Quote:
Originally Posted by slicrick
I wasn't implying the Staal was upper tier or olympic caliber but that he could have been if injuries didn't slow him down and kept getting better, lots of better players available
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Looks like I misinterpreted your post. My bad. That said, his numbers don't seem to project to an Olympic roster player, even if we just look at his stats pre-injury and extrapolated them, taking into account moderate improvement each year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jmac
Marc Staal has a lot of hockey left in him and the eye injury had a more significant impact than the concussion.
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Being a defenceman doesn't help someone with what appears to be a blossoming concussion history. As a forward it's easier to recover since you can choose to hit as well as pick your spots to avoid getting hit. For Marc I wonder if there'll be an innate fear of getting forechecked due to his injury history. We all know that once you get one concussion, the subsequent ones are easier to get. I don't doubt there's a lot of hockey left in him given his age, but I suspect with one or two more he might choose quality of life over a long NHL career.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GrapeDrink
Hammer definitely had a shot at Team Canada, I still think he does for the reasons you just stated, I always felt that IF Canada were to pick a shutdown type LD it would come down to Hammer-Vlasic-Staal and I'd say atm Hammer is ahead of Staal who I think is essentially out of the race but behind Vlasic with a month to go.
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Watching him this season it almost looks like the idea of making a stacked Team Canada has caused more brain farts than in all of his previous Canuck years combined. He had a shot at the beginning of the year, but I think it has evaporated. And if TC brass were to choose a LD in a shutdown role, I wouldn't be surprised if JBo was added given his excellent partnership with a pretty-much-elite Pietrangelo.