2013 WJC Thread - USA! USA! USA!

[Matt Damon]

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?

 

[ColePens]

Not trying to add fuel to the fire [I want this forum to burn in the fires of Shero Finger-pointing], but Forsberg also looks like a highly intelligent player [I wish we had picked Forsberg, even if he is a soft Euro who has no place on my fantasy roster.] I don't know much about prospects, but his demeanor on the ice suggests he's got some great hockey sense. [I would like to hear some opinions so that Chancellor Vitale and I can pratice up on deleting posts and handing out infractions for hostile arguing... we're out of pratice.]

 

[Darth Vitale]

Hahaha! This is awesome. Never expected it.

"Suuuuuuubannnnnn, Suuuuuubannnnnnn"

http://www.tsn.ca/world_jrs/story/?id=412698

 

[Wes C Addle]

What was the criticism on Forsberg? Skating? It sure doesn't look like a hindrance in this game.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

What was the criticism on Forsberg? Skating? It sure doesn't look like a hindrance in this game.

Apparently some had concerns about his upside.

Not trying to add fuel to the fire [I want this forum to burn in the fires of Shero Finger-pointing], but Forsberg also looks like a highly intelligent player [I wish we had picked Forsberg, even if he is a soft Euro who has no place on my fantasy roster.] I don't know much about prospects, but his demeanor on the ice suggests he's got some great hockey sense. [I would like to hear some opinions so that Chancellor Vitale and I can pratice up on deleting posts and handing out infractions for hostile arguing... we're out of pratice.]

J'accuse, Shero!

 

[Antaris]

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!

I'm Swedish-Canadian, so my #2 team is in!

 

[Pfnf]

talk about roofing a shot

 

[Antaris]

I'm Swedish-Canadian, so my #2 team is in!

Awesome!

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Awesome!

The only downside is that I don't get to hear the Russian anthem, which is about the most kickass piece of music ever.

 

[Darth Vitale]

What was the criticism on Forsberg? Skating? It sure doesn't look like a hindrance in this game.

All humorous edits of ColePens' post aside, I don't think there was any big knock on him except that one of the posters here who has watched Forsberg a lot said he was overrated, suggesting I think that he would not have been as highly touted in a stronger draft / not as noticed. I think in the draft his biggest question mark was his size / strength / willingness to compete for the puck? It's a bit hazy now but that's my recollection.

That said, this is the WJC thread so we should take any serious prospect talk (not related to how a prospect is performing in this tournament), to one of the myriad prospect threads.

 

[#66]

I like Forsberg and he played well but I still question his upside. He doesn't really dominate anything but you see a big player with tools like that and you have to think he would look great with an elite center.

Grigs is going to be a good player but he's clearly a center. He reminds me of Yashin a lot.

Easy to pick on Yakapov right now but man do I ever hate his game and than tunnel vision.

Vaselevski is going to be an absolute star. Best Russian player IMO. Makarov looks like a nice undrafted player too. To bad the Sabres pick him up.

 

[ColePens]

CV just made my day.

 

[wej20]

Teddy Blugers picked up an assist in a 5-3 loss to the Slovaks in the relegation round, looks like it's going to come down to Germany and Latvia for the relegation spot.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Sebastien Collberg is a very nice little player. Damn.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I thought he was solid all the way through. On the scramble play on the 1st goal, he got clipped behind the knee by McCabe and was playing catch-up for the rest of the play. But agree to disagree, he was the best d-man for Canada either way.

Murphy...I don't know what to say. He sucked like he's sucked all tourney long, but Spott kept force-feeding his golden boy icetime. He can rush the puck and has a bomb of a shot, but he's such a liability out there, and he doesn't manage the puck well when he does have it, even offensively.

Another head-scratcher among many from Spott, like the choice of Subban over Binnington, splitting up MacKinnon/Drouin, etc.

PS - I'm equally unimpressed with Hamilton. He didn't do anything noteworthy all tourney long.

Agreed with most of this. Spott made some real "wtf?" decisions, largely those you mentioned above. I was not impressed with the job he did, or the line up decisions he made.

As for Ryan Murphy, I'm really starting to question his hockey IQ. It seems he's got one thing on his mind every time he has the puck: skate end to end with it and try and deke out the other team. I didn't see him use his teammates well at all, and I saw him attempt those end to end rushes time after time even after they kept failing. The guy was brought along (after a bad camp) to be a PP QB, and he ended up with ZERO points in the tournament.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Agreed with most of this. Spott made some real "wtf?" decisions, largely those you mentioned above. I was not impressed with the job he did, or the line up decisions he made.

As for Ryan Murphy, I'm really starting to question his hockey IQ. It seems he's got one thing on his mind every time he has the puck: skate end to end with it and try and deke out the other team. I didn't see him use his teammates well at all, and I saw him attempt those end to end rushes time after time even after they kept failing. The guy was brought along (after a bad camp) to be a PP QB, and he ended up with ZERO points in the tournament.

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.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Of the "big names" on Canada, Huberdeau was one of the more disappointing, IMO. I know his point total for the tournament might suggest otherwise, but I didn't think he looked all that dangerous out there. Certainly not the kind of impact you'd expect from a guy who is talked about as likely being on Florida's opening night roster. Maybe it's playing LW instead of center, but he definitely didn't shine in this tournament.

 

[wej20]

Of the "big names" on Canada, Huberdeau was one of the more disappointing, IMO. I know his point total for the tournament might suggest otherwise, but I didn't think he looked all that dangerous out there. Certainly not the kind of impact you'd expect from a guy who is talked about as likely being on Florida's opening night roster. Maybe it's playing LW instead of center, but he definitely didn't shine in this tournament.

isn't he expected to play LW in the NHL at first anyway though?

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Of the "big names" on Canada, Huberdeau was one of the more disappointing, IMO. I know his point total for the tournament might suggest otherwise, but I didn't think he looked all that dangerous out there. Certainly not the kind of impact you'd expect from a guy who is talked about as likely being on Florida's opening night roster. Maybe it's playing LW instead of center, but he definitely didn't shine in this tournament.

He made some crafty little plays, but he didn't look like he had the footspeed to gain separation from his checkers. You want a high-end prospect to have more jump than that.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Maybe. I don't know. But for Florida's sake, he'd better adjust quickly. His performance at the WJC doesn't scream NHL-ready to me.

 

[Darth Vitale]

CV just made my day.

I'm here for ya, bro.

I like Forsberg and he played well but I still question his upside. He doesn't really dominate anything but you see a big player with tools like that and you have to think he would look great with an elite center.

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.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

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.

I believe it's called the "forward" style.

 

[#66]

I'm here for ya, bro.




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.

Forsbergs a weird player. I'm not sold on him at all but at the same time he has some nice tools. It took some time for Iginla to become Iginla too. How often does that happen though?

I'm not a fan of going defense, defense, defense every draft but I support that Pouliot pick. IMO his skill is very high end and I think we'll see that as he matures. To be honest I think he has less question marks about him becoming a high end player than Forsberg or Grigs. Sure the Pens have a need for a skilled forward but those two aren't exactly Tarasenko.

Does anyone else really, REALLY want the Pens to make an offer to Slepyshev? Malkin could be a nice lure.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Forsbergs a weird player. I'm not sold on him at all but at the same time he has some nice tools. It took some time for Iginla to become Iginla too. How often does that happen though?

I'm not a fan of going defense, defense, defense every draft but I support that Pouliot pick. IMO his skill is very high end and I think we'll see that as he matures. To be honest I think he has less question marks about him becoming a high end player than Forsberg or Grigs. Sure the Pens have a need for a skilled forward but those two aren't exactly Tarasenko.

Does anyone else really, REALLY want the Pens to make an offer to Slepyshev? Malkin could be a nice lure.

Isn't he still draft-eligible this year? I don't think we can just go and sign him.

That said:

Last season the dynamic winger had offers from CHL teams, but he "decided to reject them after talking with my agent and my parents. I think it was the right decision." He also admitted that he doesn't follow the NHL too closely. "You know, games are played when in Russia it's night. Sometimes we watched some games early in the morning in the locker room. I don't have a definite favorite team, but I can say that I like Pittsburgh."

www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/72467/2012-prospects-anton-slepyshev-enjoying-predraft-limelight/