WJC: 2017 Canada Roster Talk - Part 2

[Boom Boom Apathy]

The thing about Chabot, is he's the only D out there that I feel very at ease when he's on the ice. He's calm, confident and really takes command of the situation. Does he make mistakes? Sure, what 19/20 year old doesn't (heck, what NHLr doesn't), but overall, he's solid.

 

[1Gold Standard]

I'm just interested whether you still think Ducharme is one of the worst coaches we have ever had at this tournament.

I said he was knocking on the door of Spott Lowry territory. The door didn't open. I still think it was a rather amateurish move and doubt it had much of an impact.

better goaltending.

 

[86Habs]

My Team Canada grades going into tonight's game, based on performance thus far (with heavier weighting towards the U.S., Czech and Sweden games) and some consideration towards initial expectations:

Forwards:
Cirelli A
Stephens A
Gauthier B+
Roy B+
Barzal B
Dube B
Strome B
Jost B
Speers B-
Raddysh B-
Dubois B-
Joseph C+
McLeod C

Defence:
Chabot A
Myers A-
Juulsen B
Fabbro B-
Clague C+
Lauzon C
Bean D

 

[PensBandwagonerNo272*]

As a Canes fan, I can say I haven't been impressed. Although I thought he played the best he has all tournament the 2nd half of the game against Sweden (the 1st half, I thought he was brutal). After that one play where he crept in and got a nice shot of, he seemed to gain confidence. Later in the game, he also had a nice hip check against the board, won a couple of puck battles (which he hasn't done all tournament), didn't make any glaring mistakes and skated with a little more confidence.

All that said, on the whole, he's looked pretty suspect to me. Weak on the puck I can kinda understand as he's a lightweight and needs to bulk up, but he's been indecisive and timid, even when he wasn't under pressure. You can see skill, but he's a LONG way from being an NHL player. That's ok though, because with Slavin (22), Hanifin (19), and Fleury (20), the Canes won't need to rush him and "hopefully" he can put on some weight and develop.

For sure.

It actually reminds me a lot of my impressions of Fleury as well. But with both guys they obviously have the talent and just need time to get stronger, and gain confidence/poise. You'll just have to be patient with those two guys.

FWIW I think Bean is a lot more talented than Fleury and I am less worried about his development. Like you said maybe the biggest thing for him will be to add some size. He could use a solid 20 lbs more. That extra size alone might give him enough confidence in his game to take it to the next level.

 

[Boulette Canon]

The thing about Chabot, is he's the only D out there that I feel very at ease when he's on the ice. He's calm, confident and really takes command of the situation. Does he make mistakes? Sure, what 19/20 year old doesn't (heck, what NHLr doesn't), but overall, he's solid.

I feel the same about Juulsen, but I might be biased.

 

[JackSlater]

My key for Canada (outside of the goaltender not giving up two free goals) is moving the puck quickly out of the zone when the opportunity is there. This team has bad habits of making diagonal cross ice passes from the zone when easier vertical passes are available and stopping at their own blueline, or even re-entering their own zone, and giving it right back to the opposition. If they cut that out I think that they should be able to snuff out most American chances, especially if the backcheckers do the job they did last night.

 

[Bear12Good]

Russian people cheering for Canada)

 

[jj cale]

Russian people cheering for Canada)

Never hurts to have some support.

 

[1Gold Standard]

Never hurts to have some support.

it's not because they have some warm fuzzy feeling for Canada or Canadian hockey...because they certainly do not, it's just an intense hatred of the U.S.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I feel the same about Juulsen, but I might be biased.

He's probably 2nd for me, but not a close 2nd. Chabot is just so poised with the puck that once he has it, I'm like "Ok, I can relax".

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

FWIW I think Bean is a lot more talented than Fleury and I am less worried about his development. Like you said maybe the biggest thing for him will be to add some size. He could use a solid 20 lbs more. That extra size alone might give him enough confidence in his game to take it to the next level.

I agree that Bean is more talented, but because of his size, reach and skating ability, Fleury has a higher floor IMO. With how good the current Canes regime has been at developing defensemen, I suspect Fleury and McKeown will both be fine because there is no need to rush them. Having a young (24 and under) top 4 really gives the Canes that luxury. I wasn't real fond of the Canes picking Bean where they did, but it does show that Francis and team were picking who they thought was BPA (down the road) and not drafting for need. The last thing the Canes needed was another prospect defenseman.

Maybe it was by accident, but I was very surprised to see Canada's coach having Bean out there against Nylander so many times early on. Seems like the LAST thing he should be doing (again, unless he just couldn't get the change).

 

[jj cale]

My key for Canada (outside of the goaltender not giving up two free goals) is moving the puck quickly out of the zone when the opportunity is there. This team has bad habits of making diagonal cross ice passes from the zone when easier vertical passes are available and stopping at their own blueline, or even re-entering their own zone, and giving it right back to the opposition. If they cut that out I think that they should be able to snuff out most American chances, especially if the backcheckers do the job they did last night.

The D moving the puck out of the zone is a concern isn't it? they have been more then a little haphazard doing that for sure. Continue to do it against this American team and it's curtains sad to say.

They also have to compete harder, be harder on the puck and meet the physical U.S challenge this time out, last time they didn't show up in this regard at all, today they have to. We actually got a little bullied physically in that first meeting, that should never and rarely ever does happen with a Canadian team at any level and I'll be stark raving lunatic mad if it happens again tonight.

I said a couple of days ago we had no chance of winning because we once again have no competent goaltending, and last night it sure looked that way until Hart came in. I am still not sold on him and believe once again it will be the weak link. I did like his rebound control last night and the fact he actually squeezed his pads and stayed tracking the puck well to make saves. There is just something still off with him though IMO, i think quick cross ice plays he can and will be exposed.

I will be more then happy to be proved wrong. Cmon Carter...............kick some sand in my face.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I'm a US citizen and will probably root for Canada. I don't get any sort of country pride for this tournament like I do in the Olympics, so I tend to root for the Canes prospects vs. a team...but in this case, it's Team Canada that has the most of them.

 

[jj cale]

it's not because they have some warm fuzzy feeling for Canada or Canadian hockey...because they certainly do not, it's just an intense hatred of the U.S.

I knew that.

We'll still take it, we get so precious little of it around here EVER.

 

[PensBandwagonerNo272*]

I agree that Bean is more talented, but because of his size, reach and skating ability, Fleury has a higher floor IMO. With how good the current Canes regime has been at developing defensemen, I suspect Fleury and McKeown will both be fine because there is no need to rush them. Having a young (24 and under) top 4 really gives the Canes that luxury. I wasn't real fond of the Canes picking Bean where they did, but it does show that Francis and team were picking who they thought was BPA (down the road) and not drafting for need. The last thing the Canes needed was another prospect defenseman.

Maybe it was by accident, but I was very surprised to see Canada's coach having Bean out there against Nylander so many times early on. Seems like the LAST thing he should be doing (again, unless he just couldn't get the change).

Agreed on Fleury's floor.

Yeah Ducharme and co. definitely feel comfy playing Bean. He's has the 2nd highest TOI after Chabot I believe. When he's playing like he did in the 2nd half of the Sweden game I'd feel comfortable with him too. I expect he'll get a lot of minutes tonight too unless he makes some big blunder early on.

Like someone above said PMDs aren't this team's strength so putting faith in Bean makes sense.

 

[Patmac40]

The D moving the puck out of the zone is a concern isn't it? they have been more then a little haphazard doing that for sure. Continue to do it against this American team and it's curtains sad to say.

They also have to compete harder, be harder on the puck and meet the physical U.S challenge this time out, last time they didn't show up in this regard at all, today they have to. We actually got a little bullied physically in that first meeting, that should never and rarely ever does happen with a Canadian team at any level and I'll be stark raving lunatic mad if it happens again tonight.

I said a couple of days ago we had no chance of winning because we once again have no competent goaltending, and last night it sure looked that way until Hart came in. I am still not sold on him and believe once again it will be the weak link. I did like his rebound control last night and the fact he actually squeezed his pads and stayed tracking the puck well to make saves. There is just something still off with him though IMO, i think quick cross ice plays he can and will be exposed.

I will be more then happy to be proved wrong. Cmon Carter...............kick some sand in my face.

I've seen a lot of Hart over the last couple years watching WHL games online and his side-to-side movement is one of his biggest strengths next to his rebound control and positioning due to how athletic he is and the fact that he's a strong skater. I don't see him getting exposed due to that. The only way I see him getting exposed is if he somehow starts moving too far back in his net because he's generally pretty aggressive and comes out decently far to cut down the angle.

 

[jj cale]

I've seen a lot of Hart over the last couple years watching WHL games online and his side-to-side movement is one of his biggest strengths next to his rebound control and positioning due to how athletic he is and the fact that he's a strong skater. I don't see him getting exposed due to that. The only way I see him getting exposed is if he somehow starts moving too far back in his net because he's generally pretty aggressive and comes out decently far to cut down the angle.

I'll defer to your judgement then.

I just want for once to not have a goalie lose it for us. He needs to be in top form tonight.

 

[TimeZone]

I have a really, really bad feeling our goaltending is going to cost us the gold tonight.

 

[KingBud97]

Strome looks like a lazy player and Dubois looks very overrated

 

[PG Canuck]

I'm happy I'll never have to watch Dylan Strome at the WJ's ever again.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Went from no medal last year to a Silver medal this year. Overall can't be too disappointed.

 

[Menzinger]

Absolutely hate seeing these kids cry.

Stop putting so much pressure on them, let them have a bit of fun out there.

 

[JayKing]

First tournament loss in a while where coaching isn't blamed at all.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Should have played fresher players in OT.

 

[Snippit]

Super happy with this tournament considering the expectations I had for them going on.

Props to the coaching staff for getting the most out of these guys.

The biggest problem is that we didn't have any big line that we could lean on at ES. Most of our production 5v5 came from our bottom 6. We just didn't have those big guns that stepped up - more like scoring by bottom six committee and power plays.