Olympics next year

[stevkrause 1,247]

With the growth of an already sickenly talented Ovechkin and Datsyuk, as well as Malkin coming into his own... I think Russia is going to give everyone a serious run for gold at the Olympics next year...

Just doing some searches... this could be the lineup - SCARY:

Forwards:

Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins

Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers

Alexander Semin, Washington Capitals

Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings

Nikolai Zherdev, New York Rangers

Alexander Frolov, Los Angeles Kings

Alexei Kovalev, Montreal Canadiens

Alexander Radulov, Salavat Yulaev Ufa (KHL)

Aleksey Morozov, Ak-Bars Kazan (KHL)

Nikita Filatov, Columbus Blue Jackets

Sergei Fedorov, Washington Capitals

Alexei Yashin, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL)

Defense

Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens

Sergei Gonchar, Pittsburgh Penguins

Anton Volchenkov, Ottawa Senators

Sergei Zubov, Dallas Stars

Fedor Tyutin, Columbus Blue Jackets

Denis Grebeshov, Edmonton Oilers

Vitaly Atyushov, Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL)

Goalies:

Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose Sharks

Ilya Bryzgalov, Phoenix Coyotes

Nikolai Khabibulin, Chicago Blackhawks

Edited January 27, 2009 by stevkrause

[under_par_00 45]

I think it will come down to either Canada or Russia. No body else can match the talent that these two teams can bring. Maybe Sweden for a close third.

[Blueliner 69]

I think you'll be seeing Sweden and Russia in the Gold Medal game with Canada taking the bronze. Just too much fire power for the Sweds and Russians even though Canada has home ice.

Not sure that Filatov will be on the team. Maybe if he explodes at the beginning of next year.

[T-Ruff 47]

Canada, still the team to beat IMO:

Lecavalier-Crosby-Iginla[C]

Nash-Thornton[A]-Heatley

Morrow-M. Richards[A]-Doan

Gagne-Savard-Getzlaf

Taxi: Spezza, Carter

Bouwmeester-Weber

Phaneuf-Keith

Boyle-Burns

Taxi: Green

Luongo

Brodeur

taxi: Price

[wingfanatic4alltime 32]

Canada, still the team to beat IMO:

Lecavalier-Crosby-Iginla[C]

Nash-Thornton[A]-Heatley

Morrow-M. Richards[A]-Doan

Gagne-Savard-Getzlaf

Taxi: Spezza, Carter

Bouwmeester-Weber

Phaneuf-Keith

Boyle-Burns

Taxi: Green

Luongo

Brodeur

taxi: Price

Not too mention they have the olympics on there home ice this time. My prediciton GOLD Canada Silver Russia Bronze Sweden

[dat's sick 1,002]

I too believe it will come down to Sweden, Russia or Canada.

If the russians can keep up their trend from last year's WC's of playing like a team, then they'll be very hard to stop.

But they do always have that risk of falling apart due to internal struggles.

Canada are always up there, they have that way of winning games even when they're the worse team, they always find their way into the medal games. And with home advantage and everything that comes with that when we're talking about Canada, I'd be extremely suprised if they didn't make the final.

Sweden should have a really good team, although some of our big players (Sundin, Forsberg, Alfredsson, even Lidstrom) have seen their best days.

I expect the team to be carried by Henrik Lundqvist, Zetterberg and the rest of the Detroit players. We are the reigning Olympic champs, but I don't think we'll be able to repeat. Overall we're going to have a slightly weaker team, and our coach hasn't been doing well since the double golds in 2006.

But with Lundqvist in goal and Hank at his best.. who knows.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Gold - Canada

Silver - Russia

Home ice, and the fact that when pushed against Canada, Malkin and Ovechkin dont play very well, Kovalchuk however always kills them, and IMO will be the wild card.

[Guest mindfly]

If sweden got their best players, which is very unlikely cause alot of swedish players gives f*** all for the national team, we would probably play the final... it's the big 3, canada, sweden, russia that will go for the gold.

Edited January 27, 2009 by mindfly

[titanium2 867]

Canada, still the team to beat IMO:

Lecavalier-Crosby-Iginla[C]

Nash-Thornton[A]-Heatley

Morrow-M. Richards[A]-Doan

Gagne-Savard-Getzlaf

Taxi: Spezza, Carter

Bouwmeester-Weber

Phaneuf-Keith

Boyle-Burns

Taxi: Green

Luongo

Brodeur

taxi: Price

No Toews or Eric Staal?

Toews btw does a great job:

Edited January 27, 2009 by titanium2

[titanium2 867]

Even though Ovy and Geno "have called a truce," both Ovechkin and Semin have declared how much they love watching Pavel Datsyuk.

Ovechkin-Datsyuk-Semin

Kovalchuk-Malkin-Zherdev

That's a pretty powerful scoring punch there.

I remember one of the first things Pav said after winning the Stanley Cup was that he really wanted a gold medal. I'd love to see Zetterberg draw Datsyuk as his main assignment.

[titanium2 867]

I too believe it will come down to Sweden, Russia or Canada.

If the russians can keep up their trend from last year's WC's of playing like a team, then they'll be very hard to stop.

But they do always have that risk of falling apart due to internal struggles.

Canada are always up there, they have that way of winning games even when they're the worse team, they always find their way into the medal games. And with home advantage and everything that comes with that when we're talking about Canada, I'd be extremely suprised if they didn't make the final.

Sweden should have a really good team, although some of our big players (Sundin, Forsberg, Alfredsson, even Lidstrom) have seen their best days.

I expect the team to be carried by Henrik Lundqvist, Zetterberg and the rest of the Detroit players. We are the reigning Olympic champs, but I don't think we'll be able to repeat. Overall we're going to have a slightly weaker team, and our coach hasn't been doing well since the double golds in 2006.

But with Lundqvist in goal and Hank at his best.. who knows.

What's Team Sweden going to look like? I actually doubt that Zetterberg will be the #1 center. It might be Nicklas Backstrom or Henrik Sedin. Victor Hedman will probably be there too.

Without a doubt I expect Lidstrom, Zetterberg, Kronwall and Franzen to be there. Holmstrom I kind of doubt because he's taken so many beatings over the years. Samuelsson maybe, but only as a reserve.

[adtthosa 5]

Russia is going to be stacked but Canada is the team to beat, for sure. Canada always plays well on home ice, it seems.

Sweden is a threat but not like they were in 2006.

[Grim 5]

I too would be curious as to what Team Sweden would look like...

I think they are a bonafide threat to take it all.

[MacK_Attack 108]

Being on the small ice should give Canada an advantage.

[Guest mindfly]

Sweden's D could look like.... but

Lidström(DET)-Jönsson(RÖGLE SEL)

Johnsson(MIN)-Öhlund(VAN)

Kronwall(DET)-Murray(SJS)

[shoe 165]

Yzerman will lead Team Canada to Victory.

[mjlegend 155]

Yzerman will lead Team Canada to Victory.

What happens if he does and then somebody s***ty like the Florida Panthers want him to be their GM after next year? I don't think he takes that job, but what if?????

Canada can't lose on home ice. The Soviets finish second and the Swedes win the bronze against the Czech Republic.

The US will finish seventh after beating Latvia, but trash their hotel rooms for old time's sake....

[dat's sick 1,002]

Sweden's D could look like.... but

Lidström(DET)-Jönsson(RÖGLE SEL)

Johnsson(MIN)-Öhlund(VAN)

Kronwall(DET)-Murray(SJS)

I'd maybe say H.Tallinder (BUF) instead of Johnsson. T.Enström (ATL) might be a contender as well. Maybe Hedman or Hävelid if there are injuries or if several players say no.

Forwards could look something like this, assuming Sundin doesn't do another season and Forsberg doesn't manage to come back:

T.Holmström (DET)-H.Zetterberg (DET)-J.Franzen (DET)

D.Sedin(VAN)-H.Sedin (VAN)-D.Alfredsson (OTT)

P.Berglund (STL)-N.Bäckstrom (WSH)-K.Huselius (CBJ)

L.Eriksson (DAL)-S.Påhlsson (ANA)-M.Samuelsson (DET)

[kozac 10]

With the growth of an already sickenly talented Ovechkin and Datsyuk, as well as Malkin coming into his own... I think Russia is going to give everyone a serious run for gold at the Olympics next year...

Just doing some searches... this could be the lineup - SCARY:

Forwards:

Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins

Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers

Alexander Semin, Washington Capitals

Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings

Nikolai Zherdev, New York Rangers

Alexander Frolov, Los Angeles Kings

Alexei Kovalev, Montreal Canadiens

Alexander Radulov, Salavat Yulaev Ufa (KHL)

Aleksey Morozov, Ak-Bars Kazan (KHL)

Nikita Filatov, Columbus Blue Jackets

Sergei Fedorov, Washington Capitals

Alexei Yashin, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL)

Defense

Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens

Sergei Gonchar, Pittsburgh Penguins

Anton Volchenkov, Ottawa Senators

Sergei Zubov, Dallas Stars

Fedor Tyutin, Columbus Blue Jackets

Denis Grebeshov, Edmonton Oilers

Vitaly Atyushov, Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL)

Goalies:

Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose Sharks

Ilya Bryzgalov, Phoenix Coyotes

Nikolai Khabibulin, Chicago Blackhawks

You can count out Zubov 100%, he has absolutely 0 interest of playing for the national team. This is a shame because Russia's Achilles heel is usually the defense.

From what I know, Russia's internal problems usually stemmed from immaturity of Ilya Kovalchuk. Now, however, he seems to have grown up and understands his role of being a team player. As long as the new youngsters (Ovechkin, Malkin, Semin, Zherdev) keep it together and don't grow a big head and that "I" attitude, Russia should be able to make a run for the gold.

I'm gonna say Canada and Russia in the final and then, anything can happen. Never count out Finland though, they always seem to fly under the radar and surprise everybody.

Edited January 28, 2009 by kozac

[Gator Mike 0]

At the risk of being a gigantic homer, I wouldn't count the US out of medal contention, either. Think of the forwards the US will be able to put on the ice... Kessel, Kane, Stastny, Brown, Parise, Ryan, Booth, O'Sullivan, Gomez... is it Team Canada? No. But there are a LOT of guys in that group who can skate and shoot and on a large ice surface, that could cause other teams some problems.

And they've also got a bunch of defensemen who can skate and transition the puck quickly and accurately - Rafalski, Liles, Suter, Carle, Erik Johnson. I could see the US sitting back and absolutely punishing teams on the counter attack.

They've even got three pretty good goalies in Tim Thomas, Rick DiPietro, and Ryan Miller - any of which is able to get hot and win a game or two on their own.

I think the US really has a chance to surprise.

[Broken 16 381]

At the risk of being a gigantic homer, I wouldn't count the US out of medal contention, either. Think of the forwards the US will be able to put on the ice... Kessel, Kane, Stastny, Brown, Parise, Ryan, Booth, O'Sullivan, Gomez... is it Team Canada? No. But there are a LOT of guys in that group who can skate and shoot and on a large ice surface, that could cause other teams some problems.

And they've also got a bunch of defensemen who can skate and transition the puck quickly and accurately - Rafalski, Liles, Suter, Carle, Erik Johnson. I could see the US sitting back and absolutely punishing teams on the counter attack.

They've even got three pretty good goalies in Tim Thomas, Rick DiPietro, and Ryan Miller - any of which is able to get hot and win a game or two on their own.

I think the US really has a chance to surprise.

You are a gigantic homer.

[T-Ruff 47]

At the risk of being a gigantic homer, I wouldn't count the US out of medal contention, either. Think of the forwards the US will be able to put on the ice... Kessel, Kane, Stastny, Brown, Parise, Ryan, Booth, O'Sullivan, Gomez... is it Team Canada? No. But there are a LOT of guys in that group who can skate and shoot and on a large ice surface, that could cause other teams some problems.

?

1. The ice will be NHL size...

2. Americans grow up and are used to playing on NHL size ice, so how would large ice be an advantage?

[CanadaBoy 151]

Official NHL rink size 85 feet (26 m) x 200 feet (61 m)

Official Olympic rink 30 metres (98 ft) x 60 metres (200 ft)

[From Wiki]

[T-Ruff 47]

Official NHL rink size 85 feet (26 m) x 200 feet (61 m)

Official Olympic rink 30 metres (98 ft) x 60 metres (200 ft)

[From Wiki]

2010 will differ from previous Winter Olympic Games in that both men's and women's hockey will be played on a narrower, NHL-sized ice rink instead of the international size. [source]

Edited January 28, 2009 by T-Ruff

[kozac 10]

2010 will differ from previous Winter Olympic Games in that both men's and women's hockey will be played on a narrower, NHL-sized ice rink instead of the international size. [source]

I believe in 2002 in Salt Lake City the tournament was played on NHL-sized rinks and it seemed to have helped both the US and Canada tremendously. So I guess whoever said the US could be in the running has a valid point.