4 NATIONS FACE-OFF 
my very bold prediction:
(that team is stacked 
)
(goaltending 
)
(goaltending 
)
(someone has to be in 4th)
I would flip the order of Sweden and Finland, but who knows at this point? There are often surprises from paper to the ice.
When I get a minute I will transfer the recent posts on this topic from the NHL thread to this thread.
Took another look at the team Canada depth chart and it’s not quite at bad as I thought. Weak on the left side and the 4th line, though, IMO.
I’ll put this here
Teams Canada and USA posted later tonite
I think this is the thread to put this in until we have a 4 Nations Cup thread.
Sweden’s team is pretty strong.
Finland a little weaker on defence but great set of forwards.
Waiting with bated breath for announcement of Canada’s team today. From a Jets perspective Morrissey a lock but the insider word is that Scheifele didn’t make it, which would be an egregious omission. I’ll wait to see the official roster.
Hellesuck and Kyle Connor considered locks for team USA.
Those are really the best Canadian forwards we could have found?
No they are not. The picks are atrocious. For starters, no Mark Scheifele. A total two way player that can play both center and on the wing who in my opinion is unequivocally better for the team than Jarvis, Bennett, Hagel, Cirelli, Konecny, Stone and Marchand.
I would lose Jarvis first. He is a one way offensive player who has something like 5 goals this year. The mistake with Marchand was picking him initially and as a result I realize they can’t now drop him despite his underwhelming season to date. Stone is also questionable and there is a good chance he will be hurt and would have been better chosen as an injury replacement if he was healthy in February. He will be the slowest skater on the team. Funny that all of the players I mentioned are eastern based except for Stone. Hmmm.
I am seriously going to have to contemplate cheering for team USA while holding my nose and hoping that Matthews doesn’t score. I will also cheer for Finland and Laine if he remains healthy.
While of course there are arguments for many other players to be on the team over the ones I mentioned, that is always the case. Rarely is there such an egregious swing and a miss on not including a player such as Scheifele, who is clearly and easily better in all aspects of the game than half of the forwards selected. Maybe someone should tell management he is from Ontario.
IMHO
It will come down to USA and CAN
USA team is absolutely stacked top to bottom from the net out
CAN is Canada
Should make for a doozy of a final
I expect that to be the final as welll, unless Sweden gets some lights out goaltending. The US appears to have the stronger team up front and in net. Canada’s tournament best D will have to carry the day for them to win and some good goaltending would be essential too.
I would also mildly criticze the addition of Pieterangelo so that Vegas has two defencemen on the team that can play together. I don’t believe those two do play on the same pair and certainly Morrissey/DeMelo, the top pair in the world, would make more sense. I get why they would want Toews with Makar. Makar needs to roam from the D spot and it will help to play with someone that is used to covering his ass. I figure that 70% of the offence coming from the D will be from Makar with Morrissey providing 20%.
A lot of shock and disbelief among hockey experts and analysts out there at the omission of Scheifele. So it’s not just me being a Jets fan. It is objectively a head scratcher. A few complaining about Hyman being left off as well. Unlike Scheifele he is having a terrible year and there is no way he should have made it. Same with Seth Jarvis. Love the guy and he is also a Winnipegger, but he doesn’t deserve to be selected based on his play so far this year.
they are trying to pick to win the tournament, not pick the best canadian team. Jon Cooper is a matcher and everyone knew he was going to go with his guys over some others that might be better players, especially at the bottom half of the roster.
The Fins are basically the florida panthers and some of their friends lol.
Yes that is the theory, but in my opinion they came nowhere close to doing that. They don’t have enough high level two way players like Scheifele. Sean Couterier is another excellent example of someone who could have made the team more well rounded. Big swing and a miss on the forwards here and they are badly outgunned by the US and just might have the weakest forward roster in the tournament…
also people calling this thing best on best need to give their heads a shake. the last team to win the world championships isn’t in it, and neither are the likes of Bobrosvky, Vasliveky, Kucherov, Panerin, Kiprisov, Draisatl, etc.
It’s definitely not nearly all of the best players in the world, but really no other country other than Russia could field a respectable team. And we certainly don’t want Russia or Ovie in. Sports has become a lot more politicized the last few years. The best players in the world in golf no longer have the opportunity to face each other in the big tournaments of the year.
i would have kept Jarvis - dude is a two way machine. love watching the hurricanes.
definitely would have taken Scheifele over Marchand. Hagel is a stretch for me.
Cooper obviously has a plan.
I stopped reading the depth chart when I got to Cirelli.
Mark Scheifele is a huge miss.
So is Evan Bouchard. Never mind the big shot, look at the playoff PK shutdown.
Yes I could easily see Bouchard on the third pairing and Makar shouldn’t be relied on to do it all offensively. Instead of 70% of the offence from the blueline Makar could be 50% with Morrissey and Bouchard each being 20%. I may have to rethink my position about defence being Canada’s strength. Parayko and Pietrangelo aren’t exactly speedsters and I had thought of Pietrangelo at best as a 7th defenceman. If Doughty was healthy and at full speed I would have him on the team as I think most would. We also have the slowest skater in the entire tourny in Stone.