WJC: 2015 — Canada Roster Talk (Part IV)

[Minister of Offence]

Lines remain the same again at practice.

REALLY starting to wonder if we'll ever see a change in the lineup.

Maybe they'll change the lines when the team isn't outshooting the competition by a landslide.

In a short tournament like this you're better to put lines together and give them time to adapt rather than second guess yourself again and again.

Like I said, some of you guys are so imbedded in your biased or just really insecure people - this team has been outplaying the competition while not playing that well.

 

[TOML]

Lines remain the same again at practice.

REALLY starting to wonder if we'll ever see a change in the lineup.

I guess they're trying to build chemistry. The Domi-Reinhart-Duclair line has it. I'd argue that the rest don't, really.

 

[Sharpshooter]

I guess they're trying to build chemistry. The Domi-Reinhart-Duclair line has it. I'd argue that the rest don't, really.

Agreed. Top line out to be left as is. The bottom 9 may benefit from trying a couple variations though. It's a good bottom 9 though, however you arrange it.

 

[DoubleDouble*]

It's not that I disagree with you about Gauthier because i'm a Nucks supporter, it's because, as others have clearly noted; fans of other clubs I may add, the consensus has been that Gauthier is the weakest cog thus far in the machinery that is the forward group. His skating hasn't been up to par, his decision making has been questionable, and for some, myself included, it's been a bit of a head-scratcher as to why MDC was cut instead of Gauthier. It's the coach's prerogative of course, but Gauthier has not been very good.

Gauthier has been amongst the top forwards so far. Shutdown champion. Wins every faceoff. Not as flashy as others, but important. Virtanen has been the weakest link on that 4th line. I would like to see: Crouse - Gauthier - Point. Tenacity, checking, speed and skill.

 

[DoubleDouble*]

We have 6 players who could play at the center position:

McDavid
Reinhart
Paul
Lazar
Petan
Point

While I agree that it's probably the reason, I kinda second guess the exclusion of MDC for the inclusion of Gauthier, who is maybe more redundant than MDC at wing.

You are the type where if Canada wins and Gauthier plays a quite, but great defensive tournament, you will be happy we won in spite of him. And if we lose, despite Gauthier beasting it, it will be because we took Gauthier and not MDC.

I would say Virtanen, Fabbri and Petan have all been bigger liabilities than Gauthier or Crouse. Remember how our Men's Team won? Incredible checking and defence.

 

[sniper81]

Hahahah came into this thread expecting people ripping on Gauthier for no reason. He's the perfect 4th line centre for this team. Most of you complain to.... Well.... Complain. This is the best team we have iced in a while, sit back and enjoy you it.

 

[Aceonfire*]

Gauthier has been amongst the top forwards so far. Shutdown champion. Wins every faceoff. Not as flashy as others, but important. Virtanen has been the weakest link on that 4th line. I would like to see: Crouse - Gauthier - Point. Tenacity, checking, speed and skill.

Gauthier only made the team because he is a Leafs prospect. If he was drafted by the Panthers he would have been cut and nobody would have cared.








I am joking, relax.

 

[HabLover]

Three dominant games in exhibition have me feeling pretty confident. USA is still goinf to be a hell of a task.

The DRD line is dominating, Domi and Duclair can roam while Reinhart is super steady, no point in breaking them up. However, the McDavid line is in need of some tweaking. And as annoying as it is getting Virtanen forced down our throats by Nucks fans, he is a good fit with Connor. Throw Fabbri on there to try and re-ignite their previous chemistry.

Domi - Reinhart - Duclair
Fabbri - McDavid - Virtanen
Ritchie - Lazar - Petan
Crouse - Paul - Point
Gauthier

Either that or swap Petan and Virtanen to run a very heavy third line, Petan is no goal scoring slouch either.

I like the defence. Morrisey and Nurse have played really well, while Bowey really picked it up against the Swiss, hopefully he (as well as the rest of the D corps) keep it up throughout the rest of the tournament.

Canada gives up shot totals of 19,20 & 14.

They could be tough to play against and create scoring chances as they will usually have the puck and possession.

 

[WhiteCurse]

Gauthier has been amongst the top forwards so far. Shutdown champion. Wins every faceoff. Not as flashy as others, but important. Virtanen has been the weakest link on that 4th line. I would like to see: Crouse - Gauthier - Point. Tenacity, checking, speed and skill.

Gauthier has not been one of the top forwards and he struggled in the FO circle last night. Virtanen has the ability to score on his own as seen last night, and is gonna wear down dmen with his speed and size ( maybe Gauthier can learn some thing there )

 

[CanaFan]

Gauthier has been amongst the top forwards so far. Shutdown champion. Wins every faceoff. Not as flashy as others, but important. Virtanen has been the weakest link on that 4th line. I would like to see: Crouse - Gauthier - Point. Tenacity, checking, speed and skill.

Except he has done none of those things. Who has he shut down, the other team's 4th line? Groulx barely trusts to give him 8 minutes of ice time. Ok on face offs I guess but mishandles the puck constantly, takes out the first row of seats with his wide turns, and struggles just to dump it down the ice on some plays. He's frankly too slow to play at this level of competition and the sooner he gets his minutes cut completely the better this team will be. Just shouldn't have been selected in the first place, that much is painfully obvious from the last couple of games.

 

[PecnoTrunk]

Cole Cassles just got cut from team USA....also in the cuts was Erne (who i think was on the team last year) and Mcarron....

I truly believe team USA had no intention of picking any CHL players...i maybe wrong...maybe they invited these guys to evaluate where their players are with respect to the CHL players...dont know...anyways

I hope next year Cole Cassles get a chance to come back with team Canada, he will be a year older...he will have something to prove...

 

[HabLover]

Cole Cassles just got cut from team USA....also in the cuts was Erne (who i think was on the team last year) and Mcarron....

I truly believe team USA had no intention of picking any CHL players...i maybe wrong...maybe they invited these guys to evaluate where their players are with respect to the CHL players...dont know...anyways

I hope next year Cole Cassles get a chance to come back with team Canada, he will be a year older...he will have something to prove...

Cassels is a '95 and had no hope of making Team Canada now or never

 

[ecemleafs]

Cole Cassles just got cut from team USA....also in the cuts was Erne (who i think was on the team last year) and Mcarron....

I truly believe team USA had no intention of picking any CHL players...i maybe wrong...maybe they invited these guys to evaluate where their players are with respect to the CHL players...dont know...anyways

I hope next year Cole Cassles get a chance to come back with team Canada, he will be a year older...he will have something to prove...

cassels was cut in favor of a chl player in de leo. cassels, mccarron, and erne were some of the worst players in the exhibition game/s and they were cut.

 

[sniper81]

Cole Cassles just got cut from team USA....also in the cuts was Erne (who i think was on the team last year) and Mcarron....

I truly believe team USA had no intention of picking any CHL players...i maybe wrong...maybe they invited these guys to evaluate where their players are with respect to the CHL players...dont know...anyways

I hope next year Cole Cassles get a chance to come back with team Canada, he will be a year older...he will have something to prove...

He will be to old as 95s are on the last year of eligibility

 

[yoss]

10 of 10 for you = 100% Vancouver Canucks fan!

You won a beauthiful...nothing

ppfffffff as if, good line there bud. Nice try though. So which is it, Oilers or Leafs fan? How bout you worry about your own prospects, I'm pretty pysched with Virtanen so far tbph. Not sure what games you're watching, coming off a little too obvious with the trolling attempt imo.

Honestly wish they took Dal Cole instead, would make for a more balanced offensive attack on all the lines.

-edit- Gauthier fan eh, Leafs it is then.

 

[PecnoTrunk]

Cassels is a '95 and had no hope of making Team Canada now or never

My mistake, i really thought he was 18.....

 

[StrictlyCommercial]

Gauthier has been amongst the top forwards so far. Shutdown champion. Wins every faceoff. Not as flashy as others, but important. Virtanen has been the weakest link on that 4th line. I would like to see: Crouse - Gauthier - Point. Tenacity, checking, speed and skill.

It's like you didn't even watch the games. Gauthier is considerably slower than Crouse and Virtanen, handles the puck like a grenade, and is out-backchecked by both of his wingers.

Watch the 4th line in transition through the neutral zone. There are 3 things that will occur:
1. Crouse has the puck. The puck is dumped into the far corner for Virtanen to forecheck.
2. Virtanen has the puck. He's probably going to try to beat the D wide or dump it in (always seems to rush on the off-wing and dump on the right side).
3. Gauthier has the puck. Oh nevermind, now the other team has it.

 

[ghostingtaro]

Gauthier has been amongst the top forwards so far. Shutdown champion. Wins every faceoff. Not as flashy as others, but important. Virtanen has been the weakest link on that 4th line. I would like to see: Crouse - Gauthier - Point. Tenacity, checking, speed and skill.

Congrats on reading scouting reports.

It's really too bad he hasn't brought his assets to the game at all.

 

[Sharpshooter]

Gauthier has been amongst the top forwards so far. Shutdown champion. Wins every faceoff. Not as flashy as others, but important. Virtanen has been the weakest link on that 4th line. I would like to see: Crouse - Gauthier - Point. Tenacity, checking, speed and skill.

This entire post is not even close to being a reflection of the reality last night.

You are the type where if Canada wins and Gauthier plays a quite, but great defensive tournament, you will be happy we won in spite of him. And if we lose, despite Gauthier beasting it, it will be because we took Gauthier and not MDC.

I would say Virtanen, Fabbri and Petan have all been bigger liabilities than Gauthier or Crouse. Remember how our Men's Team won? Incredible checking and defence.

The delusions seemingly continue...

Hahahah came into this thread expecting people ripping on Gauthier for no reason. He's the perfect 4th line centre for this team. Most of you complain to.... Well.... Complain. This is the best team we have iced in a while, sit back and enjoy you it.

It's not 'for no reason'. The reasons have been clearly articulated by several posters.

 

[topched88]

Jake Virtanen>>>>Gretzky.....and Gauthier sucks...and stuff.......and other things as well....Did i get it right?

 

[sniper81]

This entire post is not even close to being a reflection of the reality last night.



The delusions seemingly continue...




It's not 'for no reason'. The reasons have been clearly articulated by several posters.

Okay then. Hopefully his awful play doesn't cost Canada the championship because of his so called "awful" play on Decemeber 23rd. The delusions continue...

 

[Sharpshooter]

Okay then. Hopefully his awful play doesn't cost Canada the championship because of his so called "awful" play on Decemeber 23rd. The delusions continue...

Hopefully he picks up his game much more so than it's at right now. Right now, he seems more of a liability than an asset. Hopefully he can get back to his 'A' game.

 

[CanaFan]

Jake Virtanen>>>>Gretzky.....and Gauthier sucks...and stuff.......and other things as well....Did i get it right?

Nailed it, thanks.

Edit: it's funny how every post defending Gauthier feels the need to bash Virtanen at the same time. I guess if someone criticizes the play your prospect the first reaction is to bash ours? Cause this doesn't have anything to do with Virtanen, I'd be just as critical of Gauthier if Jake played on another line. One doesn't have anything to do with the other.

 

[DadBod]

The reason I'd like to see Virtanen playing with McGod, is not because I'm a a Canucks fan, it's because I'm a Canadian and want to see Canada win gold. Let's be honest with ourselves Virtanen is a shooter. He's not a setup man, he's not a defensive stalwart...he's a fast, physical sniper. If you paired Virtanen up with someone who can cycle and dish the puck you'd have Canada scoring a lot of goals.

Having Virtanen play 9 mins a game with Gautheir in a checking role is really wasting a talent. Other than the DRD line I don't think anyone has "clicked" so far, some line juggling wouldn't hurt.

 

[arsmaster*]

Most non Q and non leaf fans haven't wanted Gauthier on the team for a long time. Doesn't matter who is linemates are.

I didn't want him there last year either and him playing under 10 minutes in all but one game at last years tournament is why.

He's the only specialist on the team. Every single other player could contribute on the pp or move up to an offensive line. Fredrik at this stage cannot.

The team needs to roll offense. Gauthier isn't even the top defensive forward on the team and is looking like 3rd or 4th choice for a 3 on 5 PK.

I guess his size could be expected to wear down the opposition but he's not overly physical and IMO offense dies when he's in possession in the O zone. I imagine that's what the coach wants out of him (to basically kill the puck and run 45 seconds off the clock) but I hate bringing that type of player. The Americans didn't bring one.