Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Sochi 2014: Team Snublandia

10:06 AM  Fred Poulin  9 comments

Now that all the Olympic teams have been named for the upcoming 2014 Sochi Olympics, let’s have a look at the notable omissions of each major country and form the best possible team with the talented players that have been left out by their respective countries. Luckily for us Habs fans, P.K. Subban was named to Team Canada so there will be no riots in Montreal this week.
This squad of cast-offs would be one of the most dominant teams of the Olympic tournament thanks to a mix of talent, speed and leadership. Those disgruntled players are ready to prove their detractors wrong and go for Gold in late February.
Forwards:
James Neal (CAN) – Claude Giroux (CAN) – Martin St. Louis (CAN)
Alexander Semin (RUS) – Joe Thornton (CAN) – Bobby Ryan (USA)
Taylor Hall (CAN) – Logan Couture (CAN) – Tyler Seguin (CAN)
Sean Bergenheim (FIN) – Eric Staal (CAN) – Jiri Hudler (CZE)
Extras: Kyle Okposo (USA), Radim Vrbata (CZE)
-Canadian forwards with more points than Claude Giroux since the 2010 Olympics: Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos. This means that if Stamkos is not ready to go, all three players will be left off Canada’s roster.
-Joe Thornton not only leads the NHL with 43 assists in 42 games this season, he is also 4th in scoring with 48 points and has a lot of international experience.
-Alexander Semin, despite being a 0.86 point per game player in his career, was snubbed in favor of some unknown KHL players who are struggling to put points on the board in Putin-land.
-Talented wingers Jiri Hudler and Radim Vrbata was left out of Czech Republic’s roster in favor ofPetr Nedved who played for the Canadian National Team back in 1993-94…
Olympic snubs are trying to create their own Olympics.
Olympic snubs are trying to create their own Olympics.
Defensemen:
Keith Yandle (USA) – Victor Hedman (SWE)
Jack Johnson (USA) – Kris Letang (CAN)
Jonas Brodin (SWE) – Brent Seabrook (CAN)
Extras:
Dan Boyle (CAN) – Jan Hejda (CZE)

-Kris Letang, Brent Seabrook and Dan Boyle were all left off the Canadian squad because they shoot right. Instead, left-handed Canuck Dan Hamhuis gets the call despite scoring only 13 points this year.
-Sweden decided to select washed up defenseman Henrik Tallinder instead of talented youngsters such as Victor Hedman and Jonas Brodin…
Goalenders:
Marc-André Fleury (CAN)
Ben Bishop (USA)
Pekka Rinne (FIN)
-Team Canada decided to chose Mike Smith, who has more goals than shutouts this season, over former Stanley Cup winner Marc-André Fleury. Flower also leads the NHL with 24 wins this season.
-Despite suffering from the lingering effects of an infection to his surgically-repaired hip, Pekka Rinne should have been nominated, at least temporarily, as one of the top three Finnish netminders.
Other notables:  Nail Yakupov, Brandon Saad, Jordan Staal, Mike Richards, Jeff Skinner, Sven Baerstchi, Dustin Byfuglien, Marc Staal, Mark Giordano, Erik Johnson, Dmitry Kulikov, Corey Crawford, Josh Harding, Robin Lehner.
Did I miss anyone?
Do you think this team of misfits could contend for gold in Sochi?
Follow me on Twitter to debate and talk about puck!

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9 comments:

I'd take Dustin Byfuglien over Jack Johnson. I think Johnson is one of the most overrated players in the NHL. Both may be liabilities on D, but Byfuglien plays a more physical game with more offensive numbers.

Snublandia could win a medal, absolutely. Solid, solid squad!

HABS Having Another Bad Season..

How in the world is it that Habs fans think scouting director Trevor Timmins is doing a decent job?? Since the 2008 draft, that's Six drafts, Montreal has only Two players on their roster from those years..Gallagher and Galchenyuk..Numberd dont lie.

LOL! I love the Paul Martin clip! Hilarious!

Habs fans from Hockey Inside Out site, who normally are a loyal bunch took a poll and thought that Trevor Timins was over rated by a margin of 62%-38% That says it all.

As a fan of this team for almost four decades, it pains me to see Our Loyalty for the team go totally unappreciated. This organization lives on past glories, knows the building will sell out every night, so there is no real Necessity to improve the product. Maybe if the Quebec Nordiques came back, Habs management would finally get some incentive, Past Glories soon become Bedtime Stories.

Hey, just discovered this site last week. Been reading many past posts and I've noticed a trend in all the comments and I must ask this question:

How does anything in this post revolve around Trevor Timmins?

I get that Guy Smith and whoever posts anonymously hate Timmins. I get it. You post it on every single post I've ready so far. But seriously guys... Every post? No matter what the topic, you find a way to bring up Trevor Timmins?

Don't get me wrong, he's flopped on many first rounders since taking over, but you cannot argue he's also done pretty well with the late round finds. Aside from Detroit, not too many teams have found solid talent in the later rounds. But why must you find a way to relate every post on this site to your hatred for Trevor Timmins?

Two people commented on the story here and they are associated with the site, every other comment is just trolled. Seriously.

@Marc Habs Fan: Firstly, welcome to the commentariate, my friend!

Secondly, that is the best comment I've read in a long time!

Guy Smith definitely has a hate on for Timmins, as do many others who read the site. Which is their perogative.

But you are right about Timmins...he has drafter more players currently playing in the NHL than any other team in the league over the last decade.

That is irrifutable. I think the problem his a) his lack of home runs, and b) his lack of first round success.

I think that his critics focus on those facts and miss the rest of the body of his work.

The numbers simply don't lie, and there's a reason why he is the ONLY constant on the management over the last decade.

@Marc Habs Fan: Firstly, welcome to the commentariate, my friend!

Secondly, that is the best comment I've read in a long time!

Guy Smith definitely has a hate on for Timmins, as do many others who read the site. Which is their perogative.

But you are right about Timmins...he has drafter more players currently playing in the NHL than any other team in the league over the last decade.

That is irrifutable. I think the problem his a) his lack of home runs, and b) his lack of first round success.

I think that his critics focus on those facts and miss the rest of the body of his work.

The numbers simply don't lie, and there's a reason why he is the ONLY constant on the management over the last decade.

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