Jersey Fan 12
Positive Vibes
- Nov 20, 2006
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No obsession. They were discussing Metzger on The Pipeline Show and I was just curious as to where he was playing this year.
WJC: 2024 WJC20 Switzerland roster talk
- Thread starter Hinterland
- Start date
Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
Colin Lindemann and Jamiro Reber doing great in Swedish U20 League. What are their chances to make this team?
I'd say Rebers chances are pretty good, Lindemanns a bit less so. The fact that the 04 and 05 forward groups are pretty lackluster should certainly help the prospects of both. But Reber is just more dynamic offensively which is a trait most other forwards on the team are missing. Also our coach doesn't seem to high on Lindemann as he didn't select him for last seasons U18 WJC while Reber made the cut.
- Sep 29, 2016
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So I guess we're in trouble eh? De Luca doesn't seem to get his passport in time for the tournament and Taibel is injured. That's our most dangerous 04 forwards most likely gone. Gregory Weber, who has been good for Olten, is injured as well. Thankfully, Miles Muller is playing a really strong season for Moncton but if Bichsel doesn't join the team then I feel like the impact of the 04 born players isn't gonna be huge. Therefore my updated roster is gonna include even more underagers than anticipated:
Elijah Neuenschwander (06)
Phileas Lachat (06)
Christian Kirsch (06)
Lian Bichsel "C" (04), Eric Schneller (05) "A"
Rodwin Dionicio (04), David Moser (04)
Leon Muggli (06), Benjamin Quinn (04)
Simone Terraneo (04), Nick Meile (04)
Joan Kyburz (06), Daniil Ustinkov (06)
Rico Gredig (05), Miles Muller "A" (04), Thierry Schild (04)
Leo Braillard (05), Jamiro Reber (06), Jordan Forget (06)
Rafael Meier (05), Jan Dorthe (05), Andro Kaderli (05)
Yannick Ponzetto (06), Robin Perren (05), Lenny Giger (06)
Colin Lindemann (05), Alessandro Lurati (04), Matteo Wagner (05)
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kudla
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At this point I wouldn't count on any of the three mentioned above but I think there's a pretty good chance Bichsel is gonna play the tournament. He's got a Europe out option if he's not in the NHL by next week. I don't think he's quite NHL ready and the Dallas Stars, barring injuries or sicknesses, don't have a slot for him either. So it will pretty much be Bichsel's decision if he wants to play the WJC20 or not. I think he wants to play for Rögle anyway and the WJC20 is in Sweden, too. Bichsel's girlfriend is Swedish as well.
Well this is certainly disappointing as the best possible roster could have been our most competitive team in years.
I think in goal Huet is getting the starting position. We can like this or not but thats how its going to be. C'est comme ca.
The D group still looks deep and not without individual talent either. The main question here will be if Bichsel joins, as you said. He seems to be dead set to get ready for the NHL hockey in the next few months. And he has nothing to gain from another WJC in order to reach that goal. Sure the WJC is a very competitive tournament but it remains a junior tournament at its core. But could Bichsel pull a Fiala for that reason? I don't know. He just made peace with the wizards apprentice not to long ago. I guess it really depends on how much he cares playing for the senior national team in the next couple of years. On another note: Is his return to the SHL a done deal already? He seems to be doing really good in the AHL as of late, so I don't really see the point in going back to Europe.
The forward group looks pretty lackluster in comparison though. Müller and Braillard look like the only impact players on F at this point. While I really like Reber, I am not sure if he can fill that role this year already. Maybe Jenni could try out Dionicio on F as an emergency measure. I know he played as a Winger for Windsor before and apparently did not look out of place. Other than that I am also expecting Jenni to select an older forward group than the one you favor. I don't see players like Forget, Ponzetto or Giger making the team. Mattheo Reinhard will certainly be on the roster. Simon Meier might be an option as well. And then we might have to brace ourselves for some of Jennis personal favourites like Graf and Pedrazzini.
- Sep 29, 2016
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I can live with Huet. He's the lone capable and eligible goalie outside of the 06 kids and he was mostly rock solid at the WJC18. I'm just not sure he's still better than the 06 kids and he surely doesn't have the same kind of upside. The 06 goalies are bigger, are better athletes and have a better technique as well. I just hope they don't select any other 04/05 goalies as they're all really really poor. I'd rather select Soler, Kirsch or Hrdina before turning to older goalies.
I'm cool with Reinhard. He was on my initial roster and he's a good prospect. I just think he was caught by younger players (like all of the 04 forwards to be honest). The lone 04 forwards having a good season are the injured Weber, Muller and Schild. Some of the 05 kids are doing surprisingly well though which is good to see. Some late bloomers apparently while most 04 kids are going the other direction.
I'm always against putting kids mostly playing U20 elites on WJC20 rosters. It's a poor league and even if the players are good, they're gonna face much better opposition than they're used to which is gonna cause problems. We have enough players available who are playing at a higher level, be it pro hockey or the worlds top junior leagues. Therefore, no Graf or Pedrazzini for me. The latter sucks anyway as we've seen. Simon Meier had a very poor WJC18 as well. Promising prospect but we have better ones available. If we're to select a Meier, I'd go with Rafael Meier who has himself a very good season.
Re Bichsel, I think there's a 60-70% chance he plays. He knows he's not gonna be a regular for the Stars anytime soon unless they're significantly short staffed. He also has that out option and he badly wants to take advantage of his last option to play in Sweden. He spent time with Rögle already earlier this year and his girlfriend is Sweden based. If the WJC20 was somewhere else we might have a different situation but with the tournament taking place in Sweden and Bichsel likely moving on to play in Sweden I think it makes sense for him to play the tournament. We'll see. I think we'll get the news this weekend or early next week the latest.
I don't disagree that a lot of the 06 goalies are much more talented than anyone of the 04/05 classes. What might play in Huets favor is that he is used to a higher level of play due to playing in the CHL. The 06 kids are all playing mainly in our subpar U20 league. Huet has also been better than Kirsch at the U18's just from being a year older. But like yourself I could live with either him or one of the younger goalies as the starter. I just hope Jenni doesn't select the likes of Beglieri.
I was never in favor of selecting Graf or Pedrazzini either. I am just sort of expecting it, especially in Pedrazzinis case who put up some points in the most recent exhibition games. But I would't go as far to say that playing in the U20 league should be already an exclusion criterion for the WJC. I'd might still rather have a player that absolutely dominates our U20 league on the roster than one that just coasts along in in the J20 Nationell for example. Leon Muggli might have played mainly in our U20 league this season under a different coach. And I'd still easily select him over the likes of Kyburz in that scenario. Said domestic players would have to prove that they are up to the level in international preparation games though.
I didn't think he was that bad. He tried to create a lot and was a bit snakebitten and unlucky. I don't think he is a must have candidate for the roster though. But Jenni is quite high on him, so his chances to make the team should be intact. I also think that Rafael Meier has been the better prospect than his brother for quite some time. He has been probably the most dangerous 05 born forward in international games besides Braillard since the Ivan Hlinka tournament two years ago. Maybe not in terms of points, but in terms of the chances he had in those games and his overall play. So no argument there.
Yeah we will see. Not much use in speculating about this for now. I almost wanted to write that I just hoped the situation won't lead to another conflict with Fischer/Weibel that would exclude Bichsel from the senior NT. But then i remembered that I don't care about that team until the wizards apprentice and his BFF are finally fired.
Antiillafire
Registered User
Real shame De Luca won’t be there. 3 2006 born goaltenders would be something to watch, how do you guys see the distribution of games for them? Run the hot hand or?
- Sep 29, 2016
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Yeah, it looks as if both Taibel and De Luca won't be able to play. It's still a decent team without those guys but it would lack elite offensive skill. Miles Muller is at least as good as those two but he's more of a two way Center. Leo Braillard has similar qualities but he's a winger while both De Luca and Taibel can play Center. Without those guys (and Weber who had a good season until his injury) I think Norway still shouldn't be a problem but Slovakia will be difficult and an upset against the stronger nations might be almost a mission impossible.
Re the goalies that's just what I would do. Huet is probably gonna be on the roster. He's the lone not 06 born eligible and capable goalie. He's not very talented but mostly solid. All other 04 and 05 Swiss goalies suck. Even Huet does not have NHL upside but we have at least four 06 born goalies with NHL upside.
I think there's a chance we see Huet and two of Lachat, Kirsch, and Neuenschwander. I think of the three, Lachat is probably the most mature, most solid. He also played vs men in the MyHL. Not a good league but better than U20 elites. I think Neuenschwander is the most gifted. Kirsch is talented as well but hasn't really looked good in most international games and is more of a project. If they select Huet over Kirsch I'd be cool with that.
I'd go with three 06 goalies and probably split games between Lachat and Neuenschwander. In reality, Huet is probably gonna be the starter but behind that it's wide open. I just hope they're not gonna bring some strange kinda goalies over the 06 kids. Metzger, Beglieri, Grüter, Uberti and co all suck. They can't stop anything.
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Fjorden
Registered User
What do you consider to be this swiss teams strengths?
Do you see any weaknesesses?
One other thing many swiss u20 players tend to stay in their home league SL or u20, instead of going abroad why?
- Sep 29, 2016
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Depth is always the strength of Swiss teams (unless the idiot coaches select useless players like Pedrazzini). Skating is a strength as well. There are no real weaknesses except a certain lack of elite offensive talent. Maybe goaltending but I think that depends on the selection as well.
SL is a pro league. If you can earn a spot there as a WJC20 eligible player then that's certainly a good thing. Unfortunately this has become tougher since Zug is no longer running their Academy team. SL might just be a short term option for future superstars like David Reinbacher but for everybody else it's a good start into pro hockey. If you do well in the SL, you have a pretty good chance to get selected for the Swiss WJC20 team as well.
U20 elites shouldn't be more than a part- or short term option for any prospect with international ambitions. Swiss junior leagues aren't very good in general and it's a structural problem. I'm happy for every prospect able to find a spot in the CHL or in Sweden or, even better, in pro hockey. As I mentioned already, if I was coaching a Swiss WJC20 team I wouldn't select many players playing U20 elites full time. I also wouldn't have to with enough prospects playing at a higher level. Our idiot coaches keep on selecting prospects from the u20 elites though. Not many but those they did select were always disappointments. I don't know who the last full time U20 elite player was that really had an impact at a WJC20. The exception are goalies because I don't think for goalies it matters as much as for skaters.
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Kuracmugger
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- Oct 15, 2019
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I was pretty excited about our team but without de Luca and Taibel the talent level takes a pretty big hit. If Bichsel joins our chances will be much higher so i hope that will be the case. This year there are a lot more players with NL experience than last year which is a good thing. Eliteprospects says that Taibel should be back in the end of December so maybe there‘s a chance he‘ll play but we will see. And Weber will 100% be injured for the wjc?
- Sep 29, 2016
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Nobody knows, especially with injuries, but based on info I have, for now, I expect Bichsel to be on the team but De Luca, Weber and Taibel to be out.
Kuracmugger
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- Oct 15, 2019
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Injuries are part of the game but this year seems worse regarding Players missing the wjc because of injuries tho.Fülleman got hurt too but should be available as i read on sport.ch. The absence of De Luca is unfortunate because it could‘ve been prevented but we don‘t know what the „misunderstanding“ was between De Luca‘s family and the authorities, maybe the federation can do something about it but of course you can‘t count on that. I expect Bichsel to be there too.
- Sep 29, 2016
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Ah yeah, I completely forgot about Füllemann. Depth on defense is excellent this year.
Kuracmugger
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- Oct 15, 2019
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Yes we have a really strong d core this year, considering that and our Offensive talent shrinking Jenni should really consider playing Dionico as forward. Which Speyer already suggested.
Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
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Unfortunately. Any progress regarding his SHL coaching gig? That would be really helpful. He's the Swedish trojan horse that just won't ever go away. Annoying as f***.
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doug88
Registered User
I don't think anyone has mentioned him but what about Gael Christe on defense? He has been playing good minutes with Martigny and he has looked quite solid for what I have seen.
- Sep 29, 2016
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Totally. I listed both of him and Füllemann on my initial roster but kinda forgot about them on my latest because some of the younger guys have been doing so well. But yeah, Christe has done nothing wrong and I actually liked what I saw from him in international games as well. Probably more so than Füllemann. Defense should be rock solid. Tough selection decisions ahead, with or without Bichsel.
Kuracmugger
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Surprising. Under 7mins though so I wonder how healthy he is. But definitely a good sign that he was back in the lineup.
Kuracmugger
Registered User
- Oct 15, 2019
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Did he get more ice time before injury? I thought he always played on Olten‘s 4th line.
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