Prospect Info: World Junior Summer Showcase

Beltv

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Apr 13, 2017
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Not sure if any of you are aware but they are playing this showcase here in Plymouth, MI. at the USA Hockey Arena.

I believe on Saturday it will be USA vs CANADA with their final roster?

Sweden vs Finland at 4pm Saturday August 5th
USA vs Canada at 7pm Saturday August 5th

I do believe that Rasmussen, Cholowski and Smith are suiting up for Canada. Unsure if they'll be skating Saturday as both US and CAN have 2 teams.

GUSTAV LINDSTROM for Sweden too.
KASPAR KOTKANSALO for Finland.

Tickets sold as reserved seat passes (both games) for $15/seat.

http://www.usahockeyarena.com/WJSS
 

Frk It

Mo Seider Less Problems
Jul 27, 2010
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Filip Larsson is also playing for Sweden. Keith Petruzzelli is playing for USA.
 

vladdy16

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Aug 2, 2005
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Went last year and it was a great value. As a competition it's a little awkward, but there were as many former NHLers, GM's and scouts in the crowd as there were fans.
 

Beltv

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Apr 13, 2017
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Went last year and it was a great value. As a competition it's a little awkward, but there were as many former NHLers, GM's and scouts in the crowd as there were fans.

I'm thinking about it this year. Would really like to see Rasmussen skate in person against top 18 draft talent and his own draft class. Also would really like to see if the Dahlin hype is real and its always good to maybe chat some guys there.
 

vladdy16

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Aug 2, 2005
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I'm thinking about it this year. Would really like to see Rasmussen skate in person against top 18 draft talent and his own draft class. Also would really like to see if the Dahlin hype is real and its always good to maybe chat some guys there.

Go for it! I'm trying to think but I'm pretty sure Saarijarvi was the only Wing last year, so this year should be even more fun.

Like I said though, it's not exactly a great situation for the kids, showing up to Plymouth to play an exhibition with an unfamiliar team, so you can expect them to play mostly like teenagers rather than pros.

But that's kind of a cool perspective, I was sitting near the leafs front office so I was taking notice that if Marner was NHL ready you wouldn't neccisarrily be able to tell based on the game we were at, but at the end of the year he had 61 pts in the NHL.
 

Beltv

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Apr 13, 2017
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Go for it! I'm trying to think but I'm pretty sure Saarijarvi was the only Wing last year, so this year should be even more fun.

Like I said though, it's not exactly a great situation for the kids, showing up to Plymouth to play an exhibition with an unfamiliar team, so you can expect them to play mostly like teenagers rather than pros.

But that's kind of a cool perspective, I was sitting near the leafs front office so I was taking notice that if Marner was NHL ready you wouldn't neccisarrily be able to tell based on the game we were at, but at the end of the year he had 61 pts in the NHL.

Absolutely, but there are small aspects in the game that will still show. Battles on the board and how he can read the play etc. But I would most certainly like to see them play now and then again when they make the club to see how far they've came along.
 

FireBird71

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Aug 6, 2015
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Took my oldest down for both games yesterday...thought Petruzzelli looked good...Larsson too considering the D in front of him didn't help much. Other 3 didn't stand out much
Heading down tomorrow too
 

The Zetterberg Era

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USA is dominating Canada.

The fact they just passed on several penalties and rung up the first thing on USA is annoying and it wasn't even a penalty.

But it is great to see Team USA play like this.
 

RabidBadger

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I was at the U.S./Canada finalé. I was hoping to see Ras and Cholo in action, but, alas, neither made the final roster for Canada. No Petruzelli for the US either, but that wasn't too shocking.

Smith was the lone Wings draftee that played. He managed to score a fluky goal; it was a end-over-end floater that deflected off a defender's stick and over the goalies shoulder. Overall he had a solid performance. His passes were solid, stick-handling was better than I thought it would be, positioning was good, and, of course, he was chippy. He got away with more than he should have. Most of Team Canada did though, as Z-berg Era pointed out. His skating is pretty rough. That's going to be the biggest hurdle for him to take the next step.

The game itself was pretty entertaining. The U.S. looked more solid, but Canada is Canada and they'll always make it close. The (admittedly biased) highlights for me were seeing all 5'3 of Sean Dhooge getting into a heated shoving match with a player nearly a foot taller. The next Brian Gionta is upon us. Adam Fox was a force and owned every inch of ice he was on tonight; especially behind his own goal line. If he pans out then Calgary has a definite fan favorite on their hands. Brady Tkchuk wins the Ice Diva award for embelishment and drawing attention to himself.

I wish I had been at the Finland/Sweden game. Sweden nailed tbe OT winner as we were walking through the door. I'd love a report on that game if anyone was at that game I'd love to hear about it.
 

The Zetterberg Era

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For what it is worth they did mention yesterday we have the most players at the event with 7 guys. I think that our guys weren't playing bigger roles is concerning but still we do have some talented prospects for those running around screaming about the sky falling.
 

RabidBadger

Mazur detractors will look like dummies!
Sep 9, 2007
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For what it is worth they did mention yesterday we have the most players at the event with 7 guys. I think that our guys weren't playing bigger roles is concerning but still we do have some talented prospects for those running around screaming about the sky falling.

It was a slight bummer not getting to see Rasmussen and Cholo in action last night. But the fact they, and the others, were present on a national level speaks well of Detroit's draft prowess. It's not like any of the countries are also-rans in the hockey world. Probably 60-70% of the guys who played last night will see some NHL action.
 

Frk It

Mo Seider Less Problems
Jul 27, 2010
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For what it is worth they did mention yesterday we have the most players at the event with 7 guys. I think that our guys weren't playing bigger roles is concerning but still we do have some talented prospects for those running around screaming about the sky falling.

That is a good thing. But I'm guessing less than half will make it to the WJC. We will see.
 

Tatar

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Mar 26, 2011
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Took my oldest down for both games yesterday...thought Petruzzelli looked good...Larsson too considering the D in front of him didn't help much. Other 3 didn't stand out much
Heading down tomorrow too

Larsson looked ****ing awful against the Finns. He was beat 4 times from the slot with no traffic. His defense had nothing to do with his poor showing.
 

Beltv

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Apr 13, 2017
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I thought Kaspar Konstakalo(sp?) looked great in the finland/Sweden game. Did get caught out of position one time I had noticed almost lead to a goal but other than that he stepped up and pinched when he should have, his skating was good, joined the rush and got a couple clean shots off from what I remember. Hope he can continue to improve. Could be a nice bottom tier D. He looked good on the PK too broke up a couple passes and got it out.

Really bummed Cholowski and Rasmussen didn't play as those guys were the main reason I went.

Dahlin is straight up Karlsson v.2...the guy has wheels and his defensive play will be questioned for his first few years. He rushed up a lot I had noticed on regroups.

I had seen Lindstrom in the warm ups and like 2 shifts in the first and then didn't notice him at all. Err, I thought I had seen him. Was he not playing and I was watching someone else?
 

FireBird71

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Larsson looked ****ing awful against the Finns. He was beat 4 times from the slot with no traffic. His defense had nothing to do with his poor showing.

Defense was sure part of it...I was down there and the defense stood around
 

DatsyukToZetterberg

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For what it is worth they did mention yesterday we have the most players at the event with 7 guys. I think that our guys weren't playing bigger roles is concerning but still we do have some talented prospects for those running around screaming about the sky falling.

Who were they? I'm not sure if I'm missing someone:

CAD: Rasmussen, Cholowski, Smith
FIN: Kotkansalo
SWE: Larsson
US: Petruzzelli

I think we can expect to see both goalies make it though Petruzzelli likely serves as the 3rd goalie unless something changes in the next 5 months.

The 3 Canadians are on the outside looking in but a strong first half could have any of them fight for a bottom role on the team.

I think we'll see Kotkansalo make it as a 3rd pairing guy but he faces some good competition for that role.

Larsson looked ****ing awful against the Finns. He was beat 4 times from the slot with no traffic. His defense had nothing to do with his poor showing.

I wasn't able to watch the games, but if you give any player enough time in the slot they'll be able to pick their spots. If the defence is giving the other team too much time then the blame does fall on both parties. A well placed shot with little traffic can beat even the best of goalies.
 

The Zetterberg Era

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Rasmussen and Smith were listed on the TSN article as picked for the team in terms of their guess. With the presence he can be on special teams and his versatility/flexibility to play all three forward spots and be strong in the faceoff circle I would be surprised if Rasmussen didn't make it.

But his start will be important.

Honestly, I know some of those guys are more celebrated but as a USA Hockey fan good luck bringing that D-core, I have now watched those guys get torched by USA Hockey a few times in terms of a couple of them. No Cholowski is a good thing for the USA.

The three Canadian Wings need strong starts to the season, but I thought they looked good this week. I thought the two forwards have a good shot at making it and the Canadian D for a celebrated as those guys looked have now lost 5 straight games at this level for a couple of those guys, Hockey Canada should give that a long think in my opinion. Cholowski was the most impressive in the split squad blowout according to a couple of people. I think his gap control with plus offense is something they need, they are a bit heavy on offense only guys and it showed once you got them in transition at times, they have a couple of guys at least to date in their hockey career that are not good in their own zone.
 

Frk It

Mo Seider Less Problems
Jul 27, 2010
36,201
14,682
Rasmussen and Smith were listed on the TSN article as picked for the team in terms of their guess. With the presence he can be on special teams and his versatility/flexibility to play all three forward spots and be strong in the faceoff circle I would be surprised if Rasmussen didn't make it.

But his start will be important.

Honestly, I know some of those guys are more celebrated but as a USA Hockey fan good luck bringing that D-core, I have now watched those guys get torched by USA Hockey a few times in terms of a couple of them. No Cholowski is a good thing for the USA.

The three Canadian Wings need strong starts to the season, but I thought they looked good this week. I thought the two forwards have a good shot at making it and the Canadian D for a celebrated as those guys looked have now lost 5 straight games at this level for a couple of those guys, Hockey Canada should give that a long think in my opinion. Cholowski was the most impressive in the split squad blowout according to a couple of people. I think his gap control with plus offense is something they need, they are a bit heavy on offense only guys and it showed once you got them in transition at times, they have a couple of guys at least to date in their hockey career that are not good in their own zone.

Here was Pronman's projected roster:

 

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