Hockey Night's picks for Team Canada
Not this time Eric Staal. Sorry, there is bad news for your brother Jordan, too. Mike Fisher, you might as well enjoy the Olympic break with fiancée Carrie Underwood.
Drew Doughty and Mike Green? You gave it a good shot, but our jury has spoken and it doesn't appear you will be playing for Canada in Vancouver, either.
At least, that's according to the 15 members of the Hockey Night In Canada panel who were asked to select a Canadian Olympic team roster a few days before executive director Steve Yzerman steps up to podium to announce his team for the 2010 Olympics.
On the panel were Cassie Campbell-Pascal, Guy Carbonneau, Don Cherry, Elliotte Friedman, Glenn Healy, Kelly Hrudey, Jim Hughson, Mark Lee, Jeff Marek, Mike Milbury, Scott Morrison, Scott Oake, Craig Simpson, P.J. Stock and Tim Wharnsby.
Each was asked to select a roster consisting of three goalies, seven defencemen and 13 forwards, so we present our version of the Canadian men's Olympic team roster.
In goal, it was unanimous that Martin Bodeur will be Canada's starter. Roberto Luongo received 13 of 15 votes as the backup and Marc-Andrew Fleury is the No. 3 netminder.
On defence, there were only three choices that each panel member agreed on: Scott Niedermayer, Duncan Keith and Shea Weber. Rounding out the blue-line are Chris Pronger, Jay Bouwmeester, Dan Boyle and Brent Seabrook.
Up front, the unanimous choices were Sidney Crosby, Jarome Iginla, Joe Thornton, Rick Nash, Ryan Getzlaf and Dany Heatley.
The rest of the forwards that garnered enough votes were Corey Perry, Patrick Marleau, Mike Richards, Jonathan Toews, Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis and Brendan Morrow.
Below are the voting tabulations through a points system (3-2-1 for goalies, 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for defence and 13-12-11-10 … etc. for forwards):
Goalies (perfect score = 45)
- Martin Brodeur (45), New Jersey
- Roberto Luongo (28), Vancouver
- Marc-Andre Fleury (17), Pittsburgh
Defence (perfect score = 105)
- Scott Niedermayer (93), Anaheim
- Chris Pronger (82), Philadelphia
- Duncan Keith (61), Chicago
- Shea Weber (57), Nashville
- Jay Bouwmeester (36), Calgary
- Dan Boyle (36), San Jose
- Brent Seabrook (22), Chicago
- Runners up: Drew Doughty (15), Rob Blake (5), Mike Green (4), Robyn Regehr (3), Dion Phaneuf (1)
Forwards (perfect score = 195)
- Sidney Crosby (189), Pittsburgh
- Jarome Iginla (158), Calgary
- Joe Thornton (146), San Jose
- Ryan Getzlaf (143), Anaheim
- Rick Nash (143), Columbus
- Dany Heatley (120), San Jose
- Corey Perry (95), Anaheim
- Patrick Marleau (79), San Jose
- Mike Richards (53), Philadelphia
- Jonathan Toews (47), Chicago
- Brad Richards (45), Dallas
- Martin St. Louis (33), Tampa Bay
- Brenden Morrow (29), Dallas
- Runners-up: Eric Staal (23), Shane Doan (15), Jordan Staal (8), Jeff Carter (6), Steven Stamkos (6), Patrice Bergeron (6), Ryan Smyth (4), Dustin Penner (2), Mike Fisher (2), Vincent Lecavalier (1), Patrick Sharp (1).
The end of a decade
With the decade less than a week from concluding, we also queried our panel for their player, team, all-star team, coach and executive and hockey story of the decade. Here are the findings:
Team of the decade
- Detroit Red Wings (14 votes)
- Runner-up: Anaheim (1)
Player of the decade
- Nik Lidstrom (7)
- Runners-up: Martin Brodeur (3), Jarome Iginla (2), Sidney Crosby (2), Joe Sakic (1)
All-star team of the decade
- Goalie: Martin Brodeur (15)
- Defencemen: Nik Lidstrom (14) and Scott Niedermayer (14)
- Forwards: Jarome Iginla (10), Joe Sakic (8) and Joe Thornton (6)
- Runners-up: Pronger (2), Henrik Zetterberg (2), Sidney Crosby (4), Alexander Ovechkin (4), Martin St. Louis (2), Daniel Alfredsson (4), Pavel Datsyuk (3), Jaromir Jagr (2)
Coach of the decade
- Mike Babcock (7)
- Runners-up: Lindy Ruff (5), Barry Trotz (1), Claude Julien (1) and Scott Bowman (1)
Executive of the decade
- Ken Holland (14)
- Runner-up: Brian Burke (1)
Story of the decade
- 2004-05 NHL Lockout (12)
- Runner-up: 2002 Olympic men's and women's gold (3)
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