I worship Olympic hockey and was going to wait until February to do this but John Buccigross answered a letter in his mailbag this week and detailed what he thought the 2010 U.S. Olympic team would look like. So he forced my hand a bit and I will address the subject today. I will do Team Canada at some later date/Ranger off-day.
Bucci's picks for Team USA, which has some ridiculous-looking picks if you ask me:
Offense:Patrick Kane-Scott Gomez-Zach Parise
Dustin Brown-Paul Stastny-Brian Gionta
Erik Cole-Chris Drury-Phil Kessel
Rolston-Matt Cullen-Ryan Kesler
Defense:
Joe Corvo-Matt Carle
Erik Johnson-Jack Johnson
Ryan Whitney-Ryan Suter
Goalies:
Ryan Miller, Rick DiPietro, Tim Thomas
Now for the Scotty Hockey 2010 -2 U.S. Olympic Team:
Offense:Patrick Kane-Paul Stastny-Zach Parise
Dustin Brown-Chris Drury-Phil Kessel
Chris Higgins-Tim Connolly-Brian Gionta
Erik Cole-David Legwand-Kyle Okposo
Defense:
Brian Rafalski-Matt Niskanen
Mike Komisarek-Jack Johnson
Tom Gilbert-Ryan Suter
Goalies:
Ryan Miller, DP, Jimmy Howard
Quick explanations of my picks:
*Paul Stastny in two years will be one of the best players in the NHL if he isn't already; first liner. I don't even have Gomez because I unfortunately think he won't be more than what he is today, and that is a disappointment.
*I ambitiously have Tim Connolly in the hopes that he can keep his head on, literally. When healthy, he is a much better version of Gomez.
*Don't think that I don't like the three guys he has on his fourth line, I just don't see them as being good enough in two years. So I moved Cole down and added two other guys. Legwand got a big money deal in Nashville for being a solid citizen and I think he has another level that he will reach. I frigging loathe the Islanders but Kyle Okposo is a beast and should be in the NHL by 2010 showing off his power forward skills.
*I really wanted to add Jed to the team but I just can't do it. Outside of Canada, who included Kris Draper, teams usually don't include grinders/specialists. A damn shame.
*Speaking of Long Island, I have both Chris Higgins and Mike Komisarek on the team. Higgins is the best all-around player on the Habs after Saku and Komisarek is growing into a faster, better version of Derian Hatcher.
*Bucci's D doesn't work for me. I don't think Corvo is that good, Carle has regressed now that San Jose relies on him, Erik Johnson has a long way to go before becoming Al MacInnis and Ryan Whitney's numbers are a product of Cindy Crosby. So I dropped all four. I think Komisarek is underrated; Tom Gilbert is looking very good in Edmonton despite the team really being piss poor; Matt Niskanen has stepped into Dallas and become a solid defenseman - playing with guys like Zubov and Norstrom will only make him better; and Brian Rafalski is used to the bigger ice surfaces, plays conservatively enough that he doesn't get hurt often and will be 37. Its a stretch but I honestly wouldn't be shocked if Chelios makes it and he would be 48.
*As for the goaltenders, Ryan Miller and that piece of garbage Ricky D are the best American goaltenders now and that likely won't change in two years. Tim Thomas is good but will be 35 and the third spot should go to a younger guy since its unlikely that they will see action. In two years Howard will have some more NHL experience under his belt as Hasek will retire. So what do you think? Do you have Olympic fever? I know I do; these two years should only go by so fast ...
48 comments:
If Cullen keeps putting up numbers like he is this year and quarterbacking the power play so well he is a must for any american team.
Take a look at Tom Gilbert on D and James van Riemsdyk is going to get serious consideration if he keeps progressing the way he is...still 3 years to go!
Peter Mueller
james van riemsdyk any1?
and how bout rafalski?
has any1 heard of r.j umberger?
This is what I think:
Forwards
1. Parise-Stastny-Kane
2. Kessel-Mueller-Gionta
3. Booth-Dubinsky-Pominville
4. Stempniak-Cullen-Kesler
Defense
1.Rafalski-Niskanen
2.E.Johnson-J.Johnson
3.Martin-Ballard
Goalies
1.Dipietro
2.Conklin
3.Anderson
-I don't think Miller will play just because he never does, I know it's a stupid reason
Paul Stastny is from Canada... Born in QC... LOL
stastny has dual citizenship. He chose to play for usa.
My 2010 Team USA Olympic team:
Forwards:
Parise-Stastny-Kane
Kessel-Gomez-Brown
Pominville-Mueller-Gionta
Booth-Kesler-Osullivan
Defense:
Rafalski-Niskanen
Leopold-Komisarek
Ballard-Gleason
Goalies:
Miller
Thomas
Anderson
Other possibilities:
G-Clemmensen
D-Carle
D-Yandle
LW-Malone
Kane~ Stastny~ Parise
Higgins~ Schroder~ Kessel
B.Ryan~ M.Cullen~ vanRiemsdyk
Rolston~ Drury~ Kesler
Whitney ~ J.Johnson
E.Johnson ~ R.Suter
M.Komisarek ~ R.McDonagh
Miller
DP
Conks
I have a few youg guns on there, but in over a years time they will be all that much better and add new exciting blood to the experience, Bobby Ryan is already taking it to the next level, Let James & McDonagh do the same as they are ultra talented. And anybody who dose not have Whitney in for a pick on D is out o ftheir mind!!
and to a previous post by Russell, he has played for team US as this is where he lives, look at the world jrs. which just got done, off the gold medal winning canadian squad was Tyler Myers who was born in Texas, so where you were born is not the only guidance in this situation
Good posts. I like the USA team in 2010, I just don't like it as much as Canada, Sweden, or Russia. As I see it there will be three tiers in 2010: Canada, Sweden, and Russian on the first tier, USA and Finland on the second tier, and the Czech Republic and Slovakia on the third tier.
Here's what I project for 2010:
Kane-Stastny-Parise (no brainer, opposing D's will crap their pants)
Kessel-Drury-Booth (just watch, by 2010 Booth will be world class)
D. Brown-O'Sullivan-Rolston (O'Sullivan and Brown already have chemistry together, both can only progress in a year)
Ryan-Gomez-Malone (this assumes Gomez can get it together, otherwise let Halpern of Mueller play C)
What I notice is that the USA is really deep at RW but not so deep at C or LW. Backes, Gionta, Knuble, and Langenbrunner are RW's I'd rather have than some of our C or LW's, especially if Gomez continues to stink. Maybe we can get one or more of those guys to play C or LW.
On defense:
Rafalski-Komisarek (our best D and out best stay-at-home D)
Corvo-Whitney (this will be an amazing line in a year)
J. Johnson-Hainsey (E. Johnson will not make the team after a year off)
This assumes J. Johnson will be good enough by 2010 to represent the USA, otherwise replace him with either J.M. Liles or Ryan Suter (preferrably the latter, I'm not sold on Liles). I like what USA has on defense, but no one comes close to Canada's back line in this tournament.
Miller-Thomas-DiPietro
Okay, I'm assuming DiPietro is going to be healthy a year from now, which is a major assumption. If not, there's a lot of alternatives to chose from. Quick, Conklin, Anderson would all make good replacements. I'd pick Quick, who I think a year from now will be an undisputer starter. Miller and Thomas are outstanding goalies and I'd feel comfortable having either one between the pipes.
All-in-all, I like the USA's chances in 2010 for a bronze, but now for a gold. However, this team will look great in 2014, and I expect the USA to be a legit championship contender that year, whether in the Olympics or in a World Cup.
kessel-stastny-kane
parise-drury-mueller
brown-gomez-gionta
ryan-legwand-vanriemsdyk
johnson-johnson
rafalski-liles
suter-whitney
dipietro
miller
thomas
I agree with your pick of Tim Connolly. He is the most entertaining player to watch with the puck.
Zach Bogosian deserves consideration. He wasn't mentioned much in the media because of his broken leg.
Parise Kane Kessel
Mueller Brown Wheeler
Ryan O'Sullivan Rolston
Gomez Booth Gionta
Komisuckdick Rafalski
Johnson & Johnson
Liles Ballard
1.Tim Thomas
2.Ryan Miller
3.Craig Anderson
Gomez thrives in open ice situations and will clearly make the team as a second/third line center.
parise-stastny-kane
rolston-gomez-kessel
booth-mueller-pominville
malone-brown-ryan
rafalski-komisarek
johnson-johnson
corvo-whitney
tim thomas
ty conklin
alternates:
Chris Drury
Mike Knuble
Jason Blake
JM Liles
Craig Anderson
putting the gold in the hands of Miller or DP is suicide. neither one can steal a game in the NHL, let alone in the olympics.
tim connely- is awesome, but unfortunately has yet to prove himself due to injuries
Matt Cullen- will never play in the olympics. I like him, but not compared to the available talent
Brian Gionta- seems to be losing his fleury-like feistyness that once more than made up for his lack of size
on a side note, whoever said Chris higgins is the second best player in montreal is severely mistaken. after kovalev, koivu and andrei kostitsyn maybe 4th. watch a game man.
go devs!
2010 USA ...why no mention of Blake Wheeler..hopefully TEAM USA won't be a foolish as the Coyotes and look past Wheeler. Also Mark Stuart (once USA captain as a junior)possible as an extra defenseman. He is reliable and quietly plays solid each game.
All I know is that team Canada will dominate this year...check out this first line...
Heatley ,Crosby, Iginla
Pronger,Boyle
Luongo
I am sorry but USA has nothing close to this....this can even be our second or third line...we still have the likes of....leavalier, spezza, getzlaf,nash, thornton, phaneuf campbell, toews, brodeur, giguere...the list keeps going...
parise-drury-kane
pominville-gomez-kessel
gionta-langenbrunner-stastny
blake-connolly-brown
rafalski-whitney
corvo-preissing
schneider-lilles
Miller, Thomas, Dipietro
Forwards- rolston, pominville, brown, parise, kane, modano, tkaczuk, weight, stastny, blake, conroy, gomez, dubinsky, mueller, higgins, wheeler, drury, connollly, langenbrunner, gionta, guerin, van ramsdieyk, stafford, stepniak, legwand, kessel, cole, cullen, ryan.........this forwards are all top 6 forwards in the nhl, and about 10 of them are franchise players, can you say gold medal?
I seem to recall in 2006 Canadians were talking about how they could send two teams to Torino and take gold and silver. How did that work out for you guys, eh?
Higgins-Modano-Kessel
Gomez-Stastny-parise
Kesler-Kane-Gionta
Cole-Drury-Rolston
Matieu Schnieder. Komisarek
Rafalski. Niskinen
Corvo. Whitney
Thomas. Miller. DePietro
parise-stastny-kane (given)
kessel-drury-kesler (scorer-playmaker-tough and fast)
brown-mueller-booth (young but in a year will be premier fwds in the league)
van riemsdyk-legwand-gionta (Power combined with speed and a great scoring touch)
rafalski-whitney (best us born d-cannon from blue line)
j. johnson-e. johnson (played for us when younger...know what it takes and high skill level)
komisarek-liles (stay at home guy-offensive d with great speed)
T. Thomas (best goalie. hands down.)
R. Miller (great goalie. inconsistent.)
DP (stellar when healthy. and a righty glove)
*a lot of the players are young obviously but in 2010 when the olympics role around this will be a great bunch of players. Rolston/gomez/modano are all great players for some experience if coaches think they will need it.
Joe Pavelski boys. As good as he is on the offensive end, his defensive abilities impress me the most. Absolutely an excellent all-around player with incredible hockey instincts.
This US team is young, and I think full of talent, but whoever put Modano up there to make this team is crazy. Modano is a descent player in the NHL, playin on an NHL ice surface. The olympics are played on an olympic ice surface which is substantially bigger. Modano is too old and too slow
here are a bunch of guys that could make it, just throwing out names in no specific order:
forwards: connoly, drury, halpern, legwand, booth, backes, cullen, gomez, langenbrunner, knuble, dubinsky, stafford, pominville, statsny, kane, parise, gionta, cole, ryan, van riemsdyk, wheeler, kessel, rolston, DUSTIN BROWN, o sullivan, mueller, malone, higgins
Brown is higlighted because he is an amzing power forward and scorer that can hit and score goals. BY 2010 he will be incredible.
defense: rafalski, martin, ballard, gilbert, gleason, corvo, yandle, e johnson, j johnson, niskanen, liles, hainsey, komisarek, whitney, suter preissing.
The USA will be good, but not compared to the canadians. they will be absolutley stacked, and pllaying on home soil can only help those crazy canucks.
I hate the Ducks, but Bobby Ryan drives to the net like Rocket Richard. Come 2010, he could be a consistent 40-goal scorer.
the great thing about all these players is that come 2014, daamn!
Ok I think the 1st line is a given
Parise-Stastny-Kane
The 2nd line center should go to Joe Pavelski, he is the perfect 2nd liner, he is not flashy but still incredable to watch, he never gives up on a play, a great pk'er, back checks like a mofo,and has the release of Joe Sakic. Ron Wilson is coaching so he should make the team.
Kessel-Pavelski-Ryan(that line would be just as scary to play against as the 1st)
Booth-Drury-Pominville
Langenbruner-Brown-Backes(now thats an energy line right there)
Alternates
Rolston
Connolly(he should play IF hes healthy all of next season)
Umberger
Blake
THere are alot of good young USA Dmen, all of them are good choices
Ballard-Rafalski
Suter- Whitney
Corvo-Johnson(which ever of the 2 is having the better season)
Goalies
Thomas- hes probably gonna win the Vezina so there is no way hes not your number one
Miller
Anderson-Screw DP, he would whine about being the number 3, Anderson has shown that he is a premier back up Goalie and should he ever have to come in I would have alot more confidence in him over Rick.
Anyone for TJ Oshie???
there is no way bobby ryan isnt good enough to play in 2010
Who's going to play against the big lines on Canada, Russia, Sweden, etc? Stacking your forwards with pure offense will score a lot of goals, but they'll get lit up pretty hard.
Solution:
4th line
Backes-Gaustad-Kesler
Kane-Stastsny-Parise they can all score
Kessel-Mueller-Pominville they can score and are stars
Ryan-Kesler-Booth can all score 30 goals and play d
Malone-Halpern-Brown Malone and Brown can score and play d halpern can play d
Suter-Rafalski can score and play d and be physical
Komisarek-Whitney shut down pair
Martin-Liles can score and play d
Thomas vezina
Miller top 10 goalie
Dipetiro no one else
Alternates
Backes can play and score and be physical
E.Johnson futer star
Cullen can play a shut down role and score some
O'Sullivan can score
J.Johnson young d futer star
what about jon quick? he had a great first season for a lack luster LA team. Dipietro is not the goalie of the future for the US team. He has shown a little when he has healthy but has not been healthy over the years. If the US wants to get a goalie ready for the olympics in the future this is the guy to bring them there. He carried LA this season when he played and he brought UMass back from the dungeon of the hockey east to a contender when he was playing for them. I can see him being a third string goalie for this team in 2010 to get him some experience
There is NO WAY David Backes won't make this team. So you are all wrong.
Well the USA team top line is nothing compared to even Canada's 3rd line. Canada's Top line as it sits now is Nash, Crosby, Iginla
and there isn't too many better combo's than that!
If Kesler isn't on your team, ya need to give your head a shake...look what he is doing in Vancouver. Probably should be the Captain of the U.S. squad looking at the pickings they have. Lots of offensive talent on the team...but Kesler has the speed,grit,and the guts to go with it.
kesler is the best all round american player.
Although Bucci's picks aren't perfect, his predictions 2 years ago are better than yours...haha. OWNED!!
Rafalski will be there...
I don't blame you for hating on Kesler back in the day. But boy team USA would suck defensively without him. Drury is just passed his prime.
The way Kesler is playing, he is definitely there now. I love Rob's fourth line of Backes-Gaustad-Kesler. Should be interesting to see who Burkie picks on New Years.
btw RIP Thomas.Sutra, you are missed my friend.
forwards should be- Modano Drury Connolly Gionta Parise Brown Langenbrunner Stastny Gomez Kane Kessel Kesler and Ryan and miller better start in goal
I disagree with at least four of your selections. Drury and Modano should not be on this team (and Gomez should only be the alternate forward if he's selected), and neither Gionta or Connolly were invited to our orientaton camp, so they won't make the team. My team:
Parise-Stastny-Kane
Ryan-Pavelski-Kessel
Booth-Kesler-Brown
Malone-Backes-Langenbruner
Gomez
(note: give Booth a spot, if he can't play by Feb. 15 when the final roster is due, move Backes to LW, give Gomez a C spot, and add Callahan as the reserve forward)
Rafalski-Martin
Orpik-Suter
Johnson-Johnson
Komisarek
(note: give Martin a spot now, if he's not ready by Feb. 15 give his spot to Whitney).
Miller
Thomas
Anderson
While this is the team I would pick, I expect that Burke is going to select Drury for veteran leadership and Komisarek as a starting defensemen despite his recent struggles. I also don't expect Booth will make it, which is a shame because he was a shoe-in until Richards scrambled his eggs.
Canadian Media does not look outside of itself much.I would compare it to ESPN covering CFL highlites.Unheard of. Canadian roster to be announced in just a few minutes.I'm interested to hear the US roster too. I remember 1980
Interesting, seeing what factors Stevie Y used in selecting the roster.Of course some pioks are obvious but the surprizes are not without considerable deliberation.If there are enough dual citizens it will be a series of equals.
I have to say, I'm awfully surprised by Canada's roster. I never thought Lecavalier, Phaneuf, Bouwmeester, Green, Doan would be left off in place of Bergeron, Doughty, Seabrook, Toews, and Staal. I'm sure Stevie Y knows what he's doing, but this surprised me.
This is typical so far, of the 6 major rosters named so far (Canada, Czech, Russia, Slovakia, Finland, and Sweden), Finland was the only ones where I didn't say, "Wow, that's a little surprising." As a result, I'm suddenly very nervous about Team USA's announcement Friday. I'm afraid that since everyone else's selections seem to surprise me, we'll do the same. I'm resigning myself to the fact I'll hear some combination of Drury, Modano, Gomez, or Byfuglien's names announced. Or something like that.
i dont see paul gastad on the list. and after the wayy my sabres beat pittsburg last night none of them should be in the olympics
Looking over the rosters and this doesn't look good. I like our chances for bronze based on our goaltending but Russia and Sweden look tough and Canada is just plain terrifying. Even if their goaltending and forwards weren't great their D is unbelievable.
Throw who looks better on paper out the window right now. Remember, just like this time Russia and Canada had the two best rosters on paper at the Torino Olympics in 2006, and finished 4th and 7th respectively. Slovakia, which was supposed to be weak and lacking in net, went 5-0 in the preliminary round, including wins over Russia, USA, and eventual gold medalists Sweden. The best team overall in that tournament was Finland and with all those great players the tournament MVP was Artero Niittymaki of all people. In the three Olympics with NHL players there have been six different participants in the gold medal game. This tournament it the ultimate in parody. It's simply impossible to say who will do well and who won't based on their roster.
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