Sizing up Team Canada vs Team USA in NHL 24
Sizing up Team Canada vs Team USA in NHL 24
14 years ago today, Sidney Crosby erupted a nation of red and white, scoring "The Golden Goal" at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
After receiving a sweet dish from Jarome Iginla along the boards, Crosby fired a quick wrister that caught American netminder Ryan Miller off guard, beating him fivehole.
In honor of this historical event, we here at The Hockey News Gaming Site did some research and looked at what Canada and USA's rosters would look like if they faced off today. These are not the in game rosters but our own version of what the rosters could look like.
We included each player's overalls so you can decide which roster is better based on EA's player ratings.
Team Canada:
Forwards:
Zach Hyman (88) - Connor McDavid (97) - Brayden Point (92)
Brad Marchand (91) - Sidney Crosby (93) - Nathan MacKinnon (96)
Steven Stamkos (90) - Connor Bedard (86) - Mitch Marner (92)
Carter Verhaeghe (88) - Mathew Barzal (89) - Mark Stone (90)
Extras: Sam Reinhart (90), Travis Konecny (87), Robert Thomas (89)
Defense:
Devon Toews (89) - Cale Makar (95)
Shea Theodore (89) - Alex Pietrangelo (89)
Josh Morrissey (89) - Drew Doughty (88)
Extras: Noah Dobson (89), Morgan Rielly (88), Brandon Montour (87)
Goaltenders:
Adin Hill (86)
Tristan Jarry (87)
Extra: Jordan Binnington (86)
Canada's roster is stacked up front with three generational talents in Crosby, McDavid, and Bedard. While making this list, we noticed that there aren't a lot of left-handed forwards to choose from and the forward core for Canada is dominated by right-handed players.
Goaltending is where Canada would have its biggest struggles by far. Adin Hill essentially gets the nod as the starter based on what he did last year helping Vegas win the Stanley Cup. There's clearly a desperate need for a stud Canadian goalie to emerge from the weeds.
Team USA:
Forwards:
Brady Tkachuk (89) - Auston Matthews (94) - Matthew Tkachuk (93)
Kyle Connor (90) - Jack Hughes (93) - Jack Eichel (91)
Jason Robertson (92) - Dylan Larkin (89) - Patrick Kane (89)
Jake Guentzel (89) - J.T. Miller (90) - Joe Pavelski (88)
Extras: Alex DeBrincat (88), Chris Kreider (87), Tage Thompson (89)
Defense:
Quinn Hughes (94) - Charlie McAvoy (92)
Jaccob Slavin (88) - Adam Fox (92)
Zach Werenski (87) - John Carlson (89)
Extras: K'Andre Miller (86), Seth Jones (86), Noah Hanifin (85)
Goaltenders:
Connor Hellebuyck (92)
Thatcher Demko (90)
Extra: Jake Oettinger (91)
USA's roster is led by the greatest goal scorer on the planet, Auston Matthews, who is slotted in between his two good friends and brothers, Matthew and Brady Tkachuk. Defensively, USA may get the edge with three franchise-caliber defensemen on their roster - Quinn Hughes, McAvoy, and Fox.
Goaltending isn't even close. All three goalies listed above are miles better than the three goaltenders Canada would have to choose from. There's even Jeremy Swayman out of Boston, who would easily be Canada's starting netminder.
Additionally, we decided to boot up NHL 10 and simulate a rematch of the 2010 Gold Medal Game to see if the USA could get revenge.
In the simulation USA was able to avenge history and pull off a 2-1 victory. Patrick Kane was the sole player who scored in both real life and the simulation. Ryan Whitney scored the Golden Goal for Team USA while Ryan Getzlaf scored Canada's lone goal.
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