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WJC: 2015 — USA Roster Talk

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Overall a good performance against Germany other than the PP. You'd like to see more "finish" but Sharipov was fantastic. Anything less than his stellar performance and this was a 12-0 game.

I'm impressed with Brandon Carlo. I see what WHL followers love about his game. He has a lot of untapped potential but he's played well so far. I think he's established himself as a top d-man on this team along with Hanifin and Butcher. Ryan Collins still looks in over his head. I doubt he'll get much ice time after the Slovakia game.

Larkin has been fantastic. Always underrated but he's good at everything.
 
absolutely agree on Carlo. Kid has been solid all year long and is starting to look like one of our go to guys out there...he is massive by the way and his draft stock is rising. love the bomb from the point and his crisp outlet passes.

overall this team played a great game. happy to see Milano back where he belongs as all the lines looked balanced.

need to see more from Hayden, he really hasn't impressed much compared to his Blackhawks rookie camp and the summer USA camp.

power play needs some work...hopefully starts going tomorrow.

Werenski just continues to impress me with his smooth skating and his vision..kid has it all.
 
Larkin and Tuch are going to solid NHLers. Probably underrated complimentary players who help you win titles.
 
Team reminds me of the 2013 squad to start with the lack of chemistry despite the talent. I don't think Osiecki has found the right line combinations yet and his minor changes haven't made a noticeable difference. I hope he tinkers around more than he has in the 3rd, especially with how flat the team looks after the quick turnaround. He seems convinced the Wood may be Vesey and the guy that alters the chemistry but I don't see it at all with Wood.
 
You guys think Larkin has deserved all these points ? Outside of point production, how has he looked offensively?
 
cheesehead9099 said:
You guys think Larkin has deserved all these points ? Outside of point production, how has he looked offensively?
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he has looked great. all over the place flying around the ice making things happen. awesome on pk. very nice tournament so far and USA will need him to continue to play like that if they want to make a run
 
I've seen enough from Collins and Louis that I don't think either of them should get a shred of ice when crunch time comes. I want to see a lot more from Hayden. And Schmaltz is bugging the crap out of me with his lackadaisical defensive effort, leaving Matthews to clean up his mess.

Speaking of Matthews, I thought he had a couple shifts today where he was dominant, but overall he's a little overwhelmed much like McDavid was last year.

Hanifin has been an absolute rock. I was not impressed with Werenski today. Agreed with those who like Carlo, Larkin, Tuch. As for Eichel, I feel like his linemates are getting starstruck when Eichel gets the puck and aren't helping him out. Eichel tries to enter the zone, 4 guys collapse on him, and his linemates haven't even crossed the blueline and are just puck-watching, so Eichel can't keep the puck. This is more of a problem with his LW than Tuch, but Tuch does it too. It's maddening. So much space is being created by all these defenders going to Eichel and his linemates aren't filling it.

This team still needs to get its chemistry figured out, offensively speaking. As far as I'm concerned, the only things locked in stone up front at even strength should be Eichel and Tuch on the first line.
 
i like a lot of posts here, since it really seems for me coaching deficits. team is lacking identity, chemistry. The Eichel line star struck problem is good analysis. To me this is a coaching thing solving this psychologically. This confuse winger rotation is as clueless as it appears to the viewer. The PP is just a joke of lack of game play and just accumulates situations caused by flashes of brilliance of the individuals. No surprised that the Kesler-esque Larkin + Fasching + X is the one working/performing in the end, because they feed on exactly that, overcoming the lack of structure by pure willingness and power.

just observing Osiecki on the bench, you can see his upset/tensed face ..he is just absolutely clueless how to fix it, what to do. reminds of my face in the mirror when I get hopelessly out debated by my wife and as hard as I want, I don't know how to turn things around and yet I am not willing to give up haha .. pretty pathetic. Sorry after what I have seen, I think Osiecki doesn't have it
 
The power play does need some definite work. I don't like Eichel up high at all. And as has been pointed out, too much standing around. Canada's forwards are much quicker and come out the box more than the teams the U.S. has faced so far.
 
A week ago this team scored 10 goals against Sweden. Four months ago they put up 16 goals in two games against Sweden and Finland. Chemistry seemed fine then but thus far in the tournament this team looks like they've never played together before.

The lines should be figured out by now and there should have been adjustments to the powerplay. Certain players need to take a cue from Larkin and learn to skate hard and make a smart, simple play rather than coast and look for the perfect one. The intensity from this team is falling well short of some of the other contenders in the tournament.

I'm still not sold on the defense as it's clear the teams we've faced have little to nothing to offer as far as offense is concerned. There've been chances that better teams will turn into goals. With the pace a team like Canada brings on the forecheck things could get ugly.

Hopefully the Canada game will put some life back into this team. They were playing totally flat, uninspired, sloppy hockey yesterday. Fortunately this isn't an elimination game so a kick in the butt might do them some good heading into those games.
 
SanDogBrewin said:
The power play does need some definite work. I don't like Eichel up high at all. And as has been pointed out, too much standing around. Canada's forwards are much quicker and come out the box more than the teams the U.S. has faced so far.
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I agree on the point of too much standing around. However, operating from the top is where Eichel is most comfortable. That's where he operates when he's playing for BU, and that power play has been very good. Other than the too much standing around, I see two things wrong with the PP:

1. They're not setting up one timers on the point well at all. When they do take a one-timer, it's very predictable.

2. Semi-related to the predictable one-timers, the goalies are always square to our shooters on the PP. Very few cross-ice passes and creativity. If these goalies see the puck and square up, they're going to save it the majority of the time.

On a semi-related note, we'll be facing Comrie tomorrow in net.
 
Im beginning to really question Osiecki and the rest of the staff. Not only regarding the actual roster, but the strategy and line combos.

"They don't want to put Milano Eichel Tuch together because they know they have chemistry and want to spread it out." I can't understand the logic behind this statement. You have a line with 2 years of built in chemistry made up of elite players, but you don't want to use it. OK, that makes no sense. Lets guess and test in a short tournament, and hope we stumble upon some chemistry.

Its USA Hockey crap like this that irks me. They basically gave guys like Wood, Hayden, Louis, and Motte free rides onto the team, yet they can't find a skill guy to play with Eichel and Tuch, because they refuse to play Milano with them. Conor Garland played with Eichel his entire life, if you want to put Milano on another line, at least have another skill guy in mind like Garland, Connor, Erne, Dvorak. Motte is not a 1st line player, and Wood obviously is not.

I like Matthews and Schmaltz a lot, I just think its odd they penciled Matthews into the 2nd line, without much critique, when Larkin is clearly the better player at this point. While Schmaltz has a ton of skill, he's pretty invisible for most of the game. That line really needs 2 pot stirring players, IE put Compher on the wing, why is he anchored to the 4th line? All of this juggling really makes me think Osiecki doesn't know his players at all.

The defense has definitely looked good IMO. Collins being on the team is a complete joke, but he wouldn't be here had Santini been healthy. I just can't believe Collins even got a sniff on this team. Don't even try to tell us he's the 8th best defenseman in 95/96 age bracket.
 
I can't believe John Hayden made this team. His one lucky goal notwithstanding, he has been absolutely useless out there. There is no way he is the best American prospect for that spot.
 
BillyShoe1721 said:
I agree on the point of too much standing around. However, operating from the top is where Eichel is most comfortable. That's where he operates when he's playing for BU, and that power play has been very good. Other than the too much standing around, I see two things wrong with the PP:

1. They're not setting up one timers on the point well at all. When they do take a one-timer, it's very predictable.

2. Semi-related to the predictable one-timers, the goalies are always square to our shooters on the PP. Very few cross-ice passes and creativity. If these goalies see the puck and square up, they're going to save it the majority of the time.

On a semi-related note, we'll be facing Comrie tomorrow in net.
Click to expand...

I agree. They hold on to the puck way too long and just look for the perfect shot every time. I'd like to see them take more chances and slap the puck to the net more, create more down and get some dirty goals. I know there is a ton of skill of the team but the US has been to predictable on the PP.

We got on period of Milano-Eichel- Tuch in germany, what is Oscike thinking??!?! Is there something that we aren't seeing.

I really think the team will bring it against the Canadians on Wednesday. I think they will really take today and try to go over things. Playing two games in 18 hours is never easy for anyone.
 
I really don't agree with all of you stating that Milano should be on the top line. Yes he has gotten goals in each of the past two games and the second one was nice, but he has been turning the puck over a lot. Also, him taking a backhand shot on a 2 on 0 against Germany looked pretty selfish as well. When Eichel is on the ice, his teammates need to retrieve the puck for him and maintain possession. Milano has been trying to do to much by himself, whereas Motte has been doing a decent job at retrieving the puck.
 
Based on the first 3 games, we need some more energy up front. Schmaltz has been pretty poor so far, where Compher and De Leo have both played with a lot of jump. I'd like to see lines changed to something like this, though I'm sure it won't happen.

Compher - Eichel - Tuch

Compher brings some quickness and net front presence.

De Leo - Matthews - Milano

De Leo provides some speed and moves the puck quickly. Milano and Matthews have looked OK at times.

Motte - Larkin - Fasching

Keep Larkin and Fasching together.

Schmaltz - Louis - Wood

Get Schmaltz going with 2 hard working guys in Wood and Louis.

Hayden
 
Can larkin play LW lol. Put him on with Eichel and tuch and stand back. Compher can center the fasching line.
 
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