USA Hockey to emphasize skill in building Olympic roster

USA Hockey won't use its failed past blueprints to construct a 2018 Winter Olympics roster.

Team USA, which named Jim Johannson as general manager and the University of Wisconsin's Tony Granato as coach of its Olympic entry Friday, will have a different look when it arrives in Pyeongchang.

"We want a skilled team," Johannson told Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News. "The game is all about skating today. We're gonna get up and down the ice."

Given USA Hockey's lagging international results - including a disastrous run at last year's World Cup, in which a hard-nosed club constructed by former Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi finished an embarrassing seventh - a change in philosophy seemed to be in order.

Johannson is a longtime member of USA Hockey who currently serves as assistant executive director of hockey operations, one of many titles he has held since 2000. The Minnesota native was the GM behind Team USA's three gold-medal finishes at the world juniors in 2010, 2013, and 2017.

American hockey fans hope Johannson can now bring that winning track record to the Olympic stage.

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