Friday, January 20, 2006

 

Buried lede?

Today in the Globe & Mail, Rob Blake talks about the injury problems with Team Canada's defensive corps. It's obviously a concern, yet for some reason, the article doesn't go into what will happen if McCabe and Jovocop still have their groin problems in (say) two weeks.

Put another way (since I haven't read this spelled out anywhere else), Dion Phaneuf may yet be a Canadian Olympian. Candidates to replace Special Ed on the team (and McCabe on the taxi squad) would include Phaneuf (28 pts, +3), Dan Boyle (30, -7), and Scott Hannan (12, -3). Past that, we're looking at guys like Steve Staios and Derek Morris (and M-A Bergeron?). Stay tuned, folks.

Comments:

This article at TSN.ca from a few days ago....

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=151318&hubname=nhl

Sources suggest the Olympic management team started to talk today about contingency plans if any of these players, or any other Olympics who get injured in the next couple of weeks, are unable to play in Torino.

If Team Canada needs to add a defenceman, Tampa Bay’s Dan Boyle is said to be a strong consideration, as was St. Louis Blue blueliner Eric Brewer, until he suffered a significant shoulder injury that could end his season. Others who are under consideration as emergency replacements are San Jose’s Scott Hannan and Florida’s Jay Bouwmeester.

Up front, Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes, who is on the taxi squad, would be the first forward named to the team in the event of an injury. If Staal’s place on the taxi squad needed to be filled, candidates for that would likely include Colorado’s Alex Tanguay, Detroit’s Brendan Shanahan, Nashville’s Paul Kariya and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby.
 


I don't see how Bouwmeester garners consideration. He's good, but there are clearly better players in the league right now.
 


I agree, but it's obvious that those in charge don't trust rookies, no matter how much better they've been than some vets so far this year. Not even just rookies, but anyone who hasn't played and won at an international men's tournament.
 


Eric Brewer??? There are probably senior men's teams in Vernon that bucket of turds couldn't skate his way onto. If they'd named Brewer and left Phaneuf behind, I'd seriously consider cheering for the U.S.A.

I might actually make Willie Mitchell #2 behind Phaneuf--either him or Boyle. Staios is in that mix and Regehr Major isn't far off.
 


Regehr Major is already safely (and healthily - touch wood) on the squad. I hadn't thought of Willie Mitchell.

If it's not Phaneuf, I'd actually suspect Hannan gets the call. (1) He played on the World Cup team, and (2) he's recovered well from a weak start: I think he got as low as -15.
 


Philippe Boucher's having a great season in Dallas. Mike Rathje might be a good candidate to fulfill a defensive, physical role. Both are, I think, more likely than guys like Bouwmeester, Brewer, Morris, Bergeron, etc. It's also funny to note how Aucoin has fallen of the planet this season.

That said, Phaneuf and Boyle were the closest to getting the spot McCabe got, so they have to be the favourites.
 


It's not that funny if, say, you picked Aucoin as your breakout player at the start of the season. I'm actually thinking of doing the face-on-a-dartboard thing with Adrian.
 

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