Dustin Brown, Jack Johnson and Jonathan Quick were all invited to the U.S. Olympic camp today. Brown and Johnson were to be expected after their play in the World Championships, but Quick is a little bit of a surprise. I assume DiPietro would be there if he were healthy. I guess it makes sense if you think about it, though, since Miller is turning 30 next year and I don't know how old Tim Thomas is but just by looking at him I'm going to guess... 45? He looks like he needs a smoke all the time. Taking Quick to kind of experience the whole Olympic thing is a good idea because he could be very well be starting in 2014.
I'm going to write more about it when I do my season review after free agency, but I think next year is the year we see Dustin Brown become a left winger. He kind of has to, not just for the Kings but for the Olympic team as well. The U.S. has Kane, Ryan, and Langenbrunner playing right in the Olympics, and I can't imagine that Brown would get priority over one of them. He'll need to play left, which should be easy for him since he shoots right anyway. I see the Olympic team working out like this:
Zach Parise-Scott Gomez-Jamie Langenbrunner
Dustin Brown-Paul Stastny-Patrick Kane
David Booth-Ryan Kesler-Bobby Ryan
Mike Modano-Chris Drury-TJ Oshie
Paul Martin-Brian Rafalski
Tim Gleason-Brooks Orpik
Erik Johnson-Jack Johnson
Tim Thomas
I don't know if those defensive pairings work because I didn't look up handedness, but overall I think it works. Hooray 5th place!
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