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WJC: 2017 Team USA Roster Talk

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The team showed up in the 2nd. Roslovic and Greenway were particularly impressive.

Ahcan may be small, but he's got some snarl to his game. He's reminiscent of Torey Krug.
 
McAvoy has really impressed me this camp. He looks like a man against boys out there.
 
Craig Button just said it's his understanding that Cal Foote isn't eligible for Team Canada this WJC.

We've suspected this to be the case, and that will make it really interesting come December if true. Will Foote be willing to possibly turn down a Team USA invite and chance at the WJC to stay home, especially when the Team USA defense is thin this year?
 
After a sluggish, non-existent presence in the first, the team really carried the game in the last 2 periods for a 4-3 win.

Out of the bubble guys, Greenway and Thompson were the most impressive to me this game. If they continue to put on such effective displays of puck protection, cycling, and net drive, they'll be tough to leave home.

On defense, I really like what I've seen out of McAvoy, Jones, and Lindgren. Those three will play big minutes, but who's going to be the 4th guy to step up and join that group as the top two pairs will likely get a ton of ice time? I'm intrigued by Ahcan. He's shown well.
 
Bullseye said:
Bracco on the ice for the final 30 seconds with Sweden's goalie out and the extra skater on - makes 3 key defensive plays to seal the win.
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You're reading too much into it. This is an exhibition. They want to see players in a multitude of situations during the evaluation period.
 
Thought Roslovic and Thompson stood out today. Greenway and McAvoy were all-or-nothing.....some really impressive plays but some lazy, "lost sight of the puck" kind of stuff.
 
William H Bonney said:
After a sluggish, non-existent presence in the first, the team really carried the game in the last 2 periods for a 4-3 win.

Out of the bubble guys, Greenway and Thompson were the most impressive to me this game. If they continue to put on such effective displays of puck protection, cycling, and net drive, they'll be tough to leave home.

On defense, I really like what I've seen out of McAvoy, Jones, and Lindgren. Those three will play big minutes, but who's going to be the 4th guy to step up and join that group as the top two pairs will likely get a ton of ice time? I'm intrigued by Ahcan. He's shown well.
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Does Achan look better than Krys, Fox and Fitzgerald? I'm not watching. Foote may be the 4th
 
William H Bonney said:
You're reading too much into it. This is an exhibition. They want to see players in a multitude of situations during the evaluation period.
Click to expand...

Of course. You missed the point of my post. I was responding to the earlier poster going out of his way to claim that Bracco is lazy and defensively suspect.
 
William H Bonney said:
After a sluggish, non-existent presence in the first, the team really carried the game in the last 2 periods for a 4-3 win.

Out of the bubble guys, Greenway and Thompson were the most impressive to me this game. If they continue to put on such effective displays of puck protection, cycling, and net drive, they'll be tough to leave home.

On defense, I really like what I've seen out of McAvoy, Jones, and Lindgren. Those three will play big minutes, but who's going to be the 4th guy to step up and join that group as the top two pairs will likely get a ton of ice time? I'm intrigued by Ahcan. He's shown well.
Click to expand...

I like everything in this post. After watching yesterdays sluggish offense, I have to think Thompson has a real opportunity. I assume he'll get to build on it today.

To me, the defense looks like: McAvoy, Lindgren, Jones, Fox, Greenway, Krys, Ahcan. McAvoy/Lindgren looks like a really solid pairing. I had high hopes for Fitzgerald but he looked a little lost yesterday.
 
Bullseye said:
Of course. You missed the point of my post. I was responding to the earlier poster going out of his way to claim that Bracco is lazy and defensively suspect.
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I know why you posted it. I'm just saying that Bracco being on the ice at the end of a summer exhibition with a one-goal lead doesn't disprove that claim.

orangeandblack said:
Does Achan look better than Krys, Fox and Fitzgerald? I'm not watching. Foote may be the 4th
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I haven't seen the entire tournament but they're all pretty much in the same pack to me. Ahcan has probably been the steadiest of the four in my mind, and also has the most grit despite being the smallest of them all.

Krys and Fitzgerald have been disappointing to me. I'm probably expecting too much of guys that really aren't suited to play in more than a 3rd pair/extra d-man role, but I thought they'd do better given their experience with this process last year. I don't know what happened to Krys in the last year, but he's been stuck in a rut for awhile. He's been careless with the puck, best exemplified by his lazy, careless turnover yesterday (followed by a lazy backcheck attempt by Brown) on the 2nd Team Finland goal. When I've noticed Fitzgerald, it's been for all the wrong reasons. I'd put him as the least impressive of the 4 so far.

Fox has been hot and cold. I've seen him make some very adept plays with his vision and puck handling as you'd expect, but he's also been lost quite a few times defensively.

Joe Zanussi said:
I like everything in this post. After watching yesterdays sluggish offense, I have to think Thompson has a real opportunity. I assume he'll get to build on it today.

To me, the defense looks like: McAvoy, Lindgren, Jones, Fox, Greenway, Krys, Ahcan. McAvoy/Lindgren looks like a really solid pairing. I had high hopes for Fitzgerald but he looked a little lost yesterday.
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Yesterday was a weird game. Both teams looked like they were sleepwalking through it to be honest. Hard to get much of a read off of that one, but I imagine Motzko and co. will really drive home to the lineup today that they need to seize the opportunity to impress, and it doesn't hurt that the last game is against Canada.

After McAvoy, Lindgren, and Jones, I think the last 4 d-man spots are wide open. I would imagine Krys also has the inside track on another spot since he was there last year, but it's going to be an interesting group to follow for the next 4 months. I wouldn't put Greenway in that roster at this point, especially when he went home early.

EbonyRaptor said:
Has DeBrincat done enough to make the team?
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I don't think so. He's put up some points, but he's mostly been invisible for large stretches of the games I've seen. He's certainly not out of the running, but I wouldn't pencil him in my team right now.
 
Lineup for final exhibition of camp:

Bellows - Keller - Thompson
Greenway - Kunin - Boeser
Foley - Brown - Bracco
Terry - Laczynski - Fischer
Roslovic

Jones - McAvoy
Lindgren - Fitzgerald
Ahcan - Cecconi
Fox

Parsons
Woll

Scratches: DeBrincat, Frederic, Novak, Yamamoto, Sadek, Boka, Krys, Martin, Oettinger, Sarthou
 
Here's my projected team at the conclusion of the NJEC camp only using players from camp or those out with injury:

Forwards (x13):

Matthew Tkachuk - Colin White - Jack Roslovic
Kieffer Bellows - Clayton Keller - Tage Thompson
Jordan Greenway - Logan Brown - Brock Boeser
Erik Foley - Luke Kunin - Christian Fischer
Kailer Yamamoto

Defense (x7):

Caleb Jones - Charlie McAvoy
Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox
Chad Krys - Casey Fitzgerald
Jack Ahcan

Goalies (x3):

Tyler Parsons
Luke Opilka
Jake Oettinger

Notes:

  • What a logjam up front. There's a good 16 or so forwards that deserve to be on the team, but it's a deep group. I'm already annoyed by the illogical whining come December because [insert player] isn't there.
  • Thompson and Greenway had the most successful camps in terms of making their cases for the team. I didn't think either guy had more than a decent shot at best heading into the camp, but both continue to make great strides in their games, especially their skating. They're starting to fill out and find that comfort level with their massive frames and it shows. Impressive displays of puck protection, board work, cycling, and net front presence from both of these guys all camp.
  • I don't think DeBrincat or Bracco did enough (at this point) to make the team. Both have the ability to play on this team and do well come tournament time, but they're one-dimensional players and there's better choices right now when their one-dimension isn't taking over shifts/games.
  • On defense, I think the staff will be really happy to know that they have three horses they can ride for a lot of minutes in McAvoy, Jones, and Lindgren. All three had really impressive camps, and McAvoy was a lot of fun to watch. It's still crazy to think McAvoy wasn't originally invited to the NTDP tryout camp. He only received his invite after Troy Henley dropped out because he was going to the OHL.
  • On the other hand, I'd imagine the staff is nervous about the final four defense spots. I have Fox, Krys, Fitzgerald, and Ahcan in those spots right now, although I don't think they'll end up as the final four -- they just had the best moments of the remaining d-men at camp. I can't imagine USAH would take 7 d-men that are all 6 feet or smaller. I think they want to take a bigger, pure shutdown guy (hence the long looks for Boka and Cecconi) that can play the PK and serve as a reliable partner on the 3rd pair for a smaller puck mover, but I don't think they've found the fit there yet. I would imagine a guy like Andrew Peeke would be an obvious target come December to tryout for that type of role.
  • Regardless of how the defense shakes out, unless Werenski is somehow available, the top 4 this year will likely player nearly all the minutes just like last year when the top four of Werenski, Belpedio, Carlo, and Borgen saw nearly all the ice time.
  • It's too early for nearly anyone to be out of the running, but it's probably not a good sign for Trent Frederic, Luke Martin, Jack Sadek, and Nick Boka that they sat out two of the last three games. I'd say that's especially the case for the d-men as Motzko stated they kept around more d-men than they expected to see what they could offer.
  • All in all, anything less than a medal should be a massive disappointment for this team. And if they can shore up another strong d-man option, they should be one of the gold medal favorites.
 
Last edited:
William H Bonney said:
Here's my projected team at the conclusion of the NJEC camp only using players from camp or those out with injury:

Forwards (x13):

Matthew Tkachuk - Colin White - Jack Roslovic
Kieffer Bellows - Clayton Keller - Tage Thompson
Jordan Greenway - Logan Brown - Brock Boeser
Erik Foley - Luke Kunin - Christian Fischer
Kailer Yamamoto

Defense (x7):

Caleb Jones - Charlie McAvoy
Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox
Chad Krys - Casey Fitzgerald
Jack Ahcan

Goalies (x3):

Tyler Parsons
Luke Opilka
Jake Oettinger

Notes:

  • What a logjam up front. There's a good 16 or so forwards that deserve to be on the team, but it's a deep group. I'm already annoyed by the illogical whining come December because [insert player] isn't there.
  • Thompson and Greenway had the most successful camps in terms of making their cases for the team. I didn't think either guy had more than a decent shot at best heading into the camp, but both continue to make great strides in their games, especially their skating. They're starting to fill out and find that comfort level with their massive frames and it shows. Impressive displays of puck protection, board work, cycling, and net front presence from both of these guys all camp.
  • I don't think DeBrincat or Bracco did enough (at this point) to make the team. Both have the ability to play on this team and do well come tournament time, but they're one-dimensional players and there's better choices right now when their one-dimension isn't taking over shifts/games.
  • On defense, I think the staff will be really happy to know that they have three horses they can ride for a lot of minutes in McAvoy, Jones, and Lindgren. All three had really impressive camps, and McAvoy was a lot of fun to watch. It's still crazy to think McAvoy wasn't originally invited to the NTDP tryout camp. He only received his invite after Troy Henley dropped out because he was going to the OHL.
  • On the other hand, I'd imagine the staff is nervous about the final four defense spots. I have Fox, Krys, Fitzgerald, and Ahcan in those spots right now, although I don't think they'll end up as the final four -- they just had the best moments of the remaining d-men at camp. I can't imagine USAH would take 7 d-men that are all 6 feet or smaller. I think they want to take a bigger, pure shutdown guy (hence the long looks for Boka and Cecconi) that can play the PK and serve as a reliable partner on the 3rd pair for a smaller puck mover, but I don't think they've found the fit there yet. I would imagine a guy like Andrew Peeke would be an obvious target come December to tryout for that type of role.
  • Regardless of how the defense shakes out, unless Werenski is somehow available, the top 4 this year will likely player nearly all the minutes just like last year when the top four of Werenski, Belpedio, Carlo, and Borgen saw nearly all the ice time.
  • It's too early for nearly anyone to be out of the running, but it's probably not a good sign for Trent Frederic, Luke Martin, Jack Sadek, and Nick Boka that they sat out two of the last three games. I'd say that's especially the case for the d-men as Motzko stated they kept around more d-men than they expected to see what they could offer.
  • All in all, anything less than a medal should be a massive disappointment for this team. And if they can shore up another strong d-man option, they should be one of the gold medal favorites.
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Thanx for this. Great post!
 
McAvoy was the best player on the ice yesterday, even before the big hit. Controlled the whole game when he was on the ice. Very Hedman-esque performance.
 
The US team is looking stacked. With Laine/Pulju unlikely to play, I think the US will absolutely dominate this tourney.

I just hope a Jets prospect makes the team so i'll at least have someone to cheer for.
 
Tkachuk - White - Boeser
Bellows - Keller - Fischer
Foley - Brown - Thompson
Greenway - Kunin - Roslovic
Novak

Jones - McAvoy
Lindgren - Fritzgerald
Ahcan - Cecconi
Fox

Parsons
Opilka
Oettinger
 
I'm impressed by Nick Boka every time I see him play. Very good decision-maker, has a physical presence, doesn't get beat one-on-one. At the end of his freshman season, he played a lot with Werenski to be that responsible positional player. USA does have some good options though.
 
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