Team North America Needs A Captain

We're less than two weeks away from the start of the World Cup of Hockey. The players of various nationalities have taken the ice together for practice (finally), and the depth charts are starting to come together. 

For the young guns team that some people are calling Team North America, that depth chart seems to be led by a top line of Connor McDavid, Mark Scheifele, and Jonathan Drouin.

As formidable as that top trio may be, this is hockey. We don't care about the leader on the depth chart. We care about the leader in the room. We care about the captain.

And Team North America has yet to name their captain. The reasoning behind it makes sense - these are young guys from two separate countries that have never played a tournament in any sort of competition. There was always going to be a feeling out process when the team finally got together.

Team Canada always just gives their C to Sidney Crosby. He's been the head of his class for like a decade now. Everyone on and in and around Canada knows he's going to be the captain for as long as he can stand up on skates.

There is no Crosby-like figure for North America because this team has only existed for like four days. So, let's look at the candidates to see who might fit the bill of captain for this young guns squad.

Connor McDavid

Age: 19
NHL seasons: 1
NHL games played: 45
Playoff games played: 0

We'll start with the youngest of the young guns, and also the one with the most potential to become a superstar. He's eventually probably going to take the captaincy from Crosby for Team Canada, but for now he's just too damn young. He also spent his first year in the league with perhaps the worst locker room to be in.

McDavid as a player? Hell yes. McDavid as the captain? There are some better options.

Brandon Saad

Age: 23
NHL seasons: 5
NHL games played: 286
Playoff games played: 67

I know I just said those mean things about the Oilers locker room, and the Blue Jackets are certainly not much better. But Saad's experience in Chicago those four years certainly means he's spent time in a winning room.

Everyone knows that playoff hockey is really the only thing that matters, and Saad having 67 (!!) games worth of experience before his 24th birthday really is incredible. He's certainly a candidate, and I'm sure he leveraged that experience when he signed a contract that pays him $6 million per year.

Aaron Ekblad

Age: 20
NHL seasons: 2
NHL games played: 159
Playoff games played: 6

Whereas Saad is reaping the benefits of having played with the best core in recent memory, Ekblad has long been the cornerstone of the Panther's presumed eventual success. It would follow that he will eventually be named captain in Florida, and that's something for which few players on this team seem to be in line.

He's already got the motivational quote thing on lockdown:

"Every player is so good," he said. "It's actually crazy how good we are."

Mark Scheifele

Age: 23
NHL seasons: 5
NHL games played: 227
Playoff games played: 4

Listen, I'll admit that I kind of hate Scheifele because he always gets compared to Sean Couturier. But, in following Ekblad, the Jets just named him an alternate captain. The Jets stink and it's the A instead of the C, but still. It counts for something.

It just doesn't count for a lot, because Scheifele has scored one single playoff point in his whole career.

Sean Couturier

Age: 23
NHL seasons: 5
NHL games played: 350
Playoff games played: 19

For what it's worth, Coots' five seasons mean more to me than Scheifele's or Saad's because Couturier played 77 games his rookie year (plus 11 more in the playoffs). Saad played two in the regular season and two in the playoffs. Scheifele played seven and then four, and the Jets missed the playoffs both of those years.

That matters because Couturier was essentially an NHL veteran before he could drink a beer at PBR Bar. Wayne Simmonds and Mark Streit wear the A's in Philadelphia, but there is no doubt in anyone's mind that Couturier, Michael Raffl, and Jake Voracek are all leaders of the team too.

Johnny Gaudreau

Age: 23
NHL seasons: 3
NHL games played: 160
Playoff games played: 11

Similar to Couturier, Gaudreau's lack of sweater letters isn't an indictment as him as a leader. As I was researching for this post, I learned that he's still actually unsigned for the upcoming season. I was going to say Gaudreau's a leader for the Flames and cite him being one of the team's highest-paid players as a reason.

But how is this contract taking so long? Why has nobody hit the Flames with an offer sheet to force their hand? Do the Flames even want Johnny Gaudreau? This section is falling off a cliff rapidly, so I'll just say that one of my bold predictions is I expect Johnny Hockey to wear an A on his jersey for this tournament.

Nathan MacKinnon

Age: 21
NHL seasons: 3
NHL games played: 218
Playoff games played: 7

Like Couturier, MacKinnon gets a bump because all of his NHL seasons were full 60+ game seasons. The knock on MacKinnon, though, is that he's coming from a mess of an organization that had a messy offseason even by their standards. (Mark Cuban voice) And for that reason, I'm out.

Seth Jones

Age: 21
NHL seasons: 3
NHL games played: 240
Playoff games played: 6

Here's my wild card pick for the leadership role. Like the last few guys, each of the NHL seasons he has under his belt are full seasons (almost literally, in Jones' case, as he's played 240 out of a possible 246).

Like Ekblad, he's been hand-picked by Columbus to be their rock on defense for the forseeable future. There are certainly a few older guys ahead of him now, but in a few short years it will be Jones and Saad at the head of the ship.

And Jones gets an extra bump that, in PK Subban's absence, could only be had by him, Dustin Byfuglien, or Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. How great of a look would it be for hockey if the captain of a major tournament team like this was black?

The NHL will probably screw this up because they always screw everything up, but Jones has the resume and the temperament to lead a team like this Team North America. He's a defensible choice, and it's almost indefensible to leave him off the leadership group entirely.

My final prediction would be A's to Jones and Gaudreau and the C to Ekblad. Couturier, as usual, will be an afterthought. Flyers twitter will be quite mad about it, and then in a month nobody will care because this is a meaningless international hockey tournament.

We'll see you guys for the preliminary games that start on Thursday.

On The Potential For Injuries At The World Cup Of Hockey

Just about every hockey fan seems excited for the upcoming World Cup. Preliminary games start next week, and the tournament will take up the second half of this month. (It's September, by the way, however the fuck that happened.)

The best hockey players in the world are split into eight fairly-evenly-balanced teams and there is National Pride on the line, so they should all care more than they do in the All-Star Game.

The big news this morning, though, is not the games that will be played in the upcoming tournament - it's one player who will not be playing in those games. Sweden's captain, Henrik Zetterberg, is going to miss the whole thing with an undisclosed injury.

It's impossible to know, at least for me because I have no sources, how Zetterberg was injured. It could have been related to training for the tournament, or it could have been something completely unrelated. Perhaps he was out partying with Claude Giroux the night before the Flyers released their alternate jerseys for the upcoming season.

50th Anniversary Jersey pic.twitter.com/5pYGBnIHUK

— Claude Giroux (@fauxGiroux) August 31, 2016

Woof, Claude. Dead eyes like you read about.

Regardless of how Zetterberg actually hurt himself, though, his injury has brought up a Topic That Must Not Be Named. What if someone gets injured in this largely meaningless tournament and misses games for their actual club?

As we generally do in this space, I'm going to focus specifically on the Flyers. Let's start with the aforementioned hungover captain:

Claude Giroux, Team Canada

If G gets injured we are fucked. They brought this topic up on Sons Of Penn's SOP Radio podcast night, and the conclusion was that if Giroux misses a month we might as well just pack it up for the season and go home. It's tough to argue with that.

New @SOP_Radio. Thoughts on the 50th anniversary jersey, Flyers in the World Cup, finding more scoring and much more https://t.co/pNt2Jfpm0i

— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) September 1, 2016

 (Editor's note: You should be following SOP and listening to their Flyers podcast every week. They're great.)


Jake Voracek, Team Czech Republic

He'll be the second most important player for the Flyers this season, but he's unquestionably the most important player for the Czechs. I think it'll be good for him to have to shoulder the load, and God knows he's going to have to if this team is going to make any noise.

But if he gets injured and is forced to miss a significant amount of time, could that create a hole for a certain top-line-winger prospect that we aren't expecting to see this season? I mean, Shayne Gostisbehere was able to make the jump to the NHL because Mark Streit broke his penis.

I'm not saying Jake should sacrifice his own penis for Travis Konecny, but hey, just saying.

Shayne Gostisbehere

Speaking of Ghost, the international format should suit his game well. Nobody in the tournament is really known as a bruiser (except Radko Gudas, who probably is not going to be targeting his own teammates). (Ghost emoji)(Bear emoji) might end up being the star of this whole goddamn tourney.

But if he gets seriously injured I'll overdose on whatever drugs they let me buy at CVS right in the middle of PBR Bar. That's the potential injury that would hurt more than the rest. Even if G goes down and the team is no longer competitive, they'll still be fun to watch because that's who Ghost is as a player. If Ghost goes down then we have no chance but it'll also be a boring on-ice product.

Sean Couturier

The captain of Team North America is obviously going to be logging some very heavy minutes during this tournament. He's going to have to occupy the biggest names in hockey to create opportunities for Gaudreau and McDavid and Drouin. Essentially, it'll be just like always for Coots. He's going to get the tough minutes, he's going to succeed in those tough minutes, and his teammates will be able to thrive around him.

The downside of playing tough minutes is the potential for injury. Couturier is a player than cannot be replaced by anyone in the Flyers organization except Giroux, and we'd obviously rather have Giroux playing with an offensive mindset than a defensive one. We saw it in the playoffs last Spring - if Coots goes down, we're toast. And then we're just trying to tread water until he returns.

Radko Gudas

Let's breeze right through this one. Gudey isn't getting hurt.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

This might end up being the pinnacle of PEB's hockey career. He's going to get ice time with players of a higher caliber than ever before (except that one time he was on a line with Voracek and Valdevelde, remember that?).

It's sad to say, but he might end up being the engine on this European team because he's one of the few guys on the roster than can really lay it all on the line for this tournament. If he pushes himself too hard or plays too risky, it's really not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things. Maybe that'll clear a spot for Taylor Leier to finally stick on the Flyers.

Michal Neuvirth

This one would be bad. If someone runs Neuvy or he tweaks something, it puts a TON of pressure on Steve Mason early. I think I can safely speak for all Flyers fans when I say that, even though the goalie tandem is a strength of this team, one of those goalies on his own is decidedly less appetizing.

The saving grace, in this situation, is Neuvirth should be splitting time pretty evenly with Petr Mrazek and Ondrej Pavelec.

Mark Streit

This is one that I don't want to write. I've always attempted to take up a pro-Streit attitude when I write because I think too many people just want to dump him for nothing. He has value, even though he's noticeably aging, because he's a talented veteran with more experience than anyone else on the Flyers.

Yes, he's getting old and slowing down. But hockey, even moreso than other sports, requires leadership off the ice as much as talent on the ice. Look at the Edmonton Oilers. That's not what a franchise wants to look like.

In looking at Team Europe's defense, Streit's probably going to have to log no less than half of the penalty minutes and about a third of the even-strength minutes. They'll probably turn Roman Josi and Luca Sbisa into their "horses", but it falls off from there. Maybe Streit ends up being a 20-minutes-per-night guy.

I can feel myself delaying. The point of this post is to talk about what happens if they get injured.

What happens if Streit gets injured?

Then, our presumed defense corps of MDZ-Gudas-Ghost-Streit-Schultz-MacD-Manning either plays without any subs in Streit's absence or someone else replaces him.

I mentioned above what happened the last time Streit got injured. The scenario this time could be replacing him with Ivan Provorov in the opening day roster. Could. Possibly. Maybe. Potentially.

Hear me out.

If Provy can't hang, we can send him back to Brandon in the WHL after half a dozen games and just tough it would with 6 defensemen until Streit returns.

If Provy kills it and becomes a top-four-caliber blueliner, then he stays and we send MacDonald to the Phantoms when Streit returns. We won't worry about having to send A-Mac through waivers, because he's owed almost $22 million between now and 2020.

There you go. I said it out loud, and now it's in the universe. Mark Streit breaking his other penis in the World Cup of Hockey wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Let's Look At The Non-North American World Cup Rosters

(Editor's note: they are rolling out the final rosters over the course of the day, and the USA/Canada/North America rosters won't be released until I'm gone for the weekend. We all know and love/hate the guys already, so let's look at some foreigners in the meantime.)

Sweden

Forwards - I feel comfortable projecting: their top nine

Eriksson - Backstrom - ForsbergSedin - Sedin - HornqvistHagelin - Zetterberg - Steen

Maybe move the wingers around a bit, but that's the unit. All top-six NHL guys (mostly top-line NHL guys), and I somehow didn't even include Gabriel Landeskog.

Defense: I feel comfortable projecting: their top six

Karlsson - HedmanEkman-Larsson - KronwallStralman - Hjalmarsson

Ho hum, just a top pairing featuring a perennial Norris candidate and a future perennial Norris candidate and a bottom pair featuring one of the horses of a three-time Cup winner.

Goalie - I feel comfortable projecting: Henrik Lundqvist is going to be washed up by the time this tournament ends

Bottom line - It would be really REALLY fun to coach Team Sweden this Fall.

Finland 

Forwards - I feel comfortable projecting: their top six

Laine - Koivu - GranlundFilppula - Barkov - Komarov

The same top six that netted them a silver medal at the World Championships, plus Valtteri Filppula (such a pain in the ass of a name).

Defense - I feel comfortable projecting: their crunch-time top pair

Maatta - Ristolainen

They will probably split up their top two d-men for the majority of the time, but that's a solid pairing and they're both only 21 so I'd expect them to be carrying the load for Finland for a while.

Goalie - I feel comfortable projecting: Rask/Rinne will both play well enough to make Bruins and Predators fans want to throw up all over themselves

Bottom line - Not enough depth on offense or defense to make a lot of noise.

Russia

Forwards - I feel comfortable projecting: the most talented top-heavy top six in the tourney

Ovechkin - Kuznetsov - Malkin
Tarasenko - Datsyuk - Kucherov 

Bonus projection! They're going to keep the Pan-Dad-Ship line together

Panarin - Dadonov - Shipyachov

Defense - I feel comfortable projecting: this unit is the complete opposite of their forward group

Goalie - I feel comfortable projecting: whether it's Bobrovsky, Varlamov, or Vasilevskiy, they'll be fine

Bottom line - That top nine would make me cry if my team had to play against them in an elimination game.

Czech Republic

Forwards - I feel comfortable projecting: (see below)
Defense - I feel comfortable projecting: (see below)
Goalie - I feel comfortable projecting: (see below)

Bottom line - #LetsGoFlyers

Voracek - Krejci - PastrnakGudas - SustrNeuvirth 

Let's Nerd Out About The World Cup (Of Hockey)

As usual, I saw a tweet this morning that sent my brain into a frenzy.

You ever stop to think about all the possible line combinations at the World Cup of Hockey and realize this tournament is gonna kick ass?

— Jordie (@BarstoolJordie) January 19, 2016

The World Cup (Of Hockey) is like 8 months away, but that doesn't mean it's too soon to start drooling over the talent we're going to see.

Team Czech Republic

Allow Me To Be A Flyers Fan For A Second:
Jake Voracek - David Krejci - Jaromir Jagr
Jakub Kindl - Radko Gudas
Michal Neuvirth

No, seriously. Voracek is likely going to be one of the top-line wingers, and somehow Gudas is probably going to find himself being their top-pairing defenseman. Neuvirth, of course, has been stellar and will probably split time with Ondrej Pavelec and Petr Mrazek. But unless those three combine for a shutout every night, this Czech team won't be accomplishing much.

Team North America/God Damn Millennials

Top Six: Sean Couturier, Max Domi, Johnny Gaudreau, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, Brandon Saad

Top Pair: Seth Jones, Aaron Ekblad

Potential #FutureFlyer That Might Make The Roster: Travis Konecny

I'd peg this team in the bottom tier with the Czech Republic and Finland just because their defense and goalies lack depth (wait let's change that to "severely lack depth").

But a line of Coots (big, physical, defensive) with Saad (as big and physical as you can get on this team) and a player like MacKinnon (not quite as big or physical, but he can burn) could cause havoc and compete with the big guns.

Speaking of those big guns, let's cut right to the biggest.

Team Canada

Pick Four Of These To Center Lines: Sidney Crosby, Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Toews, Jamie Benn, Claude Giroux, Ryan Johansen, Patrice Bergeron, Ryan Getzlaf, John Tavares

..what the fuck man.

Fill The Rest Of That Group In On The Wings, Along With These Guys: Tyler Seguin, Corey Perry, Rick Nash, Taylor Hall, Logan Couture

And just in case scoring a million goals won't get it done every game, look who they have on defense.

Right Handed D-Men: Shea Weber, Drew Doughty, PK Subban, Alex Pietrangelo, Brent Burns

Left Handed D-Men: Duncan Keith, Mark Giordano, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Jake Muzzin

Goalies: Carey Price, Braden Holtby

No big deal, just (1) the six best centers in the East (2) two of the three best centers in the West and (3) four of the six best defensemen in the world (4) two of the three best goalies in the world. Is that good?

Team USA

Centers: David Backes, Joe Pavelski, Ryan Kesler, Tyler Johnson, Derek Stepan

Top Six Wingers: Patrick Kane, Max Pacioretty, Phil Kessel, Zach Parise

Defensemen: Justin Faulk, John Carlson, Ryan McDonagh, Ryan Suter, Kevin Shattenkirk, Cam Fowler, Dustin Byfuglien

Good Luck Trying To Be European Against These Five Guys: TJ Oshie, Backes, Kyle Okposo, Suter, Byfuglien

Team Sweden

Top Nine Centers: Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Backstrom, Henrik Sedin

Top Nine Wingers: Filip Forsberg, Gustav Nyquist, Daniel Sedin, Gabriel Landeskog, Alexander Steen, Loui Eriksson

Top Four Defensemen: Erik Karlsson, Victor Hedman, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Anton Stralman

Goaltender: Henrik Lundqvist