2013-14 NHL Season

Ok, so Canada is going to announce its men's Olympic roster on Tuesday. I've heard so many names mentioned over the past two months, that I wondered if they were sending two teams. Plenty of good players, no doubt, but only 23 spots.

To me, there seem to be about 12 guys who are locks and about 30 others who could make strong arguments. So I'll be bold and put my own picks out there (I'm sure others will disagree and that's fine).

Forwards: Sidney Crosby, John Tavares, Jonathan Toews, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Patrick Sharp, Patrice Bergeron, Joe Thornton, Claude Giroux, Jamie Benn, Alex Steen, Matt Duchene, Mike Richards, Rick Nash.

Defence: Drew Doughty, Duncan Keith, Kris Letang, Karl Alzner, Jay Bouwmeester, Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Weber.

Goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury, Roberto Luongo, Corey Crawford.

 

Alex Steen plays for Sweden Internationally.

Marc-Andre Fleury and Corey Crawford over Price?

Karl Azner? Ummm, what?

You have some odd choices. Glad you're not picking instead of Steve Yzerman,

 

Steen's listed as from Winnipeg. Is he duel citizen? He's one of the borderline picks.

There are certainly lots of deserving guys to choose from. Might be the hardest roster to make, although Russia and Sweden have some depth as well.

 

Born there when his dad was playing for the Jets but has played pretty much all his life in Sweden pre-NHL

 

So would he be eligible for Canada, Sweden or both?

Anyone else want to post roster picks ahead of the official announcement?

 

He has played in four IIHF championships for Sweden already.

 

Fair enough. The truth is, I don't know that much about him. I have seen him play a few times but I wouldn't say that makes me an expert on him by any means. I'm just saying that in a short tournament where Canada needed offence, it might not have hurt to have taken a guy who's accounted for more offence than anybody else in Ontario so far this season.

 

It would also help by making it more affordable for more Canadian kids to play. When I was a kid, pretty much everybody I knew played minor hockey. A lot of us wore secondhand skates and equipment, and we used sticks that cost $10 and would usually last for an entire season. Now it's very much a sport that's becoming more and more restricted to the well-off. I could only ever afford to put my oldest son in the sport, and when he decided at age eight that he didn't want to play any more, I breathed a sigh of financial relief.

 

And Canada announces its roster. Really happy to see Matt Duchene on there and I know JR is pleased that his boy PK made it too.

http://www.tsn.ca/canadian_hockey/feature/?id=1131

 

Very happy to see Matt Duchene there, but that show was like the worst high school assembly ever.

 

We don't deserve a medal for that embarrassment alone. That was awful.

 

Excellent blasts from the past, gents. How many games did LaForge last in Vancouver? 12, 15? IIRC, he was also a finalist for the top job in Philly that went to Mike Keenan.