Team USA Olympic Summer Camp

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

How many gold?

Have always liked and respected Finnish hockey (Selanne is one of my all-time favorite players). But their depth, as well as their high-end talent, just isn't there right now to close the deal, IMO.

Switzerland in 2014. Book it.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Switzerland in 2014. Book it.

That would be so awesome

[vilzeh]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

How many gold?

Have always liked and respected Finnish hockey (Selanne is one of my all-time favorite players). But their depth, as well as their high-end talent, just isn't there right now to close the deal, IMO.

How many golds does Russia or USA have?

I get it, but still, the past 4 Olympics Finland have been an Elite team, 2002 they lost 2-1 to Canada, in quarterfinals, which was probably the best game in the Olympics, before and after that, only medals, 2006 was Finland´s domination, but Sweden is Sweden and they can neutralize anyone.

[Textcritic]

^
God, I hate Sweden. Is that weird?

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by vilzeh

How many golds does Russia or USA have?

I get it, but still, the past 4 Olympics Finland have been an Elite team, 2002 they lost 2-1 to Canada, in quarterfinals, which was probably the best game in the Olympics, before and after that, only medals, 2006 was Finland´s domination, but Sweden is Sweden and they can neutralize anyone.

Well let me put it this way...

I sincerely hope that Finland destroys Russia, USA and Sweden

[Coach]

Sweden looks to be the best team other than Canada IMO. Although all teams look decent as the Olympics get better and better IMO.

[vilzeh]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

^
God, I hate Sweden. Is that weird?

No, let the hate flow through you!

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Switzerland in 2014. Book it.

I could never cheer against Canada, but that is the one situation where I wouldn't be mad at a loss. I would love to see the Swiss break out on the big stage led by Sven & Yogi

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

I'm thinking it'll probably be another Canada/US Final again. I can't see how it won't with the two rosters they have.

Any word on what the Russian team looks like?

Sweden looks like the favourite. To me the U.S. looks weak everywhere but in goal.

[neo45]

The Russian defense looks like a mess. Probably going to be Gonchar, Emelin, Markov and then who knows who else. Heads will roll if they blow it again

Sweden is bringing a well balanced team for sure.

Canada's defense will be the best but the big question mark is goaltending. Price and Luongo are choke artists but seem to be the best two options

Finland looks very underwhelming this year, only strong in net as usual

US looks pretty weak up front and very weak on D. Interested to see who pairs with Suter and logs big minutes. Shattenkirk will easily be muscled around by Canada's forwards, Erik Johnson doesn't seem good enough for the job, perhaps Yandle? Luckily for them they have the best goalie in the world

[badger89]

Originally Posted by neo45

Interested to see who pairs with Suter and logs big minutes. Shattenkirk will easily be muscled around by Canada's forwards, Erik Johnson doesn't seem good enough for the job, perhaps Yandle? Luckily for them they have the best goalie in the world

Suter and Yandle would make a very good pairing and could eat big minutes. Yandle is very underrated.



Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

[tempz]

To carry on the discussion from yesterday about our defense not being that far apart I decided to crunch some numbers to see if I was smoking as much crack as everyone seemed to think when I made the statement yesterday about the US defensive core being close to if not better than Canadas.

What I did was I took the top 6 left handed shots and the top 6 right handed shots from each country. Lined them up, came up with a top 7 for each country. Compared their stats for last season as both an entire pool of players both countries have to draw from, and the top 7 I came up with.

Things I found from this comparison:

1) Canada has a much deeper pool to draw from, blows the US away when you analyze the top 12
2) Team Canada is very strong on right handed shots, weak on left handed shots where as Team USA has a better mix of both handed shots.
3) This does not take into consideration that Team Canada may have Right Handed shots playing the right point on their actual final roster.
4) I left off Letang and Subban from the final grouping, yes that skews the numbers a bit but I don't think I'm way off in the rosters I came up with.

Rosters I went with, please let me know if you think these are way off or if I missed someone (entirely possible) and I'll make adjustments:

USA:

Carlson - Suter
Shattenkirk - Yandle
Byfuglien - Mcdonagh
Martin

Canada:

Weber - Keith
Doughty - Bouwmeester
Pietrangelo - Staal
Seabrook

GP, Weight, TOI are all averages. I'm not smart enough to know how to average height without too much work. All stats pulled from hockey-reference.com.

NSFW!

TLDR - People here undervalue the likes of Carlson, Mcdonagh, and Yandle. Feel free to flame away at what I skrewed up and how much I suck because team Canada is Godly and no one is even close and one year of stats isn't relevant etc. etc.

Note: I'm Canadian.

[moon]

I had Staal on my team but doubt that both he and Bouwmeester are there over Letang. I would replace one of them with Letang.

I think it is interesting to look at all the stats but the easiest way for me is to look at the pools and see who you would take on a team:

Keith-Seabrook
Weber-Suter
Doughty-Pietrangelo
Letang

If you combine the two countries that is my roster with Bouw or Staal possibly replacing Letang. I don't see another American outside of Suter close to making a combined roster. Even the next six would be light on Americans:

Bouw-Boyle
Staal-McDonagh
Girardi/Hamhuis-Subban
Yandle

[tempz]

Originally Posted by moon

I had Staal on my team but doubt that both he and Bouwmeester are there over Letang. I would replace one of them with Letang.

I think it is interesting to look at all the stats but the easiest way for me is to look at the pools and see who you would take on a team:

Keith-Seabrook
Weber-Suter
Doughty-Pietrangelo
Letang

If you combine the two countries that is my roster with Bouw or Staal possibly replacing Letang. I don't see another American outside of Suter close to making a combined roster. Even the next six would be light on Americans:

Bouw-Boyle
Staal-McDonagh
Girardi/Hamhuis-Subban
Yandle

When I say I prefer the US roster that was a bit of a stretch, I'd still favor Canada. But the point I'm trying to make is people who are saying it's not even close and making it sound like the defense is going be a major weakness for the US team are incorrect. The defensive corp they will ice will be very serviceable and will play hard productive minutes, even if they don't have all the sexy names that Team Canada has.

Now forwards is a completely different story. They are going to struggle up front and will need to rely on their defense and goaltending if they are going to have any success.

[Enoch Root]

So is your argument that, because points and plus/minus are comparable, that the D corps are comparable?

Because it doesn't work that way.

Also, leaving off the two top point getters and then comparing points is pretty funny.

But whatever. You are untitled to your opinion.

For me, just because a guy like Yandle gets comparable points to a guy like Weber does not make them comparable defensemen. It just doesn't work like that.

And another problem with points is that each of these defensemen (on both teams) is the key pointman on their team - they are getting PP time and key zone time. However, as a combined roster, that won't be the case. You need roles and you need balance.

And that's where Suter is the only one as complete as the guys on Team Canada. Shatenkirk and Byflugien and Carlson and Yandle simply do not have the overall game that Weber and Pietrangelo and Keith and Doughty have.

And because the Canadian D is so strong in all aspects, that also allows them to take a 7th guy like Letang, purely for his offense. That is a very valuable asset to have.

[AC]

Scott Cruickshank ‏@CruickshankCH
Thought #Flames RW Lee Stempniak was a possibility for U.S. orientation camp. Only seven American forwards had more points last season.

[moon]

Originally Posted by tempz

When I say I prefer the US roster that was a bit of a stretch, I'd still favor Canada. But the point I'm trying to make is people who are saying it's not even close and making it sound like the defense is going be a major weakness for the US team are incorrect. The defensive corp they will ice will be very serviceable and will play hard productive minutes, even if they don't have all the sexy names that Team Canada has.

Now forwards is a completely different story. They are going to struggle up front and will need to rely on their defense and goaltending if they are going to have any success.

I don't think it is a weakness and compared to other countries it isn't that bad but it is clearly a step below Canada's (every countries is) and not really close at all in my view.

[cannon7]

The USA's forwards are going to be tough to play against, hard checking and plenty of speed. Their D is rather soft and smallish, however...

[tempz]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

So is your argument that, because points and plus/minus are comparable, that the D corps are comparable?

Because it doesn't work that way.

Also, leaving off the two top point getters and then comparing points is pretty funny.

But whatever. You are untitled to your opinion.

For me, just because a guy like Yandle gets comparable points to a guy like Weber does not make them comparable defensemen. It just doesn't work like that.

And another problem with points is that each of these defensemen (on both teams) is the key pointman on their team - they are getting PP time and key zone time. However, as a combined roster, that won't be the case. You need roles and you need balance.

And that's where Suter is the only one as complete as the guys on Team Canada. Shatenkirk and Byflugien and Carlson and Yandle simply do not have the overall game that Weber and Pietrangelo and Keith and Doughty have.

And because the Canadian D is so strong in all aspects, that also allows them to take a 7th guy like Letang, purely for his offense. That is a very valuable asset to have.

All I'm trying to show is the gap isn't as big as people make it out to be.

The point was that players on both sides chew up massive minutes in the NHL against top level competition and perform pretty similarly statistically overall. Is this foolproof? Heck no. Are Canadian defensemen "sexier" and more likely to make big plays? Absolutely. Would more than one member of the American defense make team Canada? Probably not.

[moon]

I think you are underselling the Canadian guys by calling them "sexier." They aren't "sexier" players they are better players.

To me it is coming off as though you are saying they are equal/similar guys but people like the Canadian guys better because they have more recognizable names. People like the Canadian guys more because they are much better.

But perhaps I am miss reading your use of the word.