Your Canadian Olympic team?

[Crosby 87]

Marty Sr. Louis gets 2 goals on the road tonight and the game winner. I hope you are embarrassed Yzerman.

one of the goals was a empty netter though

[mooneyes]

one of the goals was a empty netter though

Your view of the tiny picture is excellent....although the empty netter was only scored because Marty is BLAZING fast,
Skating skating skating was Babcock's mantra....not too mention Marty's ridiculous skill, unparalleled determination, hockey IQ, and leadership, it is an out right Joke he is not on the team...He makes anyone he plays with BETTER.

[BruHawk]

I have been stewing all day and I am really mad.

Kunitz, Nash and Carter, Get lost……. No St. Louis, No Thornton the 3rd leading scorer.


Yzerman has been hanging around Gretzky. This is a FAILURE . I need to go outside or I am going to snap.

There is a very simple reason why Joe Thornton isn't on this team. Where do you put him? Seriously? We can all agree that 3 of the 4 centers are Crosby, Toews, Getzlaf. I would assume that Bergeron will be the fourth just because of his great two way game and faceoff percentages. So if you bring Thornton he's either your 4th line center (and no Bergeron) or you move him to the wing. Well, the thing that Babcock preached the most is speed on the big ice, something that Thornton isn't blessed with. With the abundance of centers on this team, there just wasn't room for Thornton.

As for Marty, I think he doesn't make this team because of what happened in 2010 in Vancouver. Canada's offense wasn't exactly stellar in that tourny. We had a couple of blowouts against teams we should blow-out, a surprise blowout of Russia, but the rest of the games were extremely tight, low scoring games. That's something that I'm sure the executive wanted to avoid. One surprise from Vancouver was the extreme lack of production by Sidney Crosby, and I'm sure that the Team Canada management had many discussions with Sid about his performance in Vancouver, what he thought the issue was, and how it could be changed in the future. I'm also sure that Team Canada management reached out to Sid and asked him about the possibility of playing with Kunitz. Through the interviews I heard yesterday with current and former Team Canada management members, there is a concern with the format of this tournament. To win it, you need to basically win 4 game sevens. Because of this, it's extremely important that all four lines are providing offense. In Vancouver there were only 3 and without some outstanding performances from players that weren't expected to carry the load, Canada wouldn't have won gold. This year, it's apparent they are trying to keep some familiarity throughout the whole team. For the most part every line has a pair of teammates on it. Something they did in Vancouver with the Anaheim and SJ connection but now they've extended it to 3 lines with teammates which includes Crosby. This is the reason Marty is not on this team, they were afraid that he wouldn't click with Crosby, just like Iginla didn't.

[mooneyes]

^ Going with your logic, which I don't disagree with, Stamkos WILL be on the team, and Marty and him are devastating, the T-Bay power play....absolutely ridiculous...aka Amazing!! Now you have 4 lines of offense and Nash can stay home on the couch and get the rest of his marbles in order which he clearly hasn't if you have seen him play since his concussion.
And if it is needed, Marty is $$$ in shootouts, one of Canada's top 3.

[BruHawk]

I thought of that, and at this point Stamkos isn't a lock for this team. It's still an uncertainty if he will play. We all assume he'll be ready to go, but what if he's not? I guess at that point they could have used their injury replacement on Kunitz, but I guess they decided to focus more on a player for Crosby rather than one for Stamkos.

[30ranfordfan]

Last couple of comments are right on the money.....

The forward group is simple:

They took three pairs of forwards (Crosby / Kunitz, Perry / Getzlaf, Towes / Sharp) and then a bunch of peices they can plug in around them.

I don't like all the picks (Nash & Carter are the two I really don't like) but half of the forward group is built before you start trying to mix guys in. While I think most of these centres could play wing just fine..... Thornton is one that might not translate as well as others. If there is really only one centre slot open after that group of 6 - Patrice Bergeron is going to be the guy. All other Cs will play wing.

[30ranfordfan]

Yes....

Stamkos is a guy they'll use to compliment another line.... not build a line around. If Stamkos can't go, they replace that. They might replace him with St. Louis - but they wern't going to name both and try and build a line with the two of them.

I thought of that, and at this point Stamkos isn't a lock for this team. It's still an uncertainty if he will play. We all assume he'll be ready to go, but what if he's not? I guess at that point they could have used their injury replacement on Kunitz, but I guess they decided to focus more on a player for Crosby rather than one for Stamkos.

[BruHawk]

See, I'm fine with the Nash pick. Sure the guy isn't having a great season this year and a mediocre one last season, but this guy steps it up to another level in international play. I expect him to play huge in the olympics. Hopefully I'm not disappointed.

As for Carter, I'm not entirely sure how much he'll play. I think they'll use the first couple of games to mix the lines up a bit and see who plays and sits for the more important games, but I think that Carter might end up being a guy who watches more than plays.

[centrehice]

Stamkos was seething yesterday about Yzerman not picking St. Louis, he looked beyond disappointed and looked MAD.

Why does Yzerman have Idjits like Kevin Slowe on this committee? Why? Yzerman should have stood up and told the whole committee that St. Louis is on the team - case closed.

Nope he gets suckered into a Crosby Nanny, and Jeff Carter who is about as lazy as Mike Richards if it's humanly possible for a 2nd person to be that lazy. Oh wait !…


I am wrong Mikael Samuelsson and Alex Kovalev are still alive, so there is somebody lazier than Carter and Richards.

[mooneyes]

I would wager a good amount Stammer will be there for sure! Already been skating 3 weeks!, and has another 4 weeks from today before the Oly's start. He is a young, super elite/fit athlete and has access to the best sports medicine and rehab tools in the world. jmho