I am as big a fan of Erik Johnson as anyone but even I think you put Byfuglien in over him and you most CERTAINLY put him in over Jack fucking Johnson.
But of course coaches for some reason still think Big Buff should only be used as a thug. Really annoying.
It's gonna take a long time for USA Hockey to think outside the meathead box. While Brian Burke's influence may be starting to dwindle, Lombardi still can't get out his own way when it comes to out-gritting the competition. And of course they went out and got the most meaty-headed of coaches still inexplicably employed in the NHL. Seriously...how in fuck did they not at least give a call to Peter Laviolette?
Admittedly their M.O. is not entirely without reason. They know they can't out-skill Canada (healthy scratch Claude Giroux would be the top line center on the U.S.) and they can't out-speed the Kid NA team. So they figure they're just gonna use goaltending and brute force. Problem is you have a very one-dimensional squad that's pretty much relying on Jonathan Quick and Patrick Kane to do pull off miracle-level performances.
If I were an NHL GM and I had a player under contract selected to Team USA I'd tell him not to go. Torts's ridiculous insistence on shot blocking gets players hurt. It's funny, most everything I'm hearing on NHL radio about Torts is that they're glad it's a short tournament because his abrasive style tends to irk players. Based on what we've seen thus far I think they already tuned him out.
Oh and don't even get me started with USA Hockey's infatuation with Jack Johnson. It took a infuriatingly long process to keep him off the Olympic roster a couple years back and yet they feel he should still be a featured player despite a very large body of work that indicates he's just not that great a player, certainly not international-level good.