After a long absence (bloggers get caught up in the Olympic hoopla too you know), Canuckz.com is back with a look at the Olympic hockey tournament. Most notably, what’s wrong with Team Canada, and what is head coach Mike Babock going to do about to fix things?

Brodeur vs Luongo

The pundits have spoken, and they are in almost total agreement: Luongo should start the next game. And I have to say, I agree with them. Brodeur looked shaky against the US and couldn’t stone wall the Swiss. He hasn’t been terrible, but he’s been the 2nd best goalie on the ice in the last two games and that’s not good enough. Put Luongo in net against the Germans and ride him the rest of the way.

The Forward Lines

In my mind, there are too many players playing too many minutes right now. They’ve spread the ice time so evenly amongst the forwards that nobody is finding a groove. Sidney Crosby is their star and he should be playing 20+ minutes. They’ve also got to find him a winger (please not Bergeron, thanks).  The San Jose Shark line in my mind is also getting too much respect at the moment. Heatley is scoring, but what has Joe Thornton done? To answer my own question, Thornton has produced one assist. That’s it.

Babcock has to find a way to get Jarome Iginla and Jonathan Toews more involved. They’ve played great and have received minimal ice time.

Here’s what Mike Babcock is expected to go with against Germany:

Staal-Crosby-Iginla

Perry-Getzlaf-Nash

Marleau-Thornton-Heatley

Richards-Toews-Morrow

Bergeron

Defense

By “defense” I mean both team defense and their defensemen. Babcock needs to play his top guys as much as possible and go with 6 defensemen. You can’t play with 7 d-men without throwing everyone’s rhythm off. In the realm of team defense, they need to be blocking a lot more shots. Shot blocking, along with goaltending, was the difference in the game against the US. The US got their shots through at will, while Canada’s point men had a terrible time trying to put pucks on net.

Canada should beat Germany, and if they do, Russia will be waiting for them. It’s the worst case scenario for this team, but it is not an obstacle they are not capable of overcoming.

In dramatic fashion (thank you Brian Burke) at the Winter Classic, Team USA was revealed on Saturday. We tried to predict the roster back in August and did pretty well I think (we’ll happily accept accolades in the comments section). We correctly predicted all but four players correctly. Team USA was named with quite a few surprise omissions however. Lets take a look:

Tim Thomas is the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, but even that probably won’t be good enough to supplant Ryan Miller as the American’s number one goaltender. Not since Mike Richter and John Vanbiesbrouck in the mid-90s has Team USA looked this good in goal.

Goaltenders:
Ryan Miller (Buffalo Sabres), Jonathan Quick (Los Angeles Kings), Tim Thomas (Boston Bruins)

I’m surprised that Jack Johnson made this list. He hasn’t lived up to the high expectations coming out of junior and isn’t exactly responsible defensively. I would have gone with the more tested Ryan Whitney. The American blueliners are fairly unheralded, with no superstars in the group. They’re kind of like the Canucks defense: lots of good but not great defensemen.

Defensemen:
Erik Johnson (St Louis Blues), Jack Johnson (Los Angeles Kings), Mike Komisarek (Toronto Maple Leafs), Paul Martin (New Jersey Devils), Brooks Orpik (Pittsburgh Penguins), Brian Rafalski (Detroit Red Wings), Ryan Suter (Nashville Predators)

Do you think RJ Umberger was waiting in anticipation of a call? Me neither, considering his history with Burkie. I’m real surprised that Scott Gomez wasn’t selected, even with his struggles this season. Tim Connolly is having a good season and has a lot of talent but wasn’t selected as well. I’m not sure if the US is deep enough down the middle, but they’ll be in the mix for sure. With the likes of Phil Kessel, Patrick Kane and Zach Parise, they will have youth on their side.

Forwards:
David Backes (St. Louis Blues), Dustin Brown (Los Angeles Kings), Ryan Callahan (New York Rangers), Chris Drury (New York Rangers), Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks), Ryan Kesler (Vancouver Canucks), Phil Kessel (Toronto Maple Leafs), Jamie Langenbrunner (New Jersey Devils), Ryan Malone (Tampa Bay Lightning), Zack Parise (New Jersey Devils), Joe Pavelski (San Jose Sharks), Bobby Ryan (Anaheim Ducks), Paul Stastny (Colorado Avalanche)

Yesterday we looked at Team Canada’s roster, but there were also a few other countries that announced their rosters for the 2010 Olympics that flew under the radar. Lets take a look:

Team Finland:

This will be the last go-around for the old guard for Team Finland. Saku Koivu, Teemu Selanne, Jere Lehtinen and Kimmo Timonen are likely in their last Olympic Games. The foursome has been a part of every Olympic Games since the NHL began participating in 1998. Finland has shown itself to be a strong international team at the senior level, often surpassing pre-competition expectations. They beat Canada to win bronze in 1998, lost by only a goal to eventual gold medal winners Canada in the quarterfinals in 2002 and won silver in 2006. While the 2010 team is aging a little bit, it will be the first time that Finland can boast all star caliber goaltending in an Olympic Games (Miikka Kiprusoff chose to skip the Olympics in 2006).

Goaltenders:
Miikka Kiprusoff (Calgary Flames, NHL), Niklas Bäckström (Minnesota Wild, NHL), Antero Niittymäki (Tampa Bay Lightning, NHL)

Defense:
Kimmo Timonen (Philadelphia Flyers, NHL), Sami Salo (Vancouver Canucks, NHL), Joni Pitkänen (Carolina Hurricanes, NHL), Lasse Kukkonen (Avangard Omsk, RUS), Toni Lydman (Buffalo Sabres, NHL), Sami Lepistö (Phoenix Coyotes, NHL), Janne Niskala (Frölunda, SWE)

Forwards:
Mikko Koivu (Minnesota Wild, NHL), Tuomo Ruutu (Carolina Hurricanes, NHL), Valtteri Filppula (Detroit Red Wings, NHL), Teemu Selänne (Anaheim Ducks, NHL), Saku Koivu (Anaheim Ducks, NHL), Jere Lehtinen (Dallas Stars, NHL), Niklas Hagman (Toronto Maple Leafs, NHL), Olli Jokinen (Calgary Flames, NHL), Antti Miettinen (Minnesota Wild, NHL), Jarkko Ruutu (Ottawa Senators, NHL), Niko Kapanen (Ak Bars Kazan, RUS), Ville Peltonen (Dynamo Minsk, BLR), Jarkko Immonen (Ak Bars Kazan, RUS)

Czech Republic:

If the Czech Republic is to win gold (as they did in 2010) it will likely be due to the strong play of their skilled forwards and Tomas Vokoun. This will be the last Olympics for Jaromir Jagr, who will be still counted on heavily, along with the likes of Patrik Elias, Martin Havlat and Tomas Plekanec. The biggest question mark for the Czechs is on defense, where Tomas Kaberle, Pavel Kubina, Marek Zidlicky and Filip Kuba will have the chore of trying to stop the world’s best snipers.

Goaltenders:
Tomas Vokoun (Florida Panthers/NHL), Ondrej Pavelec (Atlanta Thrashers/NHL), Jakub Stepanek (Vitkovice/CZE).

Defense:
Miroslav Blatak (Salavat Yulaev Ufa/RUS), Jan Hejda (Columbus Blue Jackets/NHL), Tomas Kaberle (Toronto Maple Leafs/NHL), Filip Kuba (Ottawa Senators/NHL), Pavel Kubina (Atlanta Thrashers/NHL), Zbynek Michalek (Phoenix Coyotes/NHL), Roman Polak (St Louis Blues/NHL), Marek Zidlicky (Minnesota Wild/NHL).

Forward:
Petr Cajanek (Saint-Pétersbourg/RUS), Roman Cervenka (Slavia Prague/CZE), Patrik Elias (New Jersey Devils/NHL), Martin Erat (Nashville Predators/NHL), Tomas Fleischmann (Washington Capitals/NHL), Martin Havlat (Minnesota Wild/NHL), Jaromir Jagr (Avangard Omsk/NHL), David Krejci (Boston Bruins/NHL), Milan Michalek (Ottawa Senators/NHL), Tomas Plekanec (Canadiens de Montréal/NHL), Tomas Rolinek (Magnitogorsk/RUS), Josef Vasicek (Yaroslavl/RUS)

Germany:

Team Germany isn’t getting a lot of respect, and for good reason. They have never able to provide a serious threat to challenge for a medal and their team is sub-par on paper. Their team, starved for NHL players actually chose NOT to name Christoph Schubert or Jochen Hecht to the team. Not sure of the reasoning behind that, but it sounds foolish to me. While Germany has a few good NHLers on the team with the likes of Christian Ehrhoff and Marco Sturm, they no longer have former Vezina trophy winner Olaf Kolzig to rely on, which should spell trouble.

Switzerland:

Switzerland surprised many in 2006 by beating both Canada and the Czech Republic in the preliminary round behind the great goaltending of Martin Gerber. Jonas Hiller will probably carry the bulk of the load this time around, and is joined by Mark Streit as the only two NHLers on the team.

The speculation about who will make Team Canada ended on Wednesday (Canuckz.com correctly predicted 16 of the 23 players named back in August… is that good?), as GM Steve Yzerman revealed the 2010 Canadian Olympic Hockey Team. As expected, lots of deserving players were left off, but lets start by looking at who made the team:

No real surprises in net. I’m sure Brodeur will be the starter and he’ll be backed-up by Luongo. Fleury won the cup last year, but his stats have never been outstanding.

Goalies

Roberto Luongo (Vancouver Canucks)

Martin Brodeur (New Jersey Devils)

Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh Penguins)

Are Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger too old? Is Drew Doughty too young? Should the top offensive defenceman in the league (Mike Green) be on this team? What about smooth skating Jay Bouwmeester? The questions on defence are a plenty, but that speaks more to the unbelievable depth they have at the position. My biggest concern lies in the fact that they picked Brent Seabrook ahead of Jay Bouwmeester, who is a better all-around defenceman in my estimation. Seabrook made the team due to his chemistry with Duncan Keith, which I believe is overrated in this regard.

Defence

Dan Boyle (San Jose Sharks)

Drew Doughty (LA Kings)

Duncan Keith (Chicago Blackhawks)

Scott Niedermayer (Anaheim Ducks) – Captain

Chris Pronger (Philadelphia Flyers) – Alternate captain

Brent Seabrook (Chicago Blackhawks)

Shea Weber (Nashville Predators)

I generally agree with Yzerman’s picks, except for Patrice Bergeron. To me, he isn’t good enough offensively to be on the team. Nice to see Jonathan Toews on the team, especially if a game goes to a shootout. Amazingly, Eric Staal made the team, despite his poor start to the season. The most disappointed players all have a Tampa Bay connection: Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Martin St Louis and Steven Stamkos. Shane Doan should also feel very disappointed with not being named to the team considering his strong play and international experience. Thank goodness they had the sense to keep Mike Fisher and Jordan Staal off the team.

Forwards

Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins)

Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins) Alternate captain

Ryan Getzlaf (Anaheim Ducks)

Dany Heatley (San Jose Sharks)

Jarome Iginla (Calgary Flames) Alternate captain

Patrick Marleau (San Jose Sharks)

Brenden Morrow (Dallas Stars)

Rick Nash (Columbus Blue Jackets)

Mike Richards (Philadelphia Flyers)

Corey Perry (Anaheim Ducks)

Eric Staal (Carolina Hurricanes)

Joe Thornton (San Jose Sharks)

Jonathan Toews (Chicago Blackhawks)

As always, Team Canada will ice an outstanding team and they could probably ice a second team that would contend for a medal. This edition of Team Canada will and should be considered the gold medal favourites. That is not to say that competition won’t be fierce, because it will. Ultimately, it will probably come down to goaltending (as it often does in hockey) and if Martin Brodeur plays up to par, they should win gold.

Will Slovakian hockey fans have much to cheer about in 2010? It’s doubtful, yet this is the most well-rounded team that Slovakia has ever put together. It’s also a team filled with guys that used to play in the NHL and even has a guy who isn’t playing hockey right now! Without further ado, Team Slovakia:

I think it’s safe to say that this is the best goaltending that Slovakia has ever had… Which isn’t saying much. But with that said, Jaroslav Halak has the ability to give them decent goaltending. Halak should be the starter, and he’ll see lots of rubber.

Goaltenders:
Jaroslav Halák (Montreal Canadiens/NHL), Peter Budaj (Colorado Avalanche/NHL), Rastislav Staňa (Severstaľ Čerepovec/KHL)

Can Zdeno Chara play 40 minutes a game? If so, Slovakia will have a chance. Kidding aside, Chara along with Andrej Meszaros and Lubomir Visnovsky will lead the best grouping of defensemen that Slovakia has ever assembled.

Defence:
Zdeno Chára (Boston Bruins/NHL), Milan Jurčina (Columbus Blue Jackets/NHL), Richard Lintner (Dinamo Minsk/KHL), Andrej Meszároš (Tampa Bay Lightning/NHL), Andrej Sekera (Buffalo Sabres/NHL), Ľubomír Višňovský (Edmonton Oilers/NHL), Martin Štrbák (HK MVD/KHL)

Ziggy Palffy? Didn’t he retire? Bartecko, Cibak, Stumpel, Satan, Zednik… Didn’t they all retire too? Well no, they’re all playing in various places in Europe in the twilight of their careers (except for Satan who isn’t playing anywhere at the moment, but apparently will get himself into shape by February). Other than Marian Gaborik (will he stay at the athlete’s village or the Vancouver Special that he bought?) and Marian Hossa, the Slovaks will be sending a very old group of forwards to Vancouver, whose best days are behind them. This will be the last kick at the can for most of them.

Forward:
Ľuboš Bartečko (Bern/Švajč.), Branko Radivojevič, Martin Cibák (obaja Spartak Moskva/KHL), Pavol Demitra (Vancouver Canucks/NHL), Marián Gáborík (New York Rangers/NHL), Michal Handzuš (Los Angeles Kings/NHL), Marián Hossa (Chicago Blackhawks/NHL), Marcel Hossa (Dinamo Riga/KHL), Tomáš Kopecký (Chicago Blackhawks/NHL), Žigmund Pálffy (HK 36 Skalica/SR), Jozef Stümpel (Barys Astana/KHL), Miroslav Šatan (bez klubovej príslušnosti), Richard Zedník (Lokomotiv Jaroslavľ/KHL)

The defending Olympic champions, Team Sweden, announced their 23 man roster on Sunday. The Swedes are flying a bit under radar at the moment, as a lot of their top players from years past are now retired or nearing retirement: Mats Sundin, Peter Forsberg and Nicklas Lidstrom. Speaking of Forsberg, he’s playing in the Swedish Elite League this season. Apparently he’s playing pretty well too. His 15 points in 9 games were enough to warrant a spot on the Olympic team. In case you were wondering about Markus Naslund, he has 8 points in 8 games but was not selected.

So who made the team? Take a look:

King Henrik will be in between the pipes as the clear starter for the Swedes once again in 2010. Look for Gustavsson to be his backup. If Sweden is to win gold, it will need to come with some spectacular goaltending from Lundqvist.

Goalies:

Jonas Gustavsson (Toronto Maple Leafs/NHL), Stefan Liv (HV 71), Henrik Lundqvist (New York Rangers/NHL)

Sweden’s defense will once again feature six-time Norris trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom. Niklas Kronwall and Mattias Ohlund will also be leaned on heavily, but their blueliners are a little thin after that. All the more surprising that Alex Edler was not named to the team, while NHL castaway Magnus Johansson was.

Defenders:
Tobias Enstrom (Atlanta Thrashers/NHL), Magnus Johansson (Linkopings HC), Niklas Kronwall (Detroit Red Wings/NHL), Nicklas Lidstrom (Detroit Red Wings/NHL), Douglas Murray (San Jose Sharks/NHL), Johnny Oduya (New Jersey Devils/NHL), Henrik Tallinder (Buffalo Sabres/NHL), Mattias Ohlund (Tampa Bay Lightning/NHL)

Assuming his foot holds up long enough, Peter Forsberg will certainly provide an unexpected boost to Sweden’s forward group. A healthy Forsberg gives Sweden three potent centres, joined with Nicklas Backstrom and Henrik Sedin. After Daniel Sedin, Daniel Alfredsson, Henrik Zetterberg and maybe Loui Eriksson, their wingers don’t have a whole lot to offer. This didn’t escape Mikael Samuelsson, who is PISSED! When asked for his reaction, Samuelsson had this to offer:

“I pretty much have one comment and maybe I’ll regret it,” Samulesson said. “But they can go f*** themselves. That’s what I really think.”

This rare moment of candidness from an NHLer was probably in bad taste, but it’s hard not to agree with him. In 2006, Samuelsson played well on the team that eventually won gold in Torino. He’s having a pretty decent season and can play in an offensive and defensive role. He’s put up better numbers and has a better resume than Patric Hornqvist. Fredrik Modin hasn’t had a decent season in a few years, yet was named to the team. Mattias Weinhandl had trouble cracking the Minnesota Wild lineup just three years ago, but is playing well in the KHL and made the team.

Forwards:
Daniel Alfredsson (Ottawa Senators/NHL), Nicklas Backstrom (Washington Capitals/NHL), Loui Eriksson (Dallas Stars/NHL), Peter Forsberg (MODO Hockey), Tomas Holmstrom (Detroit Red Wings/NHL), Patric Hornqvist (Nashville Predators/NHL), Fredrik Modin (Columbus Blue Jackets/NHL), Samuel Pahlsson (Columbus Blue Jackets/NHL), Daniel Sedin (Vancouver Canucks/NHL), Henrik Sedin (Vancouver Canucks/NHL), Mattias Weinhandl (Dynamo Moscow/RUS), Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit Red Wings/NHL)

Also NOT selected to the team was Tommy Salo (who is still having nightmares at last report):

Team Russia became the first of the contending teams to announce their roster for the 2010 Olympic hockey tournament on Friday. While Team Russia doesn’t have as much depth as Canada (nobody does), they still have enough depth to have a few controversial omissions from their roster. We’ll analyze who was left off in a minute (FUN!).

Their goaltending will be second to none. Ryan Miller and Miikka Kiprusoff are the only two starting netminders that have a better save percentage than Ilya Bryzgalov at the moment, and he might not even be the starter:

Ilya Bryzgalov (Phoenix), Evgeni Nabokov (San Jose), Semyon Varlamov (Washington)

Russia’s defense is its weak spot. Sergei Gonchar and Andrei Markov are world class, but after that there is a drop off:

Sergei Gonchar (Pittsburgh), Denis Grebeshkov (Edmonton), Dmitri Kalinin (Salavat Ufa), Konstantin Korneyev (CSKA Moscow), Andrei Markov (Montreal), Ilya Nikulin (Ak Bars Kazan), Fedor Tyutin (Columbus), Anton Vonchenkov (Ottawa)

Russia’s top six forwards are arguably the most talented of any country in the world. Ovechkin, Malkin, Kovalchuk, Datsyuk, Semin and Afinogenov should form their top two lines and that should scare Canada:

Maxim Afinogenov (Atlanta), Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit), Sergei Fedorov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk), Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta), Viktor Kozlov (Salavat Ufa), Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh), Alexei Morozov (Ak Bars Kazan), Alexander Ovechkin (Washington), Alexander Radulov (Salavat Ufa), Alexander Semin (Washington), Danis Zaripov (Ak Bars Kazan), Sergei Zinoviev (Salavat Ufa)

The most notable names left off that list include Alex Kovalev, Alexei Yashin, Nikolai Zherdev, Alexander Frolov, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Sergei Samsonov and Nikolai Khabibulin. It’s also interesting to note that Russia chose nine players from the KHL. In any case, Russia is sure to be a force to be reckoned with in 2010.

And now, for no good reason…

Have you seen the big Pepsi marketing campaign asking for Canadians to submit a new cheer for cheering on Team Canada in 2010? Essentially they wanted Canadians (or customers) to come up with a Canadian equivalent to “U-S-A U-S-A!” or “Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi!!!”. Well, it seems as though they’ve come up with a cheer. Canada, get ready for… “Eh-Oh-Canada-Go“.

Hopefully you haven’t leaped up from your computer with excitement and are continuing to read this blog. Seriously though, is that the best they could come up with? No chance in hell that this gets off the ground. It has about the same chance as this cheer sticking:

The cheer they came up with sounds lame, is too long, it doesn’t mean anything, in a nutshell: it’s just brutal.

Not that it ever had a chance. I’d be embarrassed if we used any cheer that originated from a Pepsi marketing campaign. This is one of those ideas that sounds good in a boardroom meeting with the Pepsi marketing staff, but in reality it would never work. So can we just stick with “Go Canada Go” please? It won’t sell as much Pepsi, but it’ll work a hell of a lot better.

Speaking of Team Canada, it’s interesting in seeing how hockey experts are picking much different looking rosters for 2010. Eric Staal and Vincent Lecavalier looked to be locks for the team in the summer. Right now, they look like long shots. How many people were picking Steve Stamkos and Ryan Smyth in the summer? Not many, but they’re being picked by many now. The pick that really seems to be en vogue at the moment is Jonathan Toews, and I just don’t get it. He’ll be a star in the future, but right now how does he supplant guys like Crosby, Getzlaf, Thornton, etc. on a scoring line or a guy like Mike Richards on a checking line? The best reason to have him on the team in my opinion would be because of his shootout prowess.

We won’t have to wait too much longer for the announcement of Team Canada, the decision will come on New Year’s Eve. In the meantime, enjoy the predictions.

It appears the injury bug has bitten the Canucks early this season. It started with lingering injuries carrying over from last season for Pavol Demitra and Mathieu Schneider. Then it was Jannik Hansen, who was injured on the last game of the preseason. Now, even worse news. The Canucks will be without iron-man Daniel Sedin and (what’s the opposite of iron man?) Sami Salo.

Daniel Sedin broke his foot after being struck by an Alex Edler slap shot, he’ll be gone 4-6 weeks. This means that Daniel Sedin will miss the most games he’s ever missed in a single season, since his NHL debut in 2000. It also means that twin brother Henrik will get a long stint on a line without Daniel for the first time in his career. How will he fare? It will be interesting to find out.

Sami Salo will also be gone for 4-6 weeks with a knee sprain suffered in their last game against Dallas. For all the joking about Salo’s injury woes, he will be sorely missed. Everyone knows about his big shot, but he is most valuable to the team with his role on the shutdown pairing with Willie Mitchell. I feel bad for the guy. He’s suffered a lot of injuries, to no fault of his own. Some guys’ bodies are just more durable than others in my view. It’s not like he runs around recklessly like Rick Rypien or anything.

Speaking of Rick Rypien, how about a little time-out to watch this again!?

So where does this leave the team? Well, luckily they have depth. Losing a top 4 defenceman a few years ago would have meant power play time for Patrick Coulombe. Luckily, Salo’s ice time can be absorbed by their other regulars. Capable reserve defenceman Aaron Rome will see his first action as a Canuck and, if you read between the lines, Mathieu Schneider should be ready to go, probably as soon as his long term injury reserve time expires on October 25th.

Daniel Sedin’s’ role will be tougher to fill. Guys like Steve Bernier, Mason Raymond and Kyle Wellwood will need to step it up, but this is the time where the Canucks really need a pleasant surprise from prospects Sergei Shirokov or Michael Grabner (though I wouldn’t hold your breath).

***Update*** Looks like Grabner will get into his first NHL game.

But the number one way the Canucks can withstand all these injuries? You guessed it: Roberto Luongo. Luongo has the ability to steal games, and he may need to do a bit of stealing coming up.

Random thought of the day:

Isn’t this an Olympic year for the NHL? Isn’t the NHL supposed to be compressing their schedule to accomodate the two-week break? If so, why on earth are the Canucks on a stretch of 1 game in 8 days this early in the season? That’s a schedule that more resembles the CFL, not the NHL. I know that there are many factors that go into the schedule, including building availability, and the NHL’s desire not to go head-to-head with MLB playoffs and the NFL, but could they please give the Canucks a bit of a break?

With the horrendous road trips the Canucks have coming due to the fact that GM Place will be occupied with pre/post Olympic use, you’d think the NHL could have thrown in a couple of road games now, instead of in February and March. For those counting, the Canucks have an eight game road trip before the Olympics and a six game road trip after the Olympics.

IIHF World Ranking: 2nd

Top players in 2010: Crosby, Iginla, Getzlaf, Niedermayer, Luongo, Brodeur

2006 Olympic Result: 7th

What’s in their trophy case? 1972 Summit Series, 1976/1984/1987/1991 Canada Cup, 2004 World Cup, 2002 Olympic gold medal

Canuckz.com’s predicted 2010 roster:

Goaltenders:

Brodeur

Luongo

Ward

Defense:

Niedermayer-Pronger

Weber-Keith

Regehr-Phaneuf

Green

Forwards:

Gagne-Crosby-Iginla

Heatley-Getzlaf-E. Staal

St Louis-Lecavalier-Nash

Perry-M. Richards-Morrow

Thornton

Clearly, Canada has the best depth of any of the teams in the competition. Lately it appears to be in vogue to predict Team Canada and leave out Joe Thornton and/or Dion Phaneuf. The truth is though, if not Thornton, then who? I know he was disappointing in the playoffs, but lets not get silly. He wasn’t the only player to have disappointing playoffs last season (if you can call 5 points in 6 games disappointing). Somehow he’s pegged as a playoff choker and someone like Marc-Andre Fleury is pegged as a playoff hero, despite the fact that he was 8th in GAA and 9th in SV% during the playoffs. Now Thornton wasn’t amazing in the playoffs, but what about Nash (3 points and his team was swept), Iginla (4 points in 6 games and yet another first round exit), or Lecavalier (only 67 points and his team was one of the worst in the league)? Not many out there have a team missing Iginla, Nash or Lecavalier. As for Dion Phaneuf, he had a brutal season last year, but he won’t be that bad again. Look for a bounce back season for him and a spot on Team Canada to go with it.

I also think that Martin Brodeur will be the starter on this team, unless he is drastically outplayed by Roberto Luongo in the first half of the season. Both should get starts in the preliminary round.

The other hot button issue this week will be the question of who will captain Team Canada. The main candidates are Crosby, Iginla, Niedermayer and Pronger. I don’t think Crosby will be named, he’s never played in an Olympics, and putting any extra pressure on him is unncessary. Iginla makes sense, he’s well respected and will be in his 3rd Olympics. Not to mention that most of his peers think of him as the best leader in the game today. Having him as captain with their top player (Crosby) and a veteran defenceman (Niedermayer/Pronger) would be best.

So how will they do in 2010? It won’t be easy, but they have to be considered favourites along with Russia. Playing on North American sized ice should help, as should home ice advantage (although it will also add pressure). You’d have to hope that they can do better than the 7th place finish in Torino and return to the form that won them gold in Salt Lake.