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World Cup

It would definitely help Russia's chances in these tournaments if they stopped putting Soviet-era relics behind the bench.
 
One thing interesting is that Krueger has now mentioned a number of small european national hockey federations that have sent the team messages of support (today it was Hungary). They seem to be on board.
 
CTheBigPicture said:
After all is said and done, it's going to be the easiest championship Canada has won in quite some time. The team is a power housel, has now played together and this style for a few tournaments, they are the home team, and it's NHL size ice.

As for the final itself, I'd be surprised if any of the games are even close.
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I don't know. Sochi looked pretty easy to me.
 
zeke said:
One thing interesting is that Krueger has now mentioned a number of small european national hockey federations that have sent the team messages of support (today it was Hungary). They seem to be on board.
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I'm not surprised. They've represented their combined group very well and appear to have bought into the collective team mentality brilliantly under Krueger. It bears noting seeing how elated the Hungarians were after finally reaching the top group of the World Championship last year (first time since 2008 or 2009 I believe) and winning their first ever game at the top-level. It was a national celebration essentially.
 
zeke said:
One thing interesting is that Krueger has now mentioned a number of small european national hockey federations that have sent the team messages of support (today it was Hungary). They seem to be on board.
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Krueger's also mentioned that one of the primary motivations for this team is to play well enough that there won't be a "Team Europe" ever again.

Which I found pretty funny.
 
personally I'm intrigued by the apparent North America - Europe series that might happen. That would actually be interesting.

Though really to make it even it should probably be Canada vs. the World.
 
zeke said:
personally I'm intrigued by the apparent North America - Europe series that might happen. That would actually be interesting.

Though really to make it even it should probably be Canada vs. the World.
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Bruce Arthur had an article about that, and I agree. I don't really see the point of doing "North America".

If you picked that team purely on merit, it'd be flat-out embarrassing to USA hockey how few of their players would make the team. I mean, what Americans would be a lock for that team? Patrick Kane, Cory Schneider and maybe Johnny Gaudreau and Ben Bishop? Maybe (hopefully) Auston Matthews?

Canada vs. The World could be pretty fun, though. Canada would finally be facing a team with something approaching its roster depth.


CTheBigPicture said:
Gaborik out of the World Cup with a foot injury
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I'd say it's more newsworthy when Gaborik isn't injured. And he's signed for five more years. Yee-ouch.
 
worm said:
4 lines
USA line
Russia line
Scan line
other line
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That's an incredibly cool concept. Here's what a potential "world team" forward group could look like based on your lines according to nationality, just for fun:

Johnny Gaudreau - Joe Pavelski - Patrick Kane
Alexander Ovechkin - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Vladimir Tarasenko
Gabriel Landeskog - Nicklas Backstrom - Filip Forsberg
Thomas Vanek - Anze Kopitar - Marian Gaborik

Extras: David Krejci, Nikita Kucherov, Mats Zuccarello.
 
JaysCyYoung said:
That's an incredibly cool concept. Here's what a potential "world team" forward group could look like based on your lines according to nationality, just for fun:

Johnny Gaudreau - Joe Pavelski - Patrick Kane
Alexander Ovechkin - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Vladimir Tarasenko
Gabriel Landeskog - Nicklas Backstrom - Filip Forsberg
Thomas Vanek - Anze Kopitar - Marian Gaborik

Extras: David Krejci, Nikita Kucherov, Mats Zuccarello.
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Nice. How about Malkin?
 
LeafGm said:
Bruce Arthur had an article about that, and I agree. I don't really see the point of doing "North America".

If you picked that team purely on merit, it'd be flat-out embarrassing to USA hockey how few of their players would make the team. I mean, what Americans would be a lock for that team? Patrick Kane, Cory Schneider and maybe Johnny Gaudreau and Ben Bishop? Maybe (hopefully) Auston Matthews?

Canada vs. The World could be pretty fun, though. Canada would finally be facing a team with something approaching its roster depth.



I'd say it's more newsworthy when Gaborik isn't injured. And he's signed for five more years. Yee-ouch.
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I think it would be Kane, Suter, Schneider for sure. Probably Pavelski. and maybe a wheeler, Pacioretty, Gaudreau, or matthews.
 
the best possible world team I could do would probably look something like this:


Datsyuk - Malkin - Kane
Ovechkin - Backstrom - Tarasenko
Gaudreau - Pavelski - Voracek
Steen - Kopitar - Wheeler
Kuznetsov - Barkov - Kucherov

Suter - Karlsson
Hedman - OEL
Chara - Josi
Carlson - Byfuglien

Schneider
Lundqvist
Bishop
 
these games have gotta be awesome for all the guys on europe. nice cap for guys like hossa and kopitar.
 
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FYI there's probably barely 50 people in maple leaf square watching outside the game, probably half of which just came after the Jays game. So yeah, I don't think it's Olympic level popularity.
 
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