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I completely forgot about Kessel... Kessel should have been on the team instead of Backes, and Johnson should have been the replacement for Callahan instead of Abdelkader. Oh well...it doesn't matter anymore.
I was fine with Palmieri as Callahan's replacement, because he was a skill guy that did score 30 goals last year.
Only the Tortosaurus used Palmieri like he was Callahan, one of these grit and grinder players.
I'm disappointed in the team Lombardi built, I don't want Burke or Holmgren ever near a Team USA management group again. Time for them to all hit the trails. Don't want David Poile involved either, he's another one who shares the same philosophies. He wasn't involved in it this time though.
Most fans and media could tell this team was laughable when it was first constructed and announced back in March, I just don't think most thought it would go 0-3. I figured they might go 1-2-0 or 1-1-1 or something.
I thought Johnson should have been there, they just needed to not pick so many of the grinder types. Backes is so slow and was painful to watch. I feel bad for Bruins fans, they locked this guy up for 5 years.
At the end of the day having Tortorella coach this team is what did them in, what a garbage decision. It doesn't matter what level you are at, he is the type of coach that no player gets hyped to play for.
At the end of the day having Tortorella coach this team is what did them in, what a garbage decision. It doesn't matter what level you are at, he is the type of coach that no player gets hyped to play for.
No disagreement from me on this. While they goofed on picking players, he still had enough to put together a scoring line or two, and they should have been playing a trap style.
Still, the rules involving Team North America hurt Team USA...just imagine a team with Kane, Pavelski, Pacioretty, Kessel, (Tyler) Johnson, Johnny Gaudreau, Alex Galchenyuk, Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Dylan Larkin, J.T. Miller, Vince Trocheck, Brandon Saad, Carlson, Shattenkirk, Suter, McDonagh, Seth Jones, Shayne Gostisbehere, Jacob Trouba, Schneider, Bishop/Quick, and John Gibson wearing the Red, White, and Blue with a competent coach. This could be their team for the 2018 Olympics.
No disagreement from me on this. While they goofed on picking players, he still had enough to put together a scoring line or two, and they should have been playing a trap style.
Still, the rules involving Team North America hurt Team USA...just imagine a team with Kane, Pavelski, Pacioretty, Kessel, (Tyler) Johnson, Johnny Gaudreau, Alex Galchenyuk, Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Dylan Larkin, J.T. Miller, Vince Trocheck, Brandon Saad, Carlson, Shattenkirk, Suter, McDonagh, Seth Jones, Shayne Gostisbehere, Jacob Trouba, Schneider, Bishop/Quick, and John Gibson wearing the Red, White, and Blue with a competent coach. This could be their team for the 2018 Olympics.
No Parise? He may be getting older but that dude is the hardest working (and most underrated) player I have ever seen. He isn't the most talented, but he literally refuses to let guys beat him in the corners, he is the quintessential "lead by example" sort of guy. I also think Justin Faulk would need to be on the team over players like Gostisbehere, Trouba, but other than that I like the team (it's one where the core players are all young enough to be the face of USA hockey for the next decade plus).
I also think Brock Nelson would be a good addition, that guy can snipe with the best of them.
Here's an article with Lombardi discussing how he built the Cup team and doesn't regret it. Even as a Kings fan, I agree that this team was poorly built.
Here's an article with Lombardi discussing how he built the Cup team and doesn't regret it. Even as a Kings fan, I agree that this team was poorly built.
I don't think he understood that this was a two week (basically single elimination) tournament, not a 82 game + 4 round best of 7 playoffs. It's almost impossible to "grind out" wins in a tournament like this. There a reason why the Kings would always start the season out slow, they were made to win in the long run, not in October and November when all teams had fresh legs.
I really don't like this Team North America because it's taken away a lot of American players that would have helped the USA. The current Team USA roster is big, old, and pretty slow. Team USA with Jones, Trouba, Gostisbehere, Eichel, Larkin, Matthews, and Saad instead of Byfuglien, both Johnsons, Backes, Dubinsky, Palmieri/Callahan, and Abdelkader is a much more talented and faster team.
Next World Cup, I'd like to see them get rid of these continent teams or at least make it a team of players that didn't make their national team instead of an age requirement. In the case of Team North America, they have to have at least 5 American players and with Team Europe no more than 30% of their lineup can be from nations that have a team.
Edit...funny they just mentioned this not even 10 seconds after I posted this...also edits are in italics.
The reason I remember reading why they even have a Team North America and Team Europe thing is because all the other countries would run the risk of being slaughtered on ice outright by hockey's Big Six (Canada, USA, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, and Russia), which will make the sport look rather bad.
It's not something I would have liked either but before that concept can be done away with, the other countries need to level up and expand their talent pool so they can keep consistently churning out more NHL-caliber talent (and even star forwards, defensemen, and goalies to boot), so such 5-0 (or more) type slaughters will no longer happen when lesser hockey countries like Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Norway, and France go up against any of the Big Six! Slovakia is a special case with a deep tradition in the game but sadly not too many prospects that can effectively replace the current (but aging) golden generation of players.
Here's an article with Lombardi discussing how he built the Cup team and doesn't regret it. Even as a Kings fan, I agree that this team was poorly built.
I read that article too and I completely cringed.
Sorry Deano, it's time to move into the 21st century. He's done a mostly good job with the Kings and has two cup rings to show for it, but it's the same old same old when it comes to Team USA Hockey.
It's also time to stop putting all these old dinosaurs like Burke, Holmgren and Poile behind these teams at USA Hockey. Poile is another one that loads up on grinders, he was even building his NHL teams like that in Washington and Nashvile for the better part of 30 years, before finally shying away from it the last couple of years in Nashville. And that's why Poile, while a fine GM, hasn't been to a cup finals ever, despite being in the NHL as a GM for all but one year since 1982-1983. And his lone conference finals appearance was already over a quarter of a century ago.
I wouldn't mind seeing what Ray Shero would do next time around. I think the young guy in Arizona is probably too green to get a shot yet and we don't know enough about him yet, since he hasn't even been a GM for one NHL game yet. But I wouldn't mind hearing some of his ideas, seeing if he's more like the old dinosaurs like Burke, Poile, Holmgren, Lombardi, Torts, or if he's got some new ideas. Don't want Torts behind the bench again, not too big on Disco Dan either. Wouldn't mind Laviolette again or Sullivan or Hynes. Sullivan ran the most perfect system in Pittsburgh that I've seen from a cup winner in years, just this past Spring. Torts is lucky to have a job in the NHL, and he didn't even have one when he was initially hired to coach this team. Then the airheads in Columbus hired him and resurrected him from the NHL coaching graveyard.
2 WC, 1 World Cup, 2 Olympics last six are great for Canada. Read in my threaten WC between 2017-2025. No golds to Canada and Sweden. Russia must beat 30 gold then Canada take next WC. Sweden need maximum 2 gold so until 11 golds in WC in total is very possibles about 15 upod.
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Kessel should have been on the team instead of Backes, and Johnson should have been the replacement for Callahan instead of Abdelkader. Oh well...it doesn't matter anymore.
