Post-Game Talk: 2017 WJC post-tournament musings

[BondraTime]

Agreed. I love his game, but all the accolades I've read sound hauntingly familiar with what we heard about Lazar. I think White definitely has better hands (and IQ), but it is a worry. Just wish the damned kid would've been healthy at camp so we could've gotten a look at him with pros for a little while.

We wouldn't have anyways, he wasn't leaving NCAA, they aren't allowed at pro camps.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Our prospects mostly impressed or beat expectations. Who knows how successful they'll be but we could be in a lot worse position like Phoenix with Strome or whoever drafted Barzal.

I'd rather be impressed than disappointed.

Well the islanders drafted barzal. 16th overall. Nothing to be dissapointed about.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

This isn't really saying much. There have been about 10 players in the history of the NHL whose NHL production was a given before they played in the league.

White has MUCH better hands, carries the puck much better and works a PP MUCH better than Lazar. Other than the fact that both were defensively aware at young age (IMO White is a much better defensive player as well as offensive) there aren't many similarities between these two players.

Agreed on the Tarasenko thing but I'd be willing to bet that Colin White becomes a much better player than Zack Smith.

White already has a much better stride, can carry the puck better, reads the play at least as well and is constantly engaged. The Zack Smith we've watched the last year and a half has been very good, but let's not forget that the guy pretty much floated around the ice for the year and half before that. Nothing I've seen suggests that Colin White would ever float for even a full game much less a season.

Plus, White's penchant for coming up big in big games is not something we've ever seen from Zack Smith.

This is not to slight Smith but rather to emphasize how good I think White will be.

I was thinking about the good Zack Smith. I hope White is better obviously. I think he will be a very useful middle six player... Zack Smith just came to mind as one of those... as far as any comparison goes. I have been a White supporter since before the Draft. I really like that type of player. We are looking at potential vs achieved as well. So I try not to set expectations too high and hope for more.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Well the islanders drafted barzal. 16th overall. Nothing to be dissapointed about.

I love Barzal's hands.

 

[Knave]

I love Barzal's hands.

I love how frequently he skated aimlessly with the puck. He's like Spezza with much less talent.

I think it's pretty obvious though - I thought Barzal and Strome as returnees would be much better in the big games than they turned out to be.

 

[SAK11]

I love how frequently he skated aimlessly with the puck. He's like Spezza with much less talent.

I think it's pretty obvious though - I thought Barzal and Strome as returnees would be much better in the big games than they turned out to be.

Yeah in these last couple of games the Strome and Barzal lines were the 3rd and 4th best lines [although Joseph stepped up in a big way last night]. Speers was invisible throughout the tournament, Jost became quite invisible when he was moved onto Strome's line, and Raddysh was pretty bad outside his one big game, he couldn't handle the puck last night at all.
With Barzal's WHL statline, you expect a pass first player, but man can he ever be a puck hog. So many times he had an easy, open pass, only to go for a skate and end up attempting a weak shot to the net, or a much more difficult pass. You saw this type of play get shut down quite a bit against the stronger teams.
He's a great skater and obviously has slick hands, even in a lesser game last night he had the assist on the Chabot goal and a should have been assist on the Dubois whiff. He'll just need to simplify his game, Marner tried to do it all at times last year, too; the one thing it does indicate is a great deal of confidence which is good.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

I love how frequently he skated aimlessly with the puck. He's like Spezza with much less talent.

I think it's pretty obvious though - I thought Barzal and Strome as returnees would be much better in the big games than they turned out to be.

Aimlessly ... well if you say so.

Barzal was far more effective than Strome IMO.

Not everything works out. He tried for the perfect play and hung on to the puck too long at times... Dubois cashes that empty net setup by Barzal last night and its the play of the game for a gold medal...

You can be negative and critical about parts of his game but his hands are pretty slick and they were instrumental. He is not a finished product.

 

[Micklebot]

Aimlessly ... well if you say so.

Barzal was far more effective than Strome IMO.

Not everything works out. He tried for the perfect play and hung on to the puck too long at times... Dubois cashes that empty net setup by Barzal last night and its the play of the game for a gold medal...

You can be negative and critical about parts of his game but his hands are pretty slick and they were instrumental. He is not a finished product.

I'm surprized people are down on Barzal. I though he was one of the more dangerous forwards out there, though I only watched the last two games, and was coming in and out.

Strome on the other hand...

 

[Proust*]

Yeah I feel you. It's a legit fear. Colin whites offensive production at the NHL level is still a question mark

The description of Colin White sounds exactly like the description of Curtis Lazar, pre-draft. What separates White from Lazar? Hockey IQ might be it, which is probably the answer we want.


Chabot: His skating, hands and ability to eat minutes are elite. The fact that he still looked a bit weak against kids means he will probably need a year in the AHL. Also, he has a bad habit of stickhandling with one-hand on his stick. This works if you are stronger than everyone else, but if not, you are going to lose the puck.


Overall, I would say both guys slightly exceeded expectations, which is great, because they could have been underwhelming.

 

[BondraTime]

I though Barzel just needlessly skated/stickhandled around the majority of the time to no end. He'd look great doing it though.

 

[DrunkUncleDenis]

The description of Colin White sounds exactly like the description of Curtis Lazar, pre-draft. What separates White from Lazar? Hockey IQ might be it, which is probably the answer we want.

Hands too. Lazar has cinderblocks. White has much softer hands and a scoring touch.

 

[HavlatMach9]

Well, there's a reason he wasn't drafted in the top 3.

He had mono I think and it probably contributed to a bad year. Maybe Couture 2.0

 

[Senateurs]

First of all, props to the Americans, I thought they were the best team of the tournament and they deserved the win. They showed a lot of character coming back from two 2 goal deficit in a goal medal game in a hostile environment.

Also, great showing from our prospects. I hope we take our time with them and let them develop properly.


2-I hate when championship games are determined by a shootout. Wish they could play another 10 mins at 4 on 4, then another 10 at 3 on 3. If there is no goals after 40 mins of extra hockey, then go to the skills competition.

3- Bad coaching from Ducharme. He went with his veterans forward instead of going with who was playing better. It seems like the shootout picks were made back on December 26th. I’ll admit, I’m sure most fans, including myself, would’ve picked the first three guys that got a shootout attempt last night in their top 5. Strome, Barzal, Jost, Cirelli, Roy.

But after two great games in 48 hours where Strome and Barzal were absolute crap, unimpressive throughout the tournament, there is no reason why they should have gone out there ahead of guys like Gauthier who had the hot stick or Chabot who was just a beast. Also, the Roy, Gauthier, Dubois line was dominant at 5 on 5. Why not have them go out on the PP instead of splitting them to play with our two struggling “top centers”?

 

[HavlatMach9]

I though Barzel just needlessly skated/stickhandled around the majority of the time to no end. He'd look great doing it though.

When he wasn't experiencing total tunnel vision, he made some good plays.

 

[Tundraman]

Someone said on the radio this a.m. that Canada changed the pp setup. Early on when they were successful they had Strome at the point but then they changed it and put Buckaroo Barzal on the point and they started tanking. Has anyone asked the coach why they did that and never reverted back to what worked early on. Also I did not like Radish on the pp he couldn't handle any passes and bobbled the puck a lot.

 

[Vesa Awesaka]

The description of Colin White sounds exactly like the description of Curtis Lazar, pre-draft. What separates White from Lazar? Hockey IQ might be it, which is probably the answer we want.


Chabot: His skating, hands and ability to eat minutes are elite. The fact that he still looked a bit weak against kids means he will probably need a year in the AHL. Also, he has a bad habit of stickhandling with one-hand on his stick. This works if you are stronger than everyone else, but if not, you are going to lose the puck.


Overall, I would say both guys slightly exceeded expectations, which is great, because they could have been underwhelming.

Lazar is less dynamic offensively. He was more rush the puck and shoot hard and fight though contact to get points

 

[Larionov]

I'm as thrilled as anyone about the play of Chabot and White - obviously you'd rather have your prospects play well and dominate at this tournament as opposed to looking bad. Having said that, it's worth remembering that a year ago, Mitch Marner struggled worse than Strome just did at the WJC. Needless to say, he got over it quickly, as we saw at the Memorial Cup and so far this year for the Leafs. It's one tournament, one measuring stick - lots more tests to come.

 

[DrEasy]

I disagree with the Lazar comp for White. Just thinking back of how Lazar looked at WJC, even then you could see he was mostly successful as a bull in a china shop kind of way (and my hope is he'll develop into that again as he ages and gets stronger and more confident). White showed some skill. Z. Smith is definitely a better comp IMO. Hopefully that's his floor, not his ceiling.

 

[Tuna99]

PP in overtime, two 2 goal leads - the USA flat out out Canadianed us in the game. No goals on 5 shootout attempts, the goalie Hasek'd us too.

Not disappointed at all, happy with Ducharmes, any coach who can get his players playing like that is an excellent coach.

 

[Uchiha]

White can pass the puck and has NHL caliber hands.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Even is barZal isn't scoring he's a guarenteed zone entry and O zone control time. I thought he had a great tournament.

 

[jhutter]

Couldn't believe how ineffective Barzal and Strome were. It seemed as though Ducharme felt obligated to put them on the PP and in the shootout. Poor Coyotes.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

White and Chabot surpassed my expectations.

They are exactly what we need going forward.

I'd even have both of them play half of next season in AHL before calling them up just to hone their ability.

Look at Detroit. Mantha kept getting sent back and back and back, even though he was hyped through the roof and now he's killing it for them.

White and Chabot are not far from NHL ready and I really think Chabot can come in next year in 2nd pairing and put up a calder like season like Carlson/Bouwmeester/Pie have done but we shouldn't take any risks. Make sure they are fully developed.

I really think these two can become Bergeron and Bouwmeester level players for us in a couple years. But we best not rush them.

White, Chabot Chlapik Ahl added to Bingo next year could create a very good team. Especially with more seasoned Englund, Perron, could be huge boost

 

[saskriders]

Use them as black aces this year. Start them in the AHL next year. Call them up halfway through the season.

 

[GrantLemons]

All of our prospects were fantastic. It's exciting that finally some of our 1st and 2nd rounders are looking like they are going to contributors on the big club. It's refreshing after mostly misses in round 1/2 the last few years.

Side note, all I've seen of Strome is this tournament, but man, I have a hard time understanding how he went 3rd overall. Absolutely nothing about him stood out to me. Considering all of the guys drafted around him are excelling in the NHL, his showing at this tournament must be a tough pill to swallow for Arizona.