Rest of Europe - Look to 2010

Well, we did the Canadians and the Americans, so I figured it was only necessary to go through the remaining hockey powers: Latvia, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. And if you don't believe that, then we could always keep it boring, bland and predictable and go with the four dominant Euro teams of: Russia, Sweden, Finland and the Czechs. Instead of going into depth with these teams, I figured I would just do them all in one major blog. I also attempting to keep in mind that every team needs: skill, grit, speed, youth, leadership, size, quickness, so I just listed the initial eight picks, filled out the rest of the roster, added in the 'on the bubble names' and lead into a great debate on how well we know the other teams going for the Gold in 2010...

Russia.
This should be the most entertaining team in the tournament had may have the most offensively gifted team.

Initial Eight.
Alex Ovechkin, Gino Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk, Alex Kovalev, Andrei Markov, Sergei Zubov (captain) & Alex Semin.

Rest of the Forwards.
Alex Frolov, Alex Radulov, Slava Kozlov, Enver Lisin, Sergei Fedorov, Nikita Filatov & Nikolai Kulemin.

Rest of Dmen.
Denis Grebeshkov, Fedor Tyutin, Anton Volchenkov, Dmitri Kalinin & Maxim Goncharov.

Goalies.
Evgeni Nabokov (yes, he isn't Russian, but he's played for Russia at the Olympics, so he counts), Nikolai Khabibulin & Ilja Bryzgalov.

On the Bubble Players.
Sergei Samsonov, Viktor Tikhonov, Maxim Afinogenov, Viktor Kozlov, Alexei Semenov, Evgeni Artyukhin, Sergei Andronov, Nikita Klyukin & Dmitri Orlov.



Sweden.
The defending Olympic champs should have another team that could dominate the tourney and capture it's 2nd consecutive gold medal.

Initial Eight.
D. Sedin, H. Sedin, Henrik Zetterberg, Nik Backstrom, Daniel Alfredsson, Markus Naslund, Nik Lidstrom (captain) & Mats Sundin.

Rest of Forwards.
Johna Franzen, Magnus Svensson-Paajarvi, Kristian Huselius, Tomas Holmstrom & Oscar Moller.

Rest of Dmen.
Nik Kronwall, Mattias Ohlund, Victor Hedman, Alex Edler, Johnny Oduya & Tobias Enstrom.

Goalies.
Henrik Lundqvist, Mikael Tellqvist & Erik Ersberg.

On the Bubble Players.
Johan Hedberg, Kimmy Johnsson, Nik Havelid, Andreas Lilja, Anton Stralman, Douglas Murray, Mikael Sameulsson, Patrik Berglund, Fabian Brunnstrom, Mikael Backlund, Freddy Modin, Michael Nylander, Sammy Pahlsson, Loui Eriksson & Erik Karlsson.



Finland.
Well, the glory years are behind them and age is creeping up on current NHL superstars, but you can never count out the Finns as they proved in 2006 with their silver medal performance.

Initial Eight.
Olli Jokinen, Teemu Selanne (captain), S. Koivu, M. Koivu, Nik Hagman, Kimmo Timonen & Mikka Kiprusoff.

Rest of Forwards.
Jere Lehtinen, Ville Peltonen, Tuomo Ruutu, Anti Miettinen, Valtteri Filppula, Jarkko Ruutu, Teemu Hartikainen & Jussi Jokinen.

Rest of Dmen.
Joni Pitkanen, Sami Salo, Ossi Vaananen, Teppo Numminen, Toni Lydman & Lasse Kukkonen.

Goalies.
Nik Backstrom & Pekka Rinne

On the Bubble Players.
Ville Koistinen, Anssi Salmela, Vesa Toskala, Kari Lehtonen, Karri Ramo, Sean Bergenheim, Lauri Korpikoski, Petteri Nokelainen, Jesse Joensuu & Jyri Niemi.



Czech Republic.
The Czechs, to me, are the most interesting team to watch in 2010 because I think they have the most depth of any country in Europe. They have gone: Gold in 1998, no medal in 2002, Bronze in 2006. So, what team will show up in Vancouver, the strong medal contender or the quarter-finalist?

Initial Eight.
Tomas Kaberle, Pavel Kubina, Patrik Elias, Ales Hemsky, Martin Havlat, Milan Hejduk, Petr Sykora & Jaromir Jagr (captain).

Rest of Forwards.
Jakub Voracek, Jiri Hudler, Michael Frolik, David Krejci, Robert Lang, Milan Michalek & Martin Erat.

Rest of Dmen.
Michal Rozsival, Roman Hamrlik, Filip Kuba, Jaro Spacek & Marek Zidlicky.

Goalies.
Tomas Vokoun, Ondrej Pavelec & Marek Schwarz.

On the Bubble Players.
Martin Hanzal, Radek Dvorak, Tomas Fleischmann, Tomas Plekanec, Kiri Tlusty, Ales Kotalik, Radim Vrbata, Petr Prucha, Bobby Holik, Jan Hejda, Martin Skoula, Marek Malik, Zbynek Michalek, Lukas Krajicek, Frantisek Kaberle, Ladislav Smid & Radek Martinek.

Cheers.
-Smith