Kevin Allen

USA TODAY Sports

Kevin Allen attended all the meetings and listened to the conference calls during U.S. Olympic selection process

Watching six-month process was one of more fascinating experiences of Allen%27s long career in journalism

Picking the team involved lively debate with general managers%2C coaches%2C scouts and USA Hockey officials

As was revealed formally on New Year's Day, I was embedded in the U.S. Olympic selection process. For almost six months, I was one of two media members allowed to attend all of the meetings and listen to all of the conference calls. It was one of the more fascinating experiences of my 39-year journalism career.

Eight things I learned that weren't in my narrative of the selection process:

1. An NHL team's ecosystem has become increasingly complex: The basis of all sports arguments is simply whether one player is more desirable than another.

But when you are building a team, the relationship between all of the organisms is crucial to the process. It's about fitting players into a matrix. As a fan of the game, we all prefer a singular comparison of players. Is Bobby Ryan better than Blake Wheeler? But it's not that simple when you are picking an Olympic team. You are building a matrix and you must make comparisons in the context of other factors. You size up players while pondering whether the team is fast enough, or big enough, or whether a player might have chemistry with another player, or whether the player can kill penalties or check. Ryan has hands, and Wheeler has speed. The matrix needed speed. The matrix needed a fifth center. Derek Stepan plays center. Ryan does not. If a top two line winger is, Ryan is very much in play.

2. Poile can run my company: When you see Nashville Predators general manager David Poile manage a meeting, you have an even better understanding of why he has been an NHL general manager for three decades. If he wasn't in charge of a hockey team, he would be a revered CEO in some other arena. He commands without alienating. He's respectful of everyone's opinions, and masterful at keeping the room focused and energized. If a debate wasn't strong enough, he would ask a question to stir the embers. "Let's go around the room, and see where we are," he would say. If a debate had run its course, Poile knew when to change topics.

3. Proper representation: Despite what some fans think, every player got a fair shake from this group. Kyle Okposo. Jason Pominville. Keith Yandle. Ryan. Videos were distributed on players. Scouting reports were filed. Merits were discussed. Okposo wasn't ignored because he was playing for the New York Islanders. Everyone was aware of what kind of season he was having. No politics were involved in the decision. The evidence of that is seen in the absence of Jack Johnson. There is no player more beloved in the USA Hockey community than Johnson. Chicago GM Stan Bowman was on this committee and his player, Brandon Saad, came close to making the team. But in the end, committee members were willing to vote for other players with Bowman sitting across the table from them.

4. The agony of the feat: Picking the final players on this team seemed torturous for the group. Committee members argued about these choices as if they were going to decide the gold medal. At times, it seemed as if Ryan was in. Sometimes, it seemed as if Saad was in. It was clear that no one wanted to exclude Johnson.

5. Player pool is deep: All of the supposed snubs mostly reflect how deep the U.S. pool has become. The Canadians have gone through this for years. Now, it's the Americans' turn. Roughly 24% of the players on NHL rosters this season are American-born.

6. Coaches change the dynamic: Poile included coaches in the U.S. selection process for the first time, and that altered the perspective. They could tell the committee how they would use each player. Coaches were also focused more on line chemistry, such as T.J. Oshie and David Backes playing together as linemates and penalty killers, or James van Riemsdyk playing on a line with Phil Kessel.

7. Differing perspectives: Four members of the committee had won Stanley Cups as a general manager, and the number is five if you consider that Dale Tallon built the Blackhawks' 2010 Stanley Cup team. U.S. coach Dan Bylsma has won a Stanley Cup as a head coach, as has his assistant coach Peter Laviolette, who did much of the scouting. All know how to build winners, and yet all had differing opinions on how to do it. Brian Burke said often that the team needed to be built with the idea of losing top players to injury. Tallon talked at various times about the need for speed. When Bylsma talked extensively at the first meeting, he spoke about the importance of the special teams.

8. The process is right: This committee approach, with coaches involved, is probably the best possible method of selecting an Olympic team. Plus, this is an impressive group, rich in hockey knowledge. No one on this committee is afraid to run against the grain. Tallon liked Wheeler early in the hunt. Poile was the first to note that Cam Fowler seemed to be reaching a higher level in his development.

If you have to work to build a consensus on who should be on the team, you probably have a better chance of picking the right guy. Having different perspectives meant all options were explored.

Follow NHL columnist Kevin Allen on Twitter @ByKevinAllen.