How should NHL fans translate to Olympic hockey teams?
The Winter Games put an interesting strain on the loyalty of an NHL fan. It’s when you realize that not only is half of your favorite team Canadian, but 90 percent of those remaining affiliate themselves somewhere across the ocean. Clearly your first loyalties should lie with Team USA because if they don’t, you’re a “terrist.” (OK, fine, I suppose a scant handful of NHL fans are Canadian and we’ll let them cheer for Team Canada), but many fans would do well to pick up a second team.
In fact, some countries almost still look like your favorite team.
Every 2010 Olympic men’s hockey team has at least one NHLer on the roster. Starting in reverse order of how they were ranked pre-competition, we’ll let you know which fans might want to adopt each country as a ‘second team.’
Norway – 1 NHL player
You’d think this would be easy. One guy. Sent over from the Detroit Red Wings. Not that anyone needs to concern themselves with the thought of Norway taking the gold, but this should be a Wings team according to NHL fans right? Not so fast. Because the player in question is Ole-Kristian Tollefsen. And he has yet to actually play a game for Detroit. Sorry Norway, let’s hope you brought your own fans. You won’t find any here.
Latvia – 2 NHL players
Latvia doesn’t come off much better than Norway as I don’t imagine many NHL fans are clamoring to see Oskars Bartulis or Karlis Skrastins on the Olympic stage. Though if it really came down to a fight between Flyers fans and Stars fans, I have to think the Philly fans would win … because they will cut you. We’ll call Latvia a fringe team for Flyers fans.
Germany – 7 NHL players
OK, now we’re talking! Seven from the NHL. Way to infiltrate the Germans. (Or is that Germany infiltrating the NHL?) We haven’t reached the point where NHL super-stardom and the Olympics collide, but the Nashville Predators did send two of their guys along, while the other four NHL teams represented only sent one. So Nashville? Go ahead and root for Germany. The rest of us promise not to call you traitors. To your face.
Belarus – 5 NHL players
Belarus is actually less impressive in their NHL representation than it may appear. Of those five we have another Red Wing who hasn’t actually played a game with them and a Canadien who Montreal hopes will be ready to return from injury by the end of the Olympic break, but clearly will not be playing for his country. But the Canadiens still had two more players named to the Belarus team than almost any other NHL team, and two more Kostitsyns named than any team at all, so we forgive you, Montreal fans, if you’re keeping tabs on Belarus’ performance as well.
Slovakia – 12 NHL players
Good showing from the NHL here, though the only team sending multiple players is the Blackhawks. And did I mention one of them is Marian Hossa? Of course Hawks fans should be cheering for Slovakia as their second team. They have two players there and have made the Slovakian team enemies of half the NHL by including Hossa. In fact, I bet he’s really Bulgarian and just thought he’d have a better chance of medaling if he changed his nationality. (Note to Hossa: Next time pick Russian.) Still, congratulations Blackhawks, here is your second team.
Switzerland – 3 NHL players
After Switzerland, this gets easier. Three players, three teams sending them. I tried to focus on numbers of players (or at least numbers of games played with a team) more than who is sending the “best” players, but for the Swiss it seems the only NHL fans that have a legitimate claim to their team is the Ducks for shipping off No. 1 goalie Jonas Hiller.
USA – ALL NHL players
As we stated before, this one is a wash. One of two Olympic rosters comprised solely of NHLers. (Give me $20 if you can guess the other. It was worth a try…) Even if your NHL team isn’t represented here, it’s still “your team.”
Czech Republic – 16 NHL players
The Czech team has a good healthy mix with two players coming from the Thrashers, Senators and Wild, as well as 10 other NHL teams. But we’re not about to call this one for Atlanta, Ottawa, Minnesota or any of the other teams individually represented. The Czech Republic should serve only as a second team for Jaromir Jagr fans. I’m not sure which NHL team they may support in the regular season, but I’m betting there’s still more of them than Thrashers fans.
Finland – 18 NHL players
A handful of teams have two of their players included on the Finland roster, the Minnesota Wild is the only team with three. And considering their three are Niklas Backstrom, Mikko Koivu and Antti Miettinen, it’s perfectly fair if Wild fans reserve a special little place in their hearts for the Finnish team.
Sweden – 19 NHL players
Sweden could make a good second team for the Canucks (as if Vancouver, of all places, needed a ‘second team’ in this Olympics!) After all, they have sent the Wonder Twin power on to the Swedes, who many feel are medal contenders. But a quick glance at the roster shows Sweden can only truly be claimed by Detroit fans. Not only do they have four of their men playing for Sweden, but when one had to pull out due to injury, he was replaced with (who else?) another Red Wing. There’s more Wings playing for them than guys playing on Swedish teams total. The biggest confusion for Detroit fans choosing to back their second team should be “Why are the Wings wearing blue and yellow?”
Russia – 14 NHL players
Russia may have two Penguins to go with their three Capitals but this shouldn’t even be a question. As a second team? This one belongs to the Capitals. Evgeni Malkin is good, but that’s like ordering chicken because you can’t have steak. If a Pens fan isn’t cheering for Team USA, I suspect it’s only because they’re worshiping on the altar of Sidney Crosby. Meanwhile, the Caps have sent their own golden calf, Alexander Ovechkin, on to Team Russia, and added his ridiculously high-chemistry linemate Alexander Semin and goalie Semyon Varlamov to boot. D.C. fans might even have fond memories of how Sergei Federov (also on the team) was starting to get his second wind in his last years with the Capitals. So go ahead, Caps fans. Feel free to support Russia (as a second team only!) And we won’t call you Commies. But we might still think you’re spies.
But no matter who NHL fans choose for their second team, the Olympics should play out among fans by ultimately dividing them into the same two sides we’ve seen in the past few NHL seasons: Those who love Sidney Crosby … and those who want to see their team make him cry.
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