For me, Olympic hockey is the best part of the Winter Olympics. The Olympics throw us a change-up from watching the NHL, which undoubtedly boasts the highest skilled players that come from around the world to play. But when you look at the rosters from each country who are competing in the Olympics, you realize just how many superstars there are in the NHL from other countries. It makes me feel lucky to have the opportunity to watch many of the world's best players on a nightly basis.
We project that the top 4 teams in the Olympics will end up as: Russia, Sweden, Canada and the United States (not in that order.) Let's do a short breakdown of each and we can all decide which order we think they will finish. At the end of the article, myself and some of the other writers here at Shades of Red, will give our own projections of the order we think "our projected" top 4 teams will finish.
Hockey is HUGE in Russia. They will have possibly the biggest advantage of the tournament as they will be playing in their country. They will no doubt gain energy from their home crowd which will most likely be on it's feet and cheering every game. In my opinion, the line they will make out of Kovulchuk, Datsyuk, Malkin and Ovechkin, will be the best scoring line of any country. They will receive a lot of ice time and all four players have Olympic experience. Their second line will most likely be made up of Alexander Semin, Alexander Radulov and whichever of the aforementioned 4 doesn't play on the 1st line. This will make up for an above average 2nd line but not as good as some of the other teams 3rd or even 4th lines. The problem I see with Russia, is the depth behind their 1st two lines. I don't know much about the other players on their roster who play in the KHL, but I know the NHL is the more skilled league of the two. With the US, Canada and even Sweden, full of NHL level talent, only time will tell how they will match-up. Once again, home-ice advantage will be huge, and they have the NHL's leading goal scorer (Ovechkin) to their advantage.
They took a slight hit when Henrik Sedin was ruled out, but overall the squad is solid. Like Team US, the biggest advantage Team Sweden will have, is their goaltending. We've all seen Henrik Lundqvist strip great teams of wins and even playoff series with his stellar skill in between the pipes. Outside of Lundqvist, the team still is loaded with other NHL stars. Zetterberg, Karlsson, Daniel Sedin, Steen, Alfredsson, and Backstrom provide the make-up for a lethal scoring threat. The squad also features a great defense. Overall, the team is made up of 24 NHL players. Only one player on the roster (Jimmie Ericsson), comes from a league other then the NHL. This team could be a gold medal surprise.
Ok, this team is loaded with lethal scoring ability. 11 of the teams forwards are among the NHL's top 25 point producers this season, including the leagues top 3, and 5 of the top 10. Also, 5 of the leagues top 10 goal scorers, two of which (Crosby and Kunitz) play on a line together in the NHL and will be paired on Team Canada. Defensively, Canada will feature 4 of the leagues top 6 (defensive) point producers. There's no doubt that when it comes to scoring, Canada has the biggest advantage of any other country. Every line and defensive pairing they have are of NHL top line/top pair quality. It's insane to think that their 4th line will consist of John Tavares, Rick Nash and Patrick Marleau. Their only weakness could be goaltending with Roberto Luongo and Carey Price having so-so NHL seasons. But that could prove to be wrong though, because at the Olympics in Vancouver, Luongo shined and helped Canada to win the Gold.
Team US has a big time goal-tending advantage over most other countries with Ryan Miller in the net. Outside of goaltending, Team US features a nice blend of talent. On defense, you don't see many big-time scorers but they do feature solid, defensive minded defensemen, which is what you need in a world class tournament. But it is a young blue-line that lacks experience. I'm excited to watch Ryan Suter (who in my opinion is the best defensemen in the NHL.) At the forward positions, Team US has a blend of superior speed, scoring ability and experience. Phil Kessel and Patrick Kane place 4th and 5th in the NHL. Joe Pavelski is also in the top 20. Those same three players, all place in the NHL's top 9 in goal scoring and Team U.S. features 8 players who have scored 20 or more goals in the NHL this season. Zach Parise, the Captain of Team U.S. has 19 goals but if he wasn't battling injuries this season, he would probably have closer to 25-30. Overall, with the good talented forwards, solid-shutdown defense and elite goaltending, Team US should matchup well with other countries and compete for Gold.
Every countries' teams has a chance so It's hard for us to count out the other countries who will compete as well as these 4. The Olympic hockey tournament is set up different then the 7 game series type that we are accustomed to. Here's a full set of Rules and the 3 assigned groups for the 12 countries' teams. One or two upsets can knock a team out of contention. This is why it's extremely hard to guess who's going to medal. Chemistry has a lot to do with teams being competitive as there's hardly any time to practice. And many of these players traveled to the other side of the world and have one or two days to get adjusted to a MAJOR time difference. No matter what it will be fun to watch and all of us here at Shades of Red will be cheering for the U.S.
Zach's Projected Medalists:
Gold - Canada
Silver - U.S.
Bronze - Sweden
4th - Russia
Silver - U.S.
Bronze - Sweden
4th - Russia
Brian's Projected Medalists:
Gold - Canada
Silver - Russia
Bronze - US
4th - Sweden
Will's Projected Medalists:
Gold - Russia
Silver - Sweden
Bronze - U.S.
4th- Canada - Cuz they lost Stamkos
Ryan's Projected Medalists:
Gold - U.S.
Silver - Canada
Bronze - Sweden
4th - Russia
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