World Cup 2016

[Rumsfeld]

Tavares Crosby Stamkos
Perry Getzlaf Nash
Benn Seguin Giroux
Toews Bergeron Hall ---- Mackinnon Couture Duchene

Doughty Weber
Subban Pietrangelo
Kieth Seabrook ---- Giordano

Price
Holtby

I like the way you're going with this, I might tweak it thusly:

Tavares - Crosby - Stamkos
Benn - Seguin - Giroux
Toews - Mackinnon - Duchene
Perry - Getzlaf - Bergeron

Keith – Weber
Pietrangelo - Subban
Giordano - Doughty
Letang

Luongo
Price

We could probably build 6 or 7 teams that would all smash Sweden.

And just kidding about Luongo there good buddy...

Lol

Yeah that's a sweet team. Gotta have Bergeron in the face-off dot tho.

Per is so scared of the juggernaught I posted that he's gone into hiding. How very Swedish of him.

[Per]

Per is so scared of the juggernaught I posted that he's gone into hiding. How very Swedish of him.

Yeah, right!

So, you post the team at 15 minutes past midnight, Swedish time, then check back three hours later, at 03:12 am, assuming I must have commented by then.... Seriously, I tend to sleep at night.

Your Team Canada looks good, especially up front. A good blue line as well, albeit I think I prefer ours; Karlsson, Klingberg and Ekman-Larsson are all in the top four in D-man scoring in the NHL. Can't beat that.
And of course Canada has good goaltending. As per usual.

As always in this type of tournament, Canada will be considered favourites to win, and five on five your team will probably dominate. But Sweden has great defence, and we also should have excellent special teams. Bäckström, Steen, the Sedins, Karlsson, Klingberg and Ekman-Larsson are all in the top twenty in powerplay scoring in the NHL. And special teams often decide the outcome of a game.

We should be able to give you a good run for the money. Especially if Lundqvist is playing at his best.

Oh, and you're quite the wordsmith! I love the new expression you coined - juggernaught!
I assume it describes something that resembles a juggernaut, but amounts to nothing?
Brilliant!

[Rumsfeld]

Per is so scared of the juggernaught I posted that he's gone into hiding. How very Swedish of him.

Yeah, right!

So, you post the team at 15 minutes past midnight, Swedish time, then check back three hours later, at 03:12 am, assuming I must have commented by then.... Seriously, I tend to sleep at night.

Your Team Canada looks good, especially up front. A good blue line as well, albeit I think I prefer ours; Karlsson, Klingberg and Ekman-Larsson are all in the top four in D-man scoring in the NHL. Can't beat that.
And of course Canada has good goaltending. As per usual.

As always in this type of tournament, Canada will be considered favourites to win, and five on five your team will probably dominate. But Sweden has great defence, and we also should have excellent special teams. Bäckström, Steen, the Sedins, Karlsson, Klingberg and Ekman-Larsson are all in the top twenty in powerplay scoring in the NHL. And special teams often decide the outcome of a game.

We should be able to give you a good run for the money. Especially if Lundqvist is playing at his best.

Oh, and you're quite the wordsmith! I love the new expression you coined - juggernaught!
I assume it describes something that resembles a juggernaut, but amounts to nothing?
Brilliant!

You would prefer a defense that includes Oduya, Stralman and Klingberg to the one I posted? Sure guy. There are five perennial Norris candidates on that blue line.

Believe it or not, defensemen are tasked with keeping the puck OUT of the net as well. You need to start following the league as a whole (instead of just your countrymen) if you want to be able to discuss hockey with the big kids.

At least you acknowledge you are very very screwed.

Next up: Runny assembles team Russia! Erm, the forwards at least.

[Rumsfeld]

Double post

[Rumsfeld]

Russia's forward group:

Ovechkin
Malkin
Tarasenko
Datsyuk
Kovalchuk
Kuznetzov
Kucherov
Panarin
Radulov
Galchenyuk
Yakupov

Then there's a handful of guys who could round out the forwards... Kulemin, Bermistrov, Anisimov, Nichushkin, I don't fucking know. They typically pick a few KHL guys you've never heard of, Russian management is weird as shit. Hell, Russia is weird as shit. What a fucking dump.

Tell you one thing, the Russkies' top-9 is a helluva lot more dynamic and dangerous than Sweden's.

Their weakness will once again be that back end, it's just going to get pounded by Canada a la 2010. Would Markov and Emelin be their top pairing? Yikes. I know they have some good blueliners in the KHL, but that's not good enough.

Bobrovsky in net.

I guess somebody has to do team USA now...

[Per]

I guess somebody has to do team USA now...

Debbie...?

[Rumsfeld]

I guess Burns would be a candidate for Canada as well.

Still waiting for that Team USA post Per.

[Per]

Finland has released their preliminary 16 man roster:

Goalies:
Tuukka Rask, Boston
Pekka Rinne, Nashville

Defence:
Esa Lindell, Dallas
Olli Määttä, Pittsburgh
Rasmus Ristolainen, Buffalo
Sami Vatanen, Anaheim

Forwards:
Aleksander Barkov, Florida
Joonas Donskoi, San José
Valtteri Filppula, Tampa Bay
Mikael Granlund, Minnesota
Juusi Jokinen, Florida
Mikko Koivu, Minnesota
Leo Komarov, Toronto
Lauri Korpikoski, Edmonton
Jori Lehterä. St. Louis
Teuvu Teräväinen, Chicago

The complete 23 man roster will be announced on June 1st.

[Per]

And here's Russia's preliminary troop:

Goalies:
Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets
Semyon Varlamov, Colorado Avalanche
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning

Defence:
Dmitry Kulikov, Florida Panthers
Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens
Dmitry Orlov, Washington Capitals

Forwards:
Artem Anisimov, Chicago Blackhawks
Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings
Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
Nikolay Kulemin, New York Islanders
Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington Capitals
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins
Vladislav Namestnikov, Tampa Bay Lightning
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Artemi Panarin, Chicago Blackhawks
Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues

Just like Rumsfeld, they're mainly concerned with their offence.

Defence? We don't need no f****** defence!

[Per]

Sweden's preliminary roster:

Goalies:
Henrik Lundqvist, NY Rangers
Jacob Markström, Vancouver Canucks

Defence:
Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators
Nicklas Kronwall, Detroit Red Wings
Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
Anton Strålman, Tampa Bay Lightning
Nicklas Hjalmarsson, Chicago Blackhawks
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Arizona Coyotes

Forwards:
Daniel Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
Henrik Sedin, Vancouver Canucks
Nicklas Bäckström, Washington Capitals
Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings
Loui Eriksson, Boston Bruins
Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado Avalanche
Alexander Steen, St. Louis Blues
Filip Forsberg, Nashville Predators

No surprises, except that they didn't pick Klingberg (yet), and did pick Kronwall.

Apparently they felt the quota for offensive D-men was filled, and opted more for experience than I did.
I also figured that Kronwall was more effective before they started cracking down on headhunting... Not that he has a history of being penalised for that, but I don't see him levelling people today the way he used to.
They also skipped Oduya, but I basically added him for toughness, and with Kronwall onboard, well, no need for Oduya then.

I also felt that Forsberg was a bit unproven, but he is having a good season, so no complaints.

[Per]

US Preliminary troop:

Goalies:
Ben Bishop, Tampa Bay Lightning
Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings
Cory Schneider, New Jersey Devils

Defence:
Dustin Byfuglien, Winnipeg Jets
John Carlson, Washington Capitals
Ryan McDonagh, New York Rangers
Ryan Suter, Minnesota Wild

Forwards:
Justin Abdelkader, Detroit Red Wings
Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
Ryan Kesler, Anaheim Ducks
T.J. Oshie, Washington Capitals
Max Pacioretty, Montreal Canadiens
Zach Parise, Minnesota Wild
Joe Pavelski, San Jose Sharks
Derek Stepan, New York Rangers
Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg Jets

Bit surprised by some choices, like eg Abdelkader, but overall not a bad team.
But Torts at the helm?! Not sure that's a winning concept...

[Per]

... and here's Canada!

Goalies:
Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks

Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals

Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens

Defence:
Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings

Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks

Marc-Edouard Vlasic, San Jose Sharks

Shea Weber, Nashville Predators

Forwards:
Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars

Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins

Jeff Carter, Los Angeles Kings

Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks

Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars

Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning

John Tavares, New York Islanders

Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks

Looks pretty solid, but where's Subban???

[Per]

Team Europe:

Goalies:
Frederik Andersen, Anaheim Ducks (Denmark)
Jaroslav Halak, New York Islanders (Slovakia)

Defence:
Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins (Slovakia)
Roman Josi, Nashville Predators (Switzerland)
Dennis Seidenberg, Boston Bruins (Germany)
Andrej Sekera, Edmonton Oilers (Slovakia)
Mark Streit, Philadelphia Flyers (Switzerland)

Forwards:
Mikkel Boedker, Colorado Avalanche (Denmark)
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers (Germany)
Jannik Hansen, Vancouver Canucks (Denmark)
Marian Hossa, Chicago Blackhawks (Slovakia)
Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings (Slovenia)
Frans Nielsen, New York Islanders (Denmark)
Tomas Tatar, Detroit Red Wings (Slovakia)
Thomas Vanek, Minnesota Wild (Austria)
Mats Zuccarello, New York Rangers (Norway)

I'm a bit sceptical to this foreign legion format (as well as the NKOTB team), but I guess the upside is that players like Kopitar, Vanek and Zuccarello for once get to play an international tournament on a team where not all of their team mates suck. The question is if a team like this can find something to rally around

[Per]

Can't wait for this thing to start!
Why is it still August?

[Per]

As always in this type of tournament, Canada will be considered favourites to win, and five on five your team will probably dominate. But Sweden has great defence, and we also should have excellent special teams. Bäckström, Steen, the Sedins, Karlsson, Klingberg and Ekman-Larsson are all in the top twenty in powerplay scoring in the NHL. And special teams often decide the outcome of a game.

nhl.com seems to back me up on this:
"Sweden had the top power play at the Sochi Olympics, scoring seven goals on 21 opportunities, and it should be no different at the World Cup," he said. "Primarily powered by the firepower on the blue line with Karlsson, Ekman-Larsson and the Tampa Bay Lightning's Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman, Sweden complements the defensemen with Backstrom and Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks. No one in the NHL has more than Backstrom's 125 power-play points during the past four seasons."
https://www.nhl.com/news/nhlcom-world-c ... =278386054