Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar, Marc-Andre Fleury and Brooks Orpik suit up for their Russian, Canadian and United States clubs, respectively, at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada starting today, and it's quite a contingent of stars for the Pittsburgh Penguins to send west for battle against one another for worldwide hockey supremacy.
Wait a minute. What's that?
I'm missing someone?
Who?
Oh yeah.
Right.
Sidney Crosby.
Only the guy who has probably more of the spotlight on him than any other athlete in the entire games, what with the home country's national sport being played on home soil and all.
The attention on Crosby at the games has already been immense.
And the pressure for him to lead Canada to victory is even greater.
While Crosby isn't the Captain of Team Canada -- veteran defenseman Scott Niedermayer is -- #87 might as well have the "C" on his chest because all the focus has been on him since he arrived in Vancouver late Sunday night.
Just for example, here's a reprinted piece from the AP. Just reading the piece says everything about the eyes on Sid in this tournament:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_667328.html
AND, for those who don't know, that's a piece written in the UNITED STATES!
Meanwhile, Fleury's Canadian teammate, Marc-Andre Fleury, is probably not going to see any action in the tournament, if today's decision by Canadian coach Mike Babcock to start Roberto Luongo against Norway is any indication.
There had been some thought that Fleury might have a shot at the #2 position behind assumed starter Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils.
Babcock putting Luongo in net today, before coming back to Brodeur Wednesday, pretty much puts to rest any questions about whether Fleury is the #3 man in these games.
And while it's hard to question Brodeur's status as the #1 man (even though I could make an argument against it), he's probably the guy most people would call upon to win one game. Because of that, and given his history of success, it's hard to legitimately question the decision to make him the top dog in net for Canada.
Luongo, on the other hand -- while generally recognized as one of the world's finer goaltenders --has a weak track record of success in his career during NHL playoff action.
Couple that with Fleury's strong performance in the last two post-seasons (not to mention his Stanley Cup -- something Luongo doesn't have) and you wouldn't be off the mark to say that Fleury deserved some time between the pipes during the Olympics while wearing the Maple Leaf on his crest.
While I'm talking about goaltending at the tournament, I make no bones about my opinion that netminding is the biggest and most important variable to taking home gold in Vancouver.
In a one-game, single-elimination tournament (which is where everyone will be next week when the medal round starts), anything can happen. If an obscure netminder is able to stand on his head, big upsets can happen.
So what do you think might happen when the likes of Henrik Lundqvist, Evgeni Nabokov and Ryan Miller are factored into the picture?
A more wide open race than most observers will admit.
Thus, while Canada can only be considered the favorite in the games, it can't be considered a shock if the Swedes, the Russians or even the boys from the good 'ol U.S.A end up with gold.
While Russia with Alexander Ovechkin, Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk has top end firepower that no team -- even Canada -- can match, they have some depth issues, particularly on defense.
Sweden has similar concerns. Up front, they will be trotting out the likes of the Sedin twins, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, and Daniel Afredsson, and that group can match up with the top 5 on maybe any other club except the Russians. On defense, though, while they are led by Nicklas Lidstrom, the depth falls off a little bit after him, Nicklas Kronwall and Mattias Ohlund.
On the home front, the US is off to a decent start, after it's 3-1 defeat of Switzerland today. Former Penguin Ryan Malone scored in that victory, but only time will tell how they jell during the rest of the preliminary round -- a round which finishes with a game against Canada, by the way.
Of course, while the games in the preliminary round aren't likely to get anyone going, next week's medal round could very well provide everyone some of the finest hockey in a generation.
And if Crosby's Team Canada ends up facing Ovechkin's Team Russia with a medal at stake ....
You think sparks fly when the Penguins and Capitals play?
Can you imagine what those two will do on the international stage against one another?
I can't wait to find out.
More later this week.
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