WJC: Which player(s) has impressed you the most

[CupofOil]

I know it's early but it's Taylor Hall for me and pretty easily, besides his obvious talent which is immense, it's his compete level on every single play that i'm most impressed about, he just seems like a man playing amongst boys at this point.....
I would trade half the Oilers roster (the good players too) for the opportunity to draft him if they don't get the #1 pick.
I think that he'll wind up being better than Stamkos and Tavares imo

 

[Kovalev27]

Chris kreider bigtime. Definitely eating crow in that kid right now

 

[Rogalo]

Also Roth on the Czech team was pretty good from what I saw.

Someone actually impressed by someone from the Czech team...wow

 

[Trxjw]

I was impressed by the physical game of Gudas (sp?) on the Czech squad. That guy had one hell of a shift yesterday against the Finns where he laid out nearly every Finnish player that was on the ice. He's really tenacious for a guy his size and seems quite competent with the puck on his stick. I think I'm going to put him on my list of mid-round targets for the Rangers this year.

Hard not to be impressed by Vatenen. That kid can skate, and those two goals yesterday were stellar.

On the US side, I've been pleased with the performance of Kreider and Stepan, but I had a feeling they would turn some heads. I've also been impressed with Lashoff and Zucker bringing the physical game. Campbell was great yesterday. Carlson is everywhere and Fowler looks like the real deal.

Team Canada looks good, but nobody really stood out to me. Hard to be impressed by individuals in a rout TBH.

 

[isles31]

being that i had never seen him play before, i liked what i saw from travis hamonic and matt donovan(both isles defense prospects), but theyre not the most impressive.

also, for people to say someone like pietrangelo is the defensive player of the tourney after one game, against an extremely poor team, is pretty laughable. is Jake Allen a shoe-in for best goaltender after his shutout? haha jeez

 

[orcatown]

Pietrangelo is making the HF Prospects crew (who have been slammed for their ranking and plugging of him) look good.

 

[Leafidelity]

Rodin seems the most noticeable for the Swedes, good little player.

For the USA, I really do like the Stepan/Kristo/D'Amigo line. I remember hearing D'Amigo slipped to the 6th round because his skating needed work, but he's been keeping up to two very good players. Kristo has better hands than I remembered.

Ofcourse the chemistry between Hall and Kadri would have any Leaf fan daydreaming a little, but Pieterangelo has made me change my opinion of him. I didn't "get" what he was so hyped up for till this WJCs. Very smooth defenseman.

 

[alienanton*]

the combo of kana and vincour really stood out to me.

 

[Cermi]

Rodin seems the most noticeable for the Swedes, good little player.

For the USA, I really do like the Stepan/Kristo/D'Amigo line. I remember hearing D'Amigo slipped to the 6th round because his skating needed work, but he's been keeping up to two very good players. Kristo has better hands than I remembered.

Ofcourse the chemistry between Hall and Kadri would have any Leaf fan daydreaming a little, but Pieterangelo has made me change my opinion of him. I didn't "get" what he was so hyped up for till this WJCs. Very smooth defenseman.

You're kidding me, right?

 

[nomorekids]

yesterday's game was the first time I've seen Roman Josi in non camp action, and I was very impressed...I thought he outplayed the more well-known\hyped Luca Sbisa. Great wheels, nice moves, smart defense. Can see why the preds are so high on him.

 

[losingsand]

radko gudas from the czech team was at the kings rookie camp and definitely turned some heads. Everyone was sad to see that he wasn't signed to a contract of some kind, he was vicious and just about killing everyone in sight..

hopefully he'll be back at camp next year, and he's got very capable hockey abilities.

 

[xavi4life]

radko gudas from the czech team was at the kings rookie camp and definitely turned some heads. Everyone was sad to see that he wasn't signed to a contract of some kind, he was vicious and just about killing everyone in sight..

hopefully he'll be back at camp next year, and he's got very capable hockey abilities.

Except for the fact that he was overweight and a little out of shape. He could skate and hit despite that setback.


I'm curious to see how many goals Hall can put in this Tourney. No doubt he has loads of speed but from what I've seen from him at Windsor he has a hard time putting goals in despite the opportunity he gets.

Random fact. Taylor Hall and I share the same birthdate..

 

[Theon]

Jason Zucker, Radoslav Illo and Benjamin Conz have impressed me a lot. Also Derek Stepan, he looks great.

 

[Live Breathe Hockey]

Hartkinainen(sp) - looks pretty good for me, never really watched a lot of him
Pietrangelo - for all the years he's been slammed, he's been looking pretty solid, men amongst boys
Grandlund - has been the least impressive for me so far, for a kid whos supposed to be top 10 pick, wow, not looking good for me by any stretch of the imagination

haven't watched a lot of games, but those 3 stood out the most, and Taylor Hall looks solid as does MacMillan(sp)

 

[HockeyH3aven]

What kind of question is that 1 game into the tourney, after playing Latvia? I know when I played hockey, if a team was running up the score on my team like that, I'd be gunning to run someone and take someone's head off.

OR you could try and play some semblence of defense. It's a game, don't get mad because the other team is better than you. It's not their fault Latvia is terrible.

 

[Trotzig]

For Sweden, thus far, I'd have to go with OEL, Adam Larsson and Rödin.
For Finland it just has to Vatanen, awsome, just awsome.

 

[svartgul]

Adam Larsson-OEL. -They are awesome.
I'm hopeful with our 4 top d-men, they have been playing against the best(men) in Sweden for some time with plenty of icetime.

Tonight I can focus on the Canadians.

 

[jax00]

Sami Vatanen

 

[Hooch314]

Chris kreider bigtime. Definitely eating crow in that kid right now

I thought he was going to be the steal of the draft. I was not happy when the Blues passed.

I know it's early but it's Taylor Hall for me and pretty easily, besides his obvious talent which is immense, it's his compete level on every single play that i'm most impressed about, he just seems like a man playing amongst boys at this point.....
I would trade half the Oilers roster (the good players too) for the opportunity to draft him if they don't get the #1 pick.
I think that he'll wind up being better than Stamkos and Tavares imo

I think Stamkos will end up the best of the 3. Just my 2 cents.


I have been very happy with Pietrangelo but it was expected kinda.

As far as someone not getting a lot of mention I will say I'm impressed with Gabriel Borque

 

[HockeyAddict]

For the Swiss team, Neiderreiter (sp) was a force for them against Canada - always seemed to be in someones face...

 

[Hale The Villain]

Taylor Hall, Sami Vatanen, Marek Viedensky, Radoslav Illo, Danny Kristo, Derek Stepan, and Jakob Silfverberg have all played well above my expectations so far

 

[Sojourn]

Vatanen. He might be the most talented defenseman. If he was only a bit bigger.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Vatanen, Hall, MacMillan and Bobkov. (Haven't watched any USA/Slovakia games so far)

 

[letterH]

As a long time season ticket holder of the Rockets, I have to say Brandon McMillan. Most of us were shocked to hear he was even on the radar for Canada since he got lost in the mix of last years team that had Jamie Benn, Michael Backlund, Tyler Myers, Colin Long etc. Brandon was moved to D after Christmas last year and that move alone changed the fortune of the Rockets, he was incredible as a defenseman and I am sure Kelowna would love to have him back there again if it were not for the pressure from the Ducks to keep him up front.

Anyway, Brandon has always had great wheels and is one of the smartest players I have seen. Reminds me alot of Brett McLean in junior, but the thing is Brandon has always had hands of stone. He cant buy a goal most nights and the fact he has 4 already is a shock in some regards but the Eberle factor is huge and cant be forgotten. Nonetheless, he has scored and is playing a huge part for Canada. Desjardins and the Tigers played in Kelowna in October and the way he talked about Brandon, we knew he'd be on the team but it was still a surprise. I am glad to see him making the decision look like a good one. As with Myers and Schenn, he is always rumored to be a great kid with a good head on his shoulders.

 

[jax00]

McMillan, Sbisa, Vatanen, Illo, Bobkov and Palmieri have all impressed me.

The only Duck who hasn't is Gardiner.