MEDALZZZ
Featuring: Almost no good players.
**** the NHL owners!
Group A
Canada
McDavid - Crosby - MacKinnon
Marchand - Bergeron - Stamkos
Tavares - Toews - Hall
Benn - Getzlaf - Seguin
Doughty - Subban
Keith - Pietrangelo
Giordano - Burns
Price
Holtby
A slightly more rag-tag group looks to build off of a successful Spenger Cup tournament, led by ... Andrew Ebbett? I dunno.
Chris Kelly, Gilbert Brule, Rob Klinkhammer, Wojtek Wolski, Quinton Howden, Rene Bourque, Max Lapierre,
Mason Raymond (paging Wraneman!), Linden Vey, Derek Roy ... loads of
"oh that, that guy" / recent Vancouver Canucks to be found (the latter being very much not a good thing). Among all the teams, really.
Czech Republic
Was Jammy Jagz released just in time to
make a grand entrance in Korea? Damn I sure hope so. Otherwise it'll be Roman Cervenka and Marty
"I was recently traded for perennial NHL all-star Filip Forsberg" Erat leading the way. So, uh ... good times?
South Korea
I'll be honest, I have heard of any of these guys, other than their two coaches,
Jim Paek & Richard Park, who both played in the NHL. Not even the 6 Canadians and 1 American that are on this team.
No wait, that's a damned lie. I've heard of this Alex Plante guy that the Edmonton Oilers drafted 15th overall in 2007 ... he played 10 NHL games over 3 seasons during the run when they were picking 1st every year. #LOiLers
Switzerland
A team made up entirely of players plying their trade in the Swiss league, which last I checked was still decent. Then again, they haven't won the Spengler Cup in a couple years now.
Jonas Hiller in net and Raphael Diaz on the blueline lead the way for this group. I would have expected a better list of names to be honest, but they'll probably be very solid, and could easily medal. Hop Suisse!
Group B
Slovakia
Did you know that Ladislav Nagy is still playing hockey? Well now you do. Led by Canadian coach Craig Ramsay, they only feature 2 KHLers on their roster (Michal Cajkovsky & Patrik Lamper), with everyone else playing in Slovakia or the Czech Republic. But as always,
they should be a feisty group.
Slovenia
So Kopitar's good for nothing brother couldn't even make this team? For shame. Well at least the Rodman brothers, David & Marcel, will be there. Did Dennis not make it known that he was very willing to go back to Korea for this?
Come on guys,
do it for Melania!
Olympic Athletes from Russia
They got
the Magic Man Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya
"GOAT 2+2 draft pick" Kovalchuk, Mikhail Grigorenko who I forgot was bounced from the NHL, Vyacheslav
"Vayweather" Voynov,
"La Femme" Nikita Nesterov, and even that Vegas Golden Knights mojo with Vadim
"Shippy Shove" Shipachyov. Yes all the stars are out for Olympic Athletes from Russia!
But the guy I'm most excited to see in this is Minnesota Wild prospect Kirill Kaprizov. He could be a legit NHL player if he gets out of his contract and comes over here in a year or two.
The tournament favourites should walk to the title, but the Commies haven't won since they were Commies, basically. Take a hint. Anyway, they'll continue not winning because they're the Olympic Athletes from Russia, or they'll choke like they always do. Sick freeroll for everyone else.
United States
Another team loaded with familiar names like Brian Gionta, Chris Bourque, Jim Slater, James Wisniewski, Bobby
"I Was Drafted Directly Ahead of Claude Giroux & Semyon Varlamov" Sanguinetti, Mark Arcobello, and Matt Gilroy.
And like Team OAfR, this team features a top prospect of the Minnesota Wild in power forward Jordan Greenway, as well as college prospects
Troy Terry, Ryan Donato, and Will Borgen. Kind of surprised more teams didn't go the youth route, at least sprinkle in a couple guys like this. Of course with USA#1 having 4 college players (probably all legit NHL prospects), be sure to brace yourself for NBC playing up the MIRACLE ON ICE angle. You have been warned. Also, hide yo hotel rooms!
Group C
Germany
A team led by San Jose Sharks alums Christian Ehrhoff & Marcel Goc ...
what could go wrong?
All of these guys play in DEUTSCHLAND, so I dunno, you tell me.
Finland
Familiar names like Karri Ramo, Sami Lepisto, Lasse Kukkonen, and Petri Kontiola mean that Leijonat / Lejonen (which are we going with here guys?) should be in with a chance as always, but of course the big draw here is the two kids with the potential to be NHL stars in
sniper Eeli Tolvanen (Nashville Predators) and D-man Miro Heiskanen (Dallas Stars).
Norway
Not only is
Patrick Thoresen still alive and kicking, but he's kicking it as the lone Norwegian in the KHL. Good for him! And I'll assume that Steffen is his brother, and that Ken Andre & Mathis Olimb are also related. Lots of family connections in this as well. Enjoy the experience, boys.
(by which I mean the Village, before they run out of condoms)
Sweden
Last but certainly not least we have another serious medal contender in Tre kronor. Captain
"Handsome Henrik's brother" Joel Lundqvist leads the way yet again, joined by familiar names like goalies Jhonas Enroth & Viktor Fasth, D-men Staffan Kronwall & Erik Gustafsson, and forwards Joakim Lindstrom, Viktor Stalberg, Oscar Moller, Anton Lander, and Linus Omark. And let's not forget Dick Axelsson!
But of course, the highlight here, and for the tournament really, basically
the only damn reason to watch this thing, is that likely #1 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft Rasmus Dahlin was rightfully added to their roster. Thank the gods! Now if something should happen to him, I'm gonna lose my freaking mind. Well, not really, I'll probably just go back to not caring about this thing at all.
So, who ya got!?
Note: I've also been informed that there is a 2-team women's tournament taking place as well...
Last edited by 72off; 02-02-2018 at 07:16 PM.