el cangri

by big 7, i obviously meant canada, usa, russia, sweden, finland, slovakia, and czech republic.

if possible, i'm thinking nations like austria and switzerland could do some impressive things if they manage to qualify. the austrians are going to be lead by vanek and are slowly producing some top notch talent. switzerland had a pretty big 06 and i think they could use the momentum they had from back then to pull an upset.

honorable mentions to germany and kazakhstan.

Saku_Koivu_11

Canada will be good as always, but I think that Russia will make a big impact. Ovechkin and malkin will just be entering their primes and will be very good. Kovalchuk will be a great goal scorer and Markov might be a top 5 defensman in th league. I think the Czecs and Slovaks will have less talent than they usually do because many of their top players will likely have retired.

EDIT: Sorry, I misread your post. I thought it was which of the big 7 will make the biggest impact.

Davey Domenichelli

I think the former Soviet Union teams could do well if things went right. For example, if Nikolai Zherdev played for the Ukraine. Nabokov could make a huge impact if he played for Kazakhstan.

__________________
1,2,3, and we're all in the city
You and me, yeah we're all in the city
Jay's underage, he's at home what a pity
Tonight, tonight

nittanypucker

I think that Kazakhstan will make the biggest impact of the non-power house teams. Though el cangri is right, German could make an impact. They are starting to look more and more like a hockey team.

__________________
When Hell freezes over, I'll play hockey there too.

Adsfan

I vote for Germany, Austria and the Ukraine (if Russia doesn't invade them first).

Vipers

Great Britain!

alexander_ovechkin_8

its hard to say which of the non big 7 teams will make a big impact, because all of them will be bombarded sometime anyway by the big 7 teams
it all depends of how the groups will be set
but out of the non big 7 teams, switzerland and germany will probably make "the most impact"

__________________

Ovvy the Great!! 2008 World Hockey Champion with Team Russia!!

T.H.C.

jesus.. I always hope certain countries will emerge and become more prominent hockey countries , but in truth, I think they ones that showed such promise in the recent years , germany,switzerland,denmark,belarus - have taken steps back or at least been stagnant, and teams such as the czech republic and slovakia have really gone downhill in the past 5 years.

__________________
Never have so many, given so much, to so few

Eagle75

Interesting thread. I think that the field this year will be a lot more even than people seem to be predicting. The oddsmakers aren't giving much (or almost any ) credit to anyone outside of Canada and Russia. I was just reading an article today (2010 Hockey betting) that suggested that people stand to make a bunch of money on the nearly-universal belief in the Canadian superiority. Apparently there are parlay bets that can wheel an angle that is ahead of the odds.

"What's popular is not always right." A little out of context, I know - but I think the effect is the same.

sjsharx22

Russia. Canada's got skill, but Russia's good too. They have Ovi, Malkin, and great goaltender Nabby. They'll be in the top three, but not gold. I'd say silver since Canada always seems to oust their opponents every time (well, not every time).

__________________

Thanks to VICE for the sig!