Who would you choose for Team Canada

Let's say you were Wayne Gretzky come decision time... who would you choose. I'd go with these guys.

Staal-Spezza-Heatley
Gagne-Sakic-Nash
Richards-Thornton-Crosby
Iginla-Lecavalier-St. Louis

Spare: Lemieux, Bertuzzi, Smyth

Redden-Niedermeyer
Pronger-Blake
Phaneuf-Foote
Spare: Jovanovski

Luongo
Brodeur
Theodore

No love for Lemieux, yet I know he'll be the top line centre because Gretzky's his "boy". I might be hated for this, but oh well.

Don't hesitate to call out Line's for other countries too.

Chances are Lemieux will be in? I havn't put much thought into it so don't pick it apart. :dunno:

Gagne-Thornton-Nash
Iginla-Sakic-Heatley
Richards-Lemieux-Crosby
Smyth-Lecavalier-Bertuzzi

Redden-Niedermeyer
Pronger-Jovanovski
Foote-McCabe


Brodeur
Luongo
Theodore

I guess canada is going to just use centers??

And i'm not too sure i would put Nash on my team until he can prove he can stay healthy for 5 minutes. Canada has scary depth.

is Iginla not a right winger?

and for that matter, isn't Nash a left winger?

There is an entire forum for international hockey.

Please take this thread there, moderators.

Assuming the following: Nash will be healthy, Lemieux will be guaranteed, Yzerman will pull out

Nash - Thornton - Gagne
Crosby - Spezza - Heatley
Tanguay - Sakic - Iginla
Smyth - Staal - Lemiuex

Extra: St. Louis, Draper

Pronger - Niedermayer
Blake - Redden
McCabe - Foote

Extra: Regehr

Brodeur
Luongo
Turco

By the way, there's no chance all three of Jason Spezza, Eric Staal, and Sidney Crosby make it.

None whatsoever.

Pick two of the three and be happy that at least two of them are making it.

Lemieux will be there.

Yzerman will be there.

is Iginla not a right winger?

and for that matter, isn't Nash a left winger?

I'm well aware of the fact that both iginla and Nash are wingers....I guess you dont understand exaggeration. It just jumped out at me that for the first two posters 7 out of 12, and 6 out of 12 forwards were centers.

By the way, there's no chance all three of Jason Spezza, Eric Staal, and Sidney Crosby make it.

None whatsoever.

Pick two of the three and be happy that at least two of them are making it.

Lemieux will be there.

Yzerman will be there.

I seriously wonder if Yzerman will go, I know he will get invited but I have to wonder if he would even let himself go at this point, he isnt playing up to his potential and I don't think he would want to hurt team Canada by taking the place of someone that is better than him. Then again he is a great leader and any team can use that.

You know our depth is insane when Marleau isn't making any of these teams.

I'm well aware of the fact that both iginla and Nash are wingers....I guess you dont understand exaggeration. It just jumped out at me that for the first two posters 7 out of 12, and 6 out of 12 forwards were centers.

no dude, not you. I was refering to the first two posters, who both had them on their wrong wings

no dude, not you. I was refering to the first two posters, who both had them on their wrong wings

my bad :dunno:

If Bertuzzi keeps his good play up I am sure he will be a lock, or even plays at 3/4's of what he is now. Gretzky and Lemiuex love Bertuzzi.

Gagne - Spezza - Bertuzzi (I think this line would be ****ing amazing)
Nash - Thornton - Heatley
Sakic - Lemieux - Iginla
Smyth - Lecavalier - Richards
extras: Crosby, Staal

Pronger - Niedermayer
Redden - Jovanovski
Blake - Foote
spare: Regehr

Brodeur
Luongo
Turco

Gagne-Spezza-Bertuzzi line would be pretty sick, but i think they would keep Spezza and Heater together just because of the chemistry...who knows, its not like those arent some talented wingers. I wish USA had those options :cry:

Gagne - Spezza - Bertuzzi
Nash - Thornton - Heatley
Sakic - Lemieux - Iginla
Smyth - Lecavalier - Richards
extras: Crosby, Staal


Mario Lemieux at center over Joe Sakic?

Brad Richards is also better suited for center than Vincent Lecavalier as he's far superior defensively.

This team lacks defensive forwards.

Over the past few years, Team Canada has made a point of adding grinders. Your Drapers, Maltbys, Doans, Morrows, Pecas, etc... they'll have a couple of them again.

no dude, not you. I was refering to the first two posters, who both had them on their wrong wings

Ah, I think Nash has played both RW and LW! I never really thought about Iginla, first poster had him on the 4th line LW So I stuck him there too assuming he played both wings! Anyway what about this? I have a hunch Crosby will be there, just because he's Crosby! The Centre position is stocked with Canadian Talent, so a few centre's who have played the wing would likley be moved there! This is a team Canada not including star Centres like Spezza, Staal and Marleau!

Gagne-Thornton-Nash
Crosby-Sakic-Heatley
Richards-Lemieux-Iginla
Smyth-Lecavalier-Bertuzzi

Lemieux - Sakic - Iginla
Kariya - Thornton - Richards
Heatley - Lecavalier - Bertuzzi
Gagne - Marleau - St. Louis
13th: Yzerman

Pronger - Niedermayer
Jovanovski - Redden
Blake - Foote
7th: Regehr

Brodeur
Luongo
3rd: Theodore

If Yzerman decides to drop out, replace him with Smyth

I feel like Canada will elect to choose guys like Kariya, St. Louis, Gagne, Marleau and Richards over guys like Nash, Spezza and Smyth since they are excellent skaters. Staal and Crosby are a bit too inexperienced at this point to get a call.

if Rick Nash is healthy and in game shape, there's no reason to leave him off the team. He's actually not a bad skater...just a very ugly one. He's got very good speed from what I recall, since he always seems to be beating defensemen wide and cutting hard to the crease

in no order what-so-ever. Gretzky can line them how he chooses. I don't get paid enough to make those decisions!


Forwards...

Gagne, Spezza, Heatley
Staal, Lecavalier, Iginla
Sakic, Crosby, Smyth
Thornton, Bertuzzi, Draper

Lots of speed! Speed kills!!!



Defense...

Niedermeyer, Pronger
JovoCop, Blake
McCabe, Redden


Goalies...

Brodeur - He has got to be the man!
Luongo & Theo


These are my picks and I'm sticking with em'!

Gagne-Sakic-Iginla
Kariya-Thornton-Nash
Heatley-Spezza-Marleau
Smyth-Lecavalier-St.Louis

Redden-Niedermeyer
Pronger-Blake
Phaneuf-McCabe

Luongo
Theodore
Legace

not that im not interested, but i think theres about 100 topics like this.

Lemieux - Sakic - Iginla
Nash - Thornton - Bertuzzi
Gagne - Lecavalier - Heatley
Smyth - Richards - Doan
Extras: Marleau, Crosby

Pronger - Foote
Niedermayer - Blake
Redden - Regehr
Extras: Hannan, Phaneuf

Brodeur
Luongo
Extra: Theodore

Kariya-Sakic-Iginla
Gagné-Thornton-Nash
Tanguay-Staal-Bertuzzi
Lemieux-Richards-Heatley
Extras - Marleau, Lecavalier

Niedermayer-Redden
Pronger-Jovanovski
Foote-Regehr
Extras - McCabe, Blake

Brodeur
Belfour
Extra - Luongo

I would really enjoy a Richards - Lecavalier - Crosby line.

Mario Lemieux at center over Joe Sakic?

Brad Richards is also better suited for center than Vincent Lecavalier as he's far superior defensively.

This team lacks defensive forwards.

Over the past few years, Team Canada has made a point of adding grinders. Your Drapers, Maltbys, Doans, Morrows, Pecas, etc... they'll have a couple of them again.

the team reflects the new values of NHL hockey - speed, talent and scoring.

the team reflects the new values of NHL hockey - speed, talent and scoring.

Again... Mario Lemieux at center over Joe Sakic?

You want SPEED and you put Lemieux in the middle and Sakic on the wing?

Again... Mario Lemieux at center over Joe Sakic?

You want SPEED and you put Lemieux in the middle and Sakic on the wing?

Switch them if it'll make you feel better. Lemieux is better at clutch faceoffs, and puck possession will be extremely important against behemoths like the Czech Republic, so I put Lemieux at center.

Lemieux - Sakic - Iginla
Kariya - Thornton - Richards
Heatley - Lecavalier - Bertuzzi
Gagne - Marleau - St. Louis
13th: Yzerman

Pronger - Niedermayer
Jovanovski - Redden
Blake - Foote
7th: Regehr

Brodeur
Luongo
3rd: Theodore

If Yzerman decides to drop out, replace him with Smyth

I feel like Canada will elect to choose guys like Kariya, St. Louis, Gagne, Marleau and Richards over guys like Nash, Spezza and Smyth since they are excellent skaters. Staal and Crosby are a bit too inexperienced at this point to get a call.

The scary thing is that if Canada had a Team B, it'd likely win Silver or Bronze.

TEAM A

Lemieux - Sakic - Iginla
Kariya - Thornton - Richards
Heatley - Lecavalier - Bertuzzi
Gagne - Marleau - St. Louis

Pronger - Niedermayer
Jovanovski - Redden
Blake - Foote

Brodeur
Luongo


TEAM B

Nash - Staal - Murray
Tanguay - Spezza - Crosby
Smyth - Peca - Recchi
Shannahan - Primeau - Ryder

Morris - Regehr
McCabe - Hannan
Phaneuf - McLaren

Theodore
Turco


The crazy thing is that you can even have a third-string team that would still compete for a medal!

TEAM C

Morrow - Allison - Doan
Stillman - Briere - O'Neil
Cooke - Brind'Amour - Lindros
Yzerman - Horcoff - Hunter

Desjardins - Van Ryn
Boucher - Stuart
Hamhuis - Rathje

Ed Belfour
Curtis Joseph


Even the fourth string team is competitive

TEAM D

Sanderson - Savard - Bergeron
Morrison - Comrie - Hartnell
Madden - Scatchard - Williams
Torres - Fisher - Dumont

Warrener - Souray
Brewer - Brisebois
Smith - Phillips

Giguere
Roloson

Phaneuf will not make this team.There is no way you can leave McCabe off this team.The youth movement will be represented by Stall and Crosby and I wouldn't mind seeing Spezza.Hopefully Wayne will do the right thing and pick the best players and not his old cronies.............but......that's alot of hoping ;) .

Phaneuf will not make this team.There is no way you can leave McCabe off this team.The youth movement will be represented by Stall and Crosby and I wouldn't mind seeing Spezza.Hopefully Wayne will do the right thing and pick the best players and not his old cronies.............but......that's alot of hoping ;) .
please PEI FAN.......................no McCabe,please.

I think Shane Doan is guaranteed a spot since he plays for Gretzky, just like Yezerman and Lemieux if they decide to go.

please PEI FAN.......................no McCabe,please.
I have watched him play a number of games.........it's not just the stat's.......
but he's actually really good.I will say that Kaberle is a big part of that combination working so well. They are a perfect fit........and no I'm not a Toronto fan.

I think Shane Doan is guaranteed a spot since he plays for Gretzky, just like Yezerman and Lemieux if they decide to go.
Gretzky doesn't have the luxury of picking Doan unless his play improves tremendously to justify it.Gretzky already has a "nepotism" problem.

I have watched him play a number of games.........it's not just the stat's.......
but he's actually really good.I will say that Kaberle is a big part of that combination working so well. They are a perfect fit........and no I'm not a Toronto fan.
You're not concerned about his skating on the big ice? I am,i've watched him plenty this year too and he still looks so damn "thick" out there going east-west.I'm not a regular McCabe basher at all.........just don't think he's a good fit for that tourney and we have enough offense from the back-end that his services are not really required.

I dunno,maybe they'll put him on.But i hope they don't myself.if he does get named andplays well...................you'll never hear me say another bad word about him again.

The scary thing is that if Canada had a Team B, it'd likely win Silver or Bronze.

TEAM A

Lemieux - Sakic - Iginla
Kariya - Thornton - Richards
Heatley - Lecavalier - Bertuzzi
Gagne - Marleau - St. Louis

Pronger - Niedermayer
Jovanovski - Redden
Blake - Foote

Brodeur
Luongo


TEAM B

Nash - Staal - Murray
Tanguay - Spezza - Crosby
Smyth - Peca - Recchi
Shannahan - Primeau - Ryder

Morris - Regehr
McCabe - Hannan
Phaneuf - McLaren

Theodore
Turco


The crazy thing is that you can even have a third-string team that would still compete for a medal!

TEAM C

Morrow - Allison - Doan
Stillman - Briere - O'Neil
Cooke - Brind'Amour - Lindros
Yzerman - Horcoff - Hunter

Desjardins - Van Ryn
Boucher - Stuart
Hamhuis - Rathje

Ed Belfour
Curtis Joseph


Even the fourth string team is competitive

TEAM D

Sanderson - Savard - Bergeron
Morrison - Comrie - Hartnell
Madden - Scatchard - Williams
Torres - Fisher - Dumont

Warrener - Souray
Brewer - Brisebois
Smith - Phillips

Giguere
Roloson


Team A: Sure looks good... can only really be challanged by the Russians or the Czechs.

Team B: Eh... longshot for Bronze. US/Finnish caliber really, would get beaten by Russia, Czechs, and Sweden 9 times out of 10.

Team C: Compete for a medal? -More like comete to make it out of the group stage.. and they are kinda iffy on that, someone has to screw up for them to progress.

Team D: Competive... well... yes.... with Italy and Kazahstan.

You know our depth is insane when Marleau isn't making any of these teams.

Once SJ GM Doug Wilson opens the purse strings to get Marleau a deserving 1st line winger someone has actually heard of to play with, his numbers will turn heads enough that someone else isn't considered. The popular opinion in SJ is that is coming in 06.

I'm beginning to think Crosby has to be on this team. He's getting better every game and by February will be hitting his stride. Can you imagine him feeding Gagne and Nash? Yikes. Hopefully, Yzerman and Lemieux will do the right thing and not go. And hopefully Gretz will also do the right thing and not take Doan or maybe Smyth.

I think Canada should go with this team:


Crosby Thornton Iginla
Nash Spezza Heatley
Gagne Lecavalier Richards
Smyth Draper Doan
Staal

Redden Pronger
Niedermayer Foote
Blake Staios

Luongo
Brodeur
Turco

Think they should leave Sakic, Kariya, Lemieux and Yzerman: There are better players today. Not sure on the defence though. Aside from Redden and Niedermayer I think it´s hard because of the large rink. Not all of the big guys can play good defensive hockey on big ice and some players don´t seem to have a good season, for example Hannan and Blake. I also question the defensive play (especially on big ice) of Brewer, Jovanovski and McCabe. Don´t know about Pronger on big ice?

I think Canada should go with this team:


Crosby Thornton Iginla
Nash Spezza Heatley
Gagne Lecavalier Richards
Smyth Draper Doan
Staal

Redden Pronger
Niedermayer Foote
Blake Staios

Luongo
Brodeur
Turco

Think they should leave Sakic, Kariya, Lemieux and Yzerman: There are better players today. Not sure on the defence though. Aside from Redden and Niedermayer I think it´s hard because of the large rink. Not all of the big guys can play good defensive hockey on big ice and some players don´t seem to have a good season, for example Hannan and Blake. I also question the defensive play (especially on big ice) of Brewer, Jovanovski and McCabe. Don´t know about Pronger on big ice?


Sakic > Spezza
Kariya > Gagne

Yzerman, and to a lesser extent Lemeuix I agree with you on.

Lemieux and Yzerman have no buiness on this team sorry. They are not playing healthy and are not the shadow of what they used to be. We have great upcoming guys its time to let them play. Offense should look like this:

Gagne-Sakic-Iginla
Heatley-Thornton-Nash
St-Louis-Lecavalier-Bertuzzi
Darper-Marleau-Doan

Kariya > Gagne
:amazed: :shakehead :help:

Anyway, here's my forward lines:
Mario Lemieux-Joe Sakic-Jarome Iginla
Simon Gagne-Joe Thornton-Rick Nash
Ryan Smyth-Jason Spezza-Dany Heatley
Brad Richards-Vincent Lecavalier-Martin St. Louis
13th Forward- Eric Staal

Lemieux and Yzerman have no buiness on this team sorry. They are not playing healthy and are not the shadow of what they used to be. We have great upcoming guys its time to let them play. Offense should look like this:

Gagne-Sakic-Iginla
Heatley-Thornton-Nash
St-Louis-Lecavalier-Bertuzzi
Darper-Marleau-Doan

Oh, that last line is god awful, no Richards, no Staal, no Smytty?

I find it hard to believe that they can keep Jason Spezza off the team with the way he's playing right now. If he's not on the team, than that's just scary how deep they are.

Have to say that im quite jealous about Canadian level of hockey. Every year there comes new super-talents especially this year Crosby,Spezza...of course Rick Nash is quite newcomer too.

Here is who I would pick as of right now for Team Canada:

C:
Sakic
Thornton
Lecavalier
Richards

LW:
Lemieux
Gagne
Smyth
Draper

RW:
Iginla
Heatley
Bertuzzi
St.Louis
Doan

D:
Pronger
Blake
Niedermayer
Foote
Redden
Jovanovski
McCabe

G:
Brodeur
Luongo
Theodore

I make these picks for the following reasons:

At forward, you have to have some experienced players (Lemieux), some physical players (Smyth, and Doan), some wingers (Smyth, Doan, Bertuzzi, and St.Louis), and some defensive conscience (Draper). You can't have a team full of young guys, nor can you have a team full of finesse guys, nor can you have a team full of centres, nor can you have a team full of pure offensive players. A team full of Crosby's, Spezza's, and Staal's don't give you nearly the same chances of winning that my team does. Any team that has more than one of Crosby, Spezza, or Staal on it starts to suffer in my opinion.

The defense also has a nice blend of two-way players, guys who are very good at both ends of the ice, which I feel is important to a defensive core. Pronger, Niedermayer, Blake, and Redden are all superb at both ends of the ice. Then you have specialists such as Foote (defense), McCabe (offense), and Jovanovski (physicality) rounding out the defense core.

As for the goaltenders, all three guys are capable of stepping in should need be. A wealth of talent, experience, and clutch ability provided by these three goaltenders.

G:
Luongo
Brodeur


Extra: Turco

D:
Blake
Foote
Niedermayer
Redden
McCabe
Pronger

Extra: Jovonovski

F:
Bertuzzi
Gagne
Heatley
Iginla
Lecavalier
Richards
Thornton
Staal
Morrow
Tanguay
Crosby
St. Louis

Extra: Doan

Just me, of course.

Oh, that last line is god awful, no Richards, no Staal, no Smytty?
No Smyth cuz i think hes overrated, Richards could be in there and Staal can wait four years. Kariya should be considered too.

No Smyth cuz i think hes overrated, Richards could be in there and Staal can wait four years. Kariya should be considered too.

See the Oilers record when Smyth plays, and when he doesn't, the numbers speak for themselves.

Anyways, they need some experience if they don't take Yzerman and Lemieux, and Smyttys got it.

Nash Sakic Iginla
Gagne Spezza Heatley
Crosby Lecavalier Richards
Smyth Thornton Doan

Extra : Staal

Niedermayer
Pronger
McCabe
Redden
Blake
Foote

Extra : Boowmester

Luongo
Brodeur
Theodore

Nash Sakic Iginla
Gagne Spezza Heatley
Crosby Lecavalier Richards
Smyth Thornton Doan

Extra : Staal

Niedermayer
Pronger
McCabe
Redden
Blake
Foote

Extra : Boowmester

Luongo
Brodeur
Theodore

:hockey: then :win: then :cheers:

Quite strange that you don`t accept Staal to team, he must be one of the biggest suprises this year NHL.

IMO Gretzky shouldn't select Smyth because of the few seconds of insanity he showed at the Worlds against the Czechs.

IMO Gretzky shouldn't select Smyth because of the few seconds of insanity he showed at the Worlds against the Czechs.
Yeah, they should do that and ignore Smyth's play this season and his contributions to Team Canada in the past. :shakehead

IMO Gretzky shouldn't select Smyth because of the few seconds of insanity he showed at the Worlds against the Czechs.

I can understand why you might think that way.

However, some could argue that Smyth's few seconds of insanity that he showed against the Czech Republic is exactly why they SHOULD select Smyth for Team Canada.

Team Canada is going to need to have some grit and tenacity if they want to bring the best team possible to the Olympics. They need to have a couple of guys like Ryan Smyth who are willing to exert some physicality, even dirtiness, on the opposition.

All of this will ring true at the Olympics, especially against some of the bigger or more physical teams like the Czech Republic (who ironically are Canada's biggest threat, and were only beat in the 2004 World Cup because of physical players like Smyth and Doan; all of the finesse players on Team Canada folded like a tent against the Czech Republic in the 2004 World Cup).

History has shown that as much as you need your Joe Sakic's and Mario Lemieux's to win, you also need guys like Ryan Smyth and Shane Doan to win.

Every successful team needs one or two Claude Lemieux type players on it.

See the Oilers record when Smyth plays, and when he doesn't, the numbers speak for themselves.

Anyways, they need some experience if they don't take Yzerman and Lemieux, and Smyttys got it.
Im not overlooking what hes doing for EDM, its that i think there are better players than him that should be on this team. Hes a good player no question and a great warrior but we have plenty of that on this team.

and a great warrior but we have plenty of that on this team.

Does Canada really have that many warriors? I think that if Canada picks the team most here want them to pick, then they lack warriors.

Crosby, Spezza, and Staal are not warriors. They are pretty much finesse players, who have not been in any real wars in their playing careers.

Even Richards, Lecavalier, Gagne, Sakic, and St.Louis, are not typical warriors, at least as it relates to being willing to go into the trenches, battle, and do the dirty work.

In my opinion, Smyth should be on this team, with no questions asked. For a few reasons:

1) He provides a lot of experience, due to him having been through the wars with Team Canada before. Canada has some experience. But the more experience, the better. Smyth provides a resume full of international experience.

2) He provides a lot of grit and tenacity, which will be needed especially in checking situations and penalty killing situations. Canada lacks grit and tenacity, especially with all of the guys mentioned earlier in the post. Smyth provides this grit and tenacity.

3) He provides modest scoring prowess, making him a very good bottom line role player, a guy capable of playing well defensively as well as chipping in the occasional goal. Canada, if they take all of the players mentioned earlier in the post, will have too many chiefs and not enough indians. In other words, too many stars and not enough role players. And we have seen how that works in recent years by looking at teams like the Rangers from 1998-2004, or to a lesser extent, the Avalanche in 2004. Smyth provides a solid, dependable, and versatile role player.

It can also be said that a guy like Doan also deserves to be on the team for the exact same reasons listed above for Smyth.

IMO Gretzky shouldn't select Smyth because of the few seconds of insanity he showed at the Worlds against the Czechs.

Yeah, and Hamrlik shouldn't be selected because of the incident with Fleury, and Vokuon shouldn't go because he called Heatley a murderer.

My team would look like this:

Forwards:
Gagne Sakic Iginla
Smyth Spezza Heatley
Crosby Lecavalier Richards
Nash Thornton Doan

Extra : Staal or Draper

Defence:
Niedermayer - Foote
Pronger - Redden
Regehr - Blake

Extra : McCabe (his d coverage scares me too much to have him top 6, no matter how many pts he puts up.

Goalies:
Brodeur
Luongo
Turco/Cujo

God no, please no McCabe! This guy is great offensively but defensively he is a nightmare! He will get burned huge on the big ice. Not a chance!

Nash-Thorton-Gagne
Heatley-Spezza-Iginla
Richards-LeCavalier-Sakic
Smyth-Lemieux-Draper

Spares: St. Louis, Bertuzzi, Tanguay, Marleau, Staal

Pronger-Niedermayer
Foote-Blake
Redden-Jovanovski

Spares: McCabe, Haanan, Rhegher

Luongo #1
Brodeur #2
Theodore #3

oops... Gagne... of course... edit:

(Gagne)-Sakic-Iginla
Doan-Thornton-Heatley
Smyth-Lecavalier-St. Louis
Bertuzzi-Richards-Draper
Lemieux

Pronger-Blake
Niedermayer-Foote
Redden-Regehr
Jovanovski

Brodeur
Luongo
Joseph

Lemieux-Sakic-Iginla
Doan-Thornton-Heatley
Smyth-Lecavalier-St. Louis
Bertuzzi-Richards-Draper
Crosby

Pronger-Blake
Niedermayer-Foote
Redden-Regehr
Jovanovski

Brodeur
Luongo
Joseph

I hope that the team looks something like that.

Although no Gagne? I think he is a lock at this point. He made the team when he was putting up 40 point seasons in the NHL. He will definitely make the team this year when he is putting up a 100 point season.

I think that by removing Crosby, and inserting Gagne, your team would be perfect.

Gagne is one of the biggest locks of the locks. He is one of the best all around players in the country, and in the NHL today.