Canada vs USA Part 2: Forwards

[HKSR]

Figured I started one about our defensive matchups, now why not look at forwards. 

 

Here's my Team Canada forward group:

Bedard-McDavid-Reinhart

Marner-Mackinnon-Stamkos

Point-Crosby-Marchessault

Marchand-O'Reilly-Konecny

 

USA:

Robertson-Matthews-Tkachuk

Tkachuk-Hughes-Eichel

Kreider-Miller-Boeser

Keller-Trochek-Connor

 

Who you taking? 

 

I'm going with Canada for this one too.  McDavid and Mackinnon are the difference makers here.  Rolling out those 2 over and over would be absolute hell to defend against.  A 'break' from the offensive onslaught comes in the form of Crosby?  Or else the ultimate pest line in Marchand, Konecny, and O'Reilly. 

I feel Crosby and O'Reilly's lines could nullify a lot of what USA throws at Canada as well.

[Coconuts]

As of today, probably Canada, but some of those names probably won't feature in the next Olympics 

 

Canada's skill probably wins out, but when looking at each of these two forward groups I might give the grit edge to the US, having both Tkachuk's and Miller up front probably makes them annoying to play against 

[Miss Korea]

It has been a very disappointing season for American forwards.  A lot of guys experienced major team regression and/or crippling injuries.  Jack Hughes was broken.  Trevor Zegras was broken.  Kyle Connor was broken.  Dylan Larkin was broken.  And with them went most of their teams' hopes and ambitions (WPG excluded).  Jersey crumpled.  Detroit crumpled.  Buffalo crumpled.  Anaheim was a mess from day one.

 

Exceptions exist for guys like J.T. Miller and Auston Matthews (will he hit 70?), but overall it's been a rough year.  The next two years should be good for them.  Their roster is younger than ours - they just need to stay healthy.

 

Edited April 10 by Miss Korea