Team USA lost to Team Canada by a score of 4-2 and to some fans’ surprise, they failed to advance out of Group A along with Canada. It leaves a meaningless game against the Czech Republic on the schedule and has many in the hockey community wondering where the heck they go from here. The answers are simple and just a few tweaks could have had Team USA advancing to the semifinals.
It all begins with the front office.
[link_box id=”22277″ site_id=”17″ layout=”link-box-third” alignment=”alignright”]Everyone will want to point the finger at John Tortorella for his coaching and utilization of players. Remember that Tortorella didn’t hire himself (though he probably would have tried). He was put in position by Dean Lombardi, Team USA and Los Angeles Kings GM, to coach this team. He did what he could with what he had in front of him. Tortorella did have some influence on the player selections (such as his decision to bench Big Buff in the team’s first game) but overlooking the fact that Lombardi brought him on is a brainless faux pas.
Tortorella is good for a quote and with it the media loves to lap up everything he has to say. When the man is doing well and isn’t speaking as much, he is forgotten about and is barely a second thought to some. When he is losing and making comments that shouldn’t be made, it is like hyenas feasting on new flesh. This isn’t the type of coach that you want behind the bench of your team. The attention he brings to the team is rarely positive and as his archaic style begins to fossilize, it’s time to cut your losses. Finding someone just as capable as him isn’t a tough task. He had multiple capable people on his staff that could have made this into a more impressive squad.
Back to Lombardi. His roster selection was abysmal as he left multiple defensemen that are difference makers at home. Justin Faulk, Kevin Shattenkirk and Nick Leddy were all left at home and they are players that can make a bumbling defensive corps turn into one of the best in the tournament. Justin Abdelkader and Brandon Dubinsky are the punching bags at the moment and rightfully so. The real problem may have been the inclusion of so many slow, over the hill players that aren’t going to do well on an international stage. David Backes is a fine player but his numbers have declined over the past three seasons. Is the expectation that he is going to turn back into the Backes of five years ago? Only the truly legendary players age gracefully into their 30s and 40s even then it isn’t a guarantee. Move on from those players to a younger core that can push Canada or Team Europe and truly bring the game to them, not with grit and truculence, but with speed and versatility.
Team USA sure loved their grit. T.J. Oshie’s quote prior to the game against Canada sums things up nicely:
"If it comes to 100% skill, they win. 100% grit, we win." —T.J. Oshie, on all you need to know about USA vs. Canada #WCH2016
— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) September 20, 2016
It’s safe to assume this same ideology was used when assembling the roster.
Surely, someone will blame the inclusion of Team North America in the tournament and how that effects Team USA’s roster make up. That argument is lacking in any substance as Canada faced the same adversity. Team USA could’ve selected from a bevy of players who are in their mid-20s and effective in the league. Rather they stuck with what they knew and got burned.
Fundamentally, the younger players being developed by the U.S. are so different from the players now occupying the old guard. It isn’t as if some of the older players aren’t talented such as Max Pacioretty and Patrick Kane. The philosophy is so ingrained in them that it didn’t even feel like those players even arrived. It only felt like husks of them were in attendance.
Life will go on and USA hockey doesn’t have to change. Not adapting to a new era though could damn them to mediocrity until irreparable damage to the program is done. The question shouldn’t be “should these people be fired?” It should be more of a question of when. Your time is up.
We’ll let Phil Kessel close out this discussion:
Just sitting around the house tonight w my dog. Felt like I should be doing something important, but couldn't put my finger on it.
— Phil Kessel (@PKessel81) September 21, 2016
