and like every other arm-chair coach, i must put forth my ideal lineup given the roster submitted by Team Canada:
Goal: Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Marty Turco
Defense: Rob Blake, Adam Foote, Ed Jovanovski, Scott Niedermayar, Chris Pronger, Wade Redden, Robyn Regehr
Forward: Todd Bertuzzi, Shane Doan, Kris Draper, Simone Gagne, Dany Heatley, Jarome Iginla, Vincent Lecavalier, Rick Nash, Brad Richards, Joe Sakic, Ryan Smyth, Martin St. Louis, Joe Thornton
Reserve: Bryan McCabe, Jason Spezza, Eric Staal.
in goal, the decision is fairly easy: go in alphabetical order. Brodeur and Luongo both have a wealth of international experience and were pretty much shoo-ins. Turco has earned his spot on this roster and will likely get at least one game in if Brodeur's knee acts up.
the defense pairings will be quite impressive, with each pair featuring a smooth skating puck carrier with a nard-nosed basher: 1) Niedermayar/Pronger 2) Redden/Regehr 3) Jovanovski/Blake
the forward lines are fairly straight forward with one intent in mind -- scoring:
1) Gagne/Sakic/Iginla - speed and skill is the name of this line's game. both Gagne and Sakic can weave their way in to make the plays. Iginla is strong along the boards. All have proven that they can finish plays.
2) Nash/Thornton/Bertuzzi - this is the power line. with a collective height of 18'10" and weighing 653 lbs. this line is HUGE. Thornton has existing chemistry with Nash from last year's stint in the Swiss League. Bertuzzi has something to prove, so he might as well muscle open shooting lanes for Nash and Thornton.
3) Staal/Spezza/Heatley - this is like line 1: redux. speed, skill and dexterity. Spezza's on-ice vision is only magnified by wingers who can pull away from defenders and finish plays. All three are capable snipers and you'll probably see their names bunched near the top of the scoring list at the end of the season.
4) St. Louis/Richards/Lecavalier - the Tampa Bay Trio round out my forward lines. with more speed and more skill. Richards is a very good two-way player and if the other two concentrate on a very agressive forecheck this could possibly be the least physical, but highest scoring checking line ever.
as you can see, i've forgone the traditional score-score-grind-check lines and opted for the score-smash/score-score-score lines because our defense is huge, backed by at least two goalies that can really handle the puck (Martin and Marty) and one that thrives on being shot at (Luongo). should we come up against a team with one or two razzle-dazzle lines (sweden, russia) then Doan, Smyth and Draper can be slotted in as a genuine checking line to shut them down.
