Defence by Country

[timbit]

Originally Posted by $ven27

Finland has by far the best goaltending currently.

Pretty amazing that a country of 5 mill people continues to generate so many world class goaltenders.

[SuperMatt18]

U.S. and Finland are both ahead of Canada in Goaltending.

U.S.: Anderson, Quick, Miller, Howard, Schneider

Finland: Rask, Rinne, Kipper, Lehtonen, Backstrom

Canada: Price, Brodeur, Luongo then Smith, Fleury, Ward

Two of Canada's top six were terrible in the playoffs last year (Luongo and Fleury), Smith is a system goalie, and Ward is overrated. Price and Brodeur are the two goalies I would have any real confidence in and one of those two is over 40.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

That U.S. defense is really good and is really young. Not as good as Canada's but an underrated group overall.

Yandle, Suter, Shattenkirk, E.Johnson, J.Johnson, McDonaugh, Carlson, Bogosian,

Byfuglien shouldn't be near that team as a d-man, especially on international ice. Dress him as your 13th forward for the PP maybe.

The only guy on that list that could crack the Canadian lineup is Suter.

Some of the other guys would be WAY down the list in Canadian depth - way down.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

U.S. and Finland are both ahead of Canada in Goaltending.

U.S.: Anderson, Quick, Miller, Howard, Schneider

Finland: Rask, Rinne, Kipper, Lehtonen, Backstrom

Canada: Price, Brodeur, Luongo then Smith, Fleury, Ward

Two of Canada's top six were terrible in the playoffs last year (Luongo and Fleury), Smith is a system goalie, and Ward is overrated. Price and Brodeur are the two goalies I would have any real confidence in and one of those two is over 40.

Yup - Canada's goaltending has really ebbed in the last few years.

[Da_Chief]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

The only guy on that list that could crack the Canadian lineup is Suter.

Some of the other guys would be WAY down the list in Canadian depth - way down.

I guess you haven't seen these guys play.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

I guess you haven't seen these guys play.

You're right - I only watch Canadian players play /gt

Please tell me who you think could crack the Canadian group, and preplacing who?

[moon]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

I guess you haven't seen these guys play.

Which one of those American defense could crack the Canadian defense outside of maybe Suter to play with Weber?

It has nothing with not seeing them play and everything with seeing them play and realizing they aren't good enough.

[Da_Chief]

Originally Posted by moon

Which one of those American defense could crack the Canadian defense outside of maybe Suter to play with Weber?

It has nothing with not seeing them play and everything with seeing them play and realizing they aren't good enough.

Ill take Yandle, Suter, Shattenkirk over Staal, Seabrook, Letang.

Suter > Seabrook
Yandle > Staal
Shattenkirk > Letang

Keep the top 4 as is.

[Poe969]

Sorry, comparing Yandle and Staal is a little off. Yandle had a great offensive year but hasn't seemed to do much. Staal doesn't really chip in offensively but he's a solid defensman who can read the play pretty well.

Letang has great experience and he's probably better both offensively and defensively than Shattenkirk.

Suter is going to be team USA's best defenseman but I"m going to agree with Moon here and say no other USA defensmen would make team Canada's team

[moon]

I think Letamg is much better than any mentioned and him, Weber, Doughty, Keith and Pietrangelo are no doubt better than any American.

After that I would say Seabrook, Staal and Girardi easily better than everyone other than maybe Suter. Yandle on par with Del Zotto then the rest can be better or on par with PK since there are better Canadians than him anyways.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

Ill take Yandle, Suter, Shattenkirk over Staal, Seabrook, Letang.

Suter > Seabrook
Yandle > Staal
Shattenkirk > Letang

Keep the top 4 as is.

Letang will be in the Norris conversation this year.

Shattenkirk isn't the best defenseman on his team.

Good try though.

Yandle is one-dimensional, and I am not sure that Staal makes team Canada so, whatever (but I would rather have Staal than Yandle).

I already said Suter would make it, so...

[Da_Chief]

Your opinion versus mine. Letang is in Norris conversation? Sure. Shattenkrik is 1 point behind him and playing solid defensively.

Of course he's not the best dman on his team, that like arguing Malkin is not the best center on his team.

I like Staal, Yandle, Letang, Shattenkirk...To me they're all in the same boat but Id rather have Yandle and Shattenkirk, more offence from them.

[Poe969]

there is more offence from them but less defense. Canada has enough offense in their forwards. When it comes time for the PK, you're going to want someone like Staal out there before you want Yandle. It's good to have an offensive team but you're going to need defensive defensemen too.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

Your opinion versus mine. Letang is in Norris conversation? Sure. Shattenkrik is 1 point behind him and playing solid defensively.

Of course he's not the best dman on his team, that like arguing Malkin is not the best center on his team.

I like Staal, Yandle, Letang, Shattenkirk...To me they're all in the same boat but Id rather have Yandle and Shattenkirk, more offence from them.

Yup. And we've both stated ours now, so that covers it.

[BACKCHECK!!!]

Russia has a defence corps that looks something like this:

Ilya Nikulin
Andrei Markov
Fedor Tyutin
Dmitri Kalinin
Nikita Nikitin
Dmitri Kulikov
Anton Volchenkov
Sergei Gonchar
Konstantin Kornayev
Denis Denisov

I don't think depth makes any difference at all in a tournament like the Olympics, however.

Slovakia beat Russia in Vancouver, and eliminated the defending Gold medalists Sweden. They were able to do this despite having virtually no depth, because they had Visnovsky, Chara, both Hossa brothers, and Marian Gaborik as a top line, playing the guts of 30 minutes a night. And had a couple of solid NHLers to keep the game from getting out of control while the big guns rested. Who cares who they have playing 5 minutes on the 4th line?

So really, a top 4 defence list gives you more information that a top 10 list.

[doctajones428]

Originally Posted by Sakari

No country can compete with Canada in any category. Nobody. You might make the argument, hah! Quick and Miller are awesome! Well, so are Smith, Brodeur, Luongo (dont even argue it), etc. Not to mention on the all-time list, you can't even compare remotely there. When it comes to offense, Stamkos and Crosby are the leagues MVPs, not to mention all the other players i could waste time naming. Defense.. same goes. Sweden is the only country that comes close, but still, no. Yet somehow, we manage to get our asses kicked in many world championships.

Smith is terribly overrated, Brodeur will be a fossil in 2014, and Luongo... Well I doubt he will be our starter and I wouldn't rank him ahead of Quick or Miller, hell I have a hard time ranking any of our goalies ahead of Quick or Miller

[trackercowe]

Yeah if there is anything that is going to cost Canada in 2014 it will be in net. Really is there one Canadian goalie you would 100% trust to be the starter? Heck I don't think there is one goalie that already has an automatic spot on the team... maybe Luongo just because of his experience, but even that could be a stretch.

Ward was supposed to be our go to guy by now I think, but what has he done since 2006 to prove he is better than the rest? Price is still unproven, and backed up Halak during Montreal's playoff runs a few years ago. Fleury has been a tad shaky in the last few years, and I doubt anyone would be confident with him in net. Brodeur has probably been Canada's best goalie in the last calender year, but can we really trust a 42 year old coming over to Russia to be our starter?

I would consider bringing over Smith or Brodeur as an insurance policy if they are Canada's best next season, along with Luongo, and one of the other three. That gives you the best of all worlds just in case.

But yeah Finland has the best goalies in the NHL no question about it. You could argue Rinne and Rask are the two best goalies in the world at the moment. With the tournament being in Europe next year I honestly thing the Finns are the favorites to win it all. I also wonder if Selanne will give it one more go next year before he retires; I'd love to see him go out with the Gold if he does actually...

[MyFlamesFirst]

I may be a bit bias but if Bouwmester is playing the way he has recently I think it would be foolish not to consider him. I would definitely take him over a guy like Seabrook.

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

Yeah if there is anything that is going to cost Canada in 2014 it will be in net. Really is there one Canadian goalie you would 100% trust to be the starter? Heck I don't think there is one goalie that already has an automatic spot on the team... maybe Luongo just because of his experience, but even that could be a stretch.

Ward was supposed to be our go to guy by now I think, but what has he done since 2006 to prove he is better than the rest? Price is still unproven, and backed up Halak during Montreal's playoff runs a few years ago. Fleury has been a tad shaky in the last few years, and I doubt anyone would be confident with him in net. Brodeur has probably been Canada's best goalie in the last calender year, but can we really trust a 42 year old coming over to Russia to be our starter?

I would consider bringing over Smith or Brodeur as an insurance policy if they are Canada's best next season, along with Luongo, and one of the other three. That gives you the best of all worlds just in case.

But yeah Finland has the best goalies in the NHL no question about it. You could argue Rinne and Rask are the two best goalies in the world at the moment. With the tournament being in Europe next year I honestly thing the Finns are the favorites to win it all. I also wonder if Selanne will give it one more go next year before he retires; I'd love to see him go out with the Gold if he does actually...

Carey Price. I would start Carey Price every time.

[Trojan97]

I think you take Luongo, Price & Brodeur.

Say what you want about Canucks Luongo but Team Canada Luongo has always been great. His career record in international play is 17-4-3 with a GAA around 2. I don't think he steals you a medal but I think he's easily a solid contributor towards a podium finish. He's a better option to start than an unproven Price or old Brodeur.

Price goes as the "up and comer" who gets a taste of what the Olympics are all about. If Luongo falters you play him.

Brodeur goes as the grizzled vet who knows what it takes to win gold and who will be good in practice and in the room. Sochi would be his 5th olympics, I think that would be a cool story in itself and I don't think there is another young goalie worth taking just to get experience being around the team.