Canada vs. The World (All Time Teams)

[powderjunkie]

It's summer. Time for some good ole' fashioned subjective comparisons.

Note: I under-ranked or didn't even include some of the older guys (Richard should probably be on line 1, Shore&Harvey, etc.). It's more fun to have lines that you can actually picture though. Along the same vein, I'm not necessarily claiming that Iggy should be on Team Canada 2 (I rate Recchi overall above him), but it would be glorious to see him play with Oates). I also don't know anything about Russian/European oldtimers...


Team Canada 1

Bobby Hull - Gretzky - Bossy
Robitaille - Lemieux - Dionne
Esposito - Yzerman - Howe
Sakic - Messier - Crosby

Bourque - Orr
Coffey - MacInnis
Stevens - Potvin

Roy
Brodeur

Team Canada 2

Richard - Beliveau - Lafleur
Bucyk - Lindros - Clarke
Shanahan - Francis - Gartner
Gilmour - Oates - Iginla

Shore - Harvey
Robinson - Murphy
Pronger - Niedermayer

Sawchuk
Plante


Team Russia

Datsyuk - Malkin - Bure
Krutov - Larionov - Makarov
Ovechkin - Fedorov - Kharlamov
Kovalchuk - Yashin - Mogilny

(Kovalev, Zhamnov, Kozlov, Samsonov, probably a bunch of other old dudes)


Fetisov - Zubov
Kasatonov - Gonchar
Kasparaitis - Zhitnik

(Malakhov, Markov, Mironov, etc. ?)

Tretiak
Nabokov/Khabibulin/BOBROVSKY!!!!!!


Team Sweden

Nilsson - Forsberg - Sandstrom
Zetterberg - Sundin - Loob
Mats Naslund - Backstrom - Alfredsson
*Holmstrom - Nylander - Franzen
*Sedin - Sedin - Markus Naslund

*Tons of different possible combos for the bottom 6.

Lidstrom - Salmig
Kronwall - Karlsson
Samuelsson - Olausson

(Lydman, Pitkanen, etc.)

Lundqvist
Salo/Hedberg/Fasth?


Team USA

Leclair - Modano - Hull
K Stevens - Roenick - Tkachuk
Amonte - Lafontaine - Mullen
Parise - Weight - Kane

(Janney, Carson, Broten, Langenbrunner, Guerin, etc.)

Leetch - Chelios
Howe - Housley
G Suter - Rafalski

(Schneider, R Suter, Hatchers, etc.)

Thomas
Quick/Barrasso/Richter


Team Reunited Czechoslovakia!

Hossa - Stastny - Jagr
Elias - Mikita* - Palffy
Bondra - Demitra - Gaborik
Nedved - Straka - Hejduk

(Sykora, Holik, Stastnys, Lang, Satan, Prospal)

Hamrlik - Chara
Svoboda - Kaberle
Visnovsky - Svehla

Hasek
Vokoun


Team Canada 3

Obviously things become very arguable here...this is more of a fun team as you will see with some of the lines (ie. line 4), but they would still be pretty damn competitive. You could easily throw Kariya, Trottier and Recchi up on Team 2, and bring down Shanahan, Gilmour and Clarke to make it even more fun.


Kariya - Trottier - Recchi
Andreychuk - Thornton - Neely
Roberts - Hawerchuk - Tocchet
Verbeek - Hunter - Fleury


Park - Patrick
Reinhart - Blake
Carlyle - Horton

(Wilson, Desjardins, etc.)


Dryden
Hall
etc.



Which world team is the best? Would any of them even have a shot at Canada 2 (let alone 1)? Who should be in/out?

[powderjunkie]

Also, my All-World team excl. Canada:

Datsyuk - Forsberg - Jagr
Bure - Malkin - Kurri
Ovechkin - Modano - Selanne
Nilsson - Sundin - Hull

(Tkachuk, Zetterberg, Stastny, Mikita, KLM, etc.)

Lidstrom - Chelios
Leetch - Housley
Chara - Zubov

(Leetch, Fetisov, Salmig)


Hasek
Tretiak
(Kiprusoff/Lundqvist/Thomas)


I still think Canada 1 would dominate, but it would be closer to 50/50 with Canada 2...

[Coach]

I'd slot Pelle Lindbergh behind lundqvist.

[TurnedTheCorner]

Oh, I thought the world would be on one other team. Shucks.

[Lanny_McDonald]

I believe a Russian team comprised of all their greats would be almost unstoppable. Khalamov, Mikhailov, Yakushev, Maltsov, Krutov, Larianov, Markarov, Lebdev, Vasilev, Gusev, Fetisov, Kasatonov, Bilyaletdinov and Tretiak as the foundation would be insane. Imagine seeing players like Bure, Malkin and Datsyuk playing on the third line. Crazy team that could beat you at both ends of the ice.

[Kaine]

The thought of a team of Canada's best ever... goosebumps.

[trackercowe]

Piktanen and Lydman are both from Finland.

[doctajones428]

Team All-Time World

Tkachuk - Forsberg - Jagr
Elias - Mikita - Selanne
Kozlov - Statsny - Kurri
Ovechkin - Sundin - Hull

Lidstrom - Salming
Leetch - Chelios
G. Suter - Zubov

Hasek
Tretiak



Yes no maybe?

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by doctajones428

Team All-Time World

Tkachuk - Forsberg - Jagr
Elias - Mikita - Selanne
Markus Naslund - Statsny - Kurri
Kozlov - Sundin - Hull

Lidstrom - Salming
Leetch - Chelios
G. Suter - Zubov

Hasek
Tretiak



Yes no maybe?

Markus Naslund.

LOLLLLLLLLLL

[cam_wmh]

Originally Posted by doctajones428

Team All-Time World

Tkachuk - Forsberg - Jagr
Elias - Mikita - Selanne
Markus Naslund - Statsny - Kurri
Kozlov - Sundin - Hull

Lidstrom - Salming
Leetch - Chelios
G. Suter - Zubov

Hasek
Tretiak



Yes no maybe?

Victor Kozlov? Over Datsyuk ? lol.

[Enoch Root]

B Hull - Gretzky - Bossy
Beliveau - Lemieux - Lafleur
Lindros - Messier - Howe
Sakic - Crosby - Richard
Yzerman

Harvey - Orr
Coffey - Robinson
Pronger - Potvin
Bourque

Roy
Sawchuk
Brodeur

Good frickin luck, world

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

B Hull - Gretzky - Bossy
Beliveau - Lemieux - Lafleur
Lindros - Messier - Howe
Sakic - Crosby - Richard
Yzerman

Harvey - Orr
Coffey - Robinson
Pronger - Potvin
Bourque

Roy
Sawchuk
Brodeur

Good frickin luck, world

Agree with everything except Orr - Potvin would be the greatest defensive pairing of all time, and I rate Bourque over Coffey.

Potvin - Orr
Harvey - Bourque
Robinson - MacInnis/Pronger/Stevens
Coffey

[Kaine]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Agree with everything except Orr - Potvin would be the greatest defensive pairing of all time, and I rate Bourque over Coffey.

Potvin - Orr
Harvey - Bourque
Robinson - MacInnis/Pronger/Stevens
Coffey

Agreed. Bourque is in the top 6 for greatest Dmen ever, let alone not being in Canada's top 6.

[Enoch Root]

It wasn't that I didn't think Bourque was top 6 (all of these guys are HOFers) its that I tried to make pairings that made sense and Bourque was just the odd man out

The point being that Canada's defense would be insane (and I couldn't find room for Pronger, Niedermeyer or MacInnis)

[HockeyInTheHimalayas]

http://olympic.ca/team-canada/petr-nedved/

Team Reunited Czechoslovakia!

Hossa - Stastny - Jagr
Elias - Mikita* - Palffy
Bondra - Demitra - Gaborik
Nedved - Straka - Hejduk

Petr Nedved? He only played for Czechoslovakia up 'till the age of 17. He's born there, but defected to Canada, and made the announcement at a Calgary Police station. He went on to play for Canada with Paul Kariya at the Olympics in which they lost to Peter Forsberg and the Swedes in a shootout. But your right, a darn good player, certainly could have made the 4th line of a united Czech/Slovak team, but again he only played for them until 17 due to iron-fisted Communist rule in his home country. At the very least, that's deserving of an asterisk. I remember him as marvelous skater with a great shot.

[doctajones428]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Victor Kozlov? Over Datsyuk ? lol.

Actual feedback? Instead of this? Lolllllllllll

Last I checked Datsyuk is a center

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Agree with everything except Orr - Potvin would be the greatest defensive pairing of all time, and I rate Bourque over Coffey.

Potvin - Orr
Harvey - Bourque
Robinson - MacInnis/Pronger/Stevens
Coffey

I would have Park instead of Potvin in my top pairing. Brad Park was always a runner up to Orr in the Norris voting. Potvin would be in my last pairing

Park - Orr
Harvey - Bourque
Potvin - Robinson

[doctajones428]

Originally Posted by cam_wmh

Markus Naslund.

LOLLLLLLLLLL

Yes, actually. One of the best non Canadian left wingers of all time, but I'll swap him out for Ovechkin for ya.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by doctajones428

Team All-Time World

Tkachuk - Forsberg - Jagr
Elias - Mikita - Selanne
Markus Naslund - Statsny - Kurri
Kozlov - Sundin - Hull

Lidstrom - Salming
Leetch - Chelios
G. Suter - Zubov

Hasek
Tretiak



Yes no maybe?

No. You are aware hockey existed prior to 1980 and many of the iron curtain countries never had their best players appear in the NHL? Even the Scandinavian countries had some of their greats not play in North America. There are a ton of legendary players that would make these teams at the expense of many of the names tossed around.

Czechoslovakia had players like Ivan Hlinka, Jiri Novak, Milan Novy, Frantisak Pospisil, Jiri Bubla and Vladimir Dzurilla. The Finns had Matti Hagman. The Swedes had Inge Hammarstrom, Andres Hedberg, Willy Lidstrom and Hardy Astrom. I've already mentioned the Russians, who were the scariest of the bunch. Canada would be ridiculously deep just by going through the greats who played for the Canadiens, let alone the other teams. The all-time teams should include players from every era, not just the past two decades.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by New Era

No. You are aware hockey existed prior to 1980 and many of the iron curtain countries never had their best players appear in the NHL? Even the Scandinavian countries had some of their greats not play in North America. There are a ton of legendary players that would make these teams at the expense of many of the names tossed around.

Czechoslovakia had players like Ivan Hlinka, Jiri Novak, Milan Novy, Frantisak Pospisil, Jiri Bubla and Vladimir Dzurilla. The Finns had Matti Hagman. The Swedes had Inge Hammarstrom, Andres Hedberg, Willy Lidstrom and Hardy Astrom. I've already mentioned the Russians, who were the scariest of the bunch. Canada would be ridiculously deep just by going through the greats who played for the Canadiens, let alone the other teams. The all-time teams should include players from every era, not just the past two decades.

You left out the Swedes Borje Salming and Ulf Nilsson also Checz Vaclav Nedomansky.