Seguin suffered an ankle injury that ended his run with Team Canada before it had really begun.
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Selanne plans to talk with Laine about the NHL, Winnipeg and more during the World Cup. His healing ankle simply wasn’t good enough to allow him to represent his country the way he wanted. But in this tournament, when Team USA was assembled poorly, North America is going to make it very fun to watch.
Within minutes of that statement from Babcock going public, social media blew up with critics lambasting Seguin for allegedly being deceitful.
Losing a player of Seguin’s offensive caliber was going to be really hard to replace. Ryan Suter is the best of the bunch but is 31 years old; so is Dustin Byfuglien, the 260-pound behemoth who could tire chasing around the whippet-quick forwards he’ll see every shift. Time and time again.
“He’s got great hands”, Crosby said.
Olympic hockey I can get behind.
Russian Federation vs. North America, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN2: If the youngsters want to advance out of the prelims, this is a game they have to have. But even (Tuesday) as he tried to push through it, he said he said it started heating up. “Now I’m not sure what that means in medical terms but I know in coaching terms that means it’s not very good”.
Seguin suffered a partial tear of his Achilles late last season and missed two rounds of the playoffs. He underwent surgery during the offseason and declared himself ready to go for the World Cup during the Biosteel camp in Toronto three weeks ago. Team North America is comprised of the best players from the US and Canada who are 23 or younger.
“I think we’ll get a better look in the last exhibition game on everybody, but they’ve all held their own, which is good”, Blues Coach Ken Hitchcock said. There’s a lot of examples of that and Seguin is just another one. He knows Bergeron because the two were linemates on the way to gold at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Whichever two teams advance out of the semis will play in a best-of-three series to determine the 2016 World Cup of Hockey champion.
“Defensively he’s pretty tough to go up against and offensively he can hurt you. Do you want to come to a tournament with no chance, or do you want to come to a tournament with pressure?”
“I don’t think you hear anyone complaining about playing for Team Canada”. Kane is one of the world’s five best scorers, the reigning NHL MVP who does magical things with the puck on his stick around the net. They’ll reach the semifinals before falling, and I’ll take Sweden in a slight upset over the Canadians for the crown. “We’re too slow. Move the puck and skate”.
Such angst is no different for NHL GMs this time around. When asked if he had concerns about his franchise player or any other Penguins involved in the tournament getting banged up, Rutherford replied: “Constantly”.
Doug Armstrong can relate. The World Cup defence took a hit with Duncan Keith sidelined by injury, but Shea Weber, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Drew Dougthy, Alex Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester all return. Is this at the command of the Dallas Stars who are possible Stanley Cup contenders and Seguin is a big part of that, or is it that Seguin knows that this tournament is the creation of the National Hockey League and they will be reaping the benefits from it?
Team USA and Canada will square off September 20 at the World Cup.
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“Still, you’re always nervous”. “We saw the Steelers game”. When you play it’s part of the game. In the US game, David Backes – he was in Alex Pietrangelo’s wedding party – took a big run at him. In order for Canada to be successful Crosby is going to have to be more productive. In 1987, there were those three 6-5 barnburners, Mario Lemieux’s shot heard round the country in the waning moments of the deciding game, ending what might have been the greatest global series of all time. Rinne stopped 26 of 29 shots against the US and seems a good bet, but coach Lauri Marjamaki wouldn’t say. “Don’t listen to all the outside stuff”.
