Lidstrom Says: "I'm Done with Olympics"

[Pepist 3]

Well yeah I know you, Dat's sick and Pepist have said their opinions on BAG but I'm just surprised there aren't more Swedish fans on here like that. I mean, the press in Sweden has to be tearing him up good.

Sweden doesn't really work like that though. The first reaction -- on the night -- can be quite loud. But then it's all very understated. Like *cough*, well.. that wasn't very good. And they express 'surprise' at some of the things BÃ…G did. This is how Svenska Dagbladet's commentator puts it, before giving some of the examples I posted before (http://www.svd.se/sportspel/nyheter/svenska-fallet-mot-slovakien-var-tungt_4328151.svd):

Tre Kronor had to play catch-up the whole game, and the longer the game went on those of us in the gallery in Canada Hockey Place looked in wonderment at the odd coaching of the team that Bengt-Ã…ke Gustafsson offered.

But in general, the discussion quickly turns to, 'what do we need to improve until next time?'. Mikael Renberg for instance, even on the night, had mostly constructive critique to offer. Except for disappointment.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

That would be the only reason for Lidstrom to say anything about "done". It's not like him to everstate the obvious, considering he'd be 43 next olympics.

This.

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

Does he have those?

He once had an uncensored, unguarded moment.

Just to see how it feels.

[Guest mindfly]

Well yeah I know you, Dat's sick and Pepist have said their opinions on BAG but I'm just surprised there aren't more Swedish fans on here like that. I mean, the press in Sweden has to be tearing him up good.

Well I don't know many active swedes on this board... Systemfel and SweWing comes to mind other than those you named...

If you think he sucks coaching you should see him with the media, he's awful and 90% of the times he never answer the questions.. he starts asking questions himself to the media and laughs it offs and s*** like that.. its embarassing to see... quite the opposite of babcock

Edited February 26, 2010 by mindfly

[edicius 3,269]

It's not like Bettman's going to let players in the Olympics in 4 years anyway. International play showcased what a joke the NHL itself has become and Bettman didn't like that.

[NGKEIB 32]

The criticism for adding a 43-year-old Lidstrom to Tre Kronor's 2014 incarnation couldn't be much worse than that of having Fredrik Modin on the 2010 roster, could it? Part of me wants to buy into the theory that this is somehow a dig at the Swedish coaching staff, but chances are Nick simply has no intention of playing pro hockey for another 4 years.

Modin certainly wasn't the problem. Unfortunately he was sick the last game, but he had played well up until then.

I think that Gustafsson blundered from the start, namely in selecting the team. I think that we should only have taken 7 defencemen (one of Oduya or Johansson should have not been taken), and an extra forward (Samuelsson?). His forward lines could be questioned (Weinhandl and the Sedins did absolutely squat, Hörnqvist's line didn't get going until the last game and Franzén stayed on the fourth line too long).

His reluctance to practice the PP until elimination rounds, and to only use dedicated PP units in the Finland and Slovakia games can be questioned.

Finally, his coaching in the Slovakia game was just poor. That said, I don't think you can blame Lidström's sub-par play on Bengt-Åke...

Perhaps most irritating of all is his instistence that he has no regrets if he had another chance would do the same all over again.

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

They should change the coach's name to D-BAG.

[NGKEIB 32]

He dug his own grave when he didn't name Lilja and Eriksson to the team.

[ilmickeyli 40]

They should change the coach's name to D-BAG.

[IceMunkee 15]

He once had an uncensored, unguarded moment.

Just to see how it feels.

HAHAHA

[stevie12 5]

Best case scenario happened for the wings. Sweden and Russia eliminated early. A little bit of rest for our main guys.

[VM1138 1,921]

Best case scenario happened for the wings. Sweden and Russia eliminated early. A little bit of rest for our main guys.

And maybe a chance to keep Rafalski going hot when the NHL starts back up again.