Who are the hot Olympians?


Well, tomorrow is the opener of the Olympic hockey tournament, U.S.A. vs Switzerland and I'll be there watching. Looking forward to see if the Swiss can pull off another upset like they did in Torino when they beat Canada. Below are the top scoring forwards on each country's team since Jan 1. (GP-G-A-Pts)


Canada

Crosby 21 19 11 30

Marleau 21 13 10 23

Staal 19 12 11 23

Heatley 21 9 12 21

Getzlaf 18 7 13 20

Nash 21 9 11 20

Thornton 21 5 15 20

Iginla 22 7 12 19

Perry 22 6 12 18

Toews 21 7 9 16


Crosby's almost goal per game pace bodes well as does the San Jose trio coming in fairly hot. Iginla and Staal have picked up the pace of late with Staal having a somewhat surprising 12 goals in his last 19 games.


And the coldest of Canada's forwards...

Bergeron 15 1 6 7

Morrow 17 1 7 8

Richards 21 8 4 12


I have questioned the selection of Bergeron from the beginning, and I only hope Hockey Canada didn't make a mistake by including Crosby's old World Junior running mate. Brendan Morrow as well is troubling, I know he's on the team more for his tempo-setting and grinding, but one goal since Jan. 1st, that just doesn't cut it.


United States

Kane 21 8 14 22

Kesler 20 6 14 20

Langenbrunner 22 5 15 20

Parise 21 11 8 19

Backes 19 4 12 16


Kane and Parise are expected to lead the U.S. offensively but the presence of Kesler, Langenbrunner and Backes on their hot list shows they may have more depth than at first glance.


Drury 22 5 3 8

Malone 21 2 6 8


Chris Drury's days as a reliable offensive contributor may be behind him, but Ryan Malone's 2 goals in his last 21 games is fairly atrocious.


Russia

Ovechkin 22 16 23 39

Semin 22 16 17 33

Malkin 21 8 19 27

Kovalchuk 22 9 12 21

Datsyuk 21 8 11 19


Pretty scary stuff, all the top Russians are firing on all cylinders as of the start of the tournament, Ovechkin and Semin's 16 goals each are second to only Crosby.


Sweden

Backstrom 22 11 19 30

H.Sedin 20 6 21 27

D.Sedin 20 6 19 25

Alfredsson 15 8 10 18

Hornqvist 20 10 6 16

Zetterberg 19 6 10 16


Even though the Sedins have slowed down a bit on their recent road swing, they're both coming into the Games on a fairly hot swing. Backstrom is just one of the many Capitals on fire since the New Year. Zetterberg being tied with Patrick Hornqvist in points since Jan. 1 is some cause for concern for the Swedes.


Czechs

Havlat 20 7 12 19

Fleischmann 22 4 15 19

Plekanec 20 7 7 14

Krejci 20 4 8 12


Not very much in the way of hot Czech team members playing in the NHL. They better hope Jagr brings some scoring punch from the KHL.


Finland

M.Koivu 20 6 11 17

Miettinen 20 7 6 13

O.Jokinen 22 6 7 13

Hagman 22 5 5 10

S.Koivu 18 4 6 10


Much like the Czechs, Finland is not bringing many hot scorers to the Olympics although they are predictably led by Mikko Koivu and should be during the Games as well.


Slovakia

Hossa 19 11 9 20

Gaborik 20 9 9 18

Handzus 20 7 6 13

Kopecky 20 3 3 6

Satan 18 3 3 6

Demitra 11 1 3 4


Not much here after the big two, they better hope Halak steals a game or two for them.

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