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burkymakar · 4 years ago

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Hi! I was wondering if you could post the Athletic's Olympic roster predictions please?!

ok here’s a lot under the cut, i’ve included men and womens for both Canada and USA.

Canada Mens

Remember how the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang unfolded? Canada won a hard-earned bronze medal playing a stingy brand of defence under coach Willie Desjardins and lost only a single game in regulation – to Germany in the semifinals – before defeating the Czech Republic to earn a place on the podium.

Just one thing was missing: NHL players. Hockey’s crème de la crème. Three years ago, the NHL decided not to participate in the Winter Olympics for a lot of reasons that made little sense to the hockey world which made the Games look a little like the Spengler Cup.

Thankfully, as part of the collective bargaining extension signed last summer, the NHL is returning to compete in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing — assuming the logistical details can be ironed out among the league, the IIHF and the IOC and that the pandemic is under some sort of control.

With apologies to all the players who competed so hard for Canada in 2018, the selection process this time around will be far more difficult because of the staggering depth of the talent pool.

One thing Canada never lacks at the highest level of hockey is oodles of options at both forward and defence. The players who don’t make the grade for Canada would fill out a ‘B’ team that would contend for gold.

How might Team Canada 2022 look? Thought you’d never ask. In our eternal quest to be helpful to the managerial powers-that-be, here are our projections for a 25-player roster, which is what the IOC permitted for Sochi in 2014.

As always, remember that in Canada, for an exercise such as this one, there really aren’t many bad options. Just too many good ones.

The last time men’s hockey had a best-on-best tournament was back in 2016 and if that World Cup taught us anything, it is that the younger generation of players dominating the game today had no stage fright whatsoever when they were got a chance to play together as North America’s 23-and-under team. They were fun to watch and unlucky not to advance to the medal round.

In previous Olympics, sometimes Canada’s management team would opt for veteran players over young up-and-comers because of a fear that they might be overwhelmed by the moment. Team Canada’s biggest Olympic bobble in the NHL era came in 2006 and you wonder what might have happened if they’d injected the youth and vigour of Sidney Crosby onto a team that seemed slow and plodding on the big ice of Turin.

By contrast, the decision to go with the 20-year-old Drew Doughty in Vancouver proved quite prescient – he was one of the key contributors that year and then again in 2014 in Sochi, as Canada won back-to-back golds.

Nowadays, Doughty is one of the more polarizing players in the game. He still plays a ton of minutes for the Los Angeles Kings and oozes confidence. On a blue line that features a whole lot of next-gen talent – from Cale Makar and Shea Theodore to Thomas Chabot and Morgan Rielly — chances are they’ll opt for one or two steadying veterans on the blue line. We’ve selected Alex Pietrangelo and Doughty to fill out what is otherwise a talented but relatively green defence corps that’ll get the puck up to the forwards, with great dispatch and accuracy.

Canada’s 2014 gold-medal team won with a stingy brand of hockey and timely saves from Carey Price, whenever he was called upon. That can be a challenge sometimes – playing goal on a team that surrenders few Grade-A opportunities and tests your level of focus and concentration because there will be the occasional breakdown that you will need to be in a position to respond to.

Long-term, Carter Hart will likely take over from Price as Canada’s go-to starter in goal, but there are still some inconsistencies in his game that drops him down to the No. 2 position. One wild card I considered here was the Devils’ Mackenzie Blackwood, who had an excellent rookie season last year and was off to a good start this year as well. Chances are if Blues’ GM Doug Armstrong has the final say, Jordan Binnington would likely be the third goalie on this roster.

All of which leads us to the hardest, most controversial decisions which involve the forward group. There’s the usual problem of having too many natural centres on the roster and so someone will have to switch to the right wing. Among the elite-level centres in Canada, both Nathan MacKinnon and Mark Scheifele are right-handed shots and could swing over to the wing. One likely will have to and in this scenario, it’s Scheifele, if only so that MacKinnon and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who developed some familiarity playing for Team North America in the World Cup, can play together.

That creates some flexibility if the coach – we’re picking Barry Trotz – ultimately wants to shift Nugent-Hopkins up to Connor McDavid’s line.

Splitting Crosby and Brad Marchand may also just be temporary. In 2016, those two along with Patrice Bergeron were the clear top line for Canada, and scored all the important goal. But Bergeron will be 36 by the time the Olympics roll around, and thus, didn’t make the final group here. You could theoretically put Marchand, Crosby and MacKinnon (playing right wing) together on an all-Nova Scotia line and the chemistry could be magical.

The beauty of Canada’s roster is the versatility of so many of the better forwards – Ryan O’Reilly, Sean Couturier, Brayden Point and Bo Horvat could all play the wing as well as down the middle. Chances are, every line that Canada rolls out will include two natural centres making face-off match-ups easier for the coaching staff, if they can fit both a right- and a left-hand centre onto each line.

The bottom line: With a player pool so deep, Canada has incredible talent and flexibility. Talent enough to get the go-ahead goal in a tight game.

Flexibility enough to juggle lines as needed and get the defensive match-ups as required. The greatest coaching challenge is usually selling a one-for-all and all-for-one vision. If a star player is forced to adopt a secondary role, he’ll need to handle it with maturity and grace and cannot start pouting because he isn’t the first option on the PP or the PK the way he might be on his club team.

Managing egos is as big a part of the job for the coaching staff as setting lines and spooling out ice time. — Eric Duhatschek

I’m going to keep this very simple.

Hockey Canada has a formula. It involves a few key rules that have helped Team Canada dominate best-on-best competition to an unprecedented degree over the past decade:

1) Everyone plays on their strong side.

2) Wherever possible, bring pairs of players that play together in the NHL so you have an immediate chemistry advantage in a short tournament.

3) Bring extra centres and just have them play on the wall.

4) Experience and tenure matter. If you were on the last team and are still elite, you have an edge in the event all other factors are equal.

Now, Hockey Canada has also opted to play grinding, low event hockey over the past decade. It’s cynical, it’s ruthless and it delivers gold.

However, this approach stinks. It shows a certain ruthless focus, which I appreciate, but it actually lacks any grander ambition.

Hockey Canada could aspire for more. They should aspire for greatness.

They should aspir for a national men’s team with the purpose of articulating a national vision of a beautiful, skillful and yet still assertive and physical two-way brand of hockey. Canada’s men’s team could play hockey beautifully if Canada decided to play hockey beautifully, and that’s what this team is going to do — within the framework of Hockey Canada’s otherwise winning formula.

Right off the top, I’ve built the fastest first line in the history of the sport. McDavid moves to the wing mostly for handedness reasons. A top line of McDavid, MacKinnon and Mathew Barzal are going to test the limits of what’s possible to accomplish in hockey playing at the highest possible speed.

Until one of Marchand, Crosby and Bergeron fall off and aren’t among the NHL’s best individually, they’re a set line for Hockey Canada. This is the easiest choice there is. They have chemistry, experience, swagger as a group, and they bring the DNA of Hockey Canada’s decade-of-dominance to this forward group.

The third line is where things get interesting, particularly because this is where the toughest omission from my team — Jonathan Huberdeau — kicks in. Ultimately I’m going to make a decision to prefer John Tavares’ experience, ability to cover in the event of a centre injury and his chemistry with Mitch Marner over Huberdeau’s electricity.

I’m not bringing Rob Zamuner or Kris Draper to fill a role or anything, but my fourth-line definitely has the identity of the highest-end possible version of an energy line. Honestly, in some matchups, this trio may well end up being Hockey Canada’s matchup line ahead of the Crosby line, since it’s just a collection of the countries most willful two-way players.

I’m bringing Steven Stamkos and Couturier as extra forwards, basically two centremen — a lefty and a righty — which means snubbing Bo Horvat and Claude Giroux, my toughest omissions besides Huberdeau.

We weren’t asked to name coaches, but I should add that I’ve named Pete DeBoer and Jared Bednar as assistant coaches, partly because they’re deserving and partly so that my top-four can get reps together throughout the NHL season leading up to the 2022 Games.

There’s a factor in the international game that I still don’t think Hockey Canada has fully incorporated into their player selection process, but they really should: Puck-moving defenders are everything.

Which is why Samuel Girard — probably my most surprising selection — is a slam dunk no brainer for this team and is likely to play a prominent role. Thanks to Bednar’s colluding with me to win a gold medal, he’ll spend more time with Makar in the season leading up to the Olympics (although they’ve spent 200 5-on-5 minutes together the past two seasons, so they’re not exactly strangers). Same goes for Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore, who have played together a bit at 5-on-5 in the early going for Vegas (about 35 minutes so far), but will become the Golden Knight’s fixture top pair in 2021-22 for the purposes of Olympic preparation.

Doughty makes the team because he’s still performing at a high enough level that his status as the most important Hockey Canada veteran defender matters. And Morgan Rielly will be his partner on a mobile third pair, narrowly edging out Giordano.

Ryan Ellis is custom made for the international game and my Hockey Canada will have zero reservation bumping him up the lineup if injuries call for it.

In net, Price and Hart are coming to represent the past and the future while Jordan Binnington gets the nod to round out my trio of netminders. I’m comfortable enough with all three goaltenders that whoever is performing the best ahead of the tournament will go into the round-robin as my defacto starter. — Thomas Drance

Canada Womens

Picking a Canadian roster a year ahead of an Olympics is never easy.

And this time around, looking ahead to Beijing 2022, might be harder than ever, as the years since the 2018 Games have been unlike any other post-Olympic period for Team Canada.

First of all, Canada is coming off a silver medal finish at the last games in Pyeongchang — the first time that’s happened in two decades. If that wasn’t difficult enough, on the eve of the 2019 world championships, the Canadian Women’s Hockey League announced it would fold after nearly 12 years in operation, taking away most Canadians’ daily training environments. Canada ultimately lost in the semifinal of the tournament and took home a bronze medal, the first time Team Canada hasn’t won’t at least silver at a world championship. Then, the 2019 4 Nations Cup was cancelled due to contract disputes between the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and the Swedish women’s team.

On top of all of that, there have been further complications brought by a global pandemic, which led to the cancellation of the 2020 4 Nations Cup and the 2020 women’s world championships.

Essentially, the women’s hockey calendar through the first three years of the Olympic quad cycle has been almost entirely wiped out.

“This quad had been a huge challenge, not only for our program but certainly for women’s hockey globally,” said Gina Kingsbury, the manager of the senior women’s national team. “We’re sitting at Year 3 of our quad with a very little amount of critical experience that we were able to share across our athlete pool to be able to evaluate them and be able to prepare them for an Olympic Games.”

The last time Team Canada played at an international event was 660 days ago at the 2019 worlds. Since then, they’ve relied on games against the U.S. national team and mini-camps throughout the season hosted by Hockey Canada, but even those have been largely put on hold due to the pandemic.

Still, with all that being said, as part of The Athletic’s one year out from the Olympics package, we are going to try our best to project the 2022 Team Canada women’s Olympic roster.

Guided by 2018

To start, let’s take a brief comparative look at who played for Canada in 2018 and who would make the team today. Players selected for the 2022 team are highlighted in red.

FORWARDDEFENCEGOAL

Meghan AgostaRenata FastShannon Szabados

Bailey BramLaura FortinoAnn-Renée Desbiens

Emily ClarkBrigette LacquetteGeneviève Lacasse

Mélodie DaoustJocelyne Larocque

Haley IrwinMeaghan Mikkelson

Brianne JennerLauriane Rougeau

Rebecca Johnston

Sarah Nurse

Marie-Philip Poulin

Jill Saulnier

Natalie Spooner

Laura Stacey

Blayre Turnbull

Jennifer Wakefield

From 2018 to 2022, we’re projecting 15 returnees among the 23 roster spots. Nine up front, four on the blue line, and two in goal. It’s not a ton of turnover between the four years, but there are still several spots for younger players to break onto the senior national team and for others to make their Olympic debuts.

Now, let’s look at the projection.

How did I arrive at these names with so few evaluation opportunities?

Well, despite the cancellation, Hockey Canada still named its 23-player roster for the 2020 world championships.

And, in early January, 47 players were invited to a training camp at Hockey Canada’s home base in Calgary. Thirty-five athletes attended the two-week camp — players such as Rebecca Johnston and Sarah Nurse were invited but unable to attend — and were split into two teams for scrimmages, with the line rushes and defence pairings posted daily.

It’s not a huge sample size, but using the previous Olympic and World Championship rosters, and taking stock of the two-week camp, which ended on Friday, you can get a pretty good idea of where things stand one year out from Beijing 2022.

As mentioned above, this roster consists of 15 returnees from the 2018 Games. And 22 of the 23 players projected here were named to Canada’s roster for the cancelled 2020 Women’s World Championship. Brigette Lacquette is the only player on my roster who didn’t make the World Championship roster, as she was unable to play.

These lines and pairings certainly aren’t set in stone, but they were consistently used at last week’s camp, except for Nurse on the line with Emily Clark and Blayre Turnbull, as Nurse did not attend camp.

To start, there are some names on this roster that should be no-brainers.

Marie-Philip Poulin, 29, is now over a decade into her international career and is arguably the greatest player of all-time in the women’s game. She’s Canada’s captain and scored the game-winning goal in the gold medal games of her first two Olympic appearances (2010 and 2014). A knee injury kept her mostly out of the 2019 world championships, but she’s healthy now. And it would take something completely unforeseen for Poulin to not be in Beijing.

Her frequent winger for club (the now-defunct CWHL Les Canadiennes) and country, Mélodie Daoust, is also a natural choice. With three goals and seven points in five games, she led Canada in scoring at the last Olympics. And scored one of the most impressive shootout goals in the gold medal game.

Natalie Spooner and Brianne Jenner have been consistent staples for Team Canada in the last two Olympic Games, with Spooner making her World Championship debut in 2011, and Jenner in 2012. The duo ranked No. 1 and 2 in scoring for Canada at the 2019 world championships. Spooner scored six goals and 10 points in seven games, only one goal behind Hilary Knight, who led the tournament with 11 points. Jenner wasn’t far behind with nine points.

Lauriane Rougeau and Jocelyne Larocque are also steady veterans, albeit on the blue line, who have the 2014 and 2018 Olympics under their belts. While, Nurse and Clark, who played together at the University of Wisconsin, both made their Olympic debuts in 2018 and should be natural choices to return in 2022. Similarly, Fast made her debut in 2018 and has established herself as one of the top defenders in the women’s game.

Youth vs. experience

I wanted to strike a balance on this roster with returning players, veterans and young players, or those making their Olympic debut. Because according to Kingsbury, as much as you want to win a gold medal, you have to keep an eye to the future.

“Often you tend to lean on what you know, and the unknowns of the young players obviously is a little scary, but I do think we’re at a point in our program that we do have to sometimes take calculated risks,” she explained. “We’re aiming at winning a gold medal in Beijing, but we’re also making sure that we’ve got a sustainable success here down the road as well and that we’re looking ahead in the future of our program.”

With that front of mind, there are some obvious omissions on this projected roster.

Both Johnston and Laura Fortino, who played in 2018, were among the final cuts for the 2020 world championships. I left them off this roster.

Shannon Szabados was a steady presence in Canada’s crease from her Olympic debut in 2010 until 2019. She recently had her first child and is currently not playing. She could certainly decide to come back but will be 35 by the next games and 39 by 2026.

So, this feels like a natural time for a passing of the torch in the crease to younger goalies like Ann-Renée Desbiens, 26, and Emerance Maschmeyer, 26, who have been given a lot of the net over the last two and a half years, along with Geneviève Lacasse, 31.

Similarly, Meaghan Mikkelson, a three-time Olympian, was one of the most experienced players at last week’s camp, with just under 50 games for Canada at the Olympics (14) and world championships (35) over the last decade. She last played in 2017-18, taking a leave after the birth of her second child. This will be her second comeback to the national team.

This was one of the more difficult decisions for my projected blue line, and I assume this will be the same for the real decision-makers at Hockey Canada. Mikkelson will be 37 when the Games begin. If she can re-elevate her game, she can be a force on the ice. But could, say, Claire Thompson, 23, have a similar impact?

If we assume Rougeau, 30, and Larocque, 31, make this team, with two other returning blueliners in Fast and Lacquette, the Canadian blue line isn’t going to be inexperienced. So bringing Thompson to Beijing over Mikkelson could be one of those “looking ahead in the future” decisions.

There could be a similar decision in looking at a player like Erin Ambrose, who was the most difficult omission for me. Ambrose was one of the last cuts for the 2018 Olympics, but played her way onto the 2019 and 2020 World Championship rosters. She could realistically do the same for Beijing. But again, how much does Hockey Canada want to look forward to the future?

Admittedly, Ambrose, Mikkelson and even Meghan Agosta — a four-time Olympian who is a full-time Vancouver police officer who hasn’t play for Canada since 2017-18 — could be the ultimate wild cards for 2022. However, for this exercise, I decided that if I was undecided between a player on the way up and an older player, I erred on the side of the former.

This brings us to the Olympic rookies, projected to be: Jamie Lee Rattray, Victoria Bach, Sarah Fillier, Loren Gabel, Jaime Bourbonnais, Micah Zandee-Hart, and the aforementioned Maschmeyer and Thompson.

All eight of these rookies were named to the 2020 World Championship roster, and they were all featured in the 2019 world championships except for Bach and Fillier, who were among the final cuts. Rattray, 28, has been in the Hockey Canada program for a while now and has seemed to solidify a place within the core group. Bach was set to make her international tournament debut at the world championships, and while that debut has been delayed, her standing on the team remains.

There are two young stars to watch for here, too, in Gabel and Fillier.

Gabel, 23, made her senior team debut at the 2018 4 Nations Cup and won the Patty Kazmaier Award — the biggest individual honour in women’s college hockey — in 2019 after scoring 40 goals and 69 points in 38 games, including 11 game-winning goals for Clarkson University. She graduated that year as the all-time leading scorer with 213 points on 116 goals and 97 assists through 160 games.

Fillier, 20, was nominated for the Patty Kazmaier as a rookie at Princeton in 2018-19 after she put up nearly two points per game (1.97) to lead NCAA women’s hockey. Fillier, a centre, also led her team in scoring (22 goals and 57 points in 29 games) and was named the National Rookie of the Year. Like Gabel, Fillier made her senior team debut at the 2018 4 Nations Cup.

These two have been on the rise and should certainly crack the 2021 World Championship and 2022 Olympics rosters.

Bourbonnais, Thompson and Zandee-Hart further make up the young up and coming core of Hockey Canada’s roster, specifically on the blue line.

As mentioned, all of the above players were named to the 2020 World Championship roster, which shows a lot of trust from the decision-makers to put them into best-on-best competition. The world championships is often a dress rehearsal for the Olympics, too. That they were all chosen over veterans like Johnston and Fortino means a lot.

Finally, there are some other young players in Hockey Canada’s talent pool to be highlighted here, such as Élizabeth Giguère, Emma Maltais and Daryl Watts.

Giguère won the Patty Kazmaier last season, while Watts currently leads the nation with 11 goals and 21 points through 10 games to start the NCAA season. There are some key complications impacting their Olympic chances.

None of the three were at the recent camp, a key evaluator for the 2021 world championships. Kingsbury said “it was impossible” to bring any U.S.-based athletes to camp due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. (Fillier decided to take the year off from Princeton with the questions around if Ivy League schools would have a season and the Olympic considerations in mind.)

“Having our college players not here is definitely another challenge,” she said. “You’re trying to scout online, and it’s hard to see what they do in college and try to figure out if that’s going to have an impact at the international level.”

So while they are talented, without camps and potentially cracking the 2021 World Championship roster, it will be hard to jump into the 2022 Olympics. Especially if they are trying to take spots from returning players such as Turnbull, Jill Saulnier and Laura Stacey, who have all shown they can be reliable forwards who can play up and down the lineup.

For everything laid out here, all it takes is a really good tournament or training camp by one or two players to change my entire roster. Every year before the Olympics, Hockey Canada invites its Olympic hopefuls to Calgary for a six-to-seven month “centralized” camp before the Games.

Typically, there are some surprises on the roster, as Kingsbury said some players come in “like sponges” and elevate their game.

Such is the difficulty in this exercise. Anything can happen once we officially get into the final year of the Olympic quad. But regardless, Canada is going to have a deep talent pool to chose from when it comes time for Beijing 2022.

USA Mens

I remember covering the 2010 United States Olympic men’s hockey team — that came within a Sidney Crosby overtime goal of winning a gold medal — and before the tournament wondering: How the hell are they going to fill out this roster?

Ten years later, there has been a seismic change in the hockey landscape at the highest levels in the United States. Depth is no longer an issue for the U.S.

We often joke Canada could enter two teams in these best-on-best tournaments and both would be gold-medal worthy. The U.S. is not so far behind that and it’s illustrated by the difficult decisions we’ve made with this lineup and the hard decisions that await whoever builds the 2022 version of Team USA. There will be no shortage of heated debate about those tabbed to wear the red, white and blue and, of course, those whose names do not end up on the 25-man roster.

In starting to narrow down our roster here, we hearkened back to that scrappy 2010 team built by Brian Burke and David Poile and coached by Ron Wilson and looked for clues as to how to build not just the most talented team but the team most likely to win gold. What was it that allowed that group to defy projections and push a superstar-laden Canadian team to overtime?

Conversely, what was it that led a talented American roster to fall short of a medal in Sochi four years later and to flame out spectacularly in the 2016 World Cup? You will hear over and over that this version of Team USA will be the most talented ever iced in a best-on-best tournament. Maybe. But we focused in this exercise on building not just the most talented American roster but a team that can overcome disappointment, obstacles and the unexpected en route to what would be the first American gold medal in men’s hockey since the Miracle on Ice in 1980.

Let the shame-talking begin. Yes. No room on this roster for Johnny Gaudreau, Zach Parise or Paul Stastny. No room for 2019 first overall pick Jack Hughes. Sorry.

This is as good a team down the middle as any Team USA has iced, starting with Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel. A little bit of everything from this group of centers including solid leadership, ability to play shutdown hockey and, of course, create offense. That meant excluding worthy pivots like Kevin Hayes and Hughes even though one former coach and executive we spoke to felt Hughes would continue to evolve and push his way onto the roster before the end of 2021.

As for the wingers, there is so much to like from this group including the size and speed of Blake Wheeler, Jake Guentzel and Anders Lee and the offensive creativity of J.T. Miller and Kyle Connor. And of course, who will every team in the tournament love to hate from the word go? Matthew Tkachuk.

We kept Stanley Cup champion and Olympic shootout hero T.J. Oshie (T.J. Sochi as he is known after his exploits in 2014) given his experience. If you wanted more speed on the right side, you could go with Bryan Rust and/or one of our favorite emerging players, Conor Garland. We love the natural connection between usual Winnipeg linemates Connor and Wheeler and we wanted Stanley Cup champion Blake Coleman on this roster for his versatility and his ability to play both ends of the ice.

At one point, we had Gaudreau as one of our extra forwards in place of Max Pacioretty but the experts we spoke to felt Pacioretty needed to be on the roster and the fact that Gaudreau has struggled to produce in the playoffs we went with Pacioretty. Both the coach and former player we spoke to suggested two Brocks, Nelson and Boeser, and Columbus captain Nick Foligno should be considered. Another dark horse forward in the former player’s view is Alex Iafallo.

There will be no more critical decisions for Team USA’s management team than the ones made on the blue line.

The Beijing Games will be played on North American-sized ice so it will be critical to include not only those defenders who can skate fluidly and make good, quick decisions with the puck but who can defend vigorously. Team USA’s entry in the World Cup in 2016 is a good illustration of why you should never build a team with the notion of facing one particular opponent. But given Canada is in the same round-robin pool as the U.S., the ability to defend a physical, skilled team like Canada will be paramount.

As in all things, the balance will be crucial. This group is split evenly right shot/left shot and does have a good mix of youthful zest and solid experience. Some may quibble with leaving a guy like Zach Werenski off the roster, especially given his familiarity with Seth Jones. Fair enough. But a number of NHL sources we spoke to felt Torey Krug needed to be on this team.

Jeff Petry has established himself as one of the most effective defensemen in the game excelling in all situations and playing more often than not against opposing teams’ top talent. Jaccob Slavin, who is the motor that drives the talented Carolina blue line, must be on this roster. Charlie McAvoy has emerged from the shadows of Zdeno Chara to become the Bruins’ undisputed number one defender and he will be a key part of this blue line.

So having to leave Werenski off the list of eight is difficult but a function of the breadth and depth of options that will be available. Others who were on the radar included young John Marino, who has been so impressive in Pittsburgh, and the venerable Ryan Suter, who is a perennial participant in these best-on-best tournaments.

Goaltending is probably the most clearly established position for Team USA. Connor Hellebuyck is the defending Vezina Trophy winner. He’s an elite netminder who has endured his own share of ups and downs en route to his current lofty status.

John Gibson, playing behind a rebuilding Ducks team, won’t have the gaudy numbers that other top NHL netminders boast but he is recognized around the hockey world as an elite netminder and he will push Hellebuyck for the starter’s role in Beijing.

Ben Bishop’s lingering health issues excuse him from our list but if the multiple time Vezina Trophy finalist went on a roll later this season or to start the 2021-22 season he could play his way into the picture. Two-time Stanley Cup winner Jonathan Quick is Hall of Fame worthy but past his prime so we went younger with Thatcher Demko, who was stellar in the bubble playoffs for Vancouver.

We’ll admit one former NHL coach and executive with whom we shared our roster felt unequivocally Bishop should be on the team ahead of Demko. And one longtime netminder and analyst felt that the Kings’ Cal Petersen in Los Angeles might actually jump over Gibson by the time the Olympics roll around. — Scott Burnside

Let’s start with the fourth line. I was chatting with Blackhawks director of amateur scouting Mark Kelley for another story on the way about Team USA and he suggested this one. We were debating the merits of Jack Hughes on the Olympic team and he said, if he were to do it, he’d throw him out there with the two Tkachuks.

“No one will get near him,” Kelley said of Hughes. “It’ll be like he’s walking his two pit bulls.”

To pull it off, we’re probably costing a guy like Jake Guentzel a deserving spot, but it’s fun. I like the idea of T.J. Oshie as an option for shootouts but just couldn’t squeeze him in. I’d also like to find a spot for Joe Pavelski, who is averaging like three goals per game this season, but am skewing younger because we’re a year out. This team is loaded.

Quinn Hughes has gone from a guy knocking on the door to make the roster to the top pair over the last year. Just think of how good he’ll be a year from now. Zach Werenski could be penciled in to play in the place of Ryan Suter but it would be great to have Suter’s Olympic experience available in the top six. It’s also possible we’re suffering from some recency bias following Werenski’s slow start. Adam Fox, Neal Pionk and Matt Grzelcyk all have to be on a watch list this season.

The debate in goal will be about who starts between Gibson and Hellebuyck but the most interesting slot might be No. 3. Chances are, that goalie isn’t playing, so I’m bringing the future of American goaltending — world junior gold medalist Spencer Knight — to get experience on the big stage and soak in the experience much like a young Jonathan Quick did in 2010. — Craig Custance

Team USA is due in best-on-best hockey.

They lost the bronze medal game at the Sochi Olympics in 2014. They were embarrassed at the 2016 World Cup.

Now they’ve got a whole new generation of stars ready to bring USA Hockey back to gold-medal contention.

The difficulty in this exercise of selecting the roster for the Beijing Olympics is proof of how things got to another level for USA Hockey over the past decade.

It’s probably a crime to leave off T.J. Sochi but there’s plenty of time for me to change my mind before next year. Anders Lee, Jake Guentzel, Blake Coleman, Bryan Rust, Chris Kreider and James van Riemsdyk are among other names I passed over for now. It speaks to the elite U.S. depth. I’m probably one of the few who has young Brady Tkachuk on this roster this far out but, believe me, when we get closer to the final roster picks next December/January, he will have worked his way on to a lot of people’s lists.

I may also be one of the few to select Kevin Hayes but I wanted the extra center on the roster and given the fact the tournament will be played on North American-sized ice, I like his big body as a factor.

Four lefties and four righties, talk about balance in this defense group. I do worry I put too much offense on here but I’ve got my penalty-killing units in Slavin-Jones and McDonagh-Petry. Obviously, it’s tough to leave off a quality veteran like Suter and no doubt USA Hockey may not. Zach Werenski and Cam Fowler are other names to monitor over the year. But I really like the balance in those eight I put down.

Not much to debate in goal as Hellebuyck-Gibson is pretty much locked in at this point as the 1-2 punch. Now, I went with youth as the No. 3 with Demko but obviously, a healthy Ben Bishop or a resurgent Jonathan Quick would force USA Hockey’s hand. — Pierre LeBrun

USA Womens

It’s been nearly three years since USA Hockey forward Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson unleashed her gold-medal winning shootout goal at the 2018 Winter Olympics. The “Oops I Did it Again“ move shook Canadian netminder Shannon Szabados right out of her pads and sent the United States back home with their first goal medal since 1998.

Much has changed in the women’s hockey landscape since the national team was paraded around the United States media circuit. From “Ellen” to “The Tonight Show” to some players visiting the White House, we seemed on track to see the best leadup to the next Olympics ever.

However, the U.S. women’s team hasn’t competed in an official tournament since the April 2019 women’s worlds in Finland and has had very few competitive games since. It’s been a rocky road that has been only further complicated by the pandemic. The last official roster we got from USA Hockey was ahead of the cancelled 2020 world championships.

The 2022 Winter Olympics are officially one year away and soon we can expect USA Hockey to name a roster for the 2021 worlds and enter residency in the fall ahead of selecting the roster for the Beijing Games. Here is a look at all that has happened since the Pyeongchang Games and what we predict the final U.S. Olympic roster will look like.

The rundown

The Canadian Women’s Hockey League folded as Team USA traveled to Finland for the 2019 world championship — their last official tournament. New head coach Bob Corkum made some noticeable roster adjustments for that tournament, including bringing back the final cuts from the 2018 Olympic roster: Alex Carpenter and Megan Bozek. Kelly Pannek, Annie Pankowski and the return of 2014 Olympian Michelle Picard were other notable additions.

As Team USA was competing on the ice, they were also paving a future for professional women’s sports off the ice. Players made a bold statement with the #ForTheGame movement, vowing not to play for an existing professional league in North America. That was a loud and clear message to then-NWHL commissioner Dani Rylan. The movement has since evolved into the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association and the #DreamGap tour.

Games were already sparse when the Swedish national team held its own boycott for better conditions. Unlike what unfolded after the U.S. held out of the 2017 worlds, Sweden and its players did not reach an agreement and the 4 Nations Cup was canceled.

In lieu of 4 Nations, USA Hockey and Hockey Canada held a joint training camp in Pennsylvania. Canada opted for a young roster for the training camp, while the U.S. went with the usual suspects.

The next scheduled official tournament was the 2020 worlds. However, the pandemic shut that down and we haven’t seen USA Hockey in competition since. COVID-19 also greatly affected the PWHPA’s second year. Some players hit the ice last month in Tampa, but the organization has not yet been able to activate all of its five hub cities.

The 2020 world championship roster was announced and likely gives us the best glimpse at what USA Hockey will roll with as we approach the one year mark from the 2022 Olympics.

2020 world championship rosterFORWARDSDEFENDERSGOALIES

Brianna DeckerLee SteckleinAlex Cavallini

Hannah BrandtCayla BarnesMaddie Rooney

Hayley ScamurraMegan KellerAerin Frankel

Hilary KnightEmily Matheson

Kelly PannekMegan Bozek

Dani CameranesiKacey Bellamy

Kendall Coyne-SchofieldSavannah Harmon

Amanda Kessel

Jesse Compher

Alex Carpenter

Britta Curl

Grace Zumwinkle

Abby Roque

Roster changes

Notably missing from this roster compared to the 2018 Olympic team are Meghan Duggan, Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson, and Monique Lamoureaux-Morando. Duggan has since retired and it is unclear if USA Hockey is permanently moving on from the Lamoureux twins, who both returned to the team in November 2019 after each giving birth to their first child.

Defender Emily Matheson has announced she is expecting a baby boy in June 2021. Shelly Picard, who returned for the 2019 worlds, has also effectively retired and now serves as the deputy commissioner of the NWHL.

In goal, it would appear Nicole Hensley is on the outside looking in. Katie Burt and Aerin Frankel might be the two netminders Corkum brings in to join Maddie Rooney and Alex Cavallini. Overall, Corkum has shown he isn’t afraid to mix in some new faces with those synonymous with USA Hockey, such as Hilary Knight, Kacey Bellamy and new captain Kendall Coyne Schofield.

Annie Pankowski had a great world championship in 2019 but did not land on the 2020 roster. She was also missing from the 53-player roster tapped for an evaluation camp in October 2020, while younger players like Jincy Dunne, Natalie Snodgrass and Britta Curl were present.

Corkum emphasized in October the importance of bringing in new players and facilitating internal competition.

“We have a nice blend of youth and veteran talent here and the young players are certainly pushing the older players. And the older players aren’t ready to give it up,” Corkum said in a USA Hockey video recap.

Predictions

It is always difficult to make Olympic predictions, especially when USA Hockey hasn’t hit the ice in so long. I get the impression, though, that Corkum and USA Hockey are ready to shake things up. The roster for the 2021 worlds won’t be a complete youth movement, but it will feature some rising stars who have proven themselves in the 2019-20 Rivalry Series and in the NCAA. Here is my best guess at the 2022 Olympic Roster:

The 2020 world championship roster is the best indicator we have right now and I think we’ll see that team begin to take form as the go-to roster. I came up with line pairings based on the 2018 Olympics, 2019 worlds, and the 2019-20 Rivalry Series.

Alex Carpenter and Megan Bozek should make the next Olympics, though I’m more confident in Bozek than Carpenter.

Both are extremely skilled and are two of the few players currently getting in competitive games overseas. That said, there are a lot of good, young forwards coming up in the USA Hockey system. Abby Roque and Jesse Compher, for example, showed they are ready to play with Olympians in the 2019-20 Rivalry Series.

Roque, the 2020 Bob Allen USA Hockey Player of the Year, is an elite center and all signs point to her having a stellar international career. She scored two impressive goals in the Rivalry Series and injected some much-needed energy into USA Hockey coming off the lackluster performance at the 2019 November camp.

Last year would have marked the second consecutive world championship for Boston University product Jesse Compher. An injury kept her away from the Rivalry Series, but expect her to be back in the rotation. She has a great combination of size and skill for a USA Hockey team that is equal parts fast and furious on the ice.

Making the USA Hockey roster as a defender is tough, but ultimately, I think Matheson will need more time to return. I predict Savannah Harmon and Jincy Dunne will be the two vying for a spot this year, while Matheson will go for hers in 2022. I give the edge to the youth.

In net, Cavanelli and Rooney seem to be the mainstays for Corkum. Hensley attended the October evaluation camp, while Katie Burt did not. Frankel making the worlds roster indicates to me that she is being prepared for international competition.

As a journalist very fond of the eye test, this exercise was difficult, but here is to hoping we get to see players hit the ice for the red, white, and blue sooner rather than later.

#they haven't released other countries yet #but if u want them just let me know #yellowpinkrose #askos

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paradoxicalca · 5 years ago

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r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 5: Presidential Losers Edition

/r/Hockey NHL Power Rankings Week Oct 28, 2019 - Nov 3, 2019Thank YouThank you to all of the volunteers doing the power rankings. Each ranker has their own system and have their own reasonings and analyis. It truly is a lot of work.RankersSpoilerOrganizersSpoilerVisualizationThe visualization contains historical data, so you can see how your team has done over time. Hopefully, we can run this for many years in hopes that we can see the rise and fall of teams by /r/hockey opinion.It automatically updates so feel free to bookmark. You can find it hereProcessHow does this work? Throughout the course of the week rankers are able to access an app that will allow them to rank teams. At the end of the period we calculate the average ranking for every team and collate all of the analysis provided by rankers.The app then generates a post that is first proofread and then posted to /r/hockey!Rankings (28/31 Rankers Reporting)Ranking (avg)TeamDeltaOverall RecordRecord This WeekComments1 (1.38)Boston Bruins110-1-22-0-0The Bruins and Sharks gave new meaning to "Hockey Fights Cancer" on Tuesday night. The game was 5-1 at the end of the second and the third period was so scrappy that the refs were giving out game misconducts like halloween candy to players on both teams and even a coach. The Sens game started great for Bruins with the Sens having too much man, giving the Bruins a PP which Pasta quickly scored on for his League-tying 13th. Shortly after, Backes and Sabourin had an unfortunate collision which caused Sabourin to be evacuated and Backes to leave the game. It is hard for players to continue after such an injury early in the game, but Marchand couldn't resist himself and had to do Brad Marchand things. This is the last light week for the Bruins until New Years where the Bruins will have 3-4 games a week.2 (2.41)Washington Capitals211-2-33-0-0The Caps won a tight one against the Leafs then SMOKED the Sabres, in what was the first Caps game DC watched in weeks. We were busy watching the Nats bring another title to the nation's newest title town. I'm still a little hungover from the parade. Anyway the caps are technically the best team in the league and subjectively kinda look like it. Carlson sonned the entire league for a month, Ovi's on pace for 60 goals, and our depth is actually a strength for the first time in years. This season's been a joy so far, the kind that reminds you why you like sports in the first place.3 (3.66)New York Islanders410-3-02-0-0Everything is going perfectly. Goaltending is as good as it was last year. Defense is limiting chances and Pelech looks like a top tier d-man getting paid like a #6. Barzal is doing the same things he always was, but results are now coming. Nelson dominated Brocktober. Bailey and Lee are living up to their contracts (shoutout to everyone on /r/hockey who said paying Bailey after having production this late in his career as a result of JT was Clarkson 2.0). Brassard moving to wing has proven to have ridiculous success (5 straight games with a goal). And the 4th line (TBFLIH is a 3rd line right now) is doing all you could ask for. Things are amazing.4 (5.21)Carolina Hurricanes29-4-12-1-05 (5.93)Edmonton Oilers-10-4-12-1-0Gave the Red WIngs their only regulation win in weeks, but we got some strong wins against the Blue Jackets and the Penguins. This team is performing far above it's expected level. This can be largely thanks to the some excellent play from Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen. The team undeniably needs more scoring from the bottom 6, but goals from Cobly Cave and Khaira this week has been a positive. THE player for the Oilers in the most recent stretch has been easily Drasaitl. The man is playing insanely well and is easily playing like the best player in the league. McDavid seems to be struggling a bit, but he's considered to be a generational talent for a reason. The man will be back to form soon enough. Insane that McDavid struggling is still leading the league in assists, and in 4th in the league for points. The powerplay has been chugging along at league 2nd best numbers, but the percentages are deceiving as we've gone 10% this week.6 (7.17)Buffalo Sabres-39-4-20-2-1Colin Miller shoots the puck 95% of the time he gets it in the offensive zone. Jack Eichel needs to be more like Colin Miller. The Buffalo Sabres need to stop trying to force passes through three or more defenders on the power play and in tight on the goalie. We put in a decent game against Washington and got frustrated against the Islanders. It should be noted that both of these teams have been playing extremely well as of late and we haven't been playing as well as we could be. We saw the first major line blender on Saturday and that should continue in Sweden. Hopefully two games at home should energize our young Swedes and turn this ship around.7 (7.31)Colorado Avalanche-68-4-20-2-1Injuries suck but great teams win even without key players. Avs just seem to be lacking energy since Rantanen and Landeskog have been out. They haven't looked awful but certainly not good enough to be a top team in the league. The Good News Mackinnon seems to be catching fire again. His point streak came to an end, but he is shooting a ton and creating chaos. Hopefully he manages to wake up the rest of team and get them going. Calder Watch: Cale Makar is still leading rookies in scoring, but looking a lot better, and starting to try and blow through opposing teams. Cannot wait for him to score an end to end goal he has been very close. This week has two divisional match ups and a game in Columbus. We need to win at least two to turn this ship around.8 (7.62)St. Louis Blues79-3-33-0-0Even though we have won 4 games in a row those wins were not against impressive teams and each one of them was closer than I would’ve liked. Tarasenko is clearly missed in those games and we need one of the young guys to step up to the plate.9 (9.41)Vancouver Canucks79-3-23-0-1Writing from security line in the airport so forgive me. Last week I said I wouldn't complain if the Canucks kept scoring 5 goals a game. So I won't. While I felt the Canucks' first game against Calgary more or less set that bar for how bad this team can look with a healthy lineup, this week has given us a pretty good glimpse into what they look like playing at their best. The Canucks were defensively sound and utter dominant in the offensive zone in every game this week, and they were rewarded for their efforts by every goaltender not named Gibson. Demko and Markstrom continue to be playing out of their minds, even if they are still prone to the occasional brainfart. How long can it last? Who knows - it's still early and hard to guess what the "new normal" may be for this club (they seem to be taking a step this season, but how big?) For now, it's just fun to see the goals pile up.10 (9.76)Nashville Predators-28-4-21-1-1Well that was an up-and-down week. The week started with Peks getting his second SO of the year against the Hawks, in a game that will appropriately get a redo in two weeks. Halloween saw the Flames come to town, in a game that can only be described by the word "epic". Yeah, we lost it in OT and I should probably be upset proving the most dangerous lead in hockey, but that was one of the most thrilling regular season games I've seen in a while. Seriously, do yourself a favour and watch the full game if you didn't see it live. Saturday against the Rangers saw Saros continue his swing back into form; unfortunately, it also saw the offense struggle to click and was the first game this season the Preds didn't score multiple goals. Continuing the dichotomous mood of the day, the Winter Classic jerseys were also revealed to both adoration and disdain. Errrr... yeah, usually I write these into some semblance of a point but I got nothing else so... [insert smooth, cohesive ending here]11 (11.1)Anaheim Ducks-9-6-12-0-1Congratulations to Getzlaf for playing in 1,000 NHL games. He has played in exactly half of the franchise’s 2,000 games. Definitely a number in the rafters whenever he wants to hang them up. In other news, Ritchie did a thing that wasn’t a penalty. He scored a goal! The ducks seem to play to the level of their opponent. Still should be an up and down season.12 (11.41)Vegas Golden Knights-38-5-20-0-2The Knights played only two games this week and both games are eerily similar. The Knights go in the third up by two controlling play for most of the game only to lose the lead after taking the foot off the gas in the third period and then losing in overtime. Vegas has all the talent to win in the league but they need to close out games like those. Questions are also surrounding the health of forward Alex Tuch as he left Saturday's game early with an upper body injury.13 (11.48)Arizona Coyotes-8-4-12-1-0We have come a long way in the past two years under Tocchet. It took 37 games two years ago to reach 8 wins on the season, now it took only 13. If Chayka’s gamble on paying players on future potential pays off this team will compete for years to come.14 (12.41)Pittsburgh Penguins-48-5-11-0-115 (14.45)Toronto Maple Leafs-37-5-31-0-1The Leafs got back Travis Dermott this week, but his effort with Matthews' two goal performance wasn't enough to beat Ovi's 4 point night, as they lost in OT, 4-3. After a few days of rest, the Leafs faced a tired Philly team, and it took 11 rounds of shootout before Andreas Johnsson secured the second point for Toronto. Marner/Matthews were flipped back to the sides they were on last season, which scored 1 in 8 (!!) powerplay opportunities vs. the capitals. The penalty kill also has been struggling, as it let up 2 goals on Saturday in Philly. Once the special teams are looking a little stronger, this team will be a lot more consistent, and rise up these rankings.16 (16.31)Calgary Flames28-7-22-2-0The Flames had a tough week with 4 road games and split them 2-2, including an exciting comeback win against Nashville. While the Flames still aren't at last years form, they have been putting in better effort and leaving fans a bit more optimistic.17 (16.48)Montreal Canadiens-7-5-22-1-0Can't complain with 4/6 points on a western road trip. Boys managed to win on the second half of a back to back even with their backup in net. Maybe a certain team would like to know the secret?18 (16.86)Florida Panthers17-3-42-1-0The Panthers have had the hardest schedule to open up the season and are in 3rd place in the Atlantic. It's not always pretty (like Huberdeau's mustache) but the job gets done (like Huberdeau's play). The week started terribly in Vancouver but they bounced back with wins over Colorado and Detroit. Next up will be a big challenge against the Caps and hopefully Trocheck and Matheson will be healthy by then.19 (17.52)Tampa Bay Lightning-56-5-21-2-0I'm hoping this week long break will help this team to wake up, because sometimes it really looks like they aren't trying. The PK is still abysmal, and with how many penalties the team is taking, that turns into a decent amount of goals for opposing teams.20 (17.76)Winnipeg Jets18-7-02-1-0Things are starting to look up in Winterpeg, 2-1 on the week, couple of hard fought back to back wins over San Jose and Vegas. With the high undoubtably being Lowry making Vegas look pretty dumb for paying a bonafide goon 3 mil a year to lose a staged fight vs an actual NHL caliber shut down centre. This team, while the record doesn’t look amazing, feels to be gaining some amount of momentum, and this maybe feels like the start of something really really good. The talent on the front end is undeniable, if the back end can keep things together, this is a good team. But knowing the Jets I’ll be writing next week about how they need to sell everything after going 0-321 (19.76)Philadelphia Flyers-16-5-21-1-1This week was an up and down week, but overall I'm alright with it. Got 3 out of 4 on a back to back between the devils whom we beat, and the leafs who took 11 ROUNDS IN THE SHOOTOUT TO FINALLY COME TO AN END LIKE JUST EXTEND 3V3 OVERTIME ALREADY and lost to. You'll notice I'm not referencing a certain game on tuesday because I've actually blocked out the memory of that game. Our young guns are doing well, Elliot should probably be the starter in a 1a 1b with Hart, and SANHEIM STAY ON YOUR SKATES YOU CANT KEEP FALLING OVER. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. Praise Gritty22 (20.1)Dallas Stars47-8-13-0-023 (22.76)New York Rangers15-5-12-0-0As I said last week, we should expect the unexpected. Beating two solid teams comes with that apparently, but I won't complain. Calling up Chytil and Lindgren has worked out great. Fil has two goals in two games and Lindgren has played very well. This team is gonna continue to be confusing but hopefully they will continue to be entertaining.24 (22.76)Columbus Blue Jackets-25-6-30-2-1The good: Sonny Milano may actually be in the middle of a breakout season. If he can just not do stupid things he'd be a great middle-six player. Gavrikov has been a solid addition to our D pairings. The bad: Goaltending and defense. Defensive play in front of our two young goaltenders has been questionable at best. The goalies themselves are not two-time Vezina winning goalies either. The ugly: Scoring - The Jackets have 34 goals for in 14 games -- good for 27th in the NHL (along with 50 goals against, which is also 27th). We have 1 player in the top 100 in the league, and 2 in the top 200 in scoring so far. (Dubois with 6-4-10 for 86th and Cam with 3-4-7 for 183rd) Special teams - Honestly just getting sick of talking about this. Our power play is so bad it's comical. We're in the bottom 6 in both PK AND PP %, which no other team is.25 (24.69)Los Angeles Kings-5-9-01-1-0Started the week with a loss to Chicago, ended the week with a win against Chicago in a doozy of an OT game that Doughty finished off. Kings are still right about where people thought they would be so no big surprises yet.26 (25.97)Chicago Blackhawks14-6-31-1-1Dach is here to stay. Boqvist was recalled from Rockford. His first NHL goal was the Hawks' first by a defenseman at 5-on-5, becoming the last team to score as such. Also, Toews earned his first 5-on-5 point with a secondary assist on Boqvist's goal. Hawks' rookies that scored their 1st NHL goal in the 1st period of their 2nd game this season: Kubalik, Dach, Boqvist. The Hawks gave up 100 shots against in consecutive games (Tue @ NSH & Sat @ LAK). Scott Powers wrote, "The Blackhawks’ expected goals percentage was 22.65 against the Predators, according to Natural Stat Trick. That’s the lowest it’s been in the last five seasons." Seabrook was a healthy scratch for the 2nd consecutive game (Tue), but drew back into the lineup. On Saturday, the Hawks broke their drought of 22-consecutive PPs without a goal, and Crawford played his first game without giving up a PPG against. Lehner's streak of penalties killed ended at 25. He earned his 100th career win Sunday.27 (26.34)San Jose Sharks-44-10-10-3-0Another garbage week for the Sharks. This week is their last chance to turn it around, if they're still at the bottom of the pacific by the 20 game mark it's very unlikely we'll make the playoffs. This has been such a frustrating team to watch. There have been good games, so I know the team has it in them to play well, but Deboer's system is failing. It feels like a repeat of last season's start where our system of lots of point shots is failing us on defence without providing all the goals it did last year. The team is far better when we cycle in the offensive zone and use our forward talent instead of relying on Burns/Karl's point shots which cause too many turnovers. There's far too much talent on the roster to be doing so badly, it's time for Deboer to make some changes or Doug Wilson will have to.28 (26.52)New Jersey Devils13-5-41-0-2What is there to say at this point? This team is not winning as they should be. The Good: We managed to beat the Hurricanes, by some stroke of luck, and the Flyers game wasn't a complete dumpster fire. Vatanen has been playing very good offensive hockey and is currently 3rd in points on the team, and Zacha seems to finally be breaking into his own. The Bad: We keep blowing leads, we had leads in both the Bolts and Flyers losses. Oh and it's worth noting that in a 7 goal game, Stammer and Kuch combined for 0 points against us. Plus both our PP and PK are sitting near the bottom of the league. The Ugly: Blackwood has a 3-2-3 record (every win and OT loss) while sporting a 0.878 SV%. Yikes. Hall has 12 points and is point per game, but only has 2 goals. He really needs to be one of our finishing guys, currently the only guy over 5 goals is Palms at 6, and 3 came during his wasted hat trick against the Bolts.29 (26.97)Minnesota Wild-14-9-10-2-1Three losses for Minnesota this week and the boys knew how to treat their fans well by losing in a different fashion each time out. Every veteran looks like they've lost another step over the summer and any faithful fan courageous enough to watch night in and night out should be looking to add twelve steps to their life. Hey, at least we're getting some great Boudreau memes out of this nightmare.30 (28.07)Detroit Red Wings-4-10-11-2-0The amount of effort needed to put into this blurb might exceed the effort we have been seeing from our beloved Wings. The talk of the NHL town has come towards head coach Jeff Blashill as he occupies a chair set in the California wildfires. Yzerman most likely does not have a replacement as of yet and offered Blashill a two year extension at the start of the season so I would be surprised if he lets him go now. Here is the issue. Either Blashill is not making great game plans or the players are not executing them and going freestyle. The effort just seems very lazy from the team as of now so I will choose the latter. The power play goals seem to come from crisp passes and good positioning rather than luck, and the Wings are looking to make the right plays but it just seems like they are executing well at all. We shall watch with great interest to see if something changes.31 (29.31)Ottawa Senators-3-8-10-1-0The Good: Our Tank is on track, the Sharks are falling hard in the standings, and all the other teams we're competing with for 31st in the standings have at least 1 point this week. A great week for the Sennies game plan to #DernièrePourLafreniè. The Bad: Logan Brown going into week-to-week mode due to an unspecified injury and Sabourin suffering a particularly scary concussion put a serious damper on the Bruins game. Thankfully, Sabourin is being released from the hospital today thanks to some kind of miracle (and the world-class doctors of Boston). In further silver lining, this means in the next game we'll have a line with Mikkel Bødker and Bobby Ryan on it for maximum overtank to really keep us low in the standings. r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 5: Presidential Losers Edition Source

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thrashermaxey · 6 years ago

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Ramblings: Draft Lottery; Lineup News; Looking Ahead – April 10

It was quite the eventful draft lottery as Colorado did not end up with the first overall pick, sliding to fourth. The Rangers, Devils, and Blackhawks all jumped into the top-3. New Jersey ended up grabbing the top pick with New York ending up in the second slot.

Should everything go to plan, the Devils will be adding an elite talent immediately to the lineup. This team desperately needed another elite talent up front and they got it. The Rangers get a great prospect in their own right. Not a bad night for those franchises, and sincerest sympathies to Avalanche fans.

Just want to say that I really hope Jake Bean can get into some postseason games for the Hurricanes. He had a marvelous AHL season and is a guy I’ve been waiting to see in the NHL for a couple years now. I assume there would have to be at least one more injury for him to get a spot in the lineup, but all the same, I have high hopes for the kid.

Slava Voynov has been suspended by the NHL for next season plus the 2020 playoffs for his domestic abuse plea deal. There had been murmurs that teams were interested in signing him, and this suspension will likely dissuade these suitors (not that they shouldn’t have been dissuaded before the suspension).

Minnesota general manager Paul Fenton expects both Mikko Koivu and Matt Dumba to be ready for the start of training camp in September. That’s great news for Wild fans and fantasy hockey enthusiasts.

Yesterday I was editing an article for Cameron Metz and in one paragraph he proclaimed that it marked the one-year anniversary for him at Dobber Hockey (congrats, Cam!). That got me thinking: this time of year would mark my own anniversary here at Dobber Hockey. Four years, to be exact. Next Tuesday will mark four years I’ve been with Dobber Hockey (man, time flies).

This link brings you to the first Ramblings I ever posted. Included are such topics as:

Peter Chiarelli being fired by the Bruins

Craig Berube’s future being up in the air with the Flyers

Boston’s cap crunch due to players like Carl Soderberg and Dougie Hamilton needing new contracts

The difference between Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek playing with Brayden Schenn and playing with Michael Raffl

Ryan Strome’s excellent 50-point season with the Islanders

Looking back at what’s happened since that Ramblings post nearly four years ago is kind of hilarious. Chiarelli has since been hired and fired by the Oilers, Berube is a coach of the year candidate in St. Louis, neither Soderberg nor Hamilton are still in Boston, Schenn is thriving in St. Louis, and Strome never recaptured that level of success. Time not only flies, but it makes fools of us all.

Seeing as this is the last day before playoffs start, it might be the last chance to do something like this, so I wanted to take a stab at what the NHL might look like in four years. Ready to be made a fool of again? I am.

Unbelievable Free Agent Class

A lot of stars have signed huge contracts in recent seasons with lengths of anywhere from six to eight years. A lot of those contracts will be running out in the same three-year span, and that will lead to a lot of talent in unrestricted free agency, even if they’re older. Per Cap Friendly, here are some of the names that could theoretically be available after the 2022-23 season: Patrick Kane, Vladimir Tarasenko, Jonathan Toews, David Pastrnak, Sean Monahan, Nathan MacKinnon, Dylan Larkin, Ryan O’Reilly, Max Pacioretty, James van Riemsdyk, Jonathan Huberdeau, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Bo Horvat. That kind of talent in a single free agent class is almost surreal.

Of course, as alluded to, a lot of players will be in their 30s by that point. There are a handful of guys who will be in their mid-to-late 20s like MacKinnon, Pastrnak, Monahan, and Larkin. With the likelihood of a lockout looming, will some of the older players not named who will also be UFA like Milan Lucic, Kyle Okposo, and Duncan Keith be bought out?

The younger guys, I’m sure, will be extended by their current teams. What about everyone else? Wouldn’t it be cool for Toews and Kane to do what Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne did and take cheap contracts to sign somewhere together? Regardless, in a few years’ time, there will be a lot of high-profile free agents that will start hitting the market.

Colorado Powerhouse

It seems pretty likely that Colorado is one of the top teams in the league in four years, isn’t it? They’ll have MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen on the roster, Samuel Girard will be a top-tier puck-mover, Cale Makar has the look of a future Norris Trophy contender, and then there’s Ottawa’s top pick from this year. There will be a great core to build around and if management can manage to not pull an Edmonton or Buffalo, it will hopefully be a championship core.

Of course, there is a lot else the team will have to deal with. Their captain, Gabriel Landeskog, is a free agent after the 2020-21 season. Will he still be around? Will Tyson Barrie? Will any of the young guys currently on the roster like J.T. Compher, Alex Kerfoot, and Tyson Jost be making an impact on the 2022-23 roster? This is certainly a team on the rise, but the toughest leap to make is from a good team to a championship-calibre team. Can the Avs be that team?

I say yes. There were some early bumps in the road but the Avalanche management group has made solid deals over the last year or so. As long as they can keep making positive deals for the franchise, there’s no reason to believe they’ll flounder. I believe in April 2023, we’ll be talking about the Avalanche as one of the top franchises in the league, returning to the glory they enjoyed early in the franchise’s existence.

Tkachuk Brothers

In the fantasy game, guys I have a soft spot for are the across-the-board performers. They’re guys who may not excel in any individual category, but the sum of their parts makes for a great fantasy campaign. In years gone by, this included names like David Backes, Wayne Simmonds, and Andrew Ladd. When looking around the league currently, names like Kyle Palmieri, Gabriel Landeskog, and Brendan Gallagher fit this bill. We’re always looking to the future, and it appears the future in this category belongs to the Brothers Tkachuk.

In many ways, they’ve already sort of arrived in this position. The elder Tkachuk, Matthew, was a top-30 fantasy player in standard Yahoo! leagues this year, one year after being a top-130 player. He’s a young star on the rise and he’s proved himself as such.

Brady Tkachuk has also arrived but not to the same degree just yet. He had a marvelous rookie season, becoming sixth 19-year old rookie since the 2012 lockout to post a season with at least 20 goals, 20 assists, and 200 shots, joining Dylan Larkin, Jack Eichel, Sebastian Aho, Auston Matthews, and Clayton Keller. To put the cherry on top in multi-category leagues, Tkachuk had 75 penalty minutes and 174 hits. That is just outstanding.

It very much appears that Matthew and Brady will follow in the footsteps of past multi-cat stars like Backes and Simmonds, and current multi-cat stars like Gallagher and Landeskog. In four years, it’s very likely that both of those players are easily top-50 picks in roto leagues, if not higher.

Alex Ovechkin

It’s hard to imagine, but in four years, Ovechkin could be with a different franchise (he’s UFA after the 2020-21 season). I don’t actually think he’ll finish his career anywhere else but Washington, I’m just saying it’s possible. Regardless, if Ovechkin can average 40 goals a year for the next four years, he’ll have passed Gordie Howe on the all-time goal scoring list and will be about 80 goals behind Wayne Gretzky for the all-time record.

Of course, the major wrench that could be thrown in all this is the potential of a lockout after the 2019-20 season. Ovechkin already lost a season and a half to lockouts, which have cost him, what, about 60 goals by now? If we lose another season, that’ll make Ovechkin’s task even more difficult.

It could be very likely that in four years, we’re lamenting what could have been with Alex Ovechkin. His pursuit of Gretzky’s record could be one of the great record chases of this generation. Will Ovechkin have maintained his elite goal scoring prowess while not losing a season to the lockout? I’m hopeful, but the NHL’s history with labour negotiations is cause for concern.

Seattle

With Seattle getting an NHL franchise, the league will be at 32 teams. This new franchise is going to have the same rebuild rules as Vegas, so will the enjoy the same early success as Vegas?

I think to expect any expansion franchise to replicate the accomplishments of the Golden Knights through their first two seasons is expecting far too much. I think teams will have learned from this mistake. You won’t have teams ship out 30-goal scorers on bargain contracts (Florida), letting go of multiple young prospects to save one player (Minnesota), or over-paying to get rid of a bad contract (Columbus). Well, you probably won’t… shouldn’t? Regardless, I do think teams will learn from their mistakes and Seattle will be in for a rough early couple seasons.

This isn’t to say there won’t be hope. The end of the 2022-23 season will bring Seattle to the end of their second season. It’ll will probably be another year of missing playoffs, but they’ll have an absolutely loaded cupboard of prospects. There will be a lot of promise for the years that follow.

Seattle’s new franchise is going to go through growing pains that Vegas did not have to endure due unimaginably bad decisions across the league. But in four years, there will be promise of much better days ahead.

Those are a few things I’ll be looking for in four years. How about you? What stands out as something we accept now that’ll change in four years? What will be the same? Hit up the comments.

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/ramblings-draft-lottery-lineup-news-looking-ahead-april-10/

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paradoxicalca · 5 years ago

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r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 3: Feeling Blue Edition

/r/Hockey NHL Power Rankings Week Oct 14, 2019 - Oct 20, 2019Thank YouThank you to all of the volunteers doing the power rankings. Each ranker has their own system and have their own reasonings and analyis. It truly is a lot of work.RankersSpoilerOrganizersSpoilerVisualizationThe visualization contains historical data, so you can see how your team has done over time. Hopefully, we can run this for many years in hopes that we can see the rise and fall of teams by /r/hockey opinion.It automatically updates so feel free to bookmark. You can find it hereProcessHow does this work? Throughout the course of the week rankers are able to access an app that will allow them to rank teams. At the end of the period we calculate the average ranking for every team and collate all of the analysis provided by rankers.The app then generates a post that is first proofread and then posted to /r/hockey!Rankings (28/31 Rankers Reporting)Ranking (avg)TeamDeltaOverall RecordRecord This WeekComments1 (1.52)Colorado Avalanche-7-0-13-0-1Avs are strange they are winning, but at the same time they are very sloppy with many issues. The giveaways are sometimes out of control and the defense is often scattered. The Power Play is bad right now very stationary missing Barrie hurts. The first line looks normal which is unusual for a line that is typically so dominant. On the positive this team is a collective unit and its depth is showing up. The stars are flashing at different times and different lines are breaking through each night. Whether Kadri, Burakovsky, or Jost players are replacing the top lines dominance. The top line is still a sleeping giant and I worry for the rest of the league when it wakes up. Calder update: not a great week for Makar which is saying something still multiple assists on the week and 7 points in 8 games so far.2 (3.86)Edmonton Oilers37-1-12-1-13 (4.07)Buffalo Sabres27-1-13-1-0Its obvious that the west coast style of hockey was a shock to us, but we still managed to pull off 4/6 points for the trip. Victor Olofsson has cooled off a bit along with the powerplay, but our 5 on 5 play has been exceptional to compensate. Rasmus Dahlin is now second on the team in scoring to Eichel and second in PIMs to Kyle Okposo, who along with the Roaring 20's line has looked fantastic. We can't continue this pace forever, but I can dream right?4 (5.07)Boston Bruins-25-1-21-0-2The Bruins started off strong this week with a big win against the Ducks and Pasta scoring 4 goals! The rest of week had middling results with a shootout loss to the Bolts and an OTL to the Leafs. The Bruins still struggle to score 5v5 against the Bolts with all 3 goals coming on the PP. More secondary scoring is starting to show up on the scoresheet which helps but not at the level the team would like. The Bruins need more than the first line putting up points.5 (6.41)Carolina Hurricanes-36-3-01-2-06 (6.69)Vegas Golden Knights-6-3-02-1-0The Golden Knights are boasting one of the league's best special teams. Cody Glass's addition on the top unit has added an extra dimension to it allowing them to score on 30% of their power play chances. The penalty kill has only allowed two goals while scoring 4 short handed. Marc-Andre Fleury has been lights out lately playing like a Vezina candidate. But you have to ask the question if the Golden Knights are playing Fleury too much having him play all but one period in the season.7 (7.79)Anaheim Ducks36-3-02-2-0Ducks are living on the edge. Finishing problems have not been solved but Rakell looks night and day better than last season. Current team mood(not including Calgary): https://ift.tt/33urMd4 With wins over Buffalo and Carolina, the ducks look to shock teams thinking they can pull 4 points from a socal swing. Also does anyone have a power play goal for sale?8 (7.83)Washington Capitals-6-2-23-1-0Holtby has been much improved these last couple of games. Which is great news for Caps fans and bad news for everyone else. I think he may have realized his payday is coming up and he needs to get his numbers back to 2016-17 year. Although I would be okay with him repeating his playoff numbers from 17-18.9 (8.66)Pittsburgh Penguins56-3-02-1-0Despite having the most extensive injury list to start the season the boys are still playing at an elite level and winning games against tough opponents. Even in a loss against Vegas that game was kept close until very late but the Flower is going to do what he does best.10 (9.03)Toronto Maple Leafs-15-3-12-1-011 (12.21)Tampa Bay Lightning-4-3-12-1-0I really don't know what to make of this team yet. D has looked solid, and the PK hasn't been terrible (just need to win more faceoffs). The offense seemed to pick it up a little more, generating 46 shots against Colorado. The powerplay however, has looked awful, dropping from 28% last season to 16% this season.12 (13.86)Nashville Predators-4-3-11-1-1Well, the good news is the Preds found their missing PP. The bad news is now we need to start putting up flyers for their PK.13 (15.03)New York Islanders75-3-03-0-0Isles look to be getting into a groove now. Goaltending is solid and Mat Barzal is showing off his scoring while Nelson follows his regular Brocktober schedule. Wahlstrom being called up is very exciting with him showing some great skills, despite not getting his first goal yet. Next week's roster moves will be interesting, with Eberle hopefully returning to health and Dobson riding watching from upstairs lats couple of games.14 (15.03)Montreal Canadiens44-3-22-2-015 (15.21)St. Louis Blues-83-2-30-1-2This team is still hungover. Good play from some players but not really cohesive yet. Still early in the season though.16 (15.59)Calgary Flames-5-4-13-1-0A 3-1 week was the bounce back that the Flames needed, however an abysmal effort leading to a 4-1 loss against LA leaves fans wondering what kind of team the Flames are this year.17 (15.83)Arizona Coyotes54-2-13-0-0While the Coyotes have had one of the top D-groups in the league since last season, offense has finally started clicking for the Desert Dogs. The Coyotes have taken 9 of the last 10 available points, scoring 4.6 gpg over the previous week, and only allowing 2 gpg. The PP has heated up to over 30% in this time frame, and Darcy Kuemper set a franchise record for most consecutive games allowing 2 of fewer goals. Kuemper has not allowed more than 2 goals against now since March.18 (16.1)Vancouver Canucks55-3-03-1-0I suppose I should say something I'm thankful for this year, but as a true Canucks fan I'd rather just be an entitled little egg eater and not give thanks for anything. This team is pretty good, but what I really deserve this year is a Stanley Cup win, or maybe the first overall draft pick if we miss the playoffs. Ideally, the Canucks will win both, otherwise it's time to #firebenning. Anyway, The Canucks turned around their early season slide with a very convincing win at home vs. the Kings and a less-convincing shootout win vs. the Flyers. The top line continues to be somewhat stifled, but that's okay because there are now various interesting players to watch on this team. Miller and Hughes have both come exactly as-advertised, Markstorm is tight, and Pearson appears intent on revitalizing his career. Myers is big, and while I don't know how his play will end up on statlines, he is very fun to watch.19 (17)Winnipeg Jets-65-5-01-2-0Tough, week was tough. Last week saw us win 3 in a row, this week saw us lose 3 in a row. The truth is we're probably somewhere in the middle of that. No one is doubting this teams offensive depth or skill level, The defense continues to leave much to be desired. Rumblings of Buff's return continue to give us this false sense of hope about the season. The tenders have been decent, through this tough stretch. Not alot to say at this point. The forward core is good enough to score on anyone, but if they run into a hot goalie, like they did vs the Isles they are going to lose. Frustration isn't the correct word, I'd say it's more of a malais. Also, they failed to sell out a game for the first time in 2.0 history, I understand it was vs the Gila River Coyotes on a Tuesday while there was snow on the ground on October 15th, but still, not a great sign.20 (20.34)Florida Panthers13-2-32-0-1Can the Panthers end a game in regulation? Can the Panthers hold on to a lead? No and no. But they managed to win against Nashville without Barkov, pretty good.21 (21.79)Columbus Blue Jackets33-3-21-0-2Three solid performances this week, but both overtime losses were games that were very winnable. Poor power play performance continues to plague the Jackets and this year the penalty kill seems to be having issues too. Cam Atkinson is on the right wing side on the PP and it doesn't seem to be working. Outside of special teams, though, the young Jackets team has looked pretty good at driving the game though puck possession. There were multiple shifts vs Chicago that were a minute plus of sustained pressure and chances in 5 on 5 situations. Only issue here is burying chances which should eventually happen if this play keeps up. Two tough opponents this week should be a good test. Expect to see Elvis get his first win soon!22 (22.86)Philadelphia Flyers-52-3-10-3-0Thanks to the backup ranker, I'm a student who is working as well so sometimes time escapes me. Thanks again for covering last week. That being said, the flyers made me sad and I want them to not suck. Oilers hurt our Goodboye(tm) Hart, we lost to the flames who I feel we should have at least been able to take to overtime, and I dont want to talk about the stars game. Lets just hope that we do that hockey thing better this week.23 (23.48)New York Rangers-82-4-00-3-0This team's starting to look a little more as I expected. Actually a little worse than I figured. It may have been due to the schedule, but holy shit was this a painful week. There were only about 20 minutes of hockey that I was hyped about this week and that was the third period against the Canucks. Defense needs to be addressed and the forward lines need to be sorted out. Andersson still deserves more minutes and Kakko should get time with the first line and possibly even the first power play unit. Hopefully this upcoming week gets better.24 (23.52)San Jose Sharks33-5-01-1-0Much better week for the Sharks. The rookies are starting to look more comfortable, and everything is starting to fall into place. The team is starting to regain confidence and everyone's playing much better than the first week.25 (23.62)Chicago Blackhawks32-3-12-1-0Kirby Dach made his NHL debut last night. The 3rd line of Saad-Kampf-Kubalik has been the most consistent, and arguably our best line so far. They have a 60.75 CF% and 67.90 FF% at even strength, and the team has a 46.54 CF% and 42.91 FF% when none of them are on the ice. The Hawks are a much more physical team, averaging 31.3 hits/game, up from 16.5 last season. But are hurt by poor special teams: they are 3 for 18 on the PP (16.7%) and 12 for 18 on the PK (66.7%).26 (23.79)Los Angeles Kings-13-5-01-2-0no bueno for the kings this week, Drew Doughty may have exerted dominance in his love-hate relationship with Matthew Tchakuk. along with a flying Mark Giordano superman appearance. The Kings look poised for mediocrity or worse again.27 (23.86)Detroit Red Wings-83-5-00-3-0We expected regression to hit at some point, things took a turn for the worse as they went 0-3 getting killed by VAN/CGY. The “veterans” seem to be hindering development. Dropping Bertuzzi from the top line to create “balanced” scoring was unnecessary by Blashill as no increased production came from Athanasiou along with decreases in Larkin/Mantha hot start. Most teams in the league load up a top line(COL/BOS) or have players to spread out(VGK/STL). Detroit is definitely not the latter and having Darren Helm on the top line kill many opportunities for Larkin/Mantha. Defense is still lackluster outside of Hronek and the Goaltending is still hard to evaluate since the defense is playing so poor. However I still maintain that Howard and Bernier do well enough to keep the WIngs in games. Their loss against EDM was a good step forward as Bertuzzi rejoined the top line near the end of the game and they were able to keep the EDM studs from running up the score.28 (27.59)New Jersey Devils22-4-22-1-0WE DID THE THING! It may have taken us longer than everyone else but we did it and against the Rags, making it all the sweeter. Predictably, the rampant calling for Hynes' head in the sub and GDTs have largely subsided, though he is still very much on the hot seat. Hughes got his first goal of hopefully many against his brother's team, and it ended up being the GW and only goal. The team as a whole seems much more cohesive and the pieces are starting to fall into place. And in possibly the best news of the week, we signed Nico long term, 7 years 7.25 AAV with a MNTC. Having Nico signed until 2027 is a relief knowing exactly how much a high talent player will be making before the offseason hits.29 (28.24)Dallas Stars-32-7-11-3-0If you're panicking this week, I don't blame you. I am, too. Things went almost as bad as they could have. The negatives are many. We're all aware of them, so let's try to be optimistic. What went right this week? Hintz and Heiskanen continue to deliver. Bishop showed he can still stand on his head for a win. Perry and Gurianov look promising. Can we take our successes against Philly and triumph against the Senators tonight? Can we use this win to build momentum and get key players back to playing elite hockey? Lets hope... otherwise, it's going to get messy, and you'd have to imagine that drastic changes are on the table.30 (29.97)Ottawa Senators-11-5-10-2-1An incredibly boring loss against the Minnesota Mild this week pointed the Sens' tank back in the right direction this week. Despite an incredible performance from Nilsson in Las Vegas and finally recording a goal on the powerplay, the team managed no wins and only a single point over the course of this week - exactly the kind of performance they want to continue if they wish to remain at 31st in the standings for the best possible shot at 1st overall pick in the 2020 draft. The only concerning part about this week is in Chabot, Tkachuk, White, and Zaitsev all clearly looking frustrated by the team's struggles; It will be a test of new coach DJ Smith and the "veteran presence" guys that Dorion brought in to keep locker room morale up in this tough rebuild year.31 (30.14)Minnesota Wild-2-6-02-2-0This blurb requires more effort than the Minnesota Wild have shown so far this season. Were it not for a dumpster fire of a matinee game against Ottawa, Minny would still be looking for their first win of the season going into Sunday's tilt against Montreal. 8 games in and Brad Hunt is the leading the team in points. Seems pretty fitting as the rest of the team is playing like total Hunts (unfortunate that one important key on my keyboard is broken). r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 3: Feeling Blue Edition Source

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