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Men's Olympic hockey

Kunitz playing top line while St. Louis and Duchene practicing as the extra forwards.

I get the need for chemistry but holy geez, come on.
 
My extras would be Kunitz, Marleau and Sharp.

St Loius and Duchene as extras? On bigger ice, am better St Louis and Duchene are faster more agile than Kunitz and Marleau.
 
Potvin29 said:
This is what LeBrun has:

Kunitz-Crosby-Carter; Sharp-Toews-Nash; Marleau-Getzlaf-Perry; Benn-Tavares-Bergeron; St. Louis/Duchene extras
Click to expand...

So the same except Tavares centring 4th line and Marleau a winger on 3rd line.
Click to expand...

That I don't like. Tavares needs to be in the top-9. Marleau needs to be not on the team.
 
Potvin29 said:
Our two American Leafs:

@Real_ESPNLeBrun 

Team USA forward lines from today's practice: Brown-Kesler-Kane; Parise-Backes-Oshie; Kessel-Pavelski-JVR; Pacioretty-Stastny-Callahan...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I figured Parise and Kane would both be on the top-line, but it looks like they wanted to spread out the wealth a little more. That's a very, very solid forward group.
 
mc said:
My extras would be Kunitz, Marleau and Sharp.

St Loius and Duchene as extras? On bigger ice, am better St Louis and Duchene are faster more agile than Kunitz and Marleau.
Click to expand...

Marleau is comfortably one of the best skaters on the team. Duchene might have him beat but St. Louis is definitely not faster than he is.
 
I wouldn't get too critical of the lines here. I'm sure there'll be trial and error and the difference in ice time between the 1st and 3rd lines will be pretty minimal.
 
Marleau and Duchene have almost identical numbers. Other than being younger, and I'm asking this because I don't follow either closely, what does Duchene bring that Marleau doesn't that warrants people to want Marleau off the team or at the least scratched for Duchene?

Like I said, I've never followed Marleau closely but I've never understood why he always gets such a bad rap. Numbers wise he's had a couple mediocre years but he seems to consistently put up 30+ goals a season and 60 - 80 points.
 
OldTimeHockey said:
Marleau and Duchene have almost identical numbers. Other than being younger, and I'm asking this because I don't follow either closely, what does Duchene bring that Marleau doesn't that warrants people to want Marleau off the team or at the least scratched for Duchene?

Like I said, I've never followed Marleau closely but I've never understood why he always gets such a bad rap. Numbers wise he's had a couple mediocre years but he seems to consistently put up 30+ goals a season and 60 - 80 points.
Click to expand...

If I had to guess, it'd be that Duchene is much faster and has produced without things being put on a plate for him by Joe Thornton.
 
OldTimeHockey said:
Marleau and Duchene have almost identical numbers. Other than being younger, and I'm asking this because I don't follow either closely, what does Duchene bring that Marleau doesn't that warrants people to want Marleau off the team or at the least scratched for Duchene?

Like I said, I've never followed Marleau closely but I've never understood why he always gets such a bad rap. Numbers wise he's had a couple mediocre years but he seems to consistently put up 30+ goals a season and 60 - 80 points.
Click to expand...

I don't know, but most of the criticism voiced about Marleau isn't really accurate, so it's hard to say.

Marleau would be suited to playing with Getzlaf and Perry, although you could just as easily put Duchene there as well. The main difference is in Marleau being a more experienced, better all-around player than Duchene, and actually played with them for a bit in Vancouver.
 
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
OldTimeHockey said:
Marleau and Duchene have almost identical numbers. Other than being younger, and I'm asking this because I don't follow either closely, what does Duchene bring that Marleau doesn't that warrants people to want Marleau off the team or at the least scratched for Duchene?

Like I said, I've never followed Marleau closely but I've never understood why he always gets such a bad rap. Numbers wise he's had a couple mediocre years but he seems to consistently put up 30+ goals a season and 60 - 80 points.
Click to expand...

If I had to guess, it'd be that Duchene is much faster and has produced without things being put on a plate for him by Joe Thornton.
Click to expand...

Is Duchene really 'much' faster? I remember Marleau being a speed demon.
 
Vladislav Tretiak fire back:

If that sounded like a veiled shot at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where the tales of the bus-based dysfunction were accurate, Tretiak got even more explicit. He recalled where he stayed when he competed in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.
?We were accommodated in prisons in the United States,? Tretiak said, ?staying in not the most favourable conditions.?
Click to expand...

http://www.thestar.com/sports/sochi2014/hockey/2014/02/10/vladislav_tretiak_fires_back_at_critics_of_sochi_olympics_feschuk.html
 
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
If I had to guess, it'd be that Duchene is much faster and has produced without things being put on a plate for him by Joe Thornton.
Click to expand...

Except you say that like Duchene has produced at a roughly equal level to Marleau over the years. Absolutely, Marleau has had his point totals increased by playing with Thornton but the fact that he's been a consistent 30+ goal scorer on the wing is why he's being favoured for the role of a goal-scoring winger over a guy who's never cracked 30 goals as a center.

I mean, Duchene hasn't yet matched any of Marleau's pre-Thornton goal totals either and is only barely on pace to this year. 
 
Nik the Trik said:
WhatIfGodWasALeaf said:
If I had to guess, it'd be that Duchene is much faster and has produced without things being put on a plate for him by Joe Thornton.
Click to expand...

Except you say that like Duchene has produced at a roughly equal level to Marleau over the years. Absolutely, Marleau has had his point totals increased by playing with Thornton but the fact that he's been a consistent 30+ goal scorer on the wing is why he's being favoured for the role of a goal-scoring winger over a guy who's never cracked 30 goals as a center.

I mean, Duchene hasn't yet matched any of Marleau's pre-Thornton goal totals either and is only barely on pace to this year.
Click to expand...

Moreover, Marleau barely plays with Thornton outside of the PP, which throws that argument out the door.
 
Are there any line combos being discussed, as in reports from practice, or interviews with coaches?

Edit: just read back through the thread and found some answers.
 
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