This Team USA is a Wagon!

Oh how far we've come! 😁

Let's take a time machine back 40 years ago to the 1984 Canada Cup at what the Americans roster looked like...

Forwards

Eddie Olczyk
Brian Lawton
Bryan Trottier
Mark Johnson
Bobby Carpenter
Neal Broten
Bryan Erickson
Joe Mullen
Aaron Broten
Dave Christian
Bob Brooke
Brian Mullen
David A. Jensen

Defensemen

Rod Langway
Mike Ramsey
Chris Chelios
Phil Housley
Gordie Roberts
Mark Fusco
Tom Hirsch

Goalies

Tom Barrasso
Glenn "Chico" Resch

Team USA went 3-2-1 and finished 4th.

They went 3-1-1 in the round robin.

Then were curb stomped by Team Sweden 9-2 in the semi final.

Team USA had previously beaten Team Sweden 7-1 in round robin play.

Head coach was "Badger" Bob Johnson.

One of my favorite Head coaches of all time.

Team Canada won the tournament sweeping Team Sweden 2 games to none in the Final.

The big matchup was Team Canada vs Soviet Union in the semi final.

Canada won that game 3-2 in OT on a shot from Paul Coffey which was deflected by Mike Bossy.

Soviets had previously beaten Team Canada 6-3 in round robin.

Team USA tied Team Canada 4-4 in round robin.

Team USA lost 2-1 to the Soviets also in round robin.

West Germany was in this tournament of 6 teams.

Czechoslovakia was too.

No Finland? 🙄

19 year old Dominik Hasek was Team Czechoslovakia starting goalie.

He wouldn't make his NHL debut until 1990 with Chicago.

I find it's generally best to have one legit checking center for this level. This is one area where the US team might have an issue compared to other teams. We don't have that Bergeron or Hintz or O'Reilly or Couts or Karlsson, or even a Thomas level guy, who can drop down to the role for the team. Could Miller play that role? I suppose. Is Lowry good enough to hang in a best v best? Or Copp or Compher or Dowd? I dunno, man.

You have Eichel top line and who knows, he might be forced into playing 4th line. One way or another, there needs to be someone who can keep the McKinnons and Drais and Petterssons quieter than usual. Or at least to not let them run wild.

In comes Vincent Trocheck. He’s defensively responsible and capable of playing top minutes with elite players (Panarin every night) and can win faceoffs. He’d be the perfect 4C.

If Andrew copp or jt compher or tanev is on my Olympic team I am renouncing my citizenship

Listen to yourself

I didn't say they should be on the team (or mention Tanev). I said there needs to be a proper shutdown C.

But how will he look in two years? I don't know. It may end up being Beniers or somebody like that.

In 2 years he’s only 32. That’s not old. In 2 years, MacKinnon is 30 and Crosby is 38. You’re being unreasonable.

For some reason, I though he was already across 30. So fine, maybe him. My point remains the same.

You don't need shut down centers in the Olympics. Just take your best players and go play.

Like you mentioned nic dowd to represent our country to the world.

Best on best Olympic golds so far...

2014 - Canada (Bergeron in the team)
2010 - Ditto and ditto
2006 - Sweden (Zetterberg)
2002 - Canada (Peca)
1998 - Czech Rep. (Straka dropped down the line-up to shine in the role)

Bergeron and Zetts were still top dogs on their teams. So I wouldn’t necessarily say they were only taken for defensive purposes. That just so happened to be the case with them.

2010 Bergeron was coming off a 52 point season that was 21 points below his career high at that point and had yet earn a single Selke vote in his career. He was on a Canada team with Crosby, Old Joe, Toews and Getzlaf. He was in no way a top dog on that team and was absolutely brought in to center the matchup line. Unquestionably.

He obviously had more steam with a couple Selkes by 2014, but still was on a team with Crosby, Toews, Getzlaf and Tavares (not to mention a ridiculously strong defense stable). So still not a top dog, still the matchup C.

In 2006, Zetterberg had just had his breakout season, but the Sweden team had Forsberg, Sundin and the Sedins, plus leaders like Lidstrom and Alfredsson. Soooo not a top dog by any stretch.

Should’ve been more clear, Zetts was most definitely a top dog on Detroit, same for Bergeron on the Bruins.

Okaaaaay, but we're not talking about their NHL teams.

Here are some of the Cs Canada passed over to take Bergeron as the matchup guy:
Stamkos (4th in the league in scoring, top goal scorer, 6th in Hart voting)
Richards (5th in scoring)
Kesler (11th in scoring)
Carter (13th)
Staal (15th)
Weiss, Spezza, Tavares... all with more points and more pub at the time.

Bergeron was the defensive C specialist on that team. This is inarguable. IIRC there was quite a bit of arguments going on about his selection in both 2010 and 2014. It was not a given or something universally accepted.