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2026 Winter Olympics: Thread Title Under Construction

These Men’s Hockey playoff games are kind of showing the downside of having NHL players at the Olympics: the countries without very many (or any) NHL players are having trouble competing. And even the ones who have more than a few, like Germany, are having to play their stars a fuckton.
 
Jimjamesak said:
These Men’s Hockey playoff games are kind of showing the downside of having NHL players at the Olympics: the countries without very many (or any) NHL players are having trouble competing. And even the ones who have more than a few, like Germany, are having to play their stars a fuckton.
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Correct, but it was/is bad for the US the other way cause Russia when they're in is always a professional team. Frankly, team sports are just a mess in the Olympics unless they're team sports like curling.

Softball, baseball, hockey, basketball, all a mess.
 
ScoobyDoo said:
Correct, but it was/is bad for the US the other way cause Russia when they're in is always a professional team. Frankly, team sports are just a mess in the Olympics unless they're team sports like curling.

Softball, baseball, hockey, basketball, all a mess.
Click to expand...
TBF, I didn’t say it was a bad thing to have NHL players, just that there is a downside. The upside of the matchups in the quarterfinals and beyond far outweighs the downside.
 
Jimjamesak said:
TBF, I didn’t say it was a bad thing to have NHL players, just that there is a downside. The upside of the matchups in the quarterfinals and beyond far outweighs the downside.
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I wonder when we get to the point where this discourages other countries from trying to invest more.

The Dream Team famously kickstarted the rest of the world to realize they were truly that far behind in basketball. Does something like this help Italy/France get better? South Korea immensely improved their team to get to where they were in 2018, but that wasn’t against professionals and they’ve quickly started their down slide. China just decided to buy a team and that was that in 2022.

We’ve had 28 years of NHL players now and really the Big Six seems to have dropped off and become the Big Five with Czechia not showing up recently, and with Russia banned it’s the Big Four. Slovakia is improving, and Germany has had some good runs, but while basketball is becoming more competitive, hockey almost seems to be trending the opposite way.
 
What about framing the tournament like the football one, where it's basically the tournament that is already held for the O18 Jrs and add a few professionals?

Does that one get strong international competition?
 
Spartanforlife4 said:
I wonder when we get to the point where this discourages other countries from trying to invest more.

The Dream Team famously kickstarted the rest of the world to realize they were truly that far behind in basketball. Does something like this help Italy/France get better? South Korea immensely improved their team to get to where they were in 2018, but that wasn’t against professionals and they’ve quickly started their down slide. China just decided to buy a team and that was that in 2022.

We’ve had 28 years of NHL players now and really the Big Six seems to have dropped off and become the Big Five with Czechia not showing up recently, and with Russia banned it’s the Big Four. Slovakia is improving, and Germany has had some good runs, but while basketball is becoming more competitive, hockey almost seems to be trending the opposite way.
Click to expand...
I would caution against believing in trends given that this is the first best-on-best tournament in this generation. Plus, you have to address elephant in the room of no Russia, France wouldn’t be here if Russia wasn’t banned (and it’s possible someone like Latvia would be missing in lieu of Belarus).

Things are improving though, Germany is making strides, Slovakia is trending up and the Swiss are honestly on the verge of a breakout if they can finally put things together. Czechia is far better than they were in 2014 as well. Go back 20 years and the midfield is far better than it was then.

I would worry a bit about one of the Big 5 sliding back like Czechia did though. Finland’s professional league Liiga is apparently a financial mess and their lower division is even worse. Canada is starting to have development issues and Hockey Canada is a mess. And let’s not even begin on the financial and political mess that the US is.
 
I will say, as much things have improved there is one gap that really needs to close and that’s the coaching gap. Of 32 NHL coaches 26 are Canadian. Of the 6 non-Canadians 5 of those are American (Blashill, Hynes, Sullivan, Muse, and Warsofsky). Marco Sturm of the Bruins is the only European.
 
So to the athletes for the next Olympics- if anyone says they want to feature you- say no. You don’t need even more pressure.

Another one bites the dust.
 
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