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Barrie Signs 4 Year Deal; Team Ontario instead of Team N. America For WCH? |
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Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reports that the Avalanche and defenseman Tyson Barrie have settled on a four-year, $22 Million deal prior to the arbitration award.
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The other day on the podcast I brought up the concept of what I feel would be a better and more exciting way to lay out the World Cup of Hockey. The idea cam to me after thinking of how I will be covering the event and in the arena in Toronto who will the fans be pulling for?
Team North America after all has crazy skill and a few Leafs...mainly Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly...but Matthews is an American...I will never forget the Olympics in Vancouver and feeling the excitement that the fans had for a Team Canada. It was awesome...but I wonder how much of this exists? It is entirely possible that the two best teams are Canada and North America. Team USA is hurt the most by losing its young guns to Team North America. It hurts Canada as well, but the talent pool up north is just so good that Canada can spare a few players...
Then it finally hit me. What is bothering me about this World Cup is that the lines are being drawn by age and not place....
So what if we were to separate the teams out differently but get the same impact.
Were we to make a Team Ontario and Team Canada and a Team USA I really believe we would get three pretty equal teams and the fans in Toronto would have a local team to pull for. Perhaps this is something you could change next time and have a Team Quebec and have the tournament in Montreal...
Lets look at the teams...Starting with team Ontario
Forwards:
Connor McDavid
Joe Thornton
Jason Spezza
Corey Perry
Jeff Carter
Steve Stamkos
Claude Giroux
John Tavares
Matt Duchene
Tyler Seguin
Wayne Simmonds
Logan Couture
Notes: There is no doubt that Team Ontario has fire power...7 of it’s 12 forwards are on the current Team Canada and Connor McDavid has been added from Team North America.
Defense:
Brent Burns
Drew Doughty
Mark Giordano
Dennis Wideman
PK Subban
Alex Pietrangelo
Cam Fowler
Dougie Hamilton
Notes: Three D: Burns, Doughty, and Pietrangelo come from Team Canada and PK Subban SHOULD be on Team Canada
Goalies:
Steve Mason
Brian Elliot
Matt Murray
Notes: None of the Team Canada Goalies are from Ontario, but these three aren’t going to hurt you...
Team Canada
Jamie Benn
Patrice Bergeron
Sidney Crosby
Ryan Getzlaf
Brad Marchand
Jonathan Toews
Nathan MacKinnon
Taylor Hall
Jordan Eberle
Mark Stone
Ryan Johansen
Milan Lucic
Notes: 6 forwards from the current Team Canada, and MacKinnon from Team North America
Duncan Keith
Jake Muzzin
Marc-Edouard Vlasic
Shea Weber
Aaron Ekblad
Kristopher Letang
Brent Seabrook
Notes: As the saying goes, “They grow Giant D-men in Western Canada.. 4 Dmen from Canada and Ekblad added from North America.
Goalies:
Carey Price
Brayden Holtby
Corey Crawford
Notes: Can’t beat these three!
Team USA
Forwards:
Patrick Kane
Ryan Kesler
TJ Oshie
Max Pacioretty
Phil Kessel
Zach Parise
Joe Pavelski
James van Riemsdyk
Jack Eichel
Johnny Gaudreau
Auston Matthews
Dylan Larkin
Notes: 7 Team USA players joined by 4 fantastic forwards from the North American Team...and yes, I added Phil Kessel...
Defense:
Dustin Byfuglien
John Carlson
Ryan McDonagh
Ryan Suter
Seth Jones
Erilk Johnson
Shayne Gostibehere
Notes: Two Key additions on the blueline add speed
Goalies:
Jonathan Quick
Cory Schneider
Ben Bishop
Notes: Same as current Team USA
So there ya have it?
What’s the Buzz?