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WJC: 2017 Team USA Roster Talk

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William H Bonney said:
Now that the U20 hockey season is over (Werenski is still playing), I figured I'd project the potential camp roster. About 40 players should be invited like last year, and here's what I think the camp roster may look like:

Forwards (x24):
[/LIST]
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22/24. Dang. 23/24 if White were there.
 
Jerrico said:
Anyone want to put together a projected lineup? This should be a really solid team.
Click to expand...

Goalies
Opilka
Parsons
Woll

Defense
Werenski
McAvoy
Foote
Fitzgerald
Jones
Lindgren
Fox/Krys

Centers
White
Keller
Brown
Kunin

Wingers
Tkachuk
Boeser
Roslovic
Bellows
Bracco
Debrincat
Fischer
Yamamoto

Thompson/Jones

Although I am interested to see how Pitlick and Mittelstadt do in this camp. Foley and Frederic may be guys that "fill a role" on the 4th. Surprised no Cam Dineen or Andrew Peeke. Really interested to see how Fox does at this camp too. Does he have the foot speed and defensive awareness to make the team?

Upfront the vast majority are 1st or 2nd rounders, so this should be a really tough team to play against.
 
Jerrico said:
Anyone want to put together a projected lineup? This should be a really solid team.
Click to expand...

My early, pre-camp guess using only summer camp invitees plus guys out with injury:

Forwards (x13):

Matthew Tkachuk - Colin White - Jack Roslovic
Kieffer Bellows - Clayton Keller - Brock Boeser
Logan Brown - Luke Kunin - Kailer Yamamoto
Erik Foley - Trent Frederic - Christian Fischer
Alex DeBrincat

Defense (x7):

Caleb Jones - Charles McAvoy
Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox
Chad Krys - Casey Fitzgerald
JD Greenway

Goalies (x3):

Tyler Parsons
Luke Opilka
Joseph Woll
 
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William H Bonney said:
My early, pre-camp guess using only summer camp invitees plus guys out with injury:

Forwards (x13):

Matthew Tkachuk - Colin White - Jack Roslovic
Kieffer Bellows - Clayton Keller - Brock Boeser
Logan Brown - Luke Kunin - Kailer Yamamoto
Erik Foley - Trent Frederic - Christian Fischer
Alex Debrincat

Defense (x7):

Caleb Jones - Charles McAvoy
Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox
Chad Krys - Casey Fitzgerald
JD Greenway

Goalies (x3):

Tyler Parson
Luke Opilka
Joseph Woll
Click to expand...

Similar to how I see it too. I think they will take Foley and Frederic. I also don't think both DeBrincat and Bracco will make it. DeBrincat has apparently not been that impressive at Hawks prospect camp. I think they favor Yamamoto over both. I really hope we have Werenski and Foote available. The D is pretty small and has many of the same type of player.
 
orangeandblack said:
Similar to how I see it too. I think they will take Foley and Frederic. I also don't think both DeBrincat and Bracco will make it. DeBrincat has apparently not been that impressive at Hawks prospect camp. I think they favor Yamamoto over both. I really hope we have Werenski and Foote available. The D is pretty small and has many of the same type of player.
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Agreed. Up front, I don't think there will be too many tough decisions as most of the choices are pretty clear. To me, it really comes down to two questions up front:

Which small guys make it?
  • I have a hard time considering Bracco for the team right now as he's an enigma that clearly needs to rebound in the eyes of USAH. He has the talent to be an impact player for this team but is his head in the right place?
  • DeBrincat's a returnee but it's as if he didn't play last tournament with his dumb play, suspension, injury, and demotion. He obviously made an impression on USAH during this process last year but did he burn that goodwill after his tournament?
  • Yamamoto is the youngest, but I agree that he's the one USAH likes best as he's highly talented, a great skater, and has always performed very well with Team USA. I like his pre-camp odds the best to make the team.
  • Pitlick is a wildcard. He obviously had an amazing season with Muskegon last year, but it's really his first standout season since he was a Bantam. He grew a lot last season so that helped, but then again he wasn't an impact player with Team USA at the WJAC last year, and he should have been as the USHL Player of the Year in a second-rate tournament. As of right now he's also headed back to Muskegon instead of joining the Gophers.

Who are the grind guys?
  • There's going to be some type of grind line whether folks like it or not. That said, I think the options are much better than last year as Bjork was the only one of the grinders last year that proved he deserved to be on the team as Eansor and Hitchcock were in over their heads.
  • I'm most interested to see who ends up as the grind line center. It's pretty clear that the top centers are White and Keller followed by Brown and Kunin. Do they role with those four centers and have Kunin center the grind line or do they have one of those four play wing in the top 9? The latter would be my preference right now. If they go with the latter, the other players in camp that spent last season at center are Frederic, Novak, Laczynski, and Pitlick. Frederic is the most prototypical pick of that group.

The defense is thin. Some unexpected invites in my mind and I wouldn't be shocked to see a couple of guys that weren't invited end up on the team come tournament time, although the pickings are slim for those outsiders beyond Dineen and Peeke. If Werenski doesn't end up unavailable, we better really hope Foote either has a change of heart or is ruled ineligible for Team Canada and jumps ship.
 
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Not sure why Acahn got an invite over Dineen, or an invite in general, for that matter. There are already too many guys that play that style in contention, and he's the worst out of all of them in the eyes of 30 NHL scouting departments.

I can see a 97 D NCAA guy step up that wasn't talked about on these boards like Will Borgen. Also, as mentioned before, I can't see how Foote is eligible for Canada. There have been enough of these situations to go on. USA should be his only option, and he's not going to wait another year to be eligible for Canada.
 
William H Bonney said:
My early, pre-camp guess using only summer camp invitees plus guys out with injury:

Forwards (x13):

Matthew Tkachuk - Colin White - Jack Roslovic
Kieffer Bellows - Clayton Keller - Brock Boeser
Logan Brown - Luke Kunin - Kailer Yamamoto
Erik Foley - Trent Frederic - Christian Fischer
Alex DeBrincat

Defense (x7):

Caleb Jones - Charles McAvoy
Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox
Chad Krys - Casey Fitzgerald
JD Greenway

Goalies (x3):

Tyler Parsons
Luke Opilka
Joseph Woll
Click to expand...

Looks like very good line-up and great challange for Team Canada, especially if Werenski is there, too. Thanks for this post.
 
tade said:
Looks like very good line-up and great challange for Team Canada, especially if Werenski is there, too. Thanks for this post.
Click to expand...

I think you are probably reading the tea leaves wrong for this year re: Team Canada. The 97s, while good for elite level talent, lacks the depth to cover the loss of those 4-5 elite level players to the NHL. and since the 98s is weak on both elite level talent and depth, I'm not expecting Team Canada to be a Gold Medal contender this year or next.

The road to the Gold Medal is open to the U.S. and Finland. That's my prediction.
 
Mr Writer said:
I think you are probably reading the tea leaves wrong for this year re: Team Canada. The 97s, while good for elite level talent, lacks the depth to cover the loss of those 4-5 elite level players to the NHL. and since the 98s is weak on both elite level talent and depth, I'm not expecting Team Canada to be a Gold Medal contender this year or next.

The road to the Gold Medal is open to the U.S. and Finland. That's my prediction.
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Agreed.

Canada's best 97's are in the NHL.
 
William H Bonney said:
My early, pre-camp guess using only summer camp invitees plus guys out with injury:

Forwards (x13):

Matthew Tkachuk - Colin White - Jack Roslovic
Kieffer Bellows - Clayton Keller - Brock Boeser
Logan Brown - Luke Kunin - Kailer Yamamoto
Erik Foley - Trent Frederic - Christian Fischer
Alex DeBrincat

Defense (x7):

Caleb Jones - Charles McAvoy
Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox
Chad Krys - Casey Fitzgerald
JD Greenway

Goalies (x3):

Tyler Parsons
Luke Opilka
Joseph Woll
Click to expand...

Thanks for this! Forwards look good, but definitely some question marks on D. Just curious, why do you have Brown on the wing? With his size and skill combo, he could be a nightmare at centre. I could see him centering the second line between Keller and Boeser. We will see how it plays out.
 
Jerrico said:
Thanks for this! Forwards look good, but definitely some question marks on D. Just curious, why do you have Brown on the wing? With his size and skill combo, he could be a nightmare at centre. I could see him centering the second line between Keller and Boeser. We will see how it plays out.
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I commented on it in another post. White, Keller, Brown, and Kunin are the top centers. At this point, I'd imagine they'd want all four in the top 9 so one would slide to wing. Right now, I'd guess it would be Brown or Kunin (unless the latter centers the grind line), but camp will be more telling on projected centers.
 
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I think they should take 5 centers and the 13th F should be a top 6 type skill guy. It's much easier to put a versatile player like White or Kunin in a bottom role than to try to have a bottom 6 type move up.
 
Tkachuk-White-Boeser
Bellows-Keller-Debrincat
Roslovic-Brown-Yamamoto
Jones-Kunin-Fischer
Tufte

Werenski-McAvoy
Jones-Fox
Dineen-Peeke
Fitzgerald

Parsons
Oettinger
Opilka
 
William H Bonney said:
The defense is thin. Some unexpected invites in my mind and I wouldn't be shocked to see a couple of guys that weren't invited end up on the team come tournament time, although the pickings are slim for those outsiders beyond Dineen and Peeke. If Werenski doesn't end up unavailable, we better really hope Foote either has a change of heart or is ruled ineligible for Team Canada and jumps ship.
Click to expand...

Did Carlo already play in two U20 WJCs ?
 
https://twitter.com/usahockey/status/759787837415837698

CotO9V9VIAASgWi.jpg


Today's projected lineups between USA vs. Sweden.
 
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