U18: USA: 2019 WJC18

[AmericanDream]

That would be incredible! taking Slaggert's spot i would guess? haven't heard a thing about him

where the hell do you put him?? lol...thanks for coming out Bobby, potential top 20 pick yourself here is the 4th line for ya!!

 

[jvr32]

 

[SK94]

Zegras is back! Top six is lethal

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I think you're expecting too much from Beniers. He should not be compared to Lafreniere or Lundell, those two are on another level from Beniers. They are Top 3 of their class potential players, Beniers at best, i think most agree, is late 1st round. I don;t think anyone from the U17s is expected to go in the top half of the first round, and I still think most would say Bordeleau and Smilanic were, and are the better prospects. Yes, they're older than him, but I don't think Beniers promotion was because he is some super prospect blowing the barn doors off. His role was to replace Danny Weight, add a little more scoring, and they felt he was best suited to fill the type of role they were looking for. And since I think he has fulfilled the bar of being better than Weight. Lafreniere and Lundell are not the right comps for him.

I agree with you, but some have started saying that Beniers could be a potential top 5-10 pick in 2021. I don't understand why he's on this team. I think Bordeleau and Smilanic could've both filled a grinder role. Neither are offensive dynamos who play no defense. They both do some PK'ing from what I've watched. I don't know what makes Beniers a super versatile forward that can play up and down the lineup and better players couldn't, but that seems to be what they've decided.

I also don't know why we needed extra grinders. Does Canada ever pick a lot of grinders for their team? Its a junior hockey tournament. I think you take your best players, and sort out who plays what roles after that. I think after the first two lines, we could've easily had a third line like Farrell-Smilanic-Rolston with a fourth line of Lindmark-Beecher-Caulfield. We don't need two scoring lines and two defensive lines. I think 3 and 1 suffices, especially considering some of the scoring forwards are some of our best defensive players.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Zegras is back! Top six is lethal

Blender lines are gone. Those lines and pairs absolutely do look lethal. We should be even better now that we have two real scoring lines that don't have passengers on them.

 

[William H Bonney]

Definitely agree with @Pavel Buchnevich on the lines. The improved chemistry is evident when you have guys all thinking at the same pace and skill level.

Spencer Knight needs to be a lot better. He didn't show up to play early on and thus in a period they carried the play by a pretty wide margin, they're only tied. Yes, the first goal was on the PP but you can't get beat short side there when you're squared up to the shooter like that (it's not like it was a ridiculous shot anyway) and the second goal was impressive loss of focus, followed by good hustle by Podkolzhin.

Zegras and Brink both looked good despite it being their first outing. Brink in particular did a really nice job making seam passes to the dangerous areas around Russia's net. Unfortunately Fensore whiffed on the easiest tap-in goal from Brink he would have ever had in his life.

While Slaggert never belonged on this team, USAH owes him an apology. They dragged him along as insurance and clearly didn't want to play him hoping a better player would come available (Brink), even though they already had better players available (Kaliyev, Robertson, Farinacci, etc.) and one of them should have been rostered long ago and Slaggert left with the U17s. Instead, Slaggert missed 7 games with his U17 team and the experience of the USHL Playoffs. USAH did not do right by him and his development.

 

[SK94]

I think Boldy should easily be top 10 pick. Great vision and just really good in pretty much everything. For sure steal for some team in June.

 

[SanDogBrewin]

Nice onetimer.

 

[alcolol]

I think Boldy should easily be top 10 pick. Great vision and just really good in pretty much everything. For sure steal for some team in June.

He just created a 2-on-1 with Brink out of nothing.. the more I see of Boldy, the more I think he's the straw that stirs the drink.

 

[RedWingzz]

Caufield creeping his way into the top 10?

 

[SanDogBrewin]

“Cole Caufield U18WC goal count: 9. Cole Caufield season goal count: 67. Cole Caufield USA career goal count: 121 (119 GP).”

Filling it up.

 

[William H Bonney]

That was one of the closer games on the scoreboard I've seen in awhile that was completely lopsided in terms of the actual play.

Is there a hockey player that enjoys playing the game more than Cole Caufield? Never stops smiling.

All the big forwards were good again today. Boldy's skill is underrated by most and the Turcotte to Hughes to Caufield goal was a perfect example of three elite players operating as one.

Brink was impressive, especially having just arrived in Sweden. He had 2 assists and should have at least had 1 more (Fensore wide-open net whiff) and he himself probably should have potted a goal as well.

The defense was better today, although they're still too sloppy with the puck. Helleson looks like David Rundblad out there with the way he consistently turns over the puck.

Tough game for Knight. The first two goals were not good goals to give up and then he barely sees the puck for 30+ minutes until Helleson hangs him out to dry with the turnover and 4-on-1 goal in the 3rd. His puck handling was on display today though. Asrakov also looks to be really adept at handling the puck.

 

[ChiGuySez]

Such a dominating team. So deep. May be the best side the USDP has fielded so far.

 

[William H Bonney]

Such a dominating team. So deep. May be the best side the USDP has fielded so far.

They still need to win the tournament, although if they do it'd be tough to say they're not the best ever.

Their main competition would be the '97 team.

The '97s weren't as dominant in terms of overall results, although I think they were just as good of a team. The '97s actually lost to Russia 3-1 to open the 2015 U18 tournament where they outshot the Russians 50 to 16. Ilya Samsonov stood on his head to steal the game. They ended up winning gold 2-1 in overtime against Finland in another game they absolutely dominated, outshooting Finland 62 to 20 and yet goalie Veini Vehvilainen almost stole that one too.

The two teams were similar in terms of forwards - absolutely loaded. The '97s also lost Luke Kirwan and Dennis Yan to the CHL after one year. Kirwan ended up busting hard, but he had a really good U17 season. The '01s have a much better goalie with Spencer Knight and the '97s had better defense. And that's not taking into account that the '97 team lost both Zach Werenski and Noah Hanifin as they went to the NCAA after their U17 year. It's hard to imagine how good the '97s could have been if they both stuck around. I think it was best they weren't there as it was huge for the development of Charlie McAvoy and Caleb Jones as they got a chance as the top guys. But that '97 defense as U18s would have been insane: Werenski, Hanifin, McAvoy, Jones, Fitzgerald, and Boka.

 

[William H Bonney]

Pretty impressive performance by Brink today, especially with this context:

 

[AmericanDream]

this only helps Brink's profile even more- happy as hell he is here and for fighting through travel/flu to be on the ice and be a deciding factor out there.

this group is just absolutely lethal..I cannot stress this enough, offensively the best group of US kids I have ever seen. Caufield is likely going to break records here and Zegras just starting to get in on the fun as well.

Boldy is a bit underrated, but I mean how much more can these kids really stand out playing in such a loaded group. and by underrated I mean Boldy is pretty consistently rated in most everyone's top 12 so it is not like he is being forgotten either.

can wait to see them in the medal round and see how they do in those bigger games.

 

[MBauer]

Boldy has been very good thus far, the top 10 hype he was getting is definitely justified. Kinda weird how they are still giving him two assists from the Slovakia game that should have gone to Caufield and Turcotte.

 

[SanDogBrewin]

Caufield creeping his way into the top 10?

I’m the worst at predicting draft day but scouts have to be taking notice.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Knight's last two games against Russia haven't been that good. Besides that, I don't know if I've ever seen him play a bad game. You also gotta consider that Askarov gave up four to the three Knight gave up, so he wasn't that great either. He was way out of position on two of the goals he gave up.

This defense isn't very good, and I don't think they do a good job with these defensive pairings. A Vlasic-Helleson pairing is incredibly shaky, and could rival the infamous Miller-Wilde pairing from last year that was about as bad of a pairing as I've seen us ice at any level. Vlasic can't skate or play defense. Helleson adds nothing except positional defense. They are also working with the understanding that they can't ice McCarthy all too often because he's even worse than Vlasic or Helleson. I think Fensore's been pretty good in this tournament, and the other three can play.

It would've been a good idea to add some defensemen from the 17's or from the USHL. The 17's have a number of better defensemen than the bottom three on this team. I think Sanderson, Powell and Kleven all could've been an upgrade on the bottom three from this team, and I wouldn't have minded adding Brinkman and Johnson to the team either from the NCAA/USHL.

Forwards looked good in this game. Both top lines are playing well, and we are getting some contributions from the bottom two lines. I still think we are going to get a big game from Beecher and Caulfield one of these games, and it could help us win a closer game later in the tournament. Those two have been good, but the puck isn't going in the net. The coach made a very good forward adjustment late in the second that I thought earned the team a goal. We had puck possession in the last minute in the Russian zone, and instead of sending out some of the lesser forwards, he sends out Caufield, Hughes and Turcotte because it was the last shift of the period. Thats a smart decision. Get your best players an extra shift instead of trying to roll four lines without exception.

 

[King'sPawn]

He just created a 2-on-1 with Brink out of nothing.. the more I see of Boldy, the more I think he's the straw that stirs the drink.

The first couple times I saw Boldy, I thought his play resembled Mike Richards. However, the bolded makes me think of Justin Williams. Would you say that's a fair comparison?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Is there some reason I'm missing why Hughes plays center and Zegras LW when they are on the same line? I suspect it has to do with not wanting to hurt Hughes draft stock, but it hurts Zegras draft stock, if he's now viewed as a winger. I think Zegras is the better fit at center and Hughes is the better fit at winger. You could play both at center, but I don't think it helps results to have Zegras on the third line with less TOI.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Is there some reason I'm missing why Hughes plays center and Zegras LW when they are on the same line? I suspect it has to do with not wanting to hurt Hughes draft stock, but it hurts Zegras draft stock, if he's now viewed as a winger. I think Zegras is the better fit at center and Hughes is the better fit at winger. You could play both at center, but I don't think it helps results to have Zegras on the third line with less TOI.

You just won't give up with this-will you?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

You just won't give up with this-will you?

Do you think Hughes is a better center than Zegras? What makes him a better center? I’ve started seeing Zegras listed as a winger in some places. It makes little sense to me.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Is there some reason I'm missing why Hughes plays center and Zegras LW when they are on the same line? I suspect it has to do with not wanting to hurt Hughes draft stock, but it hurts Zegras draft stock, if he's now viewed as a winger. I think Zegras is the better fit at center and Hughes is the better fit at winger. You could play both at center, but I don't think it helps results to have Zegras on the third line with less TOI.

Because perhaps the coaching staff that have coached these players for 2 years disagree with your assessment?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Because perhaps the coaching staff that have coached these players for 2 years disagree with your assessment?

That could very well be the reason. Thats not what I was asking. I was asking for the reason why my opinion is wrong because the way I see it, Zegras is the better center.

Our other three centers are 68%, 63% and 56% in the face-off dot. Hughes is 40%. Zegras is bigger, he's better on face-offs, he's better defensively, he doesn't turn the puck over as often in bad areas.

Would you rather ice a worse team to keep up some faulty narrative about Hughes ability? If you can't win more than 40% of your face-offs against junior aged centers of Slovakia, Sweden and Russia, most of which will never play a game in the NHL, you should not be playing center. We have a top 10 pick center who has been shifted to wing to accommodate Hughes. If Zegras is a better center, he should play center.