Bear in mind that I am speaking only of this tournament and the upcoming 2016–17 season. Given the choice for McDavid or Monahan on the first line of the Flames this year, I am sticking with Monahan, but I would not be surprised if by this time next year that decision will be different.
I believe you are on an island on that one. Love Monahan but McDavid could lead the league in scoring this year IMO.
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1) while it is used a lot 'this guy wouldn't put up nearly as many points on a different team or not playing with XXX', or whatever, the fact is that those players usually prove that comment wrong. The most recent example, off the top of my head is Saad.
2) the same could easily be said about Karlsson - the likelihood that any other team allows him to play his wide open style with no regard for defense, is probably quite low. Playing with more defensive responsibility, he wouldn't likely put up anywhere near as many points.
Saying Karlsson is playing with no regard for defence, I take it you haven't watched many games of his, because that's a very silly statement. And it's not like Burns is held back on the Sharks either. Still, fact is Karlsson is the only player on his team playing in the World Cup and he had 20+ points more than the closest fw on the Ottawa roster. It's not exactly packed with talent like the Sharks team.
Plus Saad is still in development. Nothing says he wouldn't have had 60+ points playing on the Hawks last season. I believe it's likely.
Sweden spanked Finland today. Our D really is best in the tournament
Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814
Karlsson, OEL, Hedman, Hjalmarsson, Stralman, Kronwall and Ekholm.
Nobody in the tournament has a defense better than that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
None of: Hjalmarsson, Stralman, Kronwall and Ekholm
would be in the conversation for the Canadian blueline.
One objective way of analyzing this... If you go by last year's Norris Trophy voting, Canada's blueline received a total of 292 votes and Sweden's a total of 191 votes.
I'm still perplexed that Bouwmeester and to a lesser extent Muzzin made this team over Subban, Letang and Gio. I don't care who plays which side and which way they shoot, so dumb. Hockey Canada seems to really value prior participation for the teams over the years, even at the expense of choosing better players.
Luckily Canada is always so good it doesn't really matter.
I would guess they think a team with those forwards doesn't need help generating offense from the back end. Everyone they took can do that anyway, and they aren't prone to taking risks.
Every team Canada D is a good puck mover and very good in their own zone. They're predictable. And it's not like Weber, Doughty, and Burns are offensive slouches. Muzzin plays with Doughty and Pietro plays with Bouwmeester.
It may make things a little boring, and I would argue strongly that Gio/Brodie is a better pairing than Bo/Pietro, but Mike Babcock didn't win a gold medal with the Flames' duo.
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Sweden's defence looks very good on paper, but I don't see how they can pick Ekholm ahead of Klingberg.
Cause they want to win and winning is best accomplished by taking some defenders who can defend. Taking your 6 best offensive defencemen isn't a recipe for winning. Klingberg is great rushing the puck and on the powerplay but he certainly isn't elite in his own end.
Canada didn't need 3-4 offensive defencemen and that's why they didn't take Subban, Letang, etc. Sweden is in the same boat. Some fans seem to underrate how valuable having two-way defenders and elite defensive defencemen is. Klingberg is a poor man's Karlsson.
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Cause they want to win and winning is best accomplished by taking some defenders who can defend.
Ekholm's relative shot suppression is through the roof, and that's on a team with Shea Weber on a different pair.
You could do much worse than Hjalmarsson and Ekholm. They are the modern stay at home D to break the cycles of guys like Bergeron/Crosby or Getzlaf/Perry.
Especially when you have guys like Stralman, Hedman, Karlsson, OEL filling out the roster, Klingberg doesn't really have a niche left to fill.
Kronwall is the one who doesn't belong. Guy is washed up.
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Last edited by GranteedEV; 09-11-2016 at 10:35 PM.
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I believe you are on an island on that one. Love Monahan but McDavid could lead the league in scoring this year IMO.
Fair enough with McDavid over Monahan, but I'm growing a bit tired of the McDavid = automatic Art Ross contender / Crosby level talent gushing.
I think that is overzealous and remains to be seen.
He had a good stretch in a small sample size last season, and then looked less than superb in the World Championship and 2 games of the World Cup so far.
I really think the talk of him automatically being a generational player before he's ever come close to proving it in actuality needs to have the breaks pumped.
No one is saying he's an automatic Art Ross contender, just that it wouldn't be a shock if he won it, provided he stays healthy. He's kind of like Tyler Seguin in that regard. It would be a pretty huge shock if Monahan won it.
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No one is saying he's an automatic Art Ross contender, just that it wouldn't be a shock if he won it, provided he stays healthy. He's kind of like Tyler Seguin in that regard. It would be a pretty huge shock if Monahan won it.
Exactly. He is far from an Art Ross favorite but I would not be shocked. 48 points in 45 games as a teenager pretty much speaks for itself. Don't let Oilers hate blind you from the fact he is a hell of a hockey player and quite likely operating at a different level than Monahan, who is no doubt an exceptional player.
His performance in 2 exhibition games means nothing.
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Ekholm's relative shot suppression is through the roof, and that's on a team with Shea Weber on a different pair.
You could do much worse than Hjalmarsson and Ekholm. They are the modern stay at home D to break the cycles of guys like Bergeron/Crosby or Getzlaf/Perry.
Especially when you have guys like Stralman, Hedman, Karlsson, OEL filling out the roster, Klingberg doesn't really have a niche left to fill.
Kronwall is the one who doesn't belong. Guy is washed up.
Perhaps I'm underrating Ekholm. Never seen him as elite at either end of the ice.
Kronwall isn't playing though. Replaced by Lindholm, which should have been the case from the start.
No one is saying he's an automatic Art Ross contender
No one might have said it in this thread but it's certainly a contention among some Oiler fans.
Regardless, it's not hating or putting him down to point out he's being massively over-hyped in some circles and regarded as one of the best players in the world before he's actually proved it.
There's no doubt he's a better talent than Monahan and will be a great player, but the talk he's already one of the best is as nauseating as it is overzealous.
I think Sweden's D, while excellent offensively, might struggle against the forecheck of North America. Heck, they were coughing up the puck all over the place against the much slower Finnish forecehck. I think guys like OEL and Karlsson who like to dust it off a bit will find themselves in a bad position when trying to break the puck out against that sort of forecheck pressure.
No one might have said it in this thread but it's certainly a contention among some Oiler fans.
Regardless, it's not hating or putting him down to point out he's being massively over-hyped in some circles and regarded as one of the best players in the world before he's actually proved it.
There's no doubt he's a better talent than Monahan and will be a great player, but the talk he's already one of the best is as nauseating as it is overzealous.
Tell that to the NHL players and coaches.
They are the ones that keep making these comments.
