I know the U.S. hockey team doesn't stand a chance at the Olympics. I know it pales in comparison to Team Canada. I know the Americans will be lucky to get even a bronze medal or a meaningless preliminary round victory over the Canadians. I know all that. But does it have to be so depressing to see on paper?
Here's the thing: Team USA is not good. And to make matters worse: rival Canada is completely (if predictably) stacked. The difference between the two teams is staggering. And it reinforces just how far U.S. hockey has to go until it can be elite again at the international level.
First, Let's compare some numbers. We'll start with the teams' forwards:
These tables show the current NHL stats for Team USA's and Canada's respective forwards. It doesn't take Mike Milbury to see the difference. Collectively, Canada has scored 66 more goals and tallied 116 more points than the United States—or about 5 goals and 9 points per player. They're also +27 better (a 63% increase over USA's +43). Canada has only one player with less than 30 points: Brendan Morrow with 27 (and he's not on the team to score anyway). USA has 5. Canada has 6 of the NHL's top-20 scorers—and they left four more off the roster (Brad Richards, Marty St. Louis, Steven Stamkos, and Nathan Horton). USA has two—they didn't leave any off. Ten of the thirteen Canadians are either first or second in scoring on their NHL teams (all but Marleau, Morrow, and Toews). Four Americans are (Kane, Kesler, Langenbrunner, and Parise). But it only gets worse . . .
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