Caser
@RUSProspects
So, looking back at it.
Kaprizov+Vorobyov - no comment.
Polunin - I'd say he looked fine, but not excellent comparing to Vorobyov and Kaprizov. Also I think he failed to adapt his shot to small ice rink angles.
Kvartalnov - reliable, but lacks offense for the second line, more like a 3-rd line guy. Also we expected a bit more from him after a great Canada/Russia series.
Guryanov - got better as the tournament went on (I think it was like that at the U18 2 years ago too) and finally showed his talents when it mattered. If I understood correctly, Bragin advised him to work on his hands.
Karnaukhov - I kind of didn't like him actually: he was doing a lot of dirty work, but I couldn't get away from a thought that he isn't too comfortable at W.
Trenin - his game got much better when he was moved to C from wing and that doesn't surprise me. Great offensively, has been able to generate chances by himself, but a bit shaky at defensive responsibilities.
Urakov - Skudra's pitbull brought a lot of energy and aggressiveness to the third line, also showed decent understanding of the game at the attack.
Belyayev - was mostly invisible, but I think that was his role.
Rubtsov - on this team he could be only a 4-th line winger: poor faceoffs didn't allow him to play at C, but at W the offense wasn't there for him, although I think he did well at D and PK. Got injured, but Guryanov had enough athleticism to replace him too.
Yurtaikin+Alexeyev - while Yurtaikin showed some explosive skating (although injury got him out of the game tempo a bit), those guys can't do much at the 4-th line. They could effectively fit only into a second line role, but they weren't good enough for that somehow.
Rykov - showed what he could do and why he is a #1 D guy on this team, although that goal Vs. Sweden reminded me of an 'old' Rykov two years ago, he was pretty error prone back then.
Sidorov - one of the reasons that Rykov posted those numbers was that Sidorov covered his back. Great tournament for him too, although it isn't that noticeable. Very strong kid, to me one of the best moments was him fighting along the boards with Greenway, who is 5 inches bigger and Sidorov didn't lose that.
Sergachyov - I think he did very well, maybe a bit shaky at the start. I think he could be better if his partner wouldn't be Kudako, I had an impression that Sergachyov was paired with him as he was the only one who could effectively cover up his mistakes.
Kudako - he just shouldn't be there.
Voronkov - was more or less invisible, but that's actually great for his role.
Zborovskiy - looked nervous somehow, although much better as the tournament went on, Bragin told that it took some time for him to understand team's tactics.
Dronov - looked rather raw and overall underwhelming, but he was younger than all the other guys, really hope that he will make significant progress until next year.
Volkov - got injured (officially it was a cold though, I kind of doubt that) too early to tell something about him.
Samsonov - kind of a mixed feelings about him and quite a lot can be written about him as he looked a bit raw, but still extremely talented. Still those feelings are dominantly positive.
Sukhachyov - basically looked as expected Vs. Latvia, looking forward to see him next year. By the way, I had a thought that if Sukhachyov didn't get injured, Bragin might've decided to pull Samsonov after that injury.
Overall I'd say it was good and bronze is the right result. In my opinion the biggest issue was that we didn't have a summer training camp and friendlies in Canada like we did before (I guess we weren't invited this time), like we did in recent years, as it would allow Bragin to have more time to work with NA guys and with overall line chemistry thing. Having less opportunities to work on that resulted in Bragin not able to construct his usual team model (top line + two-way middle-six + fourth line) and having to compose that roster and lines at the last moment. Top line looked fine, but I still had an impression that Polunin is there only because he doesn't fit anywhere else. Middle-six was more like 'two third lines + Trenin/Guryanov's individual efforts. We hoped Yurtaikin and Alexeyev to become new Korshkov and Kraskovskiy, but they weren't good enough for the second line and obviously they are no fourth line guys. More or less same thing was there at D - last year there were guys like Zhuldikov and NA based guys who stepped up in the summer games, but this year apart from the top 5, other guys were just mediocre, unfortunately so far it seems that this issue might be there next year too.
About the roster speculations: Abramov is great now, but he didn't show anything close to that at the Can/Rus series and, what is more important, we got Kaprizov and Guryanov on his possible roster positions, so it just wasn't happening, more or less the same could be told about Smirnov. It could be argued that Chebykin could be better than Belyayev, but while in terms of attack I would agree with that, I doubt that he would be better at D.
So yes, Bragin did well and bronze is a good thing for him too considering that this wasn't a "Bragin's team".
P.S. Merry Christmas!!!
Kaprizov+Vorobyov - no comment.
Polunin - I'd say he looked fine, but not excellent comparing to Vorobyov and Kaprizov. Also I think he failed to adapt his shot to small ice rink angles.
Kvartalnov - reliable, but lacks offense for the second line, more like a 3-rd line guy. Also we expected a bit more from him after a great Canada/Russia series.
Guryanov - got better as the tournament went on (I think it was like that at the U18 2 years ago too) and finally showed his talents when it mattered. If I understood correctly, Bragin advised him to work on his hands.
Karnaukhov - I kind of didn't like him actually: he was doing a lot of dirty work, but I couldn't get away from a thought that he isn't too comfortable at W.
Trenin - his game got much better when he was moved to C from wing and that doesn't surprise me. Great offensively, has been able to generate chances by himself, but a bit shaky at defensive responsibilities.
Urakov - Skudra's pitbull
brought a lot of energy and aggressiveness to the third line, also showed decent understanding of the game at the attack.Belyayev - was mostly invisible, but I think that was his role.
Rubtsov - on this team he could be only a 4-th line winger: poor faceoffs didn't allow him to play at C, but at W the offense wasn't there for him, although I think he did well at D and PK. Got injured, but Guryanov had enough athleticism to replace him too.
Yurtaikin+Alexeyev - while Yurtaikin showed some explosive skating (although injury got him out of the game tempo a bit), those guys can't do much at the 4-th line. They could effectively fit only into a second line role, but they weren't good enough for that somehow.
Rykov - showed what he could do and why he is a #1 D guy on this team, although that goal Vs. Sweden reminded me of an 'old' Rykov two years ago, he was pretty error prone back then.
Sidorov - one of the reasons that Rykov posted those numbers was that Sidorov covered his back. Great tournament for him too, although it isn't that noticeable. Very strong kid, to me one of the best moments was him fighting along the boards with Greenway, who is 5 inches bigger and Sidorov didn't lose that.
Sergachyov - I think he did very well, maybe a bit shaky at the start. I think he could be better if his partner wouldn't be Kudako, I had an impression that Sergachyov was paired with him as he was the only one who could effectively cover up his mistakes.
Kudako - he just shouldn't be there.
Voronkov - was more or less invisible, but that's actually great for his role.
Zborovskiy - looked nervous somehow, although much better as the tournament went on, Bragin told that it took some time for him to understand team's tactics.
Dronov - looked rather raw and overall underwhelming, but he was younger than all the other guys, really hope that he will make significant progress until next year.
Volkov - got injured (officially it was a cold though, I kind of doubt that) too early to tell something about him.
Samsonov - kind of a mixed feelings about him and quite a lot can be written about him as he looked a bit raw, but still extremely talented. Still those feelings are dominantly positive.
Sukhachyov - basically looked as expected Vs. Latvia, looking forward to see him next year. By the way, I had a thought that if Sukhachyov didn't get injured, Bragin might've decided to pull Samsonov after that injury.
Overall I'd say it was good and bronze is the right result. In my opinion the biggest issue was that we didn't have a summer training camp and friendlies in Canada like we did before (I guess we weren't invited this time), like we did in recent years, as it would allow Bragin to have more time to work with NA guys and with overall line chemistry thing. Having less opportunities to work on that resulted in Bragin not able to construct his usual team model (top line + two-way middle-six + fourth line) and having to compose that roster and lines at the last moment. Top line looked fine, but I still had an impression that Polunin is there only because he doesn't fit anywhere else. Middle-six was more like 'two third lines + Trenin/Guryanov's individual efforts. We hoped Yurtaikin and Alexeyev to become new Korshkov and Kraskovskiy, but they weren't good enough for the second line and obviously they are no fourth line guys. More or less same thing was there at D - last year there were guys like Zhuldikov and NA based guys who stepped up in the summer games, but this year apart from the top 5, other guys were just mediocre, unfortunately so far it seems that this issue might be there next year too.
About the roster speculations: Abramov is great now, but he didn't show anything close to that at the Can/Rus series and, what is more important, we got Kaprizov and Guryanov on his possible roster positions, so it just wasn't happening, more or less the same could be told about Smirnov. It could be argued that Chebykin could be better than Belyayev, but while in terms of attack I would agree with that, I doubt that he would be better at D.
So yes, Bragin did well and bronze is a good thing for him too considering that this wasn't a "Bragin's team".
P.S. Merry Christmas!!!
