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Brett Hull compares Team USA to Titanic, laments ‘old boys’ management

TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 22: Ryan Kesler #17 of Team USA waits in the player tunnel during the World Cup of Hockey 2016 against Team Czech Republic at Air Canada Centre on September 22, 2016 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/World Cup of Hockey via Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Brett Hull was a sensational choice for ESPN as an analyst, as his passion for Team USA brought gravitas to his off-the-cuff comments. Plus, his lingering bitterness over the program’s management came in handy when they crashed and burned at the World Cup of Hockey.

Hull appeared on TSN 1050 in Canada on Wednesday, and explained what he believed went wrong (transcript via Chris Nichols):

“The philosophy was picked, and they picked it to beat Canada,” continued Hull. “You can’t blame them. That was their theory. That’s what they wanted to do. They did it and it was terribly wrong. It went terribly wrong like the Titanic. But they made their bed. They picked those guys.

“But I still think they could have put a better system in, or – I don’t know if you guys noticed, or thought the same thing I did, but they seemed like a very unhappy group. When you’re unhappy in a tournament like this, you have no legs. You have no energy. I don’t know if you guys noticed that, but they looked like they were skating in quicksand. Everybody. And there were some good skaters on that team.”

He was asked if John Tortorella was to blame for that unhappiness, and wondered “were they just miserable, or did they not like the coach?”

But Hull also said that changes have to come to USA Hockey. He was asked if those changes should include having himself and other ex-players taking larger managerial roles, like former Swedish stars Daniel Alfredsson and Nicklas Lidstrom had with their national team. He said:

“It’d be a great honor for them to ask. But it seems like it’s always kind of the old boys’ club with USA Hockey, and they just keep turning around the same people.”

And that’s the issue, isn’t it?

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The Americans have a rather short bench when it comes to managers. Brian Burke and David Poile built the 2010 Vancouver Olympic team. Poile led the selection of the 2014 team, along with Burke, Paul Holmgren, Stan Bowman, Dean Lombardi, Ray Shero (his second in command) and Dale Tallon. Team USA at the 2016 World Cup? Same as it ever was: Lombardi was the GM, along with Holmgren and Burke. (Bowman helped build Team North America.)

Six years, three tournaments, same names, diminishing returns.

Do you turn to the ex-players? Do you give a coach like Jon Cooper the national team job and a lot more player personnel power? Do you hope that if another one of the “old boys” gets his turn in the big chair, it’ll turn out better than Lombardi – in player selection and in team philosophy?

Or, if the NHL does go to South Korea in 2018, is it another iceberg for this “Titanic?”


Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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