World Cup 2016

[Randall Flagg]

I'm pretty bored right now, so I'm going to write up the lines I would use for each team in this tournament, reading off of the final rosters.

 

Team Canada

Jamie Benn - Sidney Crosby - Matt Duchene

Tyler Seguin - Claude Giroux - Joe Thornton

Patrice Bergeron - Jonathan Toews - Ryan Getzlaf

Jeff Carter - John Tavares - Steven Stamkos

Extra: Brad Marchand, though he might take Carter's spot

 

Top line would just wreck anyone anywhere, second line has Joe and Giroux feeding Seguin for a billion goals, defense-specialist third line (hah) and the leftovers on the fourth line.

 

Kinda hard to make a lineup when 85% of the team is composed of natural centers. What a lineup though.

 

Duncan Keith - Drew Doughty

Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Brent Burns

Jake Muzzin - Alex Pietrangelo

Extra: Shea Weber

 

Handedness played a part here. No doubt Shea Weber will see plenty of ice, though. Vlasic-Burns for chemstiry.

 

Carey Price

Braden Holtby

Corey Crawford

 

Best goalie on the planet, followed by arguably the second best.

 

I don't see how this group of players can possibly lose a game.

 

Team Sweden

Gabriel Landeskog - Nicklas Backstrom - Henrik Zetterberg

Daniel Sedin - Henrik Sedin - Loui Eriksson

Alexander Steen - Carl Soderberg - Filip Forsberg

Carl Hagelin - Marcus Kruger - Patric Hornqvist

Extra: Jakob Silfverberg

 

Second line building chemistry for their time in Vancouver. Hagelin and Hornqvist just won a cup together. Pretty balanced and deep forward corps.

 

Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Erik Karlsson

Victor Hedman - Anton Stralman

Nicklas Hjalmersson - Mattias Ekholm

Extra: Niklas Kronwall

 

this country has some defensemen. Ridiculous top three. Imagine if they didn’t leave Hampus Lindholm and John Klingberg home for some reason.

 

Henrik Lundqvist

Robin Lehner

Jacob Markstrom

 

If Lundqvist is hot, this team could make a run. I’m drooling over the defensemen.

 

Team Finland

Patrik Laine - Aleksander Barkov - Joonas Donskoi

Leo Komarov - Mikko Koivu - Teuvo Teravainen

Sebastian Aho - Valteri Filppula - Erik Haula

Mikael Granlund - Jori Lehtera - Jussi Jokinen

Extra: Lauri Korpikoski

 

Not too sure what I’m doing here. Laine with Barkov was easy, and Donskoi can help them open space and cover for Laine’s defensive zone play. Aho plays with two defensive players as well.

 

Olli Maatta - Sami Vatanen

Esa Lindell - Rasmus Ristolainen

Jyrki Jokipakka - Ville Pokka

Exra: Sami Lepisto

 

Yeah, not sure. Stars fans are high on Lindell. Don’t get hurt Risto.

 

Tuukka Rask

Mikko Koskinen

Pekka Rinne

Rinne has been terrible for a year or two, and Koskinen played very well at WHC this year.

 

Team North America

Brandon Saad - Connor McDavid - Nathan MacKinnon

Dylan Larkin - Jack Eichel - Auston Matthews

Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

Jonathan Drouin - Mark Scheifele - Sean Couturier

Extra: J.T. Miller

 

Saad with a “veteran” presence on the first line, can clean up the garbage like Eberle did for McDavid, where MacKinnon can score from anywhere on the ice, as Connor can get him the puck anywhere on the ice. All-American second line. These guys have been on a couple teams together. RNH’s two-way play allowing Monahan and Gaudreau to do their thing, though a part of me would kill to see McDavid and Gaudreau together. I’m not sure if Scheifele spent a lot of time with Ehlers, but Ehlers is Drouin-lite, so some good things could happen here. Couturier is very good in just about any spot here, I think. INCREDIBLE speed on this team.

 

Shayne Gostisbehere - Aaron Ekblad

Ryan Murray - Seth Jones

Morgan Rielly - Colton Parayko

Extra: Jacob Trouba

 

Very green, but very good. Just excited to watch these guys play together.

 

Matt Murray

Connor Hellebuyck

John Gibson

 

Not sure who will start. I want this team to leave team USA in the dust, if they ever play each other. I’m still pissed about the direction they went building their roster.

Team USA

Max Pacioretty - Derek Stepan - Patrick Kane

Zach Parise - Joe Pavelski - T.J. Oshie

James van Riemsdyk - Brandon Dubinsky - Blake Wheeler

David Backes - Ryan Kesler - Kyle Palmieri

Extra: Justin Abdelkader

We almost got to see Ryan Callahan. No Kessel or Tyler Johnson is inexcusable, when Palmieri and Abdelkader are making appearances. Torts is coaching. I like Wheeler and Pavelski and Stepan and Kane, I’m not interested in watching the rest of these guys play hockey. Can’t wait for Eichel/Matthews/Larkin/Gaudreau to be regulars here.

 

Ryan Suter - John Carlson

Ryan McDonagh - Dustin Byfuglien

Matt Niskanen - Erik Johnson

Extra: Jack Johnson

No Justin Faulk or Kevin Shattenkirk, but Jack Johnson. Alright. Very good players in the top six, though.

 

Ben Bishop

Cory Schneider

Jonathan Quick
 

Bishop/Schneider is a toss up for me, I have no idea who’s better, but they occupy my 3rd and 4th spots, if I were to rank NHL goaltenders right now.

 

Team Russia

Alexander Ovechkin - Evgeny Kuznetsov - Vladimir Tarasenko

Artemi Panarin - Evgeni Malkin - Nikita Kucherov

Artem Anisimov - Vladislav Namestnikov - Nikolay Kulemin

Vadim Shipachyov - Pavel Datsyuk - Evgeny Dadonov

Extra: Ivan Telegin

 

Not sure what I’m doing here either to be honest. Used Ovie-Kuznetsov, and then just kinda went left-to-right, top-to-bottom in terms of player ability, sticking the KHL guys with Datsyuk for some reason. Lots of skill here. No Kovalchuk or Radulov?

 

Dmitry Kulikov - Dmitry Orlov

Andrei Markov - Alexei Emelin

Nikita Zaitsev - Nikita Nesterov

Extra: Alexey Marchenko

We get to see Kulikov in action, nice. Pretty scary-looking d-corps though.

 

Semyon Varlomov

Sergei Bobrovski

Andrei Vasilevskiy

 

Not sure who they’ll start.

 

Team Czech Republic

Jakub Voracek - David Krejci - David Pastrnak

Ondrej Palat - Martin Hanzal - Radek Faksa

Milan Michalek - Tomas Plekanec - Dmitrij Jaskin

Ales Hemsky - Tomas Hertl - Michael Frolik

Extra: Vladimir Sobotka

 

Some good players, can’t say my lines have much knowledge behind them though. I liked Faksa’s playoff performance, and stuck him with guys that can shelter him.

 

Zbynek Michalek - Radko Gudas

Andrej Sustr - Roman Polak

Michal Jordan - Michal Kempny

Extra?: Jakub Nakladal

What?

Petr Mrazek

Michal Neuvirth

Ondrej Pavelec

 

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Team Europe

Marian Gaborik (Slovakia)  - Anze Kopitar (Slovenia)  - Nino Niederreiter(Switzerland)

Mikkel Boedker (Denmark) - Leon Draisaitl (Germany) - Marian Hossa (Slovakia)

Tomas Tatar (Slovakia) - Frans Nielsen (Denmark) - Tobias Rieder (Germany)

Thomas Vanek (Austria) - Jannik Hansen (Denmark) - Mats Zuccarello (Norway)

Extra: P-E Bellemare (France)

 

This is going to be weird. Not sure it’s an idea that will last long.

 

Roman Josi (Switzerland) - Zdeno Chara (Slovakia)

Christian Ehrhoff (Germany) - Andrej Sekera (Slovakia)

Mark Streit (Switzerland) - Dennis Seidenberg (Germany)
Extra: Luca Sbisa (Switzerland)

 

Frederik Andersen (Denmark)

Jaroslav Halak (Slovakia)
Thomas Greiss (Germany)

 

I did most of these by memory, hope I didn’t screw up.

 

These are not lines I expect, they are just lines that I'd build on NHL 16 given the rosters. Will be an interesting watch, for sure.

[3putt]

Team NA s second line will most likely have Matthews in the pivot. The games are in TO and I think MacClellan does The Leafs bidding.

[TrueBlueGED]

Great post Flagg, but dammit, looking at the US roster has made me mad all over again.

[Brawndo]

Great lines, although  I would swap MacKinnon and Eichel for shitz and giggles.

 

 

Training camp schedules and pre tournament games for all teams.

 

https://www.nhl.com/news/world-cup-of-hockey-practice-schedule-announced/c-281381048

[WildCard]

Is anyone else going to this? I wouldn't mind meeting up with someone while I'm up there

[ubkev]

Man, I just don't like the US roster.

[Winston]

I'm going to the USA-Canada pre-tournament game in Columbus on Friday the 9th. Obviously rooting for US, but will spend more time marveling at Canada's studs.

 

Then making the trip to Toronto for the Team NA-Finland game on Sunday the 18th. I hope Eichel and the young guns put on a show and dominate. But I wouldn't mind seeing Risto lay out McDavid once or twice!

 

Btw, very cool post, Flagg. I think Murray's emergence this postseason really changed the look of Team North America. I think he should get the start, although Gibson could make a case.

[pi2000]

No Risto, Gaudreau, Kucherov, Orlov, Trouba, or Nesterov without new contracts.

[Cereal]

Is anyone else going to this? I wouldn't mind meeting up with someone while I'm up there

I will be in Toronto (randomly) for the first semifinal, 9/24 at 7pm... [winner of CAN-USA-CZE-Europe] versus [2nd place of FIN-SWE-RUS-North America].  I might convince myself to attend, although I'm not really that excited about this World Cup thing, just yet.  If USA somehow wins their pool, that might convince me (cheaper tickets, too).

[Brawndo]

Jamie Benn has dropped out secondary to core muscle injury. Logan Couture will take his place

[LGR4GM]

Good to see Team USA is still run by morons. Ryan Callahan? Seriously? Do these people even watch hockey?

... who the hell is running this show? 

BTW, I love team Canada's roster. It really looks exciting. 

[Brawndo]

Jay Bouwmeester replaces Duncan Keith (injured) on Team Canada at the World Cup.

[dudacek]

Jay Bouwmeester replaces Duncan Keith (injured) on Team Canada at the World Cup.

Old boys?

Or proof there just aren't many first pairing D in the world?

Wherefore art thou PK?

[TrueBlueGED]

Old boys?

Or proof there just aren't many first pairing D in the world?

Wherefore art thou PK?

Handedness balance? Thats all I got. And I think I'd rather have PK playing offhand with a goalie stick than Bouwmeester.

[Thorny]

I wish I was more excited for this tournament. It just seems gimmicky to me. I think the main thing is, I personally feel like there are too many world hockey tournaments nowadays. At some point, I just can't muster as much interest.

[TrueBlueGED]

I wish I was more excited for this tournament. It just seems gimmicky to me. I think the main thing is, I personally feel like there are too many world hockey tournaments nowadays. At some point, I just can't muster as much interest.

This is way more interesting than the Worlds to me. Top players will be here rather than in the playoffs, and there's the whole actually being able to watch on TV thing.

[Thorny]

This is way more interesting than the Worlds to me. Top players will be here rather than in the playoffs, and there's the whole actually being able to watch on TV thing.

I've lost a lot of interest in those, too. Although at least those have the feel of international tournaments, this feels like an NHL marketing session.

 

NHL season will be days away, not sure we'll be getting top effort from the players.

[TrueBlueGED]

I've lost a lot of interest in those, too. Although at least those have the feel of international tournaments, this feels like an NHL marketing session.

 

NHL season will be days away, not sure we'll be getting top effort from the players.

Not unfair. Though unless it's All-Star game level of competition, I think it'll be fun. Edited August 24, 2016 by TrueBlueGED

[Thorny]

Not unfair. Though unless it's All-Star game level of competition, I think it'll be fun.

Oh ya, you'd think the effort would be substantially above ASG level. As everyone knows, these guys generally love representing their countries.

[Randall Flagg]

Seabrook 

Letang
Giordano

Subban

Barrie

Brodie

Hamonic

 

They chose Bouwmeester?

[dudacek]

It's like picking Jack Johnson over Zach Bogosian. ????

Edited August 25, 2016 by dudacek

[3putt]

I am simply hoping for no Tavares like injuries.  What I really don't like about the Team NA thing is putting McDavid s coach in charge. Team NA is a ruse for allowing Canadian media to annoint McDavid again and promote Matthews as his heir over Jack.  I think Larkin Saad Jack would have made Team USA better while McDavid would have been the onlyplayer to make Team Canada.  Maybe Ekblad.  I am watching with trepidation concerning injuries.  The rest, Is just a cat toy until the season starts.

[LGR4GM]

 

Team Canada

Jamie Benn - Sidney Crosby - Matt Duchene

Tyler Seguin - Claude Giroux - Joe Thornton

Patrice Bergeron - Jonathan Toews - Ryan Getzlaf

Jeff Carter - John Tavares - Steven Stamkos

Extra: Brad Marchand, though he might take Carter's spot

 

Top line would just wreck anyone anywhere, second line has Joe and Giroux feeding Seguin for a billion goals, defense-specialist third line (hah) and the leftovers on the fourth line.

 

Kinda hard to make a lineup when 85% of the team is composed of natural centers. What a lineup though.

 

Duncan Keith - Drew Doughty

Marc-Edouard Vlasic - Brent Burns

Jake Muzzin - Alex Pietrangelo

Extra: Shea Weber

 

Handedness played a part here. No doubt Shea Weber will see plenty of ice, though. Vlasic-Burns for chemstiry.

 

Carey Price

Braden Holtby

Corey Crawford

 

Best goalie on the planet, followed by arguably the second best.

 

I don't see how this group of players can possibly lose a game.

 

 

 

Team North America

Brandon Saad - Connor McDavid - Nathan MacKinnon

Dylan Larkin - Jack Eichel - Auston Matthews

Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

Jonathan Drouin - Mark Scheifele - Sean Couturier

Extra: J.T. Miller

 

Saad with a “veteran” presence on the first line, can clean up the garbage like Eberle did for McDavid, where MacKinnon can score from anywhere on the ice, as Connor can get him the puck anywhere on the ice. All-American second line. These guys have been on a couple teams together. RNH’s two-way play allowing Monahan and Gaudreau to do their thing, though a part of me would kill to see McDavid and Gaudreau together. I’m not sure if Scheifele spent a lot of time with Ehlers, but Ehlers is Drouin-lite, so some good things could happen here. Couturier is very good in just about any spot here, I think. INCREDIBLE speed on this team.

 

Shayne Gostisbehere - Aaron Ekblad

Ryan Murray - Seth Jones

Morgan Rielly - Colton Parayko

Extra: Jacob Trouba

 

Very green, but very good. Just excited to watch these guys play together.

 

Matt Murray

Connor Hellebuyck

John Gibson

 

Not sure who will start. I want this team to leave team USA in the dust, if they ever play each other. I’m still pissed about the direction they went building their roster.

 

Team USA

Max Pacioretty - Derek Stepan - Patrick Kane

Zach Parise - Joe Pavelski - T.J. Oshie

James van Riemsdyk - Brandon Dubinsky - Blake Wheeler

David Backes - Ryan Kesler - Kyle Palmieri

Extra: Justin Abdelkader

We almost got to see Ryan Callahan. No Kessel or Tyler Johnson is inexcusable, when Palmieri and Abdelkader are making appearances. Torts is coaching. I like Wheeler and Pavelski and Stepan and Kane, I’m not interested in watching the rest of these guys play hockey. Can’t wait for Eichel/Matthews/Larkin/Gaudreau to be regulars here.

 

Ryan Suter - John Carlson

Ryan McDonagh - Dustin Byfuglien

Matt Niskanen - Erik Johnson

Extra: Jack Johnson

No Justin Faulk or Kevin Shattenkirk, but Jack Johnson. Alright. Very good players in the top six, though.

 

Ben Bishop

Cory Schneider

Jonathan Quick

 

Bishop/Schneider is a toss up for me, I have no idea who’s better, but they occupy my 3rd and 4th spots, if I were to rank NHL goaltenders right now.

 

I think Team Canada is pretty stacked but team USA is laughable. I foresee Team N. America actually beating out team USA. #boldprediction

I mean just look at the centers:

McDavid v. Stepan... lol's

Eichel v. Pavelski (will be a challenge)

Monahan v. Dubinsky... lol's

Scheifele v. Kesler... more lol's

 

Good luck team USA, I think you will need your old man guile to beat the kids.

 

Sidenote... I would have added ROR to team Canada. He would have been a better option than Carter IMPO. I think that 2-way game is hard to play against in a tourney and actually something that Canada could use more of.

Edited August 25, 2016 by LGR4GM

[pi2000]

USA training camp is in Columbus? Team NA camp Montreal and QBC?

 

Thought Buffalo with Harbor Center would be a perfect fit for team NA.

 

All-American prospects game is in Philly this year, Buffalo on the skids all of the sudden?

[Eleven]

USA training camp is in Columbus? Team NA camp Montreal and QBC?

 

Thought Buffalo with Harbor Center would be a perfect fit for team NA.

 

All-American prospects game is in Philly this year, Buffalo on the skids all of the sudden?

 

Can't get too greedy.