Interesting notes from Dreger

I woke up this morning and groggily turned on the television to see Sportscentre talking about our beloved team. I was still half asleep while I listened to this, and I was too lazy to wait to watch it again in the unforgivably long morning loop (really, this new girl they have on there MAY be more annoying than McGuire... I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'...).

Babcock had a quick interview where he said that about "95% of the team HAS been decided on". Darren Dreger expanded on this, with just a single week left to go before the announcement:

• Phaneuf will NOT be on the team
• The 7th defenseman will be one of Green, Bouwmeester or Doughty
  
• There are about 18 guys fighting for the last 3 spots on the team. Martin St. Louis is one of those guys (my heart is breaking... /sarcasm). Apparently Milan Lucic is being strongly considered for a spot on the squad

The time of the announcement is nearing, and it looks like the pieces are all falling into place...

WHAMMO!!

PERFECTLY TIMED UPDATE: Just after publishing the story, I checked out the CTV Olympics site, and came across this article, which says the field has been narrowed to 15 forwards and 8 defensemen. When asked, Steve Yzerman did not confirm nor deny that all of those players attended camp this summer... the plot thickens

An early Christmas gift

First off, before this post, I would like to say that YES, I have had an extended absence from the blog. I want to apologize to all the Twentyteners out there who have missed my musings, and can only hope you'll forgive me as I've been bogged down with work (I built the application, I haven't been sitting around building cartoons, FYI), Christmas shopping, and of course crying over the Blue Jays loss of Roy Halladay. I don't hate the trade, but that's for another blog for another day. I can only hope that in this, the most festive of seasons that you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

Onto my post. The early gift is NOT my post, that'd be somewhat lame, but my gift does come in the form of a post, which is quite different, let me assure you.

I would like to give an early Christmas gift as an endorsement of a certain player to make the squad. Stevie, I hope you're reading, because this is for you.

There's a certain player, one who wasn't even invited to the camp in the summer. This player was one of the best players at the end of the last season, and thus far this season has been one of the top players in the league. He has international experience, experience in which he's excelled in. His success this season is no secret, and his name HAS been tossed around, just not on this blog, which, of course, is the be all end all of what's what with the 2010 Canadian Olympic hockey team.

Who is this mystery player you might ask?

Steven Stamkos.

That's right, the young Stamkos has been absolutely on fire this season. With 21 goals and 14 assists (at the time of writing this post). He is 2nd on the Lightning in scoring (ugh, Martin St. Louis has 40). After a rough start to his rookie season, Stamkos has really adapted well to the NHL level of play quite nicely.

I had a loyal Twentytener just tonight tell me, "you don't need Stamkos there if you have Toews", but I could not disagree more. Toews is a great player, don't get me wrong. But there are a couple of guys in August that we were saying were on this team. Not so much as "locks" but guys expected to be there. The problem, of course, is that some of these guys seemed to have lost their scoring touch. Guys like Eric Staal and Jeff Carter aren't really lighting the lamp, with 6 and 12 goals respectively. Stamkos has more then the two of them combined, and as much as I hate to say it, with Marty St. Louis passing the puck as well as he is to Stamkos in Tampa, it might not be a bad idea to pair the two of them up, much like the San Jose connection of Heatley-Marleau-Thornton is expected to play together come February.

So there you go Steve Stamkos, you have a ringing endorsement from the best Canadian Olympic hockey based blog on the interweb, hopefully Stevie Claus, also known as Stevie Y, puts you on his special list...

I'm back baby...

WHAMMO!!

Stevie Y? Stevie Claus!

Tomorrow begins canadatwentyten's 100 day countdown to the beginning of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, and the beginning of team twentyten's drive for GOLD.

As reported, Steve Yzerman will convene a meeting of the minds this week to find out where everyone stands on who's in...and who's out come February.

While the rest of us twentyteners celebrate the birth of our savior, Santa Claus, Yzerman and the Hockey Canada brass are expected to celebrate the Christmas season by naming the final 23-man roster. Who will wake up to find that awesome new "Go Go Power Wheels" under their tree, and who will wake up to find a lump of coal in their stocking?

This week's meeting will give our braintrust an opportunity check their naughty and nice list and ponder some of the difficult questions they will have to face come the Christmas season. Questions such as:

- Is Vinny Lecavalier really interested in making this team?
- Is Mike Green actually worth a bag of pucks?
- Is Marc Andre Fleury for real...I mean for real for real?
- Does heart matter (Marty St. Louis reference)?
- Do we need Captain Canada?
- Do we need the other Captain Canada?
...and most important of all
- What did Pierre's last team look like? Because we really don't want our team to be the same as his!

Weekly Power Rankings...with a little treat on top

Time for the weekly power rankings...with a little treat on top.

It may be apparent to most of you twentyteners out there that follow us religiously that this week's post was in large part of my sole volition...as you will see below with my high placement of Marty St. Louis in the power column. But honestly Dewey, the little man with the big heart has been THE man in sunny Florida thus far. Give a guy is due will ya!

A little treat at the bottom of this week's rankings as I lay out my line combination, defensive pairings and goaltending depth chart.

Enjoy:

Forwards:

1 (1) – Crosby – Is there anyone who’s worried about Sid the Kid?

2 (5) – Heatley – Will be hard not to pencil he and Joe in as second line combo at current pace.

3 (6) – Thornton – As mentioned above, I think he’s the number two centre at this point.

4 (2) – Nash – Has continued torrid start to season. Scored 3 on 5 last night.

5 (3) – Richards – He can put up the points, and continues to be one of the best shutdown guys in the league.

6 (7) – St. Louis – Far and away the best chance out of Tampa so far.

7 (4) – Iginla – Slow start for Iggy, but finally put up a multi point game last night.

8 (8) – Toews – Will be hard knocked to be bumped off my team.

9 (9) – Carter – Will look good on Richard’s wing. Has started season strong.

10 (11) – Perry – Best option to play alongside Getzlaf, and has been best Duck forward so far.

11 (16) – Morrow – Resurrecting his career after last year’s injury, with a great start in Big D.

12 (13) – Getzlaf – Has dropped to my fourth line centre, but cannot remove him from the fold.

13 (10) – E. Staal – Susceptible to losing his spot on the roster if his slow season continues.

The below bubble boys:

14 (12) – Lecavalier – He’s on the wrong side of the bubble this week.

15 (15) – Sharp – He’s a guy who could steal Staal or Perry’s spot easily.

16 (NA) – Smyth – Has been a gangbuster in LA. Could Captain Canada find a spot on team twentyten?

17 (14) – J. Staal – Haven’t forgotten about him yet.

18 (17) – Doan – Starting to forget about him.

Defensemen:

1 (4) – Boyle – Could be on top power play unit.

2 (2) – Pronger – Playing over 28 minutes a game and still producing.

3 (1) – Niedermayer – Tough start to the year, but he’s a given.

4 (NA) – Seabrook – Full apoligies for Brent only making an appearance on the rankings now.

5 (5) – Boumeester – Still playing lots of minutes in Calgary and is a plus player

6 (6) – Weber – Quiet but solid going in Nashville.

7 (7) – Keith – Would look good alongside Seabrook on the back end.

The below bubble boys:

8 (3) – Phaneuf – 8 points but still a minus liability.

9 (11) – Doughty – Could actually be a viable option come selection time.

8 (8) – Green – Losing ground in my eyes

9 (9) – Regher – Just too many other options in front of him.

Goalies:

1 (1) – Fleury – League leader in wins. Has been the best of the Canadian goalies so far.

2 (3) – Brodeur – Pitched his first shutout of the year this past week.

2 (2) – Mason – He’s still been better than Roberto.

4 (5) – Luongo – Still waiting on Bob.

5 (4) – Ward – Won’t be a consideration at this pace.

Line combos:

1 - Nash-Sid-Iggy

2 - Heatley-Thornton-St. Louis

3 - Carter-Richards-Morrow

4 - Perry-Getzlaf-Staal

5 - Toews

1 - Neidermayer – Pronger

2 - Boyle – Boumeester

3 - Seabrook - Keith

4 - Weber

*Despite goalie rankings...I cannot bring myself to knock Roberto and Marty out of the top two spots.

1 - Brodeur

2 - Luongo

3 - Fleury

WHAMMO!!

To be a fly on that wall

A nice article today at the CTV Olympics site, pretty much regurgitating a lot of what Matty and I have said here. There was one interesting paragraph though, that made me smile...

Yzerman said players are being monitored now and he and his gang, which includes the likes of Detroit GM Ken Holland and Red Wings coach Mike Babcock, who will coach Team Canada, as well as Devils coach Jacques Lemaire, Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff, Edmonton president Kevin Lowe, St. Louis vice-president Doug Armstrong, and Wayne Gretzky, will chat frequently leading up to the Games. He also said certain players will be granted a little latitude.

To be a fly on that wall. Of course, Matt and I would be those loud, opinionated flies, with me no doubt screaming my little fly lungs out with cries of "NO ST. LOUIS!!! FORGET ABOUT ROBIDAS!!" (this is assuming that Robidas' name is actually brought up at a meeting of the braintrust), and Matt no doubt making mention after mention of his hockey pool dilemmas.

The time keeps ticking, and some superstars need to step it up... at least we aren't the only ones worried about these slow starts...

WHAMMO!!

Mr. Lecavilier, this is your wake-up call

Last year at this time, Matty and I were sitting around, talking about the 2010 Olympic hockey team (we hadn't yet thought that we would end up calling them "Team Twentyten"), and one of the names who kept coming to the top of the list, without fail... was Sidney Crosby.

Another name however that was on our list was Vincent Lecavilier. Vinny is a great hockey player, who we could have seen on the team last year. He is a strong player who scores goals. Admittedly, last season wasn't his best. That could be blamed on all the trade rumors that had him going to Montreal, but 67 points in 77 games was a little low for a guy who had topped 90 the previous two seasons and looked like he was becoming the all-star caliber player we all knew he would be one day.

However, this season is starting to look a lot like last, in that Vinny has 5 points in 6 games played, but not a single goal. It's not for lack of trying either, as he's averaging 4 shots a game. Now I don't watch many Lightning games (due to the fact that they have St. Louis on their team, whom I've made my hatred for clear many times), so I don't know how great the shots are that he's getting on goal. He's also a -5, and defensive liabilities can't be found on the bottom two lines unless they're providing the kind of offense we'll be getting from the top 2. I wouldn't say Vinny has played his way off the team, it's too early in the season to say that, but unless he starts scoring goals, the Lightning captain may just be enjoying the Olympics from a beach in Florida come February.

Vinny... this is your OFFICIAL "Canada Twentyten" wake-up call... figure it out, or you'll be left out...

WHAMMO!!

"Heart" or Heat ???

...so Marty St. Louis finishes camp last week playing on a line with Crosby and Nash. Is he in? If he's in, is Heatley out?

...I hear rumblings...

The good, the bad, and the ugly... Gimme the Whites!

Yesterday, Matty made it personal by putting the scrimmage between the red and white teams at orientation camp Thursday "on the board"*. He made the first move, taking the Reds, and surely, it will be another board loss for him. Here's a look at how my team looks after the first day of camp:

Forwards:
Line 1: Crosby, Iginla, Nash
Line 2: Richards, Heatley, Morrow
Line 3: Toews, St. Louis, Gagne
Line 4: J. Staal, Doan, McDonald

Defense:
Niedermayer, Weber, Bouwmeester, M. Staal, Keith, Burns, Beauchemin and Green

Goalies:
Brodeur, Mason, Fleury

Not too bad a squad I have. I've decided to take the classic "good, bad and ugly" approach to evaluating my squad.

The Good

As is very apparent, my team is loaded with talent on the first line. Crosby, Nash and Iginla are as much of locks as there are on the team. They're probably the three most gifted offensive players attending the camp, and will no doubt cause a ton of problems for the Reds on Thursday.

At the back end, you have three more locks in Nieder, Weber and Bouwmeester. All three provide great defense, but are also talented offensively. They're some of the best skating defensemen in the NHL and are fully capable of handling the top forwards on the Red squad. Even after my top 3 D-men, I've got all the confidence in the world in guys like Mark Staal (a very good sleeper to make this team), Brett Burns and Duncan Keith to keep up with the Reds offensive pressure.

Marty Brodeur, who has been in nets for us in the previous two Olympics, headlines my list of goaltenders. I have no doubt that if Brodeur plays the whole game (as it looks like Luongo will do with the apparent back injury to Cam Ward), my team will dominate at both ends of the ice.

The Bad

I hate to be so negative because all these players are very immensely talented, but Andy McDonald? Martin St. Louis? Shane Doan?! These are all guys that either don't belong at camp, or have legitimate shots at making the team, who I don't believe should even be considered for the spots that are available. I've gone off about how much I hate the whole "but he has heart" argument before, and I won't again, but these guys are bringing my team down. Put them on their own line and let them make a big impact... on the bench!

The Ugly

The only real "ugly" part that I wanted to discuss was the ugliness that will be the beatdown on Thursday, when the Whites beat the Reds 7 - 3 and I chalk up another victory on the board over Matty, so I repeat, "PUT IT ON THE BOARD!!"

* the board is a list of bets on sports that Matty and I make and keep in our apartment. Currently I lead the board something in the neighborhood of 11 - 3, but that's what you get when you give me the field in all 4 majors and you take Tiger, and you also bet on Scott Gomez to have an 85 point season... just terrible...

Line juggling

As Matty and I sat around last night thinking up who could possibly make up the "grind line" (post on that to come soon, rest assured). I questioned whether or not the name "grind line" still held relevance and what other names you might possibly be able to give such a line. Unfortunately, we were unable to come up with any real great names for our grinders, but we did manage to come up with some pretty interesting line possibilities for Coach Babcock to try out at this summer's orientation camp. We know that Nash, Healtey and Getzlaf will more than likely be the number two line after their showing at the worlds a couple of years ago, but these lineups we thought up were a little more unorthodox, and we believe could bring some real spark to the twentyten team.

Hockey Canada has already taken a bunch of our suggestions for who to bring to camp, while also overlooking a few (no matter how much they deny it), but they might as well try some of these lineup combinations, which we would love to see.

The Staal Line - So obvious that it almost makes me sick. You take the three Staal kids, you throw them on the ice together and you watch the magic happen as it did on the outdoor rink oh so many years ago in Thunder Bay. While the naysayers may argue that Marc is a defenseman, I don't think it matters. He could play opposite of Eric, and the two of them could flank brother Jordan. It's crazy enough that it just might work.

The Poutine Line - Our friends in Quebec were not represented as much as some may have thought, with the exclusion of Savard and Briere to name a couple, but that doesn't mean team twentyten isn't laden with French talent up front. Simon Gagne would be the fries for the line, a solid base, while Vinny Lecavilier and Martin St-Louis would top it off with gravy and curds, which work so well together. I know that I have said that I didn't think St-Louis should be on the team (or even at the camp), but on a line like this, it would just be so delici... good, I mean good.

The Goals of the Year Line - Nash, Toews, Getzlaf. These three guys are all absolute beauty players who, over the past few seasons in the NHL, have scored some of the nicest goals we've ever seen. Putting them on a line together would no doubt cause a cataclysmic effect on the ice, the likes of which we've never seen leading to some of the greatest goals in the history of everything.

The 'Extra Maple Syrup' Line - It hasn't been talked about much, but one of the players overlooked to come to camp for a goaltending spot was on JC Petit. The competition was fierce though, and not even we had him pegged to make it to camp, so his omission by the brass is forgiven. However, in honor of JC comes this line. Marty St-Louis again plays on this line, with Andy McDonald and... uh... well, there's not really another "small" guy that I can find going to camp, so we'll just take any of the guys off what is an undersized American team. It may be a bit of a problem getting them on to the Canadian team, but I mean, to see what would resemble a Timbits Hockey squad on the ice at camp would be a once in a lifetime event.

The 'Pierre McGuire Just Blew His Load' Defensive Pairing - The only non-offensive grouping on this list, and because Pierre loves everyone, it was probably the hardest one to pick. However, that being said, we really couldn't figure out who would cause McGuirre to go off on a string of "kaboom" and "whammos" like would Dion Phaneuf and Shea Weber. It was this tandem that really led to a lot of Pete's ridiculous sayings back in 2005 when the World Juniors were played in Grand Forks, Michigan. Here, the defensive pairing not only led Canada to Gold then, which is the color we're all expecting to see in Vancouver, but it also led to the now famous "Double Dion", just another intolerable call from our old 'buddy' McGuire. If you're a fan of Canadian Hockey, then you're excited at the prospect of these two playing together again.

That's all we have for now, but with 46 guys, there are sure to be other creative ideas out there. What about you? Got any good line ideas?

My rebuttal

Easy there partner…I’m pretty sure I didn’t go as far as to say that I’d be cheering for the Americans if Marty St. Louis was on the team (although I do love that Parise, and wish he were one of ours). I mean honestly, he’s not in the immediate mix for me either, but let’s not discount the guy completely. Remember now, “heart” seems to be something in high value at the upper reaches of Canadian leadership lately (as Michaelle Jean has shown us), and the guy does have a ring.

I guess though, that I take bigger issue with your boy Dion Phaneuf being left off the roster. Did I miss something here? Is the guy actually a question mark with the 2010 team? Would Stevie Y actually do that to Pierre McGuire?

As far as the three goalies go, I would hope that all three of them could keep their egos in-check. Ward may not be the #3, but then again…he may well be.

I Remain Unimpressed

As my esteemed colleague wrote earlier today, Eric Duhatschek named his choice for 2010. It's nice to see someone respected in the hockey world name a team... (I said respected so McGuire's list is out the window).

... but he didn't do that much better...

Let's start with the goaltenders. This is probably the easiest argument to make. Right Duhatschek has Brodeur, Luongo and Ward as his guys between the pipes. I have no problem with those guys, but do you honestly think that Ward will want to go there and sit as the third guy?

HECK NO! The guy has a ring, which is more than Luongo can say. We've had a situation similar to this before where the always classy Pat Roy stepped aside and said that he wouldn't be the third guy. I'm not saying Ward is an old guy, but as the youngest of the 3 I hardly believe he will be willing to take a spot reserved for what is usually there for a young kid who can play, but will spend the entire tournament from wherever it will be that players will watch games from in 2010.

Next up is Marty, and I don't mean the goalie here...

Honestly, Martin St. Louis has got to be the most over rated player in professional hockey today. Did anyone see Canada's IIHF Gold medal match with the Russians, where every time he got the puck he just would up and blasted shots into the opposing players shins? "HEY MARTY, HE'S GOT SHIN PADS ON AND YOU'RE A SCRAWNY PUNK!! YOU WON'T HURT HIM OR PUT IT THROUGH HIM!", I yelled at him through my television multiple times throughout the game.

I'm absolutely sick of hearing how Marty will make this team. Everyone wants to talk about how much "heart" the guy has... I will tell you exactly why this means NOTHING in two simple words: Captain Planet.

Remember the old cartoon? We always made fun of little Mogli or whatever his name was. His friends had the power to control earth, to start fire, to uproot the earth and to manipulate the wind. Mogli had the power of heart, which I to this day could never understand how it fits in. If you want to take a hockey player with heart, be my guest, but I'd take a fire breathing one any day over St. Louis. I'm not sure that last sentence even made sense, but I'm more certain it did and that it was absolute genius. If you want to try and make the argument that any one guy on that team doesn't want it as much as Marty you can, it's a free country, but it's absolute garbage because there won't be one player on that team not willing to make every sacrifice necessary, and they sure as hell can find a better player than him to fill a roster spot.

In closing, I don't think there's any player that I want less to see on Team Canada than Martin St. Louis. I made this comment to Matty last night and added, "If he's on the team, I'm cheering for the Americans". A bit harsh to say the least, but I'm 90% ready to do just that...