On Wednesday afternoon USA Hockey revealed the identities of the 25 players who will make up the American Olympic men's ice hockey team at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. USA Hockey has a deeper pool of talent to draw from than they've had at any point in recent memory, certainly since 1996. Still some of the management team's decisions have left hockey fans scratching their heads.
Let's take a closer look at the five biggest Olympic team snubs.
Bobby Ryan
Easily the biggest snub is Ottawa Senators winger Bobby Ryan. Ryan is a super elite offensive force and arguably a unique talent among American born forwards. Consider, for example, that among Ryan's countrymen only Phil Kessel and Patrick Kane have outscored the Senators winger since since the start of 2010-11 season.
Here's how Ryan's goal scoring production stacks up against the rest of Team USA's forward group over the past four seasons:
| Team USA Forward | Goals scored since 2010-11 season | GP | Goals per game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phil Kessel | 109 | 253 | 0.43 |
| Patrick Kane | 96 | 244 | 0.39 |
| Bobby Ryan | 94 | 254 | 0.37 |
| Joe Pavelski | 83 | 244 | 0.34 |
| Ryan Kesler | 82 | 217 | 0.38 |
| Max Pacioretty | 79 | 192 | 0.41 |
| David Backes | 77 | 247 | 0.31 |
| Dustin Brown | 75 | 250 | 0.3 |
| Ryan Callahan | 75 | 205 | 0.36 |
| Blake Wheeler | 69 | 251 | 0.28 |
| Zach Parise | 67 | 180 | 0.37 |
| James van Riemsdyk | 64 | 205 | 0.31 |
| Derek Stepan | 63 | 253 | 0.25 |
| Paul Statsny | 63 | 230 | 0.27 |
| T.J. Oshie | 44 | 198 | 0.22 |
In Scott Burnsides excellent treatise on how USA Hockey selected the Olympic team, Ryan was savaged by the management team for his passive personality and lack of foot speed. "He's a passive guy," USA Hockey executive Brian Burke is quoted as saying. "He is not intense. That word is not in his vocabulary. It's never going to be in his vocabulary. He can't spell intense."
That perception, that Ryan isn't "intense" enough, presumably left the Senators forward with very little wiggle room. If he wasn't going to relied on in a prime offensive role, then he was vulnerable to miss out on a shot at a gold medal at Sochi entirely.
Despite Ryan's proven ability to ripple the mesh more often than almost all of the other players on the American team's roster, the coaching staff decided the club had enough goal scoring and preferred to bring an extra centerman (Derek Stepan) and a couple of quicker, more physical wingers (T.J. Oshie and Blake Wheeler).
The thing is, there's really no other American-born player in the National Hockey League who does what Ryan does: which is drive on-ice shooting percentage at a super elite rate. It's not difficult to envision a scenario where the USA Hockey brain trust regrets their decision to leave Ryan at home...
Keith Yandle
Over the past five seasons only three defenseman in the NHL have managed over 200 points: Chicago Blackhawks defenseman and Canadian international Duncan Keith, Ottawa Senators defenseman and Swedish international Erik Karlsson, and Phoenix Coyotes defender Keith Yandle. Surely only one of those three players won't be representing their country at Sochi this February, and that's Keith Yandle.
Yandle plays for the Phoenix Coyotes who are struggling to keep pace in the meat grinder Pacific Division. He's managed 27 points already this season and is the offensive focal point for a team that is sixth in the league in goals scored per game.
Yandle had his fans among the USA Hockey brain trust, most notably Los Angeles Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi. Ultimately the coaching staff didn't feel they could trust Yandle defensively, however, and his abilities as a power-play quarterback were judged inessential because the team plans on using San Jose Sharks forward Joe Pavelski on the point with the man-advantage anyway...
Dustin Byfuglien
Winnipeg Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien might be the most under-rated player in hockey. According to Scott Burnside, the discussion "rarely touched" on Byfuglien's prospects of making the Olympic team. That's completely baffling.
Among American born defenseman Byfgulien is third in even-strength ice-time per game this season. He's also facing tougher competition than all of his peers except for Ryan McDonaugh and John Carlson. Most importantly, Byfuglien is far and away the most dynamic possession player among American born defenseman.
Here's a player usage chart courtesy hockeyabstract.com. The vertical axis represents the difficulty of competition faced by the included defenders while the horizontal axis represents usage (the higher percentage of shifts a player starts in their own end, the further to the left they'll appear).
Meanwhile the size of a bubble represents the amount of ice-time that a player is tasked with, and the shading reflects "relative Corsi" (or the extent to which a player's team out-attempts their opponents when that player is on the ice, relative to how they do without him). The bluer a player's bubble appears, the more a team relies on that player to control the flow of play.
Looking over this chart, it's very difficult to understand why exactly Byfuglien wasn't more seriously considered for the American Olympic men's ice hockey team:
Overall USA Hockey will ice a strong team, a team with a credible opportunity to win a gold medal. With stellar goaltending and a whole host of talented forwards, there's no doubt that the American side will be a very tough out at the Winter Olympic tournament. But the USA Hockey brain trust has decided to leave one of their countries most dynamic offensive forwards, their best offensive defenseman, and their best play driving defenseman at home.
It could cost them.