Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Smeenus
I think the US team will have a great chance in Sochi. First of all, if Quick can get hot like he did in '12 he can just about single-handedly take the US to Gold. Ryan Miller could be the second netminder. The forwards on the US team should include Zach Parise, Dustin Brown, Patrick Kane, Ryan Kesler, David Backes, Joe Pavelski, Phil Kessel, Ryan Callahan, Derek Stepan, Bobby Ryan, Paul Stasney, on defense there could be Ryan Suter, Paul Martin, Jack Johnson, Ryan McDonagh, Jimmy Howard, Keith Yandle, Justin Faulk. Maybe a better team than the one that gave Canada all it could handle in Vancouver
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If they struggle, I think it's going to be because of a lack of top-end talent at center. Are Stepan and Stastny guys that can be relied on to be the main offensive contributors at center in an international tournament? I don't think so. Guys like Kesler, Pavelski, and Backes are fantastic two-way players, but I think you need some more elite offensive talent down the middle.
Defense and goaltending are great though. The thing with USA is that even if their starter (Quick) struggles they have more than a couple of options to go to and wouldn't experience much of a drop-off at all.
I think a lot relies on Suter and McDonagh as well. While the US has a lot of good offensive blueliners, it's going to be up to those two to shutdown every other country's elite offensive talent. It'll be interesting to see if they pair them up as they're both lefties.