Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw

That's a very shortsighted perspective when it comes to demographics and a fundamental misunderstanding of how players track going pro. When it comes to hockey nationalities, obviously there are more Canadians and more points accumulated. All the star American players are around 25 years old or younger. Who has more points - Corey Perry or Jack Hughes? Are you going to pick Perry over Hughes today? Singular stats alone are meaningless. This demographic chart is the only thing you should be thinking about right now: This second chart shows the growing trend of American players originating from non-hockey states: Digest that. For you to say Canada will always be number one? Come on. It's difficult to predict when these curves will flatten out, if ever. But right now, the data is suggesting we're about 10 years away from USA overtaking Canada. As for your dismissal of the NCAA... that's just major disrespect against the Big 10. It's not just an insurance policy for post-hockey careers (although that is a compelling perk). Do you really think Cale Makar chose the college route because he didn't believe he'd make pro? Here are the facts: CHL players get one year of free postsecondary tuition covered for each season they play. But this offer comes with major strings attached: you forbidden to play hockey anywhere other than a CIS school (vastly inferior competition compared to NCAA) or you immediately forfeit your scholarship. If you go major junior, you are also restricted from playing in the AHL. Not the case if you go Junior A and then switch over to college. Those players can either continue to play within the NTDP and develop with grown-ups in NCAA or go pro and develop in the AHL. A lot of Canadians might opt for Major Junior and that's fine but the US system is a perfectly valid option that's been exercised by plenty of Canadians lately. Here is another statement that goes against your premise: USA Hockey has a dedicated national development program that has clearly worked wonders for them. Hockey Canada... doesn't. They're a joke of an organization that does nothing to actually help grow the sport here in Canada. I fully expected Hockey Canada to implode following the scandal a couple years back, but it looks like they'll live on... Long story short, major junior hockey in the CHL is still the #1 development league in the world, and Canada (at least on the men's side) is still the top hockey nation in the world. But for how long? Nations like Sweden, the United States, and a resurgent Slovakia have all benefited from strong development programs and now we've only started to see those efforts bear fruit. It won't be long before Canada becomes the underdog hockey nation.

This just makes me angry that we haven't seen anything remotely competitive on the international stage since the World Cup. An entire generation of hockey players lost due to the NHL and IIHF hating each other. Sigh. It's clear by these rosters that USA and Sweden have taken massive steps forward. There's no doubt this is a fantastic team. I'd replace Forsling with Brodin and Rakell with Burakovsky, but they were both extra players. This is an interesting squad where you probably have two of the best two-way forwards in the game (you really need to put Eriksson Ek higher). But other than maybe Zibanejad and Pettersson, where is the high-end scoring coming from? Karlsson? A lot of these forwards are excellent first/second liners on great contracts, but money is no object. Players like Bratt, Forsberg and Kempe are solid offensive threats but they don't compare to guys like Robertson and Thompson. This team isn't going to score enough compared to Canada/USA.... so I'm really surprised you didn't include William Nylander here.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are proud to select... the center from the Prince George Cougars... Riley Heidt We'll get that shirt patched up in no time, Riley! @Herberts Vasiljevs

@Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks select Adam Beckman (via discord). blegh

We need another commission to determine what truly went wrong with Hockey Canada. We all need to accept that our national development program is taking big steps back before moving forward. Construct a Swedish squad and let's see how it looks on paper!

I must point out that at an organizational level Canada has completely lost its competitive advantage to the United States. Less and less NHL players are coming out of the CHL and CJHL. More and more Canadian kids are opting to play within the American NTDP system and/or go the NCAA route. "Always #1" is the type of arrogance which has led to American players quietly taking over the NHL I must also point out that those Russians from the 2000s eventually won gold in 2018. Oh, I know, I know... but technically there are young Russian athletes like Kaprizov and Sorokin who have gold medals while their Canadian counterparts do not. Honestly, do you not see several future HHoF players in that American squad? Do you not see several future Conn Smythe winners in that American squad? Obviously if you compare Sid to Jack Hughes, Crosby wipes the floor with experience and accomplishments, and that will make a difference today. But doesn't it make you worried that the bulk of Canadian superstars are essentially 10 years older than their American counterparts? For every McDavid/Bedard that emerges from Canada, there are probably five or six franchise players that come from the United States. The ratio of American talent just keeps going up and up, and with the old 2010/2014 Olympic champions aging out, the US have indeed hit parity with us.

Staal would be a very solid choice for a pure shutdown veteran. If we head into that territory I think Noah Cates matches that style, except for the fact that he's much younger. Cates even got a couple Selke votes this year. He just needs to be better at faceoffs, of course... While everything you said rings true (especially with defensive pairing chemistry), I feel as though Canadians have been forced to move the goalposts and shift the argument towards "cup acumen" or the "it factor". Even 10 years ago, Canada was objectively better. Faster. Stronger. More skilled in every way. With the tables (arguably) turned against us, we're relying on intangibles. Of course the Canadians have more cup winners - all the American superstars (Fox, Hughes, Matthews, Tkachuk, Robertson, Thompson, McAvoy) are around 25 years old. Older players provide leadership in ways that aren't quantifiable, no doubt about it. But Canada used to be better than USA in more ways that. Not anymore.

You can't seriously say you'd prefer Hockey Canada over USA Hockey right now? Do they even have any sponsors left?? In any case, your argument about PP points and puck movement goes against Canada. Adam Fox is firmly the second best D-man in the league, barely behind Cale Makar. Makar is obviously the better puck-mover and offensive threat, but Fox is the better defender.

I will try. Stone indeed makes that 4th line something else. If we were to make the best shutdown line, I think it's Finland. Hintz - Barkov - Lehkonen would obviously not be 4th line, but nobody would ever score on them.

A perfect example of this is the difference between Canadian women's team and the American women's team. No doubt about it - the Americans are younger, faster, stronger and more talented than us. But even though they always beat us prelimnaries, they've got a horrendous record against us in gold medal games. Maybe the Americans are chokers, or maybe we're just more clutch?

Sure. But the A team has enough pure scorers and I wanted to fill the bottom six with two-way players. Holy Jesus what am I doing hahahaha

I've been really impressed with USA Hockey lately. Star players are popping out of random states and not just the northeast. The women's team has already surpassed us in depth a while ago. For us, here's the problem with your proposal: Hockey Canada. Everything needs to be done through Hockey Canada. Working with provincial hockey associations. Equipment sponsorships. Government support. Public support. Competent leadership and vision. All of that is nonexistent right now. Maybe. But I think Matthews, Robertson, the Tkachuks/Hughes and Fox match them man for man.

@Elias Pettersson's thread got me thinking. The most improved nation since the 2010 Olympics is probably the United States. We (Canada) lost to them once and barely beat them a second time. Now their team is stacked from top to bottom. They have Hart winners. They have Norris winners. They have Vezina winners. And they're a lot younger. Their goaltending is so elite I don't even think Thatcher makes the first team. For fun, I'll construct an A-team and a B-team (no extra players). Assume there's a tournament in six months and everyone's healthy again. Robertson - J. Hughes - M. Tkachuk B. Tkachuk - Matthews - Thompson J. Miller - Eichel - Gaudreau Boldy - Pavelski - Tuch Q. Hughes - Fox Slavin - McAvoy Werenski - Carlson Hellebuyck Oettinger Keller - Larkin - Connor DeBrincat - Zegras - Terry Kreider - Beniers - Guentzel Coleman - Nelson - Garland Hanifin - S. Jones K. Miller - Pesce Sanderson - McCabe Demko - Swayman

@Bob.Loblaw is pleased to make the draft selections for @theo5789 and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus selects Ryan Suter from the United States Development Team Columbus also selects Hudson Fasching from the United States Development Team. @BigTramFan sniped

he'll snipe you - get ready for the turnaround

The Pittsburgh Penguins would like to officially introduce some of the players selected during the GM's brief absence (special thanks to caretakers @Caboose and @Down by the River for their assistance). "With our 16th pick this year, we'd like to select... from the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles of the Quebec Major Junior League... goaltender Marc-André Fleury!" Welcome back to the Steel City, Flower! The Pittsburgh Penguins also welcome the defenceman from the Kootenay Ice of the Western Hockey League... Brayden McNabb! With our selection in the 18th round, the Penguins are proud to announce... from Piráti Chomutov of the Extraliga and the Czech National Team... Jakub Lauko! Given his accidental double selection by our takers, we shall name him "Jakub Two-Two". The Pittsburgh Penguins have also declared their provisional front office budget for Commissioner @Gator: Pittsburgh Penguins 2023/2024 Front Office Budget 6.2 Player Relations Department- $40M 6.3 Player Development- $0 6.4 Medical/Training Facility - $0 6.5 Minors Budget - $30M 6.6 Scouting Department -$10M

Judging by the level of optimism here in this thread, I say there is quite a lot of fan pressure for the Canucks to make it. Like you, I do think it's misguided optimism simply because of how competitive our division is.

The Pittsburgh Penguibs select... from Chelyabinsk, Russia and the Gatineau Olympiques... YAKOV TRENIN @Patrick Kane

Winnipeg and Vancouver were deceived

Now you've got me curious

@HKSR Still waiting for physicality metrics

All red. Red is the colour of blood.

Deslauriers - Pezzetta - Reaves Jeannot - Carrick - Olivier Gadjovich - Foligno - Perry Martin - Greer - MacEwan O'Brien Beaulieu - Burroughs MacDermid - Brown Oleksiak - Dillon Irwin Talbot Bernier Smith NOBODY GOES HOME ALIVE

If he has all the tools then why hasn't he used them? His statlines don't look good (in college) and Colorado gave up on him.