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Non NHL Omnibus thread


odessasteps

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You will not put Taylor Hall on my Team Canada, sir.

 

Why not? I'll listen to a case for Sharp (as I said, given his form he was my last cut), and maybe Eric Staal (though we need another center like a hole in the ground). Lucic is basically a bigger, dumber, slower, less talented version of Hall that will take more penalties. I don't get the feeling Joe Thornton really has much traction either.

 

Hall is probably a reserve forward anyway. I didn't go that deep into line crunching but I'd imagine he's one of the handful of guys not in the starting lineup, who the debate doesn't really mean a ton with anyway.

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I'd take Bergeron, Sharp, Staal, Thornton over him easily.  He's just clueless without the puck and all the metrics match the eye test in this case.  Unlike the US, Canada has plenty of gifted goal scorers and in tight games, there's no chance Babcock plays Hall any meaningful minutes.

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Thornton has been dogshit terrible at every Olympics he's been at. He shouldn't even be in the discussion and I only added him to the list because he was at the evaluation camp, for God knows what reason. He was comically awful in Vancouver to the point we were all openly mocking him almost by the shift here. He also basically has to play center or not play at all because he's so slow, which given the guys you already have makes his value less than zero.

 

Sharp, Staal, or even Bergeron I could live with. It's not like I see Hall as a key member of the team. As I said, he's basically one of the two reserve forward spots.

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Two things that surprise me about your list:

 

Taylor Hall in: He's never learned how to play defensive hockey anywhere. I have to re-affirm putting him in and actually playing him is a bigger mistake then the US not taking Ryan.

 

Bouwmeester out: Established chemistry with Petro, a LHD which Canada lacks, one of the best skaters in the league, has a very legit case of having been the best defensemen on the Blues this year. Don't see the argument for Boyle over him, and I like Boyle.

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Bouwmeester could probably go in for Vlasic (who is a guy that has very little rep, and I suspect may not even have that much credit with eastern GM's). I wouldn't be surprised at all if there's an internal debate in the real team about those two, along with Seabrook.

 

Boyle doesn't get credit for anything, but I won't be surprised if he's named. And as an 8th guy, I'm content with what he brings.

 

On Bergeron: Boston is a weird team. I like their team a lot. I'm not so sure how much I like their individual players when you break it down (aside from a couple obvious guys like Rask and Chara). It's one of those "combined parts makes a great whole" team to me, in a lot of ways. He's a good player though. I'm not going to weep if he's going. I think he has a much better chance than Lucic, who I just have doubts what he'd bring to international hockey where the refs are going to call it a lot tighter.

 

Funny I just realized I didn't even have Marleau as a probable. He probably at least belongs on the list. I mean I'd have him over Thornton or Nash or Kunitz, for whatever that means in the final results.

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Czech roster:

 

 


Brankáři:

Ondřej Pavelec (Winnipeg, NHL), Jakub Kovář (Jekatěrinburg, KHL), Alexander Salák (Petrohrad, KHL).

 

Obránci:

Marek Židlický (New Jersey, NHL), Radko Gudas (Tampa Bay, NHL), Michal Rozsíval (Chicago, NHL), Ladislav Šmíd (Calgary, NHL), Zbyněk Michálek (Phoenix, NHL), Lukáš Krajíček (Dynamo Minsk, KHL), Michal Barinka (HC Vítkovice Steel), Tomáš Kaberle (Rytíři Kladno).

 

Útočníci:

Jaromír Jágr, Patrik Eliáš (oba New Jersey, NHL), Tomáš Plekanec (Montreal, NHL), Aleš Hemský (Edmonton, NHL), David Krejčí (Boston, NHL), Jakub Voráček (Philadelphia, NHL), Vladimír Sobotka (St. Louis, NHL), Milan Michálek (Ottawa, NHL), Martin Hanzal (Phoenix, NHL), Michael Frolík (Winnipeg, NHL), Ondřej Palát (Tampa Bay, NHL), Roman Červenka (Petrohrad, KHL), Jiří Novotný (Lev Praha, KHL), Petr Nedvěd (Bílí Tygři Liberec).

 

No Radim Vrbata, no Jiri Hudler which are both pretty interesting omissions. Jiri Tlusty didn't make it either but he's been just terrible this season, and I think he's injured too.

 

Yes... Petr Nedved is alive. Apparently.

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Yes... Petr Nedved is alive. Apparently.

 

Yeah, that was my reaction, too.

 

 

Also surprised that Hudler was left off. He's been a bright spot for the Flames, for sure. And he's in the top three in points amongst Czech players in the NHL this season. I can see an argument that he's not physical and not exactly a force away from the puck, but he seems to gel with lots of different line mates and is always making smart plays and finding ways to put up points. Being a smaller, speedy guy, I would think he'd be a great choice for a tourney on international ice.

 

I'm amazed to see that Roman Cervenka, who was pretty much a dud with the Flames last season and has no physical or defensive game to speak of, made the team but Hudler didn't.

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