Just because he's leading the Q in scoring doesn't mean he's an offensive threat. Points do not equal offensive ability. USA has at least 12 more talented offensive players than Garland, who's also tiny. This is coming from a Canadian.
WJC: 2016 — USA Roster Talk
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Just because he's leading the Q in scoring doesn't mean he's an offensive threat. Points do not equal offensive ability. USA has at least 12 more talented offensive players than Garland, who's also tiny. This is coming from a Canadian.
Elias Pettersson
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Episkey
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Unfortunately not. Demko is a late 1995 birthday. He's having a hell of a season with BC though.
Tiny doesn't mean anything especially with the game being played on big ice. Last year it was pretty evident the States lacked skill up front. All I am saying is he deserves a look at camp.
NTDP
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You really think they lacked skill up front last year? No they didn't play as well as they could have, I thought certain times they played to individualistic and not a complete team game. Wasn't a lack of skill at all.
1Gold Standard
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Walman not eligible to play for Team USA. The IIHF ruled that he doesn't yet meet the eligibility requirement.
Will Hockey Canada now invite him to camp?
William H Bonney
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Hockeyfrilla
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IHF ruling on Jake Walman prohibits him from playing for Team USA at WJC
http://www.tsn.ca/mckenzie-the-curious-case-of-jake-walman-1.400601
http://www.tsn.ca/mckenzie-the-curious-case-of-jake-walman-1.400601
William H Bonney
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The preliminary roster will likely be announced next week if history continues the same. Usually USAH makes these announcements on Tuesday.
It's incompetence by USAH if they're shocked by this Walman development. I think it was Cagney who questioned his eligibility back when he was announced for the Lake Placid camp.
The IIHF rule, however stupid you find it to be, is very clear:
It was more understandable when USAH fell victim to this rule with Matteau as the rule was brand new at that time. While they've clarified the rule more since then with the 16 consecutive months bit, it's pathetic that USAH did this again.
It's incompetence by USAH if they're shocked by this Walman development. I think it was Cagney who questioned his eligibility back when he was announced for the Lake Placid camp.
The IIHF rule, however stupid you find it to be, is very clear:
It was more understandable when USAH fell victim to this rule with Matteau as the rule was brand new at that time. While they've clarified the rule more since then with the 16 consecutive months bit, it's pathetic that USAH did this again.
William H Bonney
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Last year USAH invited 30 players to the pre-tournament camp last year. The breakdown was 17 forwards, 13 defensemen, and 3 goalies.
Here's my guess on the invites this go around:
Forwards (x17):
Paul Bittner
Anders Bjork
Brock Boeser
Jeremy Bracco
Kyle Connor
Alex Debrincat
Christian Dvorak
Scott Eansor
Erik Foley
Clayton Keller
Auston Matthews
Sonny Milano
Jack Roslovic
Nick Schmaltz
Matthew Tkachuk
Alex Tuch
Colin White
Defensemen (x13):
Louie Belpedio
Brandon Carlo
Ryan Collins
Jack Dougherty
Brandon Fortunato
Josh Jacobs
Caleb Jones
Chad Krys
Charlie McAvoy
Zach Werenski
[Choose Three Random Options]
Goalies (x3):
Brandon Halverson
Alex Nedeljkovic
Evan Sarthou
Notes:
Here's my guess on the invites this go around:
Forwards (x17):
Paul Bittner
Anders Bjork
Brock Boeser
Jeremy Bracco
Kyle Connor
Alex Debrincat
Christian Dvorak
Scott Eansor
Erik Foley
Clayton Keller
Auston Matthews
Sonny Milano
Jack Roslovic
Nick Schmaltz
Matthew Tkachuk
Alex Tuch
Colin White
Defensemen (x13):
Louie Belpedio
Brandon Carlo
Ryan Collins
Jack Dougherty
Brandon Fortunato
Josh Jacobs
Caleb Jones
Chad Krys
Charlie McAvoy
Zach Werenski
[Choose Three Random Options]
Goalies (x3):
Brandon Halverson
Alex Nedeljkovic
Evan Sarthou
Notes:
- I didn't include Eichel, Larkin, or Hanifin for obvious reasons. It's a tough break to lose three players of that caliber, and it obviously is a significant blow to the team's gold medal chances, but it's an important step in USAH's progress. We need to get to a point where we're missing high-end players like that every tournament.
- It's not common that a player that gets cut at the Lake Placid camp gets back into the mix for the actual team. It could happen more this go around because the depth at defense isn't strong so guys like Jacobs, Dougherty, MacLeod, etc. will likely get second looks due to a lack of other options. However, I'm not sure I see guys like MacInnis, Fischer, etc. that were sent home at Lake Placid getting back in the mix as some posters are speculating.
- Even without Eichel and Larkin, the talent and depth of the offensive options is unlike most years. That doesn't mean it'll translate in a short tournament, but a lack of skill or options won't be the reason if it doesn't.
- I'm interested to see if the imagined grind line (Foley - Eansor - Bjork) sticks together. Usually when USAH has identified their grind line (and those players performed very well in Lake Placid, granted lines are constantly jumbled there), they stick with them. Foley hasn't exactly had a great start to his NCAA career points wise. I could see one of Foley or Bittner (another grinder option) left off in favor of someone like Turgeon.
- Others forwards I highly considered: Luke Kunin, Dominic Turgeon, Dennis Yan.
- I still wouldn't invite Schmaltz to camp, let alone choose him for the team. He puts up points, but when the games get intense, he'll disappear, just like in Lake Placid in August or last year's tournament. I have him on my list because I try to balance what I think will happen versus what I want to happen. I'd much rather get a look at Keller, Debrincat, etc. than Schmaltz again.
- USAH is incompetent if they haven't reached out to Chychrun and basically guaranteed him a spot on the team if he'll take it with the loss of Hanifin and Walman. Make him say no.
- In goal, you could choose between Sarthou/Oettinger/Opilka for the third goalie spot. With Sarthou having backstopped Team USA at the most recent IIHF U18s over Opilka, and outplaying Opilka at the Lake Placid camp, I think it'll be him.
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Chychrun has already said he wants to play for Canada...and he has a fairly decent shot at making the team.
William H Bonney
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So? As Rabid Ranger likes to say, they're kids and they're basically mercenaries at this point. They take the options available to them. The fact is that Chychrun has never had a chance to even represent Team USA as he's never been invited. That doesn't mean he wants to, or would even accept an invite, but he's never had to make that decision. I believe him when he says he wants to represent Canada. But it's also easy (and understandable) to say to a Canadian reporter that you'd like to continue to play for Team Canada when you're playing in the Ontario Hockey League for a Canadian team, where only Canadians are reading your response, and Team Canada has been your only option up to that point. But if the choice is "Hey, would you rather try out for Team Canada, or 100% play for Team USA?" in the most visible tournament leading up to your NHL draft, especially after you missed the Hlinka, the answer may be very different. Again, I'm not saying he'd say yes, or even consider it, but the point is to make him say no.
It's the same though process behind countless other scenarios like this. Players like Tyler Myers and Jamie Oleksiak had both played for Team USA before playing for Team Canada. But Hockey Canada still extended them invites as they were eligible -- i.e. make them say no -- and they said yes. Or USAH with Brett Hull. Some say yes (Myers, Oleksiak) and some say no (Marcus Foligno, Brandon Kozun), but it's incompetence if you don't ask.
Same thing goes for Walman. Just because he chose USAH's invite over HC's it doesn't mean Hockey Canada will now decline to invite Walman because he initially chose Team USA.
I don't think they invite 30 this year to BU. Last year they were headed to Canada from BU so camp stayed in Boston the entire time which allowed them to make all the cuts in Boston. This year like in 2013 they will most likely head overseas by the 20th. They will want to take maybe only 3 at most extra over there to finish cuts. I am hearing they only invite 3-5 extra players into camp at BU not 7-8. Although, Bonney is usually correct so I could be wrong.
William H Bonney
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No inside insight on my part. I just based my projection off of the amount of players they invited last year as a starting point. The breakdown on the preliminary roster by size for the last few years:
2015 - 30
2014 - 26
2013 - 27
2012 - 29
2011 - 29
I'd tend to agree with you that the amount of players invited will be less than the 30 they had last year, especially since there's not 13 d-men worth inviting. It'll be interesting to see how they balance the invites though, as there's around 20 or so forwards worth getting a look at compared to about 8-9 d-men at most.
Sens of Anarchy
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I think White moves up the lineup and plays on the wing
ahead of Roslovic, Boeser, and Bracco
Bracco likely moves up ahead of Roslovic and Boeser too
I'll take a stab at it - as far as camp invites go:
Forwards (x15):
Paul Bittner
Anders Bjork
Brock Boeser
Jeremy Bracco
Kyle Connor
Alex Debrincat
Christian Dvorak
Ryan Hitchcock
Auston Matthews
Sonny Milano
Jack Roslovic
Nick Schmaltz
Matthew Tkachuk
Alex Tuch
Colin White
Defensemen (x12):
Louie Belpedio
Brandon Carlo
Ryan Collins
Jack Dougherty
Casey Fitzgerald
Brandon Fortunato
Josh Jacobs
Caleb Jones
Chad Krys
Charlie McAvoy
John McCloud
Zach Werenski
Goalies (x3):
Brandon Halverson
Alex Nedeljkovic
Luke Opilka
Forwards (x15):
Paul Bittner
Anders Bjork
Brock Boeser
Jeremy Bracco
Kyle Connor
Alex Debrincat
Christian Dvorak
Ryan Hitchcock
Auston Matthews
Sonny Milano
Jack Roslovic
Nick Schmaltz
Matthew Tkachuk
Alex Tuch
Colin White
Defensemen (x12):
Louie Belpedio
Brandon Carlo
Ryan Collins
Jack Dougherty
Casey Fitzgerald
Brandon Fortunato
Josh Jacobs
Caleb Jones
Chad Krys
Charlie McAvoy
John McCloud
Zach Werenski
Goalies (x3):
Brandon Halverson
Alex Nedeljkovic
Luke Opilka
That teams forwards are insanely talented, White would be a great 4th liner center for any nation and probably in the fins top 6. And that guys 2nd line is really their first line.
I'd have to believe USA Hockey were well aware of the potential eligibility issue with Walman and hoped they'de be able to convince the IIHF to bend the rules in this case. I have no issue with the IIHF decision here as they're simply enforcing their own, written rules. It's unfortunate that Walman won't be able to play as he would have certainly been an asset for the team.
Sens of Anarchy
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No doubt about White being able to be a 4th line C. IMO he is the best of
(Roslovic, Boeser, Bracco, White) ... this year drafts. So he should be ahead of those guys in the lineup.
I would rank them
White
Bracco
Roslovic/Boeser
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