Yeah I thought he started to open up a lot and make plays as the tournament went on. Looked to shoot more but like most of that Canadian team had no finish. A lot of his strengths were wasted on a passive team that didnt really look to attack and everyone turned into passers
GDT: The 2024 World Junior Championship Thread || Gothenburg, Sweden || Dec 26th - Jan 5th
- Thread starter Cowumbus
- Start date
Yeah I thought he started to open up a lot and make plays as the tournament went on. Looked to shoot more but like most of that Canadian team had no finish. A lot of his strengths were wasted on a passive team that didnt really look to attack and everyone turned into passers
I see a lot of skills that can be improved but I think Mateychuk is better than some NHLers at this point. I would guess that he's more ready than Jiricek actually. I like Mateychuk's stability and strength on his skates.
Svozil showed up understrength in camp, I don't really know where he's at now.
Next year I would like a spot up for grabs for Svozil and Mateychuk. Just one.
Werenski
Provorov or Bean
Svozil or Mateychuk
Christiansen/AHL callups.
I only caught pieces of each game but I thought Dumais was okay for the most part. It's just predictable when Canada loses that the haters will come out in bunches.
I'm with you that I still don't know if he's an NHLer, but the takeaway skills were encouraging.
ProfessorFink22
Registered User
- May 28, 2020
- 130
- 221
Takeaways from a Canadian after watching every team Canada game (just one rube's opinion):
Mateychuk showed his pedigree and I agree he looked visibly a cut above. Outside Celebrini he seemed by far the highest iq on team Canada. I really liked his play without the puck offensively. He made some really good reads and there were many times he was in the right spot to be dangerous or support the puck and his teammates didn't necessarily make a high IQ play, but at the next level he'd probably get rewarded for it more.
Ironically, my only gripe was his play away from the puck defensively (and his gap control off the rush a couple times). At times he looked a little unsure positionally away from the puck, including on the pk (maybe a new system or different set of expectations?).
It's very hard to project a junior tournament to playing against men, but he engaged physically at the right times (timing is important to me) and I don't worry as much about his size as I used to. He's smart about it. It won't be a strength, but I think he can disrupt plays in the NHL passably. I wouldn't want him in the NHL next year, but that is just the age old desire to let guys marinate too long rather than too little.
Dumais... The biggest thing is I liked his positioning, he seemed to be in the right spots all the time, and I think he managed the puck better than most his teammates, which I guess is a compliment. I agree with major that he was effective disrupting plays, getting in on the forcheck, getting his stick on pucks, etc. His IQ and being in the right spots helps make up for his skating, which didn't seem to hold him back.
That all being said, when you go from watching him to Brindley, the 'disruption' skills feel redundant, and Brindley definitely does it better, with more energy and tempo. If I didn't know from before, I wouldn't have seen Dumais as having any type of game breaking skills or being an elite skill guy. I am going to chalk it up to a low sample size, and I still see Dumais as a three year long lottery ticket. I don't think his impact was nearly as negative as people say, but at the same time he had a lot of opportunity he didn't seize, especially on the powerplay.
Mateychuk showed his pedigree and I agree he looked visibly a cut above. Outside Celebrini he seemed by far the highest iq on team Canada. I really liked his play without the puck offensively. He made some really good reads and there were many times he was in the right spot to be dangerous or support the puck and his teammates didn't necessarily make a high IQ play, but at the next level he'd probably get rewarded for it more.
Ironically, my only gripe was his play away from the puck defensively (and his gap control off the rush a couple times). At times he looked a little unsure positionally away from the puck, including on the pk (maybe a new system or different set of expectations?).
It's very hard to project a junior tournament to playing against men, but he engaged physically at the right times (timing is important to me) and I don't worry as much about his size as I used to. He's smart about it. It won't be a strength, but I think he can disrupt plays in the NHL passably. I wouldn't want him in the NHL next year, but that is just the age old desire to let guys marinate too long rather than too little.
Dumais... The biggest thing is I liked his positioning, he seemed to be in the right spots all the time, and I think he managed the puck better than most his teammates, which I guess is a compliment. I agree with major that he was effective disrupting plays, getting in on the forcheck, getting his stick on pucks, etc. His IQ and being in the right spots helps make up for his skating, which didn't seem to hold him back.
That all being said, when you go from watching him to Brindley, the 'disruption' skills feel redundant, and Brindley definitely does it better, with more energy and tempo. If I didn't know from before, I wouldn't have seen Dumais as having any type of game breaking skills or being an elite skill guy. I am going to chalk it up to a low sample size, and I still see Dumais as a three year long lottery ticket. I don't think his impact was nearly as negative as people say, but at the same time he had a lot of opportunity he didn't seize, especially on the powerplay.
Examples of gap control/defensive awareness issues from the QF game:
2:20
24:22
35:13
35:28
1:05:10
1:29:18
1:43:54
Probably largely a system thing, but either way I can't imagine him ever being a useful two-way defenseman in the NHL if the team encourages him to play defense that passively. Hopefully Haviland knows how to help him improve his defensive game.
Last edited:
That is a brutal gap, good catch.
I can't imagine any coach wants to see that, does Mateychuk do that in Moose Jaw?
This tournament often seems to make players play jittery nervous hockey, I wonder if that was the issue. I assume he knows that's a bad gap!
My memory could be faulty, but I don't remember him leaving gaps that large this year. His defense at WJC was more similar to what his defensive habits looked last season. This season I've usually seen him force turnovers/dump-ins at defensive blueline while also looking more sound positionally in d zone.
Imo we really shouldn't be in a hurry to add him to Jackets D group. We should also be aware that we're possibly never going to get the best out of his potential if he's not allowed to be highly active -- with and without the puck. Let him marinate and work on defensive details and puck skills before making room on the NHL roster for his call-up.
I liked what you once said about rushing Jiricek, which was something like "taking a special talent and turning him into a boring player". By rushing Mateychuk we might be lucky if we even end up with a boring NHL player (someone like Bean, a player who can survive in the league but really isn't a difference maker).
I've suspected for a while that Mateychuk is going to be a more boring player in the NHL, but subtly very good. More like a non-glass version of Ryan Murray. I don't think the hyper-activator version of Mateychuk is going to translate.
I don't think we'd be lucky in any situation if Bean is the outcome. There are some similarities there, but imagine that Bean was much stronger physically and wasn't pushed around - he'd be a lot more valuable! That's Bean's big issue in my opinion, he supposedly works his butt off but can't gain the strength. Mateychuk can, he's a unit who just took a big leap physically.
Jiricek I think especially needs a lot of AHL time, he's not yet physically capable of playing his active style in the NHL. He's still in the bambi stage. I'm afraid of the talent that will be lost when he inevitably becomes a more conservative player to try and screw up less often.
I suppose it's good practice regardless for Mateychuk to marinate for a while in the AHL. That sort of thing doesn't hurt players. My guess is that it won't matter for him like it would (like it is) for Jiricek.
ColumbusTrill
Registered User
- Mar 15, 2021
- 680
- 1,098
Doggy
Registered User
- Oct 11, 2011
- 3,296
- 2,339
Cowumbus
Registered User
Double-Shift Lasse
Just post better
Is this a thing that should be used with some sort of protective software installed or something?
Cowumbus
Registered User
just an ad blocker or brave browser. Ive used it for years
Last edited:
Cowumbus
Registered User
Cowumbus
Registered User
ColumbusTrill
Registered User
- Mar 15, 2021
- 680
- 1,098
Mario who?Puts up 300+ chl points with 2 bad hips. Imagine what he’d do with healthy hips
I dont know how many more points he would get if his hips are that bad but Id bet he'd be overall more impactful. Depending on how bad they are and hes getting by with mostly smarts alone then his play would be even more impressive
gritdash60
Registered User
Im gonna bet that Oiva Keskinen, despite being a 7th round pick will at least get some NHL games on his belt. He scored 2+3 in 7 games in this years WJC and was the best faceoff guy and had the best xGF% for Team Finland, at least before the shitshow of a bronze game.
He would have scored more if the Pejorative Slured coaching staff had anything moving between their ears. Then again he probably was the best defensive center so i kind of understand their decision, but the fact is, he would easily have been the best offensive center as well given the chance. The one thing that is making him probably not look as sexy for NHL is the fact that he is sometimes even too responsible defensively.
This dude is 19years old and has solified himself as a 3C, sometimes stunting as 2C in the top team in the Finnish league, the exact role that Barkov had while he played in the same team before he came to NHL. Im not saying you got a superstar from the 7th round, but im saying this kid might end up being a NHL player despite his draft number. If not hes gonna have a sick career in europe.
He would have scored more if the Pejorative Slured coaching staff had anything moving between their ears. Then again he probably was the best defensive center so i kind of understand their decision, but the fact is, he would easily have been the best offensive center as well given the chance. The one thing that is making him probably not look as sexy for NHL is the fact that he is sometimes even too responsible defensively.
This dude is 19years old and has solified himself as a 3C, sometimes stunting as 2C in the top team in the Finnish league, the exact role that Barkov had while he played in the same team before he came to NHL. Im not saying you got a superstar from the 7th round, but im saying this kid might end up being a NHL player despite his draft number. If not hes gonna have a sick career in europe.
Ad
Latest posts
-
-
-
Post-Game Talk: Could've been worse. Leafs go down 3-1 in the game and the series.- Latest: usernamezrhardtodo
