2006 Canadian WJC team

[flambers]

Brule has a bad injury there is no way he will be on the team. He won't be released nor would he be ready.

 

[Greg7]

Compliments of JamesNorrisTrophy44's

"He reminded me of Crosby, the way he protects the puck. They do a lot of the same things. They're also about the same size. Andrew has big legs like Crosby. He's solid, too," said Sutter. "He was one of the best players if not the top player at the camp. He was a great first-round pick by the Oilers. He's skilled, he's got character. He's intelligent."

EDIT: To me this sounds like a good bet to make the team.

Well, that certainly swings me a little. That's pretty high praise.

 

[Greg7]

Brule has a bad injury there is no way he will be on the team. He won't be released nor would he be ready.

He's skating next week, and practicing full contact the following week. Should be back in action in three or four weeks, just in time for him to get in the swing of things before selection camp. I'd also be shocked if he wasn't released by Columbus for the tournament.

 

[OHLArenaGuide]

Three players eligible for this year attended last year's camp and were cut. I'd have to think that Devan Dubnyk, David Bolland and Dustin Boyd are locks.

 

[flambers]

He's skating next week, and practicing full contact the following week. Should be back in action in three or four weeks, just in time for him to get in the swing of things before selection camp. I'd also be shocked if he wasn't released by Columbus for the tournament.

The Selection camp I believe is the first week of December which is 3 weeks away. Sure he should be back in action around the same time but he would need time to get back into shape. Even if he was healthly I don't believe the Jackets will let him play.

 

[Aaron Vickers]

The Selection camp I believe is the first week of December which is 3 weeks away. Sure he should be back in action around the same time but he would need time to get back into shape. Even if he was healthly I don't believe the Jackets will let him play.

Columbus has encouraged and released every player to go back to the tournament right now, outside of Rick Nash. They love their players going to this type of thing. Not only that, it allows them more time to decide whether or not Brule will be up with Columbus for the remainder of the season.

Off the top of my head, Columbus has sent:

Rusty Klesla
Arsi Piispanen
Dan Fritche
Joakim Lindstrom
Pascal Leclaire

The one that stands out is Danny Fritsche, who was on the team in a similar manner that Brule would've been this year, and he was allowed to go. Subsequently, he was returned to junior afterwards.

Nikolai Zherdev wasn't sent two years ago if I recall, simply based on the political fiasco he was facing at the time.

All in all, I'm sure Columbus encourages Brule to go.

 

[Alter Haudegen]

All in all, I'm sure Columbus encourages Brule to go.

I have no doubt about that, but from what I've read I'm not so sure that Sutter will include him in his team.

From Wednesday's Vancouver Sun:

Whether that type includes Brule, a North Vancouver product and No. 6 overall choice by Columbus in the NHL draft, remains to be seen.

Brule made the Blue Jackets in the pre-season, but has missed a month with a cracked sternum and will be out at least two more weeks.

That might be the opening Sutter needs to leave Brule off the roster.

"He didn't have a very good camp in August," said Sutter, who is said not to be a big Brule fan. "And it's going to be tough to bring him back to our [December] camp if he hasn't played at all."

Asked how long he thought Brule needed to be playing to be considered, Sutter replied: "I don't know what the time is. Whenever you crush your sternum, that's a serious injury."

The Sun archive is subscription based but the article can be found on the Vancouver Giants board.

 

[GorillazXL]

Well, that certainly swings me a little. That's pretty high praise.

So which training camp were you at if Sutter seems to have praises for Cogliano and you thought he struggled?

Who am I kidding I didn't think he played all that well when Canada loss to Sweeden at the under 18.

GXL

 

[Greg7]

So which training camp were you at if Sutter seems to have praises for Cogliano and you thought he struggled?

Who am I kidding I didn't think he played all that well when Canada loss to Sweeden at the under 18.

GXL

I certainly didn't think he struggled at all. In fact I came away impressed with, and he exceeded my expectations more than any other player there (I came in with the idea that he was going to be soft - not so). Immediately after camp, I had him listed on my team, albeit by a slim margin, and I eventually thought this to be a mistake because of his size and difficulties being outmuscled down low. I obviously wasn't nearly as impressed with him as Sutter though, which is funny because I remember thinking to myself that I like this guy, but I don't think Sutter will cause he's too small and not strong enough to compete with the other guys. Obviously I was way off on that.

I should probably eat my words and put him on my team and quit complaining about the HF staff listing him as a lock (although I still don't think he's ahead of lots of guys who aren't listed as locks).

 

[HFNHL Canadiens]

Heres my prediction on who I think is is gonna make the team, and who I think should make the team.

Who I think is gonna make the team

Goaltenders
1. Pogge
2. Dubnyk
------------
3. Price
4. Ellis


Sutter likes to take players in general from the WHL, so I think he will go with 2 goalies from the WHL. Pogge is the hottest goalie as of now, and if he keeps it up I think he will start. I don't think Price will make this team because he is playing very weak as of now and he had a horrendous under 18's. He is also one year younger and will have annother crack at it next year.

Defensemen

1. Barker
2. Bourdon
3. Staal
4. Jackson
5. Schultz
6. Parent
7. Russell
-----------
8. Gragnani
9. Rogers
10. Pokulok


Sutter will want to go with mostly WHL defenders once again.


Forwards

1. Brule
2. Wolski
3. Pouliot
4. Latendresse
5. Cogliano
6. Chipchura
7. Boyd
8. McArdle
9. Comeau
10. Setoguchi
11. Bolland
12. Blunden
13. O'Marra
--------------
14. Chucko
15. Bourret
16. Towes
17. Esposito
18. Downie
19. McGrath
20. Little
21. Bertram
22. Tavares


Once again Sutter with mostly WHLers.








Who I think should make the team

Goalies
1. Ellis
2. Pogge
--------
3. Dubnyk
4. Price

There the top 2 goalies in the CHL no questions asked.


Defense

1. Bourdon
2. Barker
3. Gragnani
4. Staal
5. Parent
6. Jackson
7. Schultz
-------------
8. Pokulok
9. Russel
10. Rogers

The only real change is the removing of Russel and the addition of Gragnani. Gragnani is one of the hardest working dmen around right now. He is tearing up the Q like its nobodys business. I really think this kid should make the team.



Forwards

1. Brule
2. Wolski
3. Pouliot
4. Latendresse
5. Cogliano
6. Chipchura
7. Boyd
8. McArdle
9. McGrath
10. Bolland
11. O'Marra
12. Blunden
13. Bourret
---------

McGrath has all the tools to become an offensive threat in the WJC, i believe he could make a big difference if he made the team. Setoguchi may be more of an offensive threat than Bourret but the team has quite a few better offensive threats than Setoguchi. Bourret remids me alot of Tootoo and remember how much of a force Tootoo was when he played in the WJC?

 

[surixon]

I have no doubt about that, but from what I've read I'm not so sure that Sutter will include him in his team.

From Wednesday's Vancouver Sun:



The Sun archive is subscription based but the article can be found on the Vancouver Giants board.

Well Brule is slated as returning to action next week, which would give him a few games to get back into game shape, but the fact is hes to talented of a player not to be on the team.

 

[ZombieMatt]

I should probably eat my words and put him on my team and quit complaining about the HF staff listing him as a lock (although I still don't think he's ahead of lots of guys who aren't listed as locks).

You very well may be right. How our team and the "locks" and "most likely's" looks is heavily influenced by how I decided to run the process.

All four of us may have had Cogliano as their 13th guy, and a guy like, for example, Boyd, may have been #7 on three guys' list, and #14 on another.

But I decided to do it based on the number of teams a player appeared on rather than tallying up the ranks which they received by each guy (which I didn't ask for when I received the lists) because that would have become extremely complicated and has its own flaws.

 

[Greg7]

Carey Price appears to have turned things around. He definitely had a terrible start the year, but he has recently been much better. Hopefully this means he is back to normal and has returned to the form that led many to believe him to be the best in the WHL. For reference, here are each of the potential goalies from the WHL's stats from their last five starts:

Price: 1-3-1 1.99 .942 10 GA on 172 shots
Dubnyk: 4-1 2.32 .929 11 GA on 156 shots
Pogge: 4-1 1.57 .941 8 GA on 136 shots

They all look like they're playing pretty well, although the defense in front of Pogge makes his job much easier, and Price's team is plain awful. I do think it's probably time to change from Price is struggling to Price struggled, and although a few good games doesn't erase such an awful start, if he does continue to play well I think he'll be taken on before someone like Pogge who doesn't have the same track record and credentials regardless of their overall season.

 

[boredmale]

as an Islanders fan hopefully O'Marra and Comeau

 

[montreal]

Carey Price appears to have turned things around. He definitely had a terrible start the year, but he has recently been much better. Hopefully this means he is back to normal and has returned to the form that led many to believe him to be the best in the WHL. For reference, here are each of the potential goalies from the WHL's stats from their last five starts:

Price: 1-3-1 1.99 .942 10 GA on 172 shots
Dubnyk: 4-1 2.32 .929 11 GA on 156 shots
Pogge: 4-1 1.57 .941 8 GA on 136 shots

They all look like they're playing pretty well, although the defense in front of Pogge makes his job much easier, and Price's team is plain awful. I do think it's probably time to change from Price is struggling to Price struggled, and although a few good games doesn't erase such an awful start, if he does continue to play well I think he'll be taken on before someone like Pogge who doesn't have the same track record and credentials regardless of their overall season.

I believe Price in Novemeber has a gaa of 2.46 and a save % of .931, much better then the 3.4 gaa and .897 save % he has on the season. I've seen a few Tri City games on PPV and man do they suck, they have to be one of the worst teams in the CHL. It was painful to watch the games but since then I've read about some moves they have made so hopefully the team is a little better cause you can't get much worse. Then again two of the 4 games I saw were against a very impressive everett team, they flat out dominated Tri City.

I still haven't bought into the Price hype but it's good to hear he's playing better, hopefully he can keep it up.

 

[Avery4Byng*]

Theres an article in Kelowna's paper today talking about the team and comments from Sutter, saying how he expects Comeau to be a big part of team Canada's sucess come Christmas time.