Prospect Info: U-20 Tournament - Rus/Fin/Swe/Cze 8-23/8-25

[Adam Michaels]

Romanov is there. As if we had any doubts.

Click to read more...

 

[montreal]

Romanov is there. As if we had any doubts.

there would be doubts based off the rosters that Sweden and Finland are sending, they barely have anyone going that is expected to make their WJC teams in December. No Olofsson since they already had the summer showcase.

 

[montreal]

I'm told the games might be streamed for free on youtube.

here's the rosters for Sweden and the Finns,

Sweden

Finnish roster: Leijonat - Suomen U20-joukkue elokuun Venäjän turnaukseen

 

[Adam Michaels]

So the only Habs prospect in this tournament will be Romanov.

 

[montreal]

Russian roster,

Goalkeepers: Daniil Isaev (Lokomotiv), Amir Miftakhov (Ak Bars), Gleb Nosov (Metallurg Mg).

Defenders: Gleb Babintsev (“Metallurg” Mg), Daniil Valitov (“Motorist”), Danila Galenyuk (SKA), Kirill Goloshchapov (CSKA), Bogdan Zhilyakov (“Tractor”), Daniil Zhuravlev (“Ak Bars”), Anton Malyshev , Daniil Misyul (both Lokomotiv), Daniil Pylenkov (Vityaz), Alexander Romanov (CSKA).

Forwards: Rodion Amirov (“Salavat Yulaev”), Dmitry Voronkov (“Ak Bars”), Pavel Dorofeev (“Metallurg” Mg), Grigory Denisenko (“Lokomotiv”), Lev Komissarov, Nikita Rtishchev, Maxim Sorkin (all - CSKA) , Semen Kizimov (“Lada”), Kirill Marchenko, Ivan Morozov, Vasily Podkolzin, Danil Savunov (all - SKA), Vladislav Mikhailov (“Dynamo” M), Pavel Rotenberg (“Dynamo” St. Petersburg), Egor Stepanov (“Tractor” )


Czech roster -

 

[montreal]

not sure if I will get to see the games or not, it might be on youtube but the first game starts at 5 am EST, so that's out and Romanov faces the Czech's tomorrow in the 2nd game at 9 am. I should get to see some of the game if it's streamed and work doesn't get in the way.

 

[Kshahdoo]

So the only Habs prospect in this tournament will be Romanov.

There also will be Amirov, one of Russian top prospects for the draft. As far as I understand, Montreal needs wingers, so there is a chance Amirov ends up being a Montreal prospect as well...

 

[Legend123]

There also will be Amirov, one of Russian top prospects for the draft. As far as I understand, Montreal needs wingers, so there is a chance Amirov ends up being a Montreal prospect as well...

chances are tiny. There are thousands of wingers out there. We dont need a winger we need a supertstar. Thats literally all w need asides a top pairing LD.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Romanov on the top pair and wearing an "A" on his sweater.

 

[Dongstoppable]

Any way to watch this?

 

[habsprospects]

Any way to watch this?

 

[Adam Michaels]

 

[Adam Michaels]

 

[WeThreeKings]

That's what you get when your player development coach is Francis Bouillon. King of ruining cycles with an unscreened wrister.

 

[HockeyDBspecialist]

I think he over analyzed it.. the first play I see those kind of shots a lot of the time in the NHL, it's a small error that can happen.

The second play.. it was a fine shot with complete open space, he has no space for a pass and his teammate was too low in the Zone.

Romanov knows he has a good shot, so he will shot more in the Ozone when he sees an opening

 

[domiwroze]

The first one is Ok to point it out but no big deal. He has been by far the best player on the ice and it's pretty blatant.

The second one is actually a nice play. Calm down Jokke you're making a Joke of yourself.

 

[habsfan92]

EMPTY NETTER!! YAAAYY!!

 

[Kshahdoo]

Nothing especial, but a goal is a goal.

 

[Adam Michaels]

 

[Sam I Am]

Pomahob!

 

[dackelljuneaubulis02]

The first one is Ok to point it out but no big deal. He has been by far the best player on the ice and it's pretty blatant.

The second one is actually a nice play. Calm down Jokke you're making a Joke of yourself.

did you watch? any more details?

 

[domiwroze]

did you watch? any more details?

watched maybe 35 min out of the 60 since i'm at work.

Everytime he's on the ice they seems to dominate the play. His Dzone exits are amazing. His skating is marvelous and his technique makes him strong on his skates. He could work a little on getting his shots through the coverage but overall it just seems too easy for him. He's a man playing among teenagers.

One of the opponent tried to run him into the boards once with what seemed to be a charge. He still got the first pass out to his winger, got the puck out of the zone, absorbed the hit ( he didn't fall, the opponent did ) and then instead of f***ing around and trying to slash the other kid or wtv he skated right back into the play gaining a chance to outnumber the other team in the offensive zone.

That decision seemed minimalist for most but in the end those situation often end with a scoring chance. I loved that.

 

[montreal]

Finished watching the game, Romanov was solid as expected, he was all over the ice and is a beauty is watch skate as it's so effortless for him. In addition to the empty net goal he had an assist but it got called off due the the puck going in off the skate. Since it was in Russian I don't know what the call was, I assume they are using IIHF rules. It went in off Dorofeyev's skate, but Romanov set it up after getting a pass from Dorofeyev as Romanov entered the offensive zone.

He didn't get a lot of time on the PP but did on the PK, I know he was on the PP to start the 2nd but that was with like 10 seconds left on the PP.

I don't think he was the best player on the ice or for Russia, as I thought Morozov (Vegas) was the best. Then maybe Romanov or Marchenko (blue jackets). Dorofeyev was good, didn't notice Podkolzin other then the block shot. For the Czech's I liked Martin Lang (no relation to Robert), he played in the WHL last year for Kamloops.

 

[Intangir]

did you watch? any more details?

I watched the whole game and came away pretty impressed, as usual with Romanov.

If the refs hadn't taken it away at the last minute, Romanov would have gotten an extra assist off of a three-on-two that culminated with an illegal goal scored by a redirection of the puck by Dorofeyev's skate. The way Romanov anticipated the play and jumped up to support the attack was praise-worthy and it's a shame he wasn't rewarded for his effort.

In the first period Romanov made a beautiful pass to one of his forwards that was in the slot and ready for a shot after his team had finished setting themselves up in the offensive end, only to see his teammate get bothered by the opposing defenseman just enough and fan on his shot a bit to send it straight into the Czech goaltender's pads, not an easy save by any means, but it was a very nice set-up that could have resulted in a goal if the shooter's balance hadn't been disrupted.

I paid very close attention to Romanov throughout the game and, contrarily to Jokke, didn't mind the two plays that he highlighted at all. The shot that Romanov tried to send through was blocked this time but it might not be next time, and always defaulting to passing in tight situations leads to an overdependency on playmaking, which can make a player a bit predictable. It wasn't an optimal play but it also wasn't bad. For the second play, Romanov created his own chance and was much too far ahead of his teammates for them to efficiently support him on his rush, thus the shot was a valid option, just as trying to deke or going to the net would have been.

To try and evaluate him the best way I could I tried to analyze Romanov's performance this game by focusing on the bad plays that he made while still noting the good plays. But before that, I should first explain that in my mind there is a difference between plays that are ''not good'' (or not optimal) and ''bad''. A given play that ''isn't good'' can be the only available option afforded to a player as a result of certain circumstances that forces the player's hand (IE dumping the puck for an icing when alone in puck-retrieval with no support), it can also be a decision made with or without the puck that is functional, but could have had better results (a shot in the offensive zone that could have been better placed, a screen that could have been better-timed, a pass that could have more accurate or sent to an entirely different player, etc.). On the other end, I perceive a ''bad play'' as 100% the fault of a player regardless of everything else and as the embodiment of a bad decision that may or may not have repercussions on the score sheet (a bad pinch, awkward positioning, a soft clear to the middle of the defensive zone, missed coverage of a forward, etc.).

By following that standard, I saw Romanov make an overwhelming amount of very nice, good plays, a decent amount of plays that weren't good, as all players make, but, most important of all, only 3 (!) plays that I would genuinely consider bad (and I paid really close attention, as I've already stated). They were a reckless pinch at the midway point of the first that lead to an easy transition to offense by the Czech Republic, over-agression in the neutral zone in the middle of the second period that lead to an odd-man rush for the Czechs, and a bad read on an opposing forward receiving a pass to enter the zone that lead to a possible scoring chance that was denied beacuse of Romanov's partner after the midway point of the second period. Aside from that Romanov played a great game, helped Podkolzin get up and skate to the bench to get medical attention when Pod blocked a slapshot with his abdomen and had his breath cut (he returned a couple shifts later, no real problem there), was dominant 5-on-5, tremendous on the penalty-kill, a transition-machine and, by far, the best defenseman on either side in this game.

After the game, I can reliably say that the most improved aspect of Romanov's play now compared to what it was a year or so ago is his skating. Before this season it was already good and fluid, now his mechanics are even more solid and he is much more explosive as he now manages to generate a lot of separation against opposing players in puck retrievals that he couldn't create last year, which makes his transition game that was already excellent even better. I've also noticed that Romanov looks more agile, elusive out there, and I've seen him fool a forward with his own patented controlled spinorama ala Subban in the third period, which I really liked.

Another point that I think he's really improved is his play on the penalty kill. Last year during the WJC he was pretty good, if somewhat bland at times and only quietly efficient. In this game against the Czech Republic he was better in that aspect than I'd ever seen him before, deflecting pucks, covering cross-ice passes really well and getting down low to initiate shot-blocking, so much so that the Czechs, outside of a set-up play to Lang in the third, were reduced to pretty much perimeter play and trying to bank one in off of the sides of the net, the only place that Romanov's coverage couldn't reach when he was on the ice to the left of Miftakhov, which really impressed me too by the way.

All-in-all, I was really happy and encouraged with what I saw and hope fellow posters feel the same way

The player that impressed me the most overall even though he wasn't the most visible all the time is Denisenko. His skill level, patience with the puck and hockey sense are extremely good, perhaps even elite, and he's shaping up to be a really good player for Florida.

As Montreal has stated, I also really liked Lang and he could have had a couple of points this game if Miftakhov hadn't been quite good with his mitt.

Anyways, I'll end this overly long post by saying that I still don't know if Romanov will end up a dominant defenseman for us or not, but if he continues to improve like he has the last two years, I wouldn't be surprised. Cheers to everybody here and thanks to habsprospects for the 4-Nations Tournament feed, I usually have more difficulty finding any and they're also lower quality.

 

[canadiensnation]