Any hockey fans out there?

[seeth07]

Generally with you on FIN stepping up in internationals, but man is their D-Corps in rough shape with the injuries for this tournament. Their bottom 5 D are like 3rd pair guys in the NHL (or 2nd pair guys on mediocre teams, sorry Utah fans).

That's a tough hill to climb when the USA/CAN 7th D-men are Norris candidates.

Can't wait though.

That is exactly where I'm coming from with my statements. Defensive cores wins in hockey over the long run. This is a short enough event that perhaps some weird stuff can happen - you only get three games to determine if you are good enough. All teams but Finland have an amazing top 4 D core while USA/Canada that extends down to the top 6/7

 

[seeth07]

Last weekend I was in Iowa where I can sports bet so I did a round robin bet for the 6 games. Tonight I took Sweden with the +1.5 spread. Will it be the Gus Bus in the net and can he be remarkable stopping the Mac attack? I know I would be terrified having to face both of those players at once.

 

[Wild Bill]

I'm in the minority, but I think this tournament is stupid, to put it lightly.
Why the hell are we putting it in the middle of the regular season? I understand international competition is huge, and guys want to play for their country, but why are we sending them off to do it while guys are busting their asses to try and put their teams in contention for a cup run?
Once every 4 years with the Olympics is enough the way it is.
This could have been done in late summer/early fall before the season started to give guys a chance to heal up before playing for the team that pays their salary.
And as far as competition goes, no international hockey tournament is legit unless the Ruskies are lacing up their skates.

 

[SD_Prairie_Goat]

I'm in the minority, but I think this tournament is stupid, to put it lightly.
Why the hell are we putting it in the middle of the regular season? I understand international competition is huge, and guys want to play for their country, but why are we sending them off to do it while guys are busting their asses to try and put their teams in contention for a cup run?
Once every 4 years with the Olympics is enough the way it is.
This could have been done in late summer/early fall before the season started to give guys a chance to heal up before playing for the team that pays their salary.
And as far as competition goes, no international hockey tournament is legit unless the Ruskies are lacing up their skates.

I think it's all to do with swapping out the all star game/weekend for a new event. The all star weekend was getting weak viewership so they tried something new with this four nations tourney.


As for ruskies, I'd say it's likely due to all the Russian sanctions. Plus everyone usually goes for even number of teams, so who would be the other team added? A misc. Team from the rest of the world?

 

[Gr8bawana]

I see this 4 Nations tournament much the same as the NBA all-star game or the NFL Pro-Bowl of the MLB all-star game. I don't watch any of them, they're just exhibition games.
These guys don't want to take the chance of getting hurt for nothing.

 

[seeth07]

I think it's all to do with swapping out the all star game/weekend for a new event. The all star weekend was getting weak viewership so they tried something new with this four nations tourney.


As for ruskies, I'd say it's likely due to all the Russian sanctions. Plus everyone usually goes for even number of teams, so who would be the other team added? A misc. Team from the rest of the world?

Russia is banned from international competitions due to their on going war with Ukraine.

 

[cedahm]

I'm in the minority, but I think this tournament is stupid, to put it lightly.
If we're going to create a tournament out of thin air, why the hell are we putting it in the middle of the regular season? I understand international competition is huge, and guys want to play for their country, but why are we sending them off to do it while guys are busting their asses to try and put their teams in contention for a cup run?
Once every 4 years with the Olympics is enough the way it is.
This could have been done in late summer/early fall before the season started to give guys a chance to heal up before playing for the team that pays their salary.
And as far as competition goes, no international hockey tournament is legit unless the Ruskies are lacing up their skates.

I agree with a lot of those points - mainly that not having RUS and CZE is lame (And there aren't enough NHL'ers to build a roster once you go below those two countries)

But, Bettman and the Players needed a good stepping stone to get NHL players back to the Olympics at all (remember - no NHL players in the Olympics since 2014, and the Winter Games will always be in the middle of the NHL season).

AND, they also are trying to solve the same problem every major sports league has with in-season All Star games (meaning that they all suck and almost nobody likes them).

It's a good start to more International hockey with some flaws.

 

[seeth07]

I see this 4 Nations tournament much the same as the NBA all-star game or the NFL Pro-Bowl of the MLB all-star game. I don't watch any of them, they're just exhibition games.
These guys don't want to take the chance of getting hurt for nothing.

If you think that these guys aren't going to giving 110% for this tourney, you must be kidding yourself. You don't have to watch, thats fine.