2013 WJC Thread - USA! USA! USA!

[InjuredChoker]

Did anybody get a chance to watch Maatta? Before the tournament I had Finland as a darkhorse and thought Maatta would shine on the big stage, but had zero points and he missed a game. Injury?

Stomach flu or something like that. Was clearly sick at Sweden game

He played ok. Not bad not great. Didn't step up when needed. Same with the whole team.

Huberdeau wasn't very good on the wing, and I think Scheifele would have been a much better player at center, too. Camara and Scheifele play together in the OHL, and Drouin and MacKinnon are together in the Q. Why those two combos weren't tried more is beyond me. I think they could have, and should have tried for four balanced scoring lines. They had the centers to try it this year: Nugent-Hopkins, Strome, Scheifele and MacKinnon. It would have been interesting.

Also, I'm not a big Leafs fan but Morgan Rielly was clearly under-utilized. He's a LOT better than Murphy and Ouellet, and he should have been on the first PP unit.

I really didn't understand their total faith in Subban, either. That said, he was the main reason they beat USA the first time, and he was really really good against the Russians too. They didn't lose because of goaltending.

Ouellet and Rielly are/were at he second pp unit; Hamilton and Murphy at 1st pp unit.

Ouellet and Rielly got something like 20 secs of pp time at his game against USA, the rest of almost 4 minutes went to Murphy and Hamilton.

Murphy is still pointless.

This motivated me to go look something up. He was listed at 6'1" and around 175, so that probably rules out the size critique, although he's pretty skinny by NHL standards (normal for a young kid). Maybe it was that he lacked a physical element to his play relative to his size? I can't really recall what the knock was but I seem to remember people doing the ole "Shero / Bylsma won't draft a player with his style of play" thing while the discussions were going on.

Then someone who lives in either Finland or Sweden (can't recall) said he was way overrated (that he had watched him play quite a bit), and he was glad we didn't pick him. Or something to that effect.

Doubt it was physicality.. he's pretty good on that department.

He wasn't terrific in Allsvenskan last year for sure; got like 4th line minutes and probably didn't deserve more (I'm not the guy you mentioned, to be clear).

He has good hockey sense but doesn't always use he's linemates effectively. Including this tournament. Finishing isn't top-notch. He's still raw but the tools are definitely there. But atm he looks more of a like a player that needs to have the puck to be effective; or at least he plays that way. He can make he's own scoring chances and that's what he tries to do. Though he's linemates haven't been that impressive this tournament either. They switched them couple of games ago and it seemed to work.

 

[Jacob]

Yikes, Murphy had a bad game.

 

[BHD]

Correction: Ryan Murphy had a bad tournament.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

You do have to wonder about the mental state of people defending Murphy in this tournament. They must think people are blind and illiterate.

 

[Sideline]

You do have to wonder about the mental state of people defending Murphy in this tournament. They must think people are blind and illiterate.

I don't want to pile on because Murphy is just a kid, but he did nothing for Canada. Nothing on the powerplay, no physical game, and poor play in his own end. Canada left plenty of guys at home that could have contributed something in a sheltered role...

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Including, one would think, a recent and controversial Penguins first round pick.

I can't imagine DP doing any worse than Murphy has. At the very least, you would think he would manage a measly assist or two. And that's not even assuming that he would have been force-fed ice time the way Murphy was.

 

[Sideline]

Including, one would think, a recent and controversial Penguins first round pick.

I can't imagine DP doing any worse than Murphy has. At the very least, you would think he would manage a measly assist or two. And that's not even assuming that he would have been force-fed ice time the way Murphy was.

Even a guy like Frank Corrado could have played a shutdown role with Harrington. Hell, Matt Dumba would have at least hit someone to get himself ridiculously out of position.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Yeah, realistically Corrado would have been the one to make the squad. Based, from what I understand, on his pre-tourny camp.

I was just... kind of blown away every time I watched Murphy knowing that he was taken that high. I just don't see it, I guess.

But to be completely even-handed... such a small sample size. It's not like I've watched him all season, or something. These tournaments often unfairly color people's opinions of certain players both good and bad.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Including, one would think, a recent and controversial Penguins first round pick.

I can't imagine DP doing any worse than Murphy has. At the very least, you would think he would manage a measly assist or two. And that's not even assuming that he would have been force-fed ice time the way Murphy was.

True. But I think just about any of the invitees could've fared better than Murphy (and even a guy like Percy who wasn't invited).

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

You do have to wonder about the mental state of people defending Murphy in this tournament. They must think people are blind and illiterate.

Honestly, the only folks who seem to be defending Murphy are either a]Kitchener Ranger fans or b]Carolina Hurricanes fans. I don't see many people who don't fit into one of those two categories saying anything other than Murphy was bad for the majority of the tournament.

At this point, I don't even fault Murphy. It's up to the coach to realize that a player is playing bad and not play him. Instead, Spott just seemed to play Murphy more and more. I honestly think this is one situation where a coach got completely blinded for his own player. If the coach was from anywhere other than Kitchener, I don't think Murphy makes the team. And even if he somehow did make the team as a PP specialist, I don't think he'd be played near as much as he was.

 

[wej20]

Germany beat Latvia 5-2 resulting in Latvia's relegation.

 

[Burgs]

Germany beat Latvia 5-2 resulting in Latvia's relegation.

First time we avoided relegation since 1998, I'm almost speechless.

Big game from Leon Draisaitl, Germany's next best talent (and also a son of a quite famous former player) who had 2 goals and 2 assists, playing on a line with Tobias Rieder who had 3 points. Considering Draisaitl only turned 17 some weeks ago he's been very impressive this season. Posting good rookie numbers in the WHL, too.

 

[BHD]

You do have to wonder about the mental state of people defending Murphy in this tournament. They must think people are blind and illiterate.

Carolina fans are the only ones I've seen defending him. Then again, I'd probably do the same if my favorite team's, supposedly, top prospect was playing that poorly.

 

[redsono93]

First time we avoided relegation since 1998, I'm almost speechless.

Big game from Leon Draisaitl, Germany's next best talent (and also a son of a quite famous former player) who had 2 goals and 2 assists, playing on a line with Tobias Rieder who had 3 points. Considering Draisaitl only turned 17 some weeks ago he's been very impressive this season. Posting good rookie numbers in the WHL, too.

Is Draisaitl in the 2013 draft? He'd be great I also want Marko Dano kid is really good and has a great shot. This is the draft to move prospects or dead weight for picks so many quality forwards in draft. I also would like to take a crack at Slepyshev I have a great feeling about him my gut says just like Dano too. Maybe Shero stockpiled on Defensive prospects over last few years, knowing to draft heavy on fowards this coming draft. Yeah I was bummed when we passed over Forsberg, but maybe they feel their might be several Forsbergs in this draft. Just a thought

 

[Burgs]

Is Draisaitl in the 2013 draft?

If he was he'd be an automatic Pens pick because he's playing with another prospect of ours (Ruopp). But he missed the cutoff by six weeks so he'll be in the 2014 draft.

 

[deakka]

Maattaa got his first points today 1g 2a in an 11-4 blowout against the slovaks.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

There used to be two teams relegated, and the winners from Division 1, Group A and Group B would move into the WJC the following year. When did that change?

 

[wgknestrick]

If he was he'd be an automatic Pens pick because he's playing with another prospect of ours (Ruopp). But he missed the cutoff by six weeks so he'll be in the 2014 draft.

Need to start a thread about "6 degrees of Shero's Drafting" where we list the relationship to how the Pens got to draft every pick. I bet it leads back to Kevin Bacon.... or Carl Sneep.

 

[Jules Winnfield]

Dare I even say this? Filip Forsberg looked like a freaking beast against Team Russia. He was by far the best player on the ice for either team IMO.

I don't want to turn this into another "we should've drafted him" debate, but damn he looked exactly like the type of forward we could use in our organization. I watched the game cursing Shero

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Dare I even say this? Filip Forsberg looked like a freaking beast against Team Russia. He was by far the best player on the ice for either team IMO.

I don't want to turn this into another "we should've drafted him" debate, but damn he looked exactly like the type of forward we could use in our organization. I watched the game cursing Shero

He looked very strong on his skates and great at protecting the puck. Almost at will, like his namesake.

 

[#66]

Dare I even say this? Filip Forsberg looked like a freaking beast against Team Russia. He was by far the best player on the ice for either team IMO.

I don't want to turn this into another "we should've drafted him" debate, but damn he looked exactly like the type of forward we could use in our organization. I watched the game cursing Shero

The first thing that came into my mind is how Depo out played at least 2 of those Canadian defensemen in the Canada camp.

I can't wait for the game tomorrow. I'm not even a rah-rah US guy but I really like a few of the SWE and US kids. I usually like SWE hockey too but I hate how they kept turning back into their own zone against RUS. If they do that against the US they'll be dead in the water.

 

[mpp9]

He looked very strong on his skates and great at protecting the puck. Almost at will, like his namesake.

Yep. He may never put up big points in the NHL, but he brings alot of what we could use in a winger.

 

[Burgs]

There used to be two teams relegated, and the winners from Division 1, Group A and Group B would move into the WJC the following year. When did that change?

Last year was the first with the new system. Div I A and Div I B are now different tiers to increase competitiveness within those groups. Now there is only one promotion/relegation spot between WJC - Div I A - Div I B. Norway will be in for Latvia next December in Sweden.

 

[Valarukar]

I don't have any clue how this **** works. Does that mean that Blueger effectively can't play in the WJC next year?

 

[Sideline]

I don't have any clue how this **** works. Does that mean that Blueger effectively can't play in the WJC next year?

Yes. He would play one division down and the winner of that division would play in the real WJHC the following year.