WJC Thread 2018

[montreal]

today's lines,

Bellows - Anderson - Mittlestadt
Jones - McGing - Badini
Tkachuck - Brown - Yamamoto
Frederic - Norris - Tufte
Lockwood - Harper - Poehling

 

[Riggins]

It's probably just that his coach knows he's a lock and he's getting a look at other guys on the bubble. No way Poehling is left off. He will be a key piece for them.

 

[montreal]

It's probably just that his coach knows he's a lock and he's getting a look at other guys on the bubble. No way Poehling is left off. He will be a key piece for them.

I would think so since he broke up the best line from the summer showcase as well. I read where he said he did it to bring some balance but likely wanted to get a closer look at a few kids. Just seems odd that he's not even at center, where it's his strength. Then again it's not like his coach doesn't know what he can do, he's been great all year for him so I got to think he's all but a lock.

 

[Habs100]

With the prelim games getting close, time for a WJC thread.

Team USA- Ryan Poehling
Team Canada- Victor Mete
Team Finland- Joni Ikonen

Canada played today but Mete wasn't in the lineup. They play tomorrow at 4 pm, then Friday at 2 pm vs Denmark.

But, but, but the cupboard is bare...

We only just graduated Lehkonen, Hudon, Sergachev, Andrighetto, and Scherbak and Lingred are close.

But the cupboard is bare...

 

[Treb]

But, but, but the cupboard is bare...

We only just graduated Lehkonen, Hudon, Sergachev, Andrighetto, and Scherbak and Lingred are close.

But the cupboard is bare...

3 prospects at the WJC is not a lot.

 

[Pompeius Magnus]

I would think so since he broke up the best line from the summer showcase as well. I read where he said he did it to bring some balance but likely wanted to get a closer look at a few kids. Just seems odd that he's not even at center, where it's his strength. Then again it's not like his coach doesn't know what he can do, he's been great all year for him so I got to think he's all but a lock.

I'm sure this was just a case of the the coach wanting to get a better look at some of the other guys. I'd be shocked if Poehling isn't one of the top two center on the team when the tourney starts. He's so familiar with him that he really doesn't need to evaluate Poehling at all.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

I would think so since he broke up the best line from the summer showcase as well. I read where he said he did it to bring some balance but likely wanted to get a closer look at a few kids. Just seems odd that he's not even at center, where it's his strength. Then again it's not like his coach doesn't know what he can do, he's been great all year for him so I got to think he's all but a lock.

I don't think Norris, McGing, Frederic, or even Middlestadt could justifiably play C over Poehling.
He should play on a line with Tkachuk when the final cuts are made

 

[Habs100]

3 prospects at the WJC is not a lot.

I'm more excited by quality than quantity. I don't think any of those players is Kyle Chipchura or Jacob De la Rose...

Those are 3 good prospects. I like each one of them. Poehling and Mete for obvious reasons. Ikonen was lights out at rookie camp this summer. His numbers this year are not good. But hopefully he will mature physically and mentally (work ethic) and his talent will bloom.

I have a good feeling about these three, like I had with Lehkonen, Reway, Andrighetto, and Hudon, and PK, McDonagh, and Pacioretty.

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

I'm more excited by quality than quantity. I don't think any of those players is Kyle Chipchura or Jacob De la Rose...

Those are 3 good prospects. I like each one of them. Poehling and Mete for obvious reasons. Ikonen was lights out at rookie camp this summer. His numbers this year are not good. But hopefully he will mature physically and mentally (work ethic) and his talent will bloom.

I have a good feeling about these three, like I had with Lehkonen, Reway, Andrighetto, and Hudon, and PK, McDonagh, and Pacioretty.

yeah 3 really solid quality prospects is good for us. 2 of them have been doing great things. The other one is probably our most skilled and seems to shine amongst his peers.

As much as many think the organization's in shambles (and I'm not saying they're wrong) this is probably the best represented WJCs in terms of Hab prospects since I can't remember when.

 

[ginomini]

yeah 3 really solid quality prospects is good for us. 2 of them have been doing great things. The other one is probably our most skilled and seems to shine amongst his peers.

As much as many think the organization's in shambles (and I'm not saying they're wrong) this is probably the best represented WJCs in terms of Hab prospects since I can't remember when.

You are probably right for the quality, in 2014 they had: Fucale, Hudon, Reway, Lehkonen, Collberg and De la Rose.

This is 6 players, probably no one who had Mete or Poehling's potential however.
At the time Collberg and Lehkonen were probably comparable to Ikonen.

 

[JianYang]

But, but, but the cupboard is bare...

We only just graduated Lehkonen, Hudon, Sergachev, Andrighetto, and Scherbak and Lingred are close.

But the cupboard is bare...

It's not bare, but it's not exactly stocked to the rafters either. Compare what we have now to a decade ago.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

Poehling at center

 

[Habs100]

It's not bare, but it's not exactly stocked to the rafters either. Compare what we have now to a decade ago.

Scherbak is the type of prospect that might be very underrated. His ceiling is still really high imo. I think it's first line winger. He's got serious talent and speed. And he's developing a nice work ethic.

Add him to Poehling, Mete, Ikonen, Juulsen, and Lindgren and we have 6 prospects with the very realistic potential to become top six forward/top 4 dman/starting goalie.

Then, we have Lernout, and McCarron who are bottom 6 six/bottom pairing prospects.

And, we just graduated Hudon, Carr, De la Rose, (and Sergachev) when people were calling the cupboard bare before the season. The year before we graduated Lehkonen and Andrighetto. And if Reway wasn't hurt...

Not bad for a team that's been drafting around 25th overall, and the one time we weren't Timmins nabbed Sergachev.

And we drafted a boat load of dmen this year that I just don't know enough about. But we're starting to hear good things.

After his incredible 2005 and 2007 drafts, Timmins had a few bad years (2006, 2008, 2009). But he's been good since 2009 and is back to finding high end talent when he gets a good pick (Sergachev) and finding quality talent with later picks (Lehkonen, Hudon, Andrighetto, Juulsen, Scherbak, Poehling, Ikonen, etc..)

 

[Lebowski]

I'm more excited by quality than quantity. I don't think any of those players is Kyle Chipchura or Jacob De la Rose...

Those are 3 good prospects. I like each one of them. Poehling and Mete for obvious reasons. Ikonen was lights out at rookie camp this summer. His numbers this year are not good. But hopefully he will mature physically and mentally (work ethic) and his talent will bloom.

I have a good feeling about these three, like I had with Lehkonen, Reway, Andrighetto, and Hudon, and PK, McDonagh, and Pacioretty.

Prospects are always amazing... Until they're not.

You expect linear progression, and in most cases it doesn't happen. Once in a decade you might get an exponential curve like Subban.

You just lumped four guys with PK, McD and Pacioretty, but they really don't belong in the same tier. As for the guys we have at the WJC this year, there has been encouraging signs so far since their draft. But Ikonen could be Collberg 2.0 a year from now. Just enjoy the show and don't put too much stock into it, whether they do good or bad.

 

[Habs100]

Prospects are always amazing... Until they're not.

You expect linear progression, and in most cases it doesn't happen. Once in a decade you might get an exponential curve like Subban.

You just lumped four guys with PK, McD and Pacioretty, but they really don't belong in the same tier. As for the guys we have at the WJC this year, there has been encouraging signs so far since their draft. But Ikonen could be Collberg 2.0 a year from now. Just enjoy the show and don't put too much stock into it, whether they do good or bad.

True, these prospects aren't at the level of McDonagh and Subban. But I have a good feeling about them, from watching them. I never had a good feeling about Colberg, De la Rose, Chipchura, and McCarron.

But definitely in the cases of Mete, Poehling, Ikonen, and Scherbak, patience is important. It will really be interesing to see where they are in 5 years and different players develope and different paces. Scherbak and Hudon are showing that this year - both seem to be coming around, after many were heavily critical of them or had written them off.

 

[Habs Halifax]

3 prospects at the WJC is not a lot.

What is a lot? We also have to remember that Poehling and Ikonen are only 18 and likely back in the tournament next year as 19 year olds

 

[Habs Halifax]

It's not bare, but it's not exactly stocked to the rafters either. Compare what we have now to a decade ago.

Actually, the Habs had 28 top 100 picks since 2012 and that ranks 4th. We also rank 9th in points accumulated by prospects in the NHL and 7th in pts/game average. If you think this is not related to how may picks we had, you are not looking at the NHL trends and need to look harder. We are clearly turning the corner in this department but people still want to throw our prospect pool under the bus for some reason. Yeah... we have no blue chip prospects other than potentially Poehling and we just swapped Sergachev for Drouin. However, I do feel we have the potential to further add to our depth in the next draft with at least 5 more top 100 picks and potentially a very good 1st round pick.

Our strength is quantity but the quality is average. However, expect a few more surprises like Mete because probability due to quantity is working in our favor. If we can add a few blue chip prospects on top of this, we will be in very god shape!

 

[Habs Halifax]

I'm sure this was just a case of the the coach wanting to get a better look at some of the other guys. I'd be shocked if Poehling isn't one of the top two center on the team when the tourney starts. He's so familiar with him that he really doesn't need to evaluate Poehling at all.

I agree Poehling is going to make the team but we need to be careful. He's 18 and he might get less ice time vs some other 19 year olds. What he does have going for him is his maturity and how he is already use to playing against players older than him. He's not going to be outworked or intimidated.

 

[SWRekker]

Anyone knows if he will play at the World Juniors for Finland this year ? Can't find anything regarding Finland's roster on the web.

I was hoping to see a few MTL prospects at the tournament but unless i'm mistaken only Mete and Poehling will be there...

 

[WeThreeKings]

Final roster isn't announced but he should be playing second line.

 

[SWRekker]

Ikonen has to have elite level skating and offensive skills in order for me to insert him into our future roster as a small forward. We have too many of them. It's the reason why we traded Ghetto IMO.

I know Ikonen has offensive skills but I'm looking for how he responds to the rough parts of the game when he faces team USA or Canada.

My understanding was that he really wasn't a lock on Finland's team... so it's not WHEN he faces team USA or Canada but IF he faces them.

 

[Habs Halifax]

My understanding was that he really wasn't a lock on Finland's team... so it's not WHEN he faces team USA or Canada but IF he faces them.

No idea... haven't followed the Fins team close enough but I know they are a team that has a great D but lacks offense. That's what I read anyways. I do hope Ikonen makes their team... would love to see what he can do against the best 18 and 19 year olds in the world.

 

[montreal]

Anyone knows if he will play at the World Juniors for Finland this year ? Can't find anything regarding Finland's roster on the web.

I was hoping to see a few MTL prospects at the tournament but unless i'm mistaken only Mete and Poehling will be there...

it sounds like Finland will announce their roster on Friday or Saturday.

 

[montreal]

sounds like USA might announce their cuts in 2 days.

 

[montreal]

USA lines today,

Bellows-Mittelstadt-Tufte
Tkachuk-Brown-Yamamoto
Harper-Poehling-J Anderson
Jones-Badini-Norris
Frederic-McGing-Lockwood

They had one cut have 2 more forwards to cut likely tomorrow night after the game vs Belarus.