guys are all probably more the really good 2C-types (if Kesler is even that anymore). So in 4 years if Matthews and Eichel progress like everyone thinks they will that'll give them a really solid 1-2 punch down the middle that can compete with the other nations. Just spit-balling here but in 4 years they could see a line-up like:
Gaudreau-Matthews-Kane
Pacioretty-Eichel-Kessel
Parise-Johnson-Pavelski
JVR-Stepan-Wheeler
And still have players like Saad, Larkin, Galchenyuk, Okposo plus other younger guys left over. Sure, it's no Canada, but on paper no other country ever is. I had fun making fun of this team this year because I figured it'd be the last time they were a laughing stock. As long as guys like Lombardi and Tortorella aren't involved they should at least be a medal-threat instead of someone nobody should have expected in the semi-finals.
Heroic Shrimp
New member
He's since deleted the tweet, but US sled hockey player tweeted this last night:
"Really glad I was born without legs. The US sled team has a much better track record of success than the US stand up men's team?."
? Josh Pauls (@spudsusa27) September 21, 2016
Ouch.
"Really glad I was born without legs. The US sled team has a much better track record of success than the US stand up men's team?."
? Josh Pauls (@spudsusa27) September 21, 2016
Ouch.
hockeyfan1
New member
Nik the Trik said:
Many questioned the roster choices even before the tournament commenced. For instance, where were players such as Okposo, Kessel, Shattenkirk etc.? Much criticism has been leveled at management (including coach Tortorella) as this US squad was built to play a 'heavier' style of hockey. It doesn't stop there. There has been much head-scratching over why this American team was unable to display a sense of enthusiasm or whatever. They failed to coalesce as a group. And they thereby gave the impression of paying lip service, so to speak, to this event.
As. Brett Hull mentioned, this group did not show enough enthusiasm or interest, and he found it puzzling that a players as talented as they are, could not work up the sense of importance or generate any diversion to their game.
Too bad for them. I, BTW, applaud Kessel for speaking out. And rightly so.
herman
Well-known member
How can you beat Canada's thrice distilled concentration of premier hockey talent*? The only way seems to be catching them resting on their laurels (Turin, Nagano sort of). It's not likely while they still have Mike Babcock coaching. They're too systematic and almost ego-less the way they break up rushes, and break down defenses and let their talent go to work.
I could see why the US program went the route they did (with a brain trust of Lombardi, Burke, and Tortorella?); they knew there was no closing the talent gap, so they doubled down on what they could beat Canada in and hoped it would throw them off accordingly.
* how does anyone beat the US national basketball team?
I could see why the US program went the route they did (with a brain trust of Lombardi, Burke, and Tortorella?); they knew there was no closing the talent gap, so they doubled down on what they could beat Canada in and hoped it would throw them off accordingly.
* how does anyone beat the US national basketball team?
Kin
New member
CarltonTheBear said:
I agree that the team you make there would be better suited internationally than this one(although it strikes me as unlikely that Parise, and maybe Pavelski, will make the team at 36).
So, the way I see it if it's something like
Gaudreau-Eichel-Kane
Pacioretty-Matthews-Larkin
JVR-Johnson-Kessel
Pavelski-Stepan-Okposo
It's again a better roster but it's not without it's issues(6 forwards are 30+) and if you assume an injury or two then it's still not a team that can withstand even a couple of headscratching decisions and not be more or less where they are now.
Anyways, I think we largely agree they need to be smarter in picking their team and I agree that Matthews and Eichel offer them something they've lacked in recent years.