USA

The holidays have proven to be a busy time for me, and unfortunately, I haven't found time to write nearly as much as I may have hoped about the selections of the Olympic rosters, and the World Junior tournament. Since there is a party at the Morgus household tonight, alas I won't have time to write any sort of extended USA Olympic roster prediction column. Despite that, I feel the need to go on record with my picks for Team USA before the official squad is revealed tomorrow in Boston.

These are my picks for who should be on the team (in order of how strongly I feel, but not necessarily in lines), in Vancouver. I concede that it may look a bit different from the actual roster, and I wish that I had the time to write a defense of my selections, but unfortunately it will have to be retroactively if I do. At any rate, here are my picks for Team USA.

Forwards

Phil Kessel (Toronto Maple Leafs)

Patrick Kane (Chicago Blackhawks)

Zach Parise (New Jersey Devils)

Paul Stastny (Colorado Avalanche)

Tim Connolly (Buffalo Sabers)

Joe Pavelski (San Jose Sharks)

Bobby Ryan (Anaheim Ducks)

David Booth (Florida Panthers)

Ryan Kesler (Vancouver Canucks)

Dustin Brown (Los Angeles Kings)

Blake Wheeler (Boston Bruins)

Jamie Langenbrunner (New Jersey Devils)

James Van Riemsdyk (Philadelphia Flyers

Defensemen

Ryan Whitney (Anaheim Ducks)

Ryan Suter (Nashville Predators)

Paul Martin (New Jersey Devils)

Jack Johnson (Los Angeles Kings)

Erik Johnson (St. Louis Blues)

Mike Komisarik (Toronto Maple Leafs)

Brian Rafalski (Detroit Red Wings)

Goaltenders

Ryan Miller (Buffalo Sabers)

Tim Thomas (Boston Bruins)

Craig Anderson (Colorado Avalanche)

Taxi Squad (Reserves)

Zach Bogosian (Atlanta Thrashers)

Drew Stafford (Buffalo Sabers)

David Backes (St. Louis Blues)

Kyle Okposo (New York Islanders)

Ryan Malone (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Brooks Orpik (Pittsburgh Penguins)

Happy New Year, and Go Red, White and Blue tonight against Canada.