[j-monster]

As great as Stevie Y's career has been, he's washed up now and shouldn't be part of the Olympic team.

Even given his past history, based on his current play I don't know how you can not take McCabe... so far this year he's been awesome.

Staal is deserving of a spot, and so is Spezza. The line of Spezza, Heatley... and anybody else would be unbelievable!

I've heard it said that Gretzky and the rest of the Olympic team management and coaching staff are loyal to a fault, so there may be some players who were on the last Olympic and World Cup team who will be there this time, but shouldn't be based on their current play. I hope that's not the case.

[fingernailsonhull]

I completely forgot Staal!!

That man has been positively on fire this season.

[tigerthelion]

Seriously, Staal deserves a shot. And Heatley and Spezza HAVE to be on a line together. The chemistry is obviously already there. Why wouldn't you take advantage of it?

As for Crosby, I'm not so sure. I think there are a number of other players who deserve a spot ahead of him. Hell, he's only 18 - his time will come.

As a Leaf fan, my only concern with having McCabe there is the way he tends to shit the bed at bad times. He practically lost the series to Philthy two years ago by himself. That being said, he's no better or no worse than the incredibly overhyped Jovo.

I'm a Canucks' fan and I agree about Jovo. He is overrated. Everyone who isn't a puckbunny Jovo fan knows Ohlund is the best d-man on the Nucks. I like Jovo's heart and willingness to do anything to win but he's no Chris Pronger. He is a very good offensive player but gives the puck away as much as greaseball Sopel did for the Nucks. Jovo can't play defense that well at all. I think Mccabe WILL be on the team. I understand your concern though. Mccabe can be SPECTACULAR or he can be PURE CRAP. So far this season he's been great, though.

[emperor penguin]

with all the speculation of the young guys possibly not making the team, how could you not put Spezza on there. What else does a guy have to do? he's leading the league in points and if you didn't take advantage of him and Heatly together it would be a travesty. I think Stall deserves to be there aswell, the guys been on fire this year. I know they havent proven themselves in international play thus far but come on you have to include these guys.

[farmerdan]

i figured i'd post this in this topic too: mario isnt gonna play

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[thedarkcanuck]

as a mario fan since the start, this saddens me, but i do agree with it. as for spezza, i can`t believe what this guy has gone through...first it was jacques martin disrepecting him , now he is leading the league in scoring(top 3 anyway) and there is still questions about him playing? WTF!! what more can the kid do?

[Lizard King]

The question now is, who's captain? Sakic is the obvious choice, Iginla maybe. You guys think Crosby should be on the team? Mario thinks so, Im not sure if I agree.

[farmerdan]

The question now is, who's captain? Sakic is the obvious choice, Iginla maybe. You guys think Crosby should be on the team? Mario thinks so, Im not sure if I agree.

as for captain, that's a tough question....i would say you're right with Sakic

Crosby, i think should be on the team for two reasons. one he's played pretty well this year and i think they should take the people who are playing well, not just the one's that have played for Canada before. and two, he's gonna be part of Canada's national team for many years to come and should be brought into the program with open arms. you dont want to put a sour taste in his mouth(see brett hull)

(note: i am in no way saying that sid would choose the path of mr hull, but nonetheless..)

[thedarkcanuck]

i love sid the kid, but i think spezza should be there first

[emperor penguin]

crosby, stall and spezza should be there without question, they have been playing great this year. As for captain I would give it to Sakic for sure.

[tigerthelion]

The question now is, who's captain? Sakic is the obvious choice, Iginla maybe. You guys think Crosby should be on the team? Mario thinks so, Im not sure if I agree.

Like Mario is going to say anything different.

Sakic will probably be captain. I'd say there's a 95% percent of him getting the "C".

[j-monster]

As I said in this thread, I too think Sakic will be captain and would be a good one. But interesting that Iginla's name came up here... now that I think about it, he'd be a good choice too. But Sakic has more of the experience that Gretzky et al. seem to value.

I love Staal and Crosby's games this year, but are they too young this time around? Could be, but on form they deserve to be in. And Spezza absolutely needs to be there... I mean he's been leading the NHL in scoring for a few weeks (although I think Jagr has overtaken him recently), so how could you leave him off the team?

[The Darkest Canuck]

i would take:

Bertuzzi
Heatley
Spezza
Sakic
Doan
St. Louis
Richards
Lecavallier
Iginla
Thornton
Nash
Smyth
Marleau

Pronger
Blake
Redden
Regher
McCabe
Hannan
Brewer

Jose Theodore
Martin Brodeur
Roberto Luongo


Sakic as Captain, Iginla, Smyth and Blake as Assistant Captains, Brodeur or Jose as #1&2 in net, and the lines:

LINE 1: Smyth, Sakic, Iginla
LINE 2: Nash, Spezza, Heatley
LINE 3: Lecavallier, Richards, St. Louis
LINE 4: Doan, Thornton, Bertuzzi

[emperor penguin]

you wouldn't put Simon Gagne on there or Scott Neidermayer, and Nash is hurt.

[The Darkest Canuck]

didn't know Nash was hurt...in that case, yes, i'd put Gagne on there, he was the last cut to my squad...