Czech Olympic team announced

[drummond]

Goal:
Ondrej Pavelec (Winnipeg/NHL)
Jakub Kovar (Yekaterinburg/KHL)
Alexander Salak (St. Petersbourg/KHL)

Defense:
Radko Gudas (Tampa Bay/NHL)
Zbynek Michalek (Phoenix/NHL)
Michal Rozsival (Chicago/NHL)
Ladislav Sm?d (Calgary/NHL)
Marek Zidlicky (New Jersey/NHL)
Michal Barinka (V?tkovice, Czech Extraleague)
Tomas Kaberle (Kladno, Czech Extraleague)
Lukas Krajicek (Minsk/KHL)

Forwards:
Patrik Elias (New Jersey/NHL)
Michael Frolik (Winnipeg/NHL)
Martin Hanzal (Phoenix/NHL)
Ales Hemsky (Edmonton/NHL)
Jarom?r Jagr (New Jersey/NHL)
David Krejci (Boston/NHL)
Milan Michalek (Ottawa/NHL)
Ondrej Palat (Tampa Bay/NHL)
Tomas Plekanec (Montreal/NHL)
Vladimir Sobotka (St. Louis/NHL)
Jakub Voracek (Philadelphia/NHL)
Roman Cervenka (St.Petersburg/KHL)
Petr Nedved (Liberec, Czech Extraleague)
Jiri Novotny (Lev Prague/KHL)


Once this roster was announced, an avalanche of criticism followed.

Kind of main factor was the big ice surface, therefore so many players from Europe leaving notable omissions such as Hudler (Calgary), Vrbata (Phoenix), Kindl (Detroit), Hejda (Colorado) or Polak (St Louis). Bobby Ryan is not alone - Hudler leads Calgary, Vrbata leads Phoenix but they are not going anywhere. But do names such as Barinka, Novotny, Nedved (42 years old), Kaberle, Krajicek etc. scare you. I guess not.

Team is way too old and I guess they will be slow.

People in the Czech Republic are very unhappy with that roster.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Will be nice to see Kaberle again.  Fun fact: he is tied with Karel Pilar for D points in the Czech league.

Paging PilarFan.

 

[bustaheims]

Nedved is still playing? Wow.

 

[Jalili]

Nedved? That is inexcusable.

The rest of the roster looks decent. Up front, there's some real nice forward depth with the backend looking so-so.

I wonder what Drummond will say about that.

 

[drummond]

Nedved? That is inexcusable.

The rest of the roster looks decent. Up front, there's some real nice forward depth with the backend looking so-so.

I wonder what Drummond will say about that.

Nedved is least of my concerns.

D looks very weak. I do understand that the transition to larger ice surface is more difficult for defensemen. Forwards - if good skaters - can actually benefit from having more room. In that regard I do not mind defensemen from European leagues, but those selected are not the best ones available both in KHL and Czech Extraleague. I would take Polak who is a stud for St Louis and during lock-out he was dominant player back home meaning he demonstrated that transition is not a problem for him. I love Tomas Kaberle but he does not have it anymore. Krajicek? Barinka? Give me a break. Btw. the only reason Barinka made the team is that he married daughter of national team head coach...

I would take Vrbata over Milan Michalek and Hudler over Cervenka. Nedved would not be my choice, but he is actually pretty impressive in the Czech Extraleague (291 pts in 290 games, leading his team into semifinals twice almost single handedly) and has a tremendous influence among the guys. When he speaks everybody listens.

The goal may look suspicious to you. Honestly I do not expect Pavelec to be No.1 guy. Salak has a 1.76 GAA in the KHL and Kovar 2.07 GAA. Both are excellent in shootouts, which may play a huge role in a tournament like this. (We won in Nagano thanks to Hasek and shootouts).

Kind of weird was also naming Plekanec captain. I believe it was sort of consulted with Jagr, but general consensus was that Elias will wear the C. I do not know why they did not let the players to decide this.

 

[Kin]

Doesn't concern me the way the Swedes or Russians do but I wouldn't rule them out of anything.