Team Russia (rumoured)

[moon]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

The top pairing of Markov and Voynov is actually quite good. Tyutin and Emelin make a solid second pairing. And yes, they'll need a couple guys to play above their heads on the bottom pairing. But this is hardly a tournament ruining defensive unit especially on home ice.

That is an okay top pairing in the NHL and a bad (especially defensively) pairing in international hockey.

Emelin has never been great and now a habs fan said he is playing worse than normal and he is the 3rd defenseman for the team?

That defense is a good, not great NHL defensive group. That is not a good sign for a team wanting Gold medal with skaky goaltending and a forward group not known for their 200 ft. game.

[_Q_]

Going into this tournament, this will definitely be the most over rated team of the top 6 or 7.

Outside of 3 or 4 top forwards, this is a horrible team. They'll be lucky to make it past the Quarter finals, let alone get a medal.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I could see a conscious decision to put more KHL players on the roster to show that their league is just as good as the NHL. The Russians are like that.

I don't think it's a terrible roster, but that dcore looks pretty weak. Belov in the Oympics? Yikes.

Then how come Nigel Dawes didnt make Team Canada? Hes currently 6th in scoring in the KHL, thats three spots ahead of Russian Superstar Ilya Kovalchuk! Not to mention Kyle Wilson in 5th! Dustin Boyd is in 11th but hes gunning for top 10! I knew we gave up on those guys too soon!

Jonathan Cheechoo is in a disappointing 15th.

http://en.khl.ru/stat/leaders/244/pts/

Originally Posted by T@T

Where is Ruslan Zainullin?

I think Sergei Fedorov is still kicking around someplace, why didnt he make the team? I mean, if the Czechs can bring Petr Nedved....

[stemit14]

I think team canada will be able to roll all 4 lines against anyone in the tournament. The Russians on the other hand will have to play like the penguins play... Constantly double-shifting top players like malkin, datsyuk, Ovechkin and kovalchuk.

They don't have anywhere near the depth of team canada... No one does. But they do have what most people would consider 2 of the top 3 players in the world in datsyuk and malkin.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Locke

Then how come Nigel Dawes didnt make Team Canada? Hes currently 6th in scoring in the KHL, thats three spots ahead of Russian Superstar Ilya Kovalchuk! Not to mention Kyle Wilson in 5th! Dustin Boyd is in 11th but hes gunning for top 10! I knew we gave up on those guys too soon!

Jonathan Cheechoo is in a disappointing 15th.

I didn't say it was a very valid way of going about things, but with all the Putinesque chest-pounding and patriotism that goes on in Russia, I wouldn't be surprised if that played some role. There's always some sort of politics involved.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I didn't say it was a very valid way of going about things, but with all the Putinesque chest-pounding and patriotism that goes on in Russia, I wouldn't be surprised if that played some role. There's always some sort of politics involved.

I agree, I was just illustrating how wacky the KHL is in terms of scoring leaders.

[Righteous1]

Originally Posted by JonDuke

Can't wait until we destroy them.

Team Kopitarz > Mother Russia

[BlackEleven]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Official link:

http://fhr.ru/main/news/card/?id_4=8617

 Varlamov Semen Aleksandrovich	27.04.1988	COLORADO EVALANSH	184	88

COLORADO EVALANSH -- You can hear the accent in the spelling!

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Locke

Then how come Nigel Dawes didnt make Team Canada? Hes currently 6th in scoring in the KHL, thats three spots ahead of Russian Superstar Ilya Kovalchuk! Not to mention Kyle Wilson in 5th! Dustin Boyd is in 11th but hes gunning for top 10! I knew we gave up on those guys too soon!

Jonathan Cheechoo is in a disappointing 15th.

http://en.khl.ru/stat/leaders/244/pts/




I think Sergei Fedorov is still kicking around someplace, why didnt he make the team? I mean, if the Czechs can bring Petr Nedved....

Fedorov actually suited up and played this year in a Spengler Cup game for CSKA Moscow.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by BlackEleven

COLORADO EVALANSH -- You can hear the accent in the spelling!

Also quite an unfortunate middle name.

edit: nm, I read that like an idiot, unfortunate transliteration of his first name into english.

[Barnes]

Dp

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Handsome B. Wonderful

There's only 13 Russian d-men, 6 Russian goalies, and 12 Russian forwards in the NHL right now and only the top 3 or 4 of each group is any good.

Wow, those are some low numbers. I didn't realize they had so few. That seems to be a sharp decline from a few years ago.

Either way I do think there's a concious effort by Russia, especially for the Russian Olympics, to "showcase" the KHL players. And leaving Semin off is ludicrous regardless.

They're gonna get thumped.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Official link:

http://fhr.ru/main/news/card/?id_4=8617

Kulemin Nikolay Vladimirovich    14.07.1986    TORONTNO MAPLE LEAFS    185    96

Freudian.

[RyZ]

Outside of the top 6 forwards, that is not a very impressive roster. Canada, USA, Finland and Sweden are gonna make mince meat out of the KHL players. I could see that roster not medaling.

[calumniate]

They should give Boris Mironov a call pronto!

[Cowboy89]

I wouldn't automatically assume that Russia is going to be destroyed by Canada and the US this year.

It's no coincidence that Canada won on North American Ice in 2002 & 2010 against the US in the finals while both teams failed to make the gold medal game in each of 1998 & 2006 when played on international ice.

[$ven27]

No Gonchar?

[vilzeh]

Finland's defense never looked even that good and yet they were in the finals in 2006. ;D

[btimbit]

Good forwards, average everything else. Home ice advantage gives them Bronze at best imo. They probably be pretty high scoring, but so will anyone they face with that D.