kipwinger

Haha, Canada's roster decisions are always a three ringed circus. They have to create a roster that satisfied public opinion. Imagine if the Canadians left off their best scorer and offensive d-man in the name of roster cohesion? The masses would festoon the Houses of Parliament with Stevie Y's entrails. They're going to put together an all-star team just so everybody can drool over how nice their roster looks, and then the Americans are going to skate them into the ground. Edit: I was typing this before the roster was released. Haha, I love it. We're going to murder this team. They're big, but they won't skate for s***. And, as expected the roster is full of superstars who are popular with the fans but not having particularly great years.

I disagree. Smith has the highest potential of all four, but he's not the best player (yet). Smith gets absolutely exposed every time he plays against speedier teams. Remember that game a couple of weeks ago against Nashville? The one where Mike Fisher absolutely owned Smith so badly that they did a montage of it during the broadcast? That's Mike Fischer mind you, not some superstar and he ended the night with a goal and two assists. Smith and Quincey are AWFUL against a moderate forecheck. So again, against a slower, bigger, team then maybe they'd be the better choice. But against a team that forechecks, White and Colaiacovo are far and away the better option as far as retrieving the puck and getting it up ice to the forwards.

Simple: All things considered, who's the better player. Knee jerk is obviously Datsyuk because of his skill level, but I've been thinking about it and conclude that Zetterberg is the better player. Skill alone doesn't make one better. Their points per game are nearly the same, very slight edge to Datsyuk. Both are extremely good defensively. Datsyuk has the hardware and the takeaways but in my opinion Zetterberg gets the tougher defensive matchups as evidenced by his shutting down Crosby in the finals in 08 and 09, and doing the same to Toews last season. Datsyuk is the better passer while Z is the better goal scorer, though neither are too shabby in either department. Both makes their linemates better. Z is (in my opinion) more versatile, able to play both center and the wing with equal aplomb. Dats hasn't ever shown much from the wing. Finally, intangibles. Zetterberg ALWAYS rises to the occasion, scoring key goals when it matters and is a playoff beast. Dats is by no means bad in the playoffs, but Z is a monster. Also, Z seems to have the ability to carry the team on his back for extended periods and generally relishes the role. Finally, Z's got the leadership capacity in spades. Dats leads by example, Z in every way possible. So, your thoughts?

This is a tough question and a good topic. Kudos to the OP. Quincey and Smith definitely have the higher ceiling and more potential, but they're so flagrantly boneheaded I find myself at a loss for words at times. Colaiacovo and White were often overmatched physically, but they didn't make poor decisions the way Quincey and Smith do. So for a career I'd take Quincey and Smith, for a single playoff series this year I'd take White and Colaiacovo. Also depends on the size of the team we're playing. A smaller, faster, team and I'd definitely take White and Colaiacovo, a bigger and slower team would be better served with Quincey and Smith.

Everybody is making it seem like Burke said he hates Ryan or something. Burke said Ryan isn't intense. Guess what? He's not. That was Ken Holland's knock on him last year too, so it's not like Burke is the only one who said so. Also, Brian Burke drafted Ryan. So obviously there must be something about his game that he liked. It's not unreasonable to think that Burke could both want Ryan on the team and be vocally critical about Ryan's perceived shortcomings in a brainstorm session with Team USA big wigs. The two are not mutually exclusive. Hell, Brian Burke is vocally critical of just about everything on earth...that's what he does. There's no conspiracy, Burke had the most experience dealing with Ryan. He told the other guys about his shortfalls. At the end of the day, he wanted Ryan, and more of the other guys didn't. That's how the process should work.

Gotta do something about the defense. We've got offensive d-men that don't score and are horrible in transition, defensive d-men who can't shutdown quality forwards, and a team system that is built around having a good d-core. We need defensemen who can make plays. Sure they could do like last year and spend every second of everygame playing team defense and ultimately squeak out 2-1 or 1-0 games, but we're more talented than that. Babs keeps talking about how we're not as skilled as we used to be. But a team with Dats, Z, Franzen, Alfie, Tatar, Nyquist, looks pretty skilled to me. Get these guys some defensemen that can get them the puck and things will start picking up. Oh, and f*ck injuries already. Kronwall-Ericsson Puck Mover-Dekeyser Smith-Lashoff Kindl/Quincey/whoever

He definitely looked like it was his first game up, and in my opinion he was pretty pensive out there, but who wouldn't be in his situation. Reminds me of so many players who got called up before they were ready and just trying to tread water. He wasn't bad, but clearly isn't ready for the NHL. As far as their first games go, I think Ouellet was better. But I really love Marchenko's size and skating ability. Let him round out for another year and then we'll see what he has to offer.

I wonder if Poile and the gang are starting to reconsider their decision to giver Burnside "unprecedented access" to their decision making process? Not because they would have done things differently, but because it's becoming a bigger headache than it ever needed to be.

Neither Datsyuk nor Zetterberg are more injury prone than the other. Literally one game separates them in the years since Zetterberg came into the league. And it's actually Datsyuk that has fewer games. So there might be a million reasons to say one is better than the other, but injury proneness isn't one of them.

I don't think it's anything against him, they just haven't seen him yet and as I understood it he and Ouellet were the top two in the pecking order. I'm wondering if he's injured or something.

Well I'm interested in seeing this kid because I don't know anything about him. But why not Sproul. He's been conspicuously passed over it seems to me.

I understand Orpik being a lock, he's pretty big, skates well, and is physical. Against what is sure to be a gigantic Canadian team we're going to need guys like that. But I just don't get Martin. I haven't watched a lot of him (admittedly) but he's never really jumped out as someone that demanded a spot on this roster the way some others have. I know he kills penalties and "can" be on the PP, but was versatility enough? Does he shoot right? I'm lost. All in all, I think this defense is underrated though. There are some young guys on here that probably most people haven't seen much of and that makes them nervous. Justin Faulk is a good young offensive d-man. He's an awesome skater, has good size. John Carlson is, in my opinion, one of the more underrated d-man in the league as well. Big, tough, rugged, aggressive, and a good skater. Makes me think of Suter without the experience and pedigree. Obviously you know what you're getting with Suter and Orpik. McDonough will really wow a lot of people who haven't seen him before. The only ones I question are Martin, Fowler, and Shattenkirk, but none of the other options were obviously better so it's shades of grey for me. One thing I noticed about all these guys though is that none are flashy or prone to hot dogging. No Mike Green's on this defense. They all play safe, smart, and all of them can skate. Skating is going to save us against the Canadian squad.

The defense point is valid, Dats definitely has more hardware. But the injury point isn't. Zetterberg came into the league a year after Dats (who played 70 games his rookie year). Excluding that year, Dats has played one fewer game than Zetterberg since 2002-2003. So it's basically a wash.

Look I'm not trying to disagree with you or anything, I've heard people say he's the most skilled guy they've ever played with but I've never heard anyone ever say that he's one of the best players of all time. That doesn't mean it hasn't been said, just that I've never heard it. Which is why I was asking.

Like who?

Haha. “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.'" - Revelations 3:15-16

I sure hope that the talk of a trade for a defenseman is serious because right now our defense is terrible. Not good in any capacity. We don't move the puck, and we don't shut teams down. I'd rather we do one or the other really well than do both moderately well.

Are there two more competent players to perform a two-on-one than Zetterberg and Alfie? If you're a defender and that happens you've got to just be happy that they don't somehow magically score two goals on that one.

You know, obviously at first glance Ryan getting the snub seems silly. But the article mentioned that he was only pedestrian in 2010 and I think that was true. I like Wheeler better. Perhaps not as good of a goal scorer, but still impressive. And lets be honest, we're not going to beat Canada with finesse anyway. We need guys that are hard to play against, and in my opinion guys like Pacioretty and Wheeler are harder to play against. I'm more baffled by Oshie's selection than Ryan's snubbing. Finally, am I the only one who doesn't understand why Paul Martin was considered a lock on defense from the get-go? Is he really that good?

Orpik was on the U.S. team in 2010 when Blysma wasn't the coach and was easily one of our better defenders. Your conspiracy theories have no end do they?

Are any LGWers going to be at the game? My brother and dad are, and I had a ticket but had to move for a job in November, so I"m envious of everyone going.

I know this has probably already been said, but half these guys look like they could still contribute in the NHL. Awesome to watch!

Yeah, nothing like living vicariously through a bunch of teenagers to bring out the best in everyone.

Wow, this thread turned acrimonious didn't it?

Well unfortunately for you and our cousins up north, Ryan Miller is playing out of his mind right now so prepare to get another taste of that same old medicine from 2010. Here's hoping our boys stand tall this time around. Though I'm a little worried about the team now that Poile is the GM. Burke put together a hell of a team four years ago.