TK0N’s Team Canada roster(s) for the 2014 Sochi Olympics

 

Since TSN, Sportsnet and many other media types seem to be putting out their predictions on the rosters for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi for Team Canada. We little folk over at Crash the Net felt like we should do our own considering we disagree with most prognosticators out there, in some areas.

 

Please take a look at what we’ve put together for not just one Team Canada but two teams just for bits and giggles.

 

Please feel free to comment.

 

FORWARDS Team 1

 

James Neal -Sidney Crosby-Steven Stamkos

Rick Nash-Jonathan Toews – Eric Staal

Claude Giroux –Ryan Getzlaf-Corey Perry

Patrick Sharp-Patrice Bergeron-Jordan Eberle

John Tavares

For these forward lines you have a nice mix of offensive players and a 2-way player on each line. Perhaps a little less on Crosby’s line and you could flip flop Eric Staal with James Neal on the wing. Needless to say there are centers that will need to play on the wing due to the overabundance of talent down the middle.

DEFENCE Team 1

 

Duncan Keith-Drew Doughty

Kris Letang-Shea Weber

Brent Seabrook-Alex Pietrangelo

Marc Staal

Now that Ryan Suter and Shea Weber are split up, there’s no doubt who the best D tandem in the NHL is and that is, once again, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook. However, we all remember how good Keith and Doughty were in the last Olympics so it wouldn’t hurt to start them out together. If Doughty has not improved his play by that time, there would be little hesitation moving Seabrook up with Keith.

GOALTENDERS Team 1

 

Roberto Luongo, Carey Price, Cam Ward,

As much hate as there is out there for Roberto Luongo, there is no doubt what he brings to the table plus he is a past Olympic gold champion. He’s arguably playing better than he ever has in his career right now and if he keeps it up there should be no doubt who is the starter for Team Canada.

Now here is a look at who would be Team Canada’s second unit from Crash The Net’s point of view. Obviously, several of these players could make a push for Team 1.

FORWARDS Team 2

 

Jamie Benn- Joe Thornton – Patrick Marleau

Jeff Skinner – Mike Richards – Tyler Seguin

Logan Couture – Vincent Lecavalier – Martin St. Louis

Jarome Iginla – Brad Richards- Jordan Staal

Taylor Hall

Again, nice spreading out of offensive and 2-way players on each line with the possible exception of the Lecavalier line but there are options with these lineups where you can interchange some players.

Other notable forwards: Milan Lucic, Matt Duchene. Jason Pominville, Scott Hartnell, Dan Briere, , Andrew Ladd, Evander Kane

 

DEFENCE Team 2

 

Michael Del Zotto – Dion Phaneuf

Justin Schultz – Tyler Myers

P.K. Subban – Brent Burns

Daniel Girardi

Other defencemen notables: Dan Hamhuis, Dan Boyle, Brayden Coburn, Kevin Bieksa,

Very young D corps here plus the future of Team Canada’s Olympic defencemen. How fun would it be to watch this group play together?

GOALTENDERS Team 2

Marc- Andre Fleury- Martin Brodeur –Corey Crawford

 

Other goaltender notables Mike Smith, Brian Elliott

The goaltending in the NHL is American/European heavy for elite goalies but there are some top notch ones left. Many will argue Fleury could start for team 1 but let us not forget about cagey veteran Martin Brodeur who is still playing at an extremely high level and just coming off a Stanley Cup final appearance with New Jersey. Brodeur just played his 1200^th NHL game the other night.

Are you in full agreement with these two teams? Would you like to see some changes? Please discuss and let us know.

Hat tip to Zimbio.com for the photos

Thanks for reading,

TK0N