This column is a preview on Olympic men’s hockey.
As a Canadian fan, I am not looking forward to these Olympics. But we could be surprised even though I do not like how the team is assembled.
Now I know that Martin St. Louis did end up being named to the team, but Team Canada general manager Steve Yzerman said he wanted to have a team with a lot of speed. Well you cannot use that as an excuse to originally leave St. Louis off the team because he is one of the fastest players in the game. He only made Team Canada after Tampa Bay Lightning teammate Steven Stamkos could not play because he’s recovering from a broken leg.
Another choice that makes no sense is taking Jeff Carter. He has done nothing this year and it shows with 37 points. But Canada chose Carter and passed on Philadelphia Flyers’ Claude Giroux, Edmonton Oilers’ Taylor Hall (who is 14th in National Hockey League with 56 points), and San Jose Sharks’ Joe Thornton.
As far as goaltenders go, I would have to start Carey Price. My backup would be Roberto Luongo based only on the stats, as he is barely edging out Mike Smith in goals-against average and save percentage. But if there was one change or substitution I could make at the goaltender position I would actually take out Luongo and put in Chicago Blackhawks starter Corey Crawford.
On the defensive side, I only question the decision to select San Jose’s Mark-Edouard Vlasic. Other than that I think we have the best defense in the Olympics.
The team I am in love with this year is the Russians. Great goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky. Then you have Pavel Datsyuk, Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin highlighting the team. But I am not confident in their defence.
Now, I said I love the Russians, but that does not mean I think they will win. You need a well-rounded team to win. And the best display of that is in Sweden – from Erik Karlsson to Henrik Lundqvist to Alexander Steen to Nicklas Backstrom and the defensive anchor Niklas Kronwall.
Sweden is my favorite to win this year’s Olympics.
