Thats exactly what I was thinking. We also won Gold with the Hughes and Tkachuk age group that was pretty bad. They are going to need to overcome bad coaching and a lack of talent from the 18's age group. Appert is a worse coach than Wroblewski, and this 2002 age group is awful.
I think we are going to be good in net with Commesso. He's not Knight, but he'll likely give us a good presence in net for a team that won't be as possession dominant. We do need a better back up for him. The current guy isn't any good, in my opinion.
I like some of the defenders. I think its a better group of defenders than the 2001 age group. Kleven, Sanderson, Faber and Powell all should be top 2-3 round picks, and maybe first rounders with a good season. There may be no huge standout among them like a Hanifin, Werenski or McAvoy, but the most recent age group didn't have that type of defensemen either. I also think Truscott isn't bad either, and the 2003 age group is supposed to have some very good defensemen, so maybe a few of those players will get promoted.
The forwards are the real issue. I can count like six quality forwards in that age group and no standouts, so we are going to need some reinforcements from the 17's. Hopefully a few of those guys can add some of what Hughes, Turcotte and Caufield added to the 2018 team that didn't have much forward depth either.
It doesn't appear like there's that many good candidates outside the NTDP for spots next year either. Stranges, Schingoethe and Keane are some of the names that would be good enough, but two of those three play for London who almost always is still playing at that time of year, so I don't know if we'll get many reinforcements from outside the program, like we could've had this year. We'll have to see who plays well at the Hlinka, but it doesn't look like an age group with anywhere near the talent as the current one, inside or outside the NTDP.
Bordeleau-Smilanic-Peterson
Tuch-Slaggert-Beniers
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?-?-?
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Sanderson-Faber
Kleven-Powell
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Truscott
Commesso
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