Fowler has looked really good imo. Nothing flashy, but playing with confidence, moving the puck well, and making smart plays. The JJ-Fowler pair has been amazing.
Ok, imo, should use his skating more when he's got more room.
I agree with both of you. Faulk, Fowler, and Johnson have all been the best d-men. All three have suffered from overconfidence and sloppiness at times, though, but that's not unexpected. Players of their skating and offensive abilities typically can overestimate the time and space they have on the bigger ice and it takes time to adjust. Fowler, like the others, has been a bit too lackadaisical at times when he could just use his skating to more easily effect the game but he's been good.
I think Fowler is showing his defensive game here though. Like all young players he has plenty of room to grow there but he's been strong here. His game has reminded me of when he was on the WJC team. He took the back seat offensively there to guys like Carlson and Donovan (and here he's doing the same to Faulk and Johnson) but he's been steady defensively and that's needed. Impressed with him and excited for his future. Still TONS of room for growth in his game.
Pretty much the exact reason, if I'm the US coach, I like Carlson on the 2nd pairing with Faulk if I can get it. You want to take advantage of an addition like Carlson, but you don't want to mess with the good things you've got. The Johnson-Fowler pairing has been money on the breakout, moving the puck, and they just seem to read each other well in all three zones.
I think the US might find themselves having two top pairing caliber lines, if Carlson and Faulk can click. Then you've got Petry, Goligoski, and I'm guessing Butler(Braun should be the odd man out in this scenario).
If Carlson were to go, and I'm guessing he's not given we haven't heard anything yet (he's also an RFA), I'd split them up to have a lefty-righty on each pair, say Johnson - Faulk, Fowler - Carlson. A problem with the 1st PP unit is that Gordon is throwing out Fowler-Johnson and it makes it easy to defend when you know one guy cannot one-time anything. Too easy to set up and take away those lanes defensively in that situation.
That said, I have no problems with the defense. Most of their issues so far in the tournament have been self inflicted. When they move the puck like they did today and drop the forced long breakout passes, they've dominated.