WJC: 2019 Team USA Roster Talk

[SabresSharks]

Starting Knight against Finland would be a sensible, low-risk move.

We finish 2nd or 3rd in our group regardless of the outcome of that game (ignoring the struck-by-lightning probability of the Kazakhs upsetting Sweden). Win or lose, the coaching staff will have a far better understanding of who to have on the bench if Keyser falters in an elimination game. Without getting a proper look at Knight, they'd be making that decision with incomplete knowledge.

 

[Islesfan22]

I think USA could have used Wilde with his really good skating and offensive capabilities on the big ice. Putting up great numbers in juniors but no ideas how is defense has progressed.

 

[TopC0rner]

I'd like to see some new lines:

Farabee - Poehling - Chmelevski
Barratt - Hughes - Wahlstrom
Madden - Norris - Robertson
Cates - Drury - O'Brien
Cockerill

Poehling and Wahlstrom played well together. I'd keep them on the same line (and it was a wonder why they didn't see ice-time together in the OT, as they were both HOT). I'd probably switch Wahlstrom and Chmelevski in your line-up, then depending on circumstances it's easy to swap Poehling/Hughes.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Starting Knight against Finland would be a sensible, low-risk move.

We finish 2nd or 3rd in our group regardless of the outcome of that game (ignoring the struck-by-lightning probability of the Kazakhs upsetting Sweden). Win or lose, the coaching staff will have a far better understanding of who to have on the bench if Keyser falters in an elimination game. Without getting a proper look at Knight, they'd be making that decision with incomplete knowledge.

Ehh I am not so sure they want to go into the game against Finland with that mentality....That is a really important game for both teams. I mean finishing 2nd or 3rd is a pretty big deal. You lose that game and your run to gold runs through the loser of Canada/Russia in the quarters and then the Swedes in the semi's. Finish 2nd and you get the Czechs in the quarters.

 

[Corso]

I think USA could have used Wilde with his really good skating and offensive capabilities on the big ice. Putting up great numbers in juniors but no ideas how is defense has progressed.

Disagree, we already possess a high end offensive wizard who is turn over machine and a defensive liability in Q. Hughes...we do not need another carbon copy.

 

[Svenhart2008]

I'd like to see some new lines:

Farabee - Poehling - Chmelevski
Barratt - Hughes - Wahlstrom
Madden - Norris - Robertson
Cates - Drury - O'Brien
Cockerill

Samberg - Anderson
Hughes - Samuelsson
Miller - Kemp
St. Ivany

Keyser
Knight

• Ride that top 9 in some combination into the ground if needed. I'd even be more inclined to give the 4th line guys spot shifts in the top 9 versus giving the 4th line many shifts as a unit. Essentially give the best players more time with the occasional rest.
• Defense is a challenge. With Hughes struggling, and guys like Miller in over their heads, and the forced choice (Kemp) and off-the-board choice (St. Ivany) clearly out of place, Vanbiesbrouck and the staff has really handicapped what should have been a really strong group. Similar to the forwards, I'd ride some combination of the top 4, with spot shifts to the 3rd pair or give those guys spot shifts in the top 4.
• Cockerill and St. Ivany basically shouldn't see the ice.
• I'd still start Knight the next game, but expect Keyser.

I don't think Miller is in over his head. His usage is asinine. He is playing D for what, 3 years? He is a left D and very capable of producing good offensive numbers.

Yet here, he's being used on a shut down pair on his off side. If I had to switch a D to his off side, I'd pick one with more experience at the position.

 

[PitchNHL]

How'd Farabee look last night? Missed the game

 

[Hossa]

• Quinn Hughes is playing selfish hockey.

This is a huge part of the problem. He's an outstanding talent, but he's playing like everything has to run through him. It's not working and it impedes the ability of other players on the ice to use their own skill because they're all relegated to complimentary roles. He's always going to make some plays but he's not helping the team play better.

 

[SanDogBrewin]

That comeback was so sweet I didn't even care about the loss. Lots to build on in spite of that.

J Hughes will have had 4 days to recover by the time they play Finland on Monday. Hopefully he'll be ready to go, and can add a spark.

Finland will be a good test heading into the elimination round. I expect the coaching staff will be poring over lines and pairings in the meantime, and can get that right. 3 radically different games should give them plenty of insight.

The US played a really good team and almost won because they didn’t give up. A lot to build on really. I think tweaks can be made with coaching. Agree the comeback was awesome.

 

[Corso]

This is a huge part of the problem. He's an outstanding talent, but he's playing like everything has to run through him. It's not working and it impedes the ability of other players on the ice to use their own skill because they're all relegated to complimentary roles. He's always going to make some plays but he's not helping the team play better.

I will be harpooned, derided and mocked by Canuck fans for saying this but I honestly worry about his ability to play in the NHL. He has great offensive zone presence and can work the power-play but the rest of his game is really really lacking. He is easily muscled off the puck, his defensive zone coverage is atrocious and he just makes a lot of stupid plays. There is no doubting his skating and stick skills but can he process the game at the level needed to play in the NHL??

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Hughes is their defense, he feels he has to do everything because he has to do everything. When you have pylons like Kemp and Samuelsson on your team everything will go through you. Im amazed he looks that fast playing near 30 minutes a game.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

I don't think Miller is in over his head. His usage is asinine. He is playing D for what, 3 years? He is a left D and very capable of producing good offensive numbers.

Yet here, he's being used on a shut down pair on his off side. If I had to switch a D to his off side, I'd pick one with more experience at the position.

Truth.

Plus Samuelsson has been worse playing on his natural size and for as good as he was in game 1, Samberg hasn't been great since then either.

 

[Rebels57]

When Hughes is healthy, use him like the 1C he is.

 

[AvatarAang]

needs some Keane

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Not a very good team. We could medal, but I think it'll be very tough this year.

The forward group isn't that talented. I think we are pretty good down the middle, but we have a lack of high-end wingers. We have too many grinders, none of which are producing much. These forwards aren't playing much defense either.

The defense is limited. We don't have any offensive guys except for Hughes. I'd put Miller on the PP instead of Anderson, but we could use Walsh and Wilde for some offense from the backend. Miller and Samuelsson aren't ready to play big roles. They haven't been awful, but just not top-level defensemen at this tournament. The 19 year olds haven't been good either.

Its hard to blame Hughes that much because he's the only offense from the back-end and the biggest offensive threat on the whole team, but his defense and puck decisions have been the worst on the team. He's hurting the team a lot defensively. Samberg has been good against the two lesser teams, and was terrible against Sweden. He might've been the worst player on the ice. We need him to play better than he did against Sweden. Anderson is a limited player. He should not be in a big role or on the PP. He could do well in a bottom pairing role. The others aren't going to add much.

The goalie situation has also been completely mismanaged. Who decided that Keyser has done so much that he'd go into the tournament as the starter? He's been mediocre in both appearances. He's done just enough to not be horrible, but he's not outplaying the goalie on the other side of the ice. We should not be getting mediocre goaltending. We produce too much goaltending talent. This is now two years in a row where they've named a goalie the starter who had no business playing significant minutes in this tournament. Primeau didn't do well in his first game, but I think he's better than Keyser, and would much sooner put him in there again than Keyser. The starter right now should be Knight. He should've been the starter to start the tournament, but not everyone agreed. Now that the other two haven't been good, I think we need to give him a chance.

Poehling-Norris-Farabee
Robertson-Hughes-Wahlstrom
Chmelevski-Barratt-Madden
Cates-Drury-O'Brien
Cockerill

Samuelsson-Hughes
Samberg-Miller
Anderson-Kemp
St. Ivany

Knight
Primeau
Keyser

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Disagree, we already possess a high end offensive wizard who is turn over machine and a defensive liability in Q. Hughes...we do not need another carbon copy.

What would be the point of not at least trying to see if he could help? What does St. Ivany bring that Wilde doesn't? I don't think Wilde would be the turnover machine and defensive liability that you think he would be, but if he was, don't play him. Its better than having a limited defense core that adds nothing. Thats part of why Hughes is playing that way.

I don't think Miller is in over his head. His usage is asinine. He is playing D for what, 3 years? He is a left D and very capable of producing good offensive numbers.

Yet here, he's being used on a shut down pair on his off side. If I had to switch a D to his off side, I'd pick one with more experience at the position.

I think in over his head is the wrong way to put it, but he hasn't been great. I think most expected him to show more during this tournament, but maybe it was unreasonable considering 18 year olds often struggle in this tournament. I don't even think he's struggled, he just hasn't been as good as what some expected due to the season he's having at Wisconsin.

He's needed to play on his off-side though. We have two right-shots, and those two are the lowest minutes guys on the team. The initial mistake was leaving Keane, Walsh and Wilde off the team. It makes more sense to put Miller on his off-side than a less mobile player like Samberg or Samuelsson. Hughes, Miller and Anderson should all be used on their off-side during the course of game, considering this team has a top 5 of all left shots, a right-shot penalty killer as the 6th D and then a right shot 7th who sees only a few shifts a game.

Also, I'm not so sure he's playing a shutdown role. I don't think we have a real shutdown pairing, which is part of the problem. The only player I think is playing a shutdown role is Kemp, but even he isn't playing that as much as he should. He's seen too many shifts in this tournament with Hughes than he should've.

I think Miller should be put on the second PP though instead of Anderson.

How'd Farabee look last night? Missed the game

He's had a good tournament and played well most of his shifts, but he lost the team the game in OT. Messed up a 2-1 by taking too long to shoot the puck, and then he turned it over that created a 2-1 for Sweden that resulted in a goal.

Hughes is their defense, he feels he has to do everything because he has to do everything. When you have pylons like Kemp and Samuelsson on your team everything will go through you. Im amazed he looks that fast playing near 30 minutes a game.

This is lazy analysis.

Big doesn't equal pylon. I've seen a few people that have tried calling Samuelsson and Samberg pylons because they are big.

Samuelsson has been far from the problem, and is playing a bigger role than he should've because of what you said that Hughes is having to do too much. They had no business leaving Keane and Walsh off the team. Those were terrible omissions that are really hurting the team. I would've also picked Wilde. As we've seen, the team has one defensemen who can play the PP well. Having three wouldn't be such a bad idea.

 

[NewHampshire]

I don't think Miller is in over his head. His usage is asinine. He is playing D for what, 3 years? He is a left D and very capable of producing good offensive numbers.

Yet here, he's being used on a shut down pair on his off side. If I had to switch a D to his off side, I'd pick one with more experience at the position.

Maybe. But maybe they should have taken an actual RH in Keane. Or maybe they should have taken one of the many 19 year old defenseman - many of whom have 1.5 years of NCAA experience to .5, many of whom have played D at high-age group levels much longer than three years, many of whom have vast international age group experience (and success) and some of whom (Gildon) have played their off-hand at a high level for two years now...

The choices on defense have been puzzling to say the least and their insistence on a type has turned what was expected to be a dynamic strength into a real question mark. There's no way around that through three games - hopefully that turns around and they look like geniuses in the end...

They've ended up with the two Yale defenseman barely playing and everyone else having to play above their heads (and/or roles) to some degree. If they had simply taken Keane to play on the first pair - as many expected and projected during camp - then Hughes would be better supported, Anderson/Samburg could be your shutdown pair and the two 18 year olds could be your third pair. That would perhaps settle things down quite a bit without even getting to Walsh or Gildon or any of the other 19 year old college sophomores...

Age and experience matters A LOT in this tournament. When you have those options you have to take them. They had them on D, if not necessarily at F...

---

Additionally, I think a lot of people saw the chance for a dynamic puck moving defense as a necessity to both jump start this forward group and heavily contribute offensively themselves. The group they've taken doesn't seem capable of either, which puts a lot more pressure on the Fs...

 

[SabresSharks]

Can Poehling get a little more love in here, please?

Assist on the first goal. A natural hat-trick in the last 7 minutes. Nice hands on the second goal. Caused the turnover on the tying goal, which was a beautiful far top corner snipe.

No incredible comeback without him.

 

[NewHampshire]

Can Poehling get a little more love in here, please?

Assist on the first goal. A natural hat-trick in the last 7 minutes. Nice hands on the second goal. Caused the turnover on the tying goal, which was a beautiful far top corner snipe.

No incredible comeback without him.

Poehling was unbelievable in the third - he scored his first goal to make it 4-2 and his energy and belief at that point lifted the team. He may have been the only one in the building who thought that goal meant a legitimate comeback (many posted, in the game thread, that he was over celebrating), but HE believed and he willed it to happen. Awesome and dominant performance...

For the record, Poehling's performance was ripped apart last year as an 18 year old - he got crushed. And look what he's capable of at 19...? More evidence that age matters a ton at this tournament...

All these players are among the best in the world for their birth year. That extra age - especially at this age - means everything. I have no doubt Samuelsson and Miller are monsters next year. Next year...

 

[William H Bonney]

I don't think Miller is in over his head. His usage is asinine. He is playing D for what, 3 years? He is a left D and very capable of producing good offensive numbers.

Yet here, he's being used on a shut down pair on his off side. If I had to switch a D to his off side, I'd pick one with more experience at the position.

Miller being in over his head doesn't mean he's directly responsible for all the underlying reasons he's in over his head. There's a lot of reasons. Some of them are his fault (getting beat wide a lot, terrible neutralizing the front of his net, turnovers), some of them are not his fault (playing his off-side), and some of them are what they are (still a raw d-man, hard to succeed as an 18 year old d-man here).

Naming reasons that just support the notion that he's in over his head doesn't change the fact that he is. It's not a slight on Miller or his status as a prospect; it's really hard to play well in this tournament as an 18 year old d-man, especially when you're still a pretty raw one at that. Ask Charlie McAvoy. He struggled as an 18 year old, dominated the tournament as a 19 year old leading Team USA to Gold, and then stepped right into a starring role in the NHL.

It's why USAH forcing Kemp on this team (the diehards have known this was coming since the WJSS) and going for an off-the-wall pick in St. Ivany that they weren't going to play only exacerbates Miller's inexperience.

USAH management always thinks they're too smart for their own good and this is what happens. When you pass up experienced, 19 year old d-men that should be here (Keane, Walsh) it's bound to bite you when players falter because the decision makers pigeon holed themselves into minimal options. They can't move Kemp up the lineup because he can't move the puck and his defense (his speciality) hasn't even been good. They can't play St. Ivany because they don't trust him but he's here because Vanbiesbrouck was obsessed with having length on defense, instead of having the not lengthy enough Keane and Walsh, who are both far more experienced than St. Ivany and used to playing big minutes against the opposition's top lines. That's not to say Keane or Walsh would be guaranteed to be good here, but they give you options to mix things up when a unit is struggling; instead, Vanbiesbrouck and company have no options other than hoping guys figure it out.

How much more balanced would this defense group be?

Hughes - Keane
Samberg - Anderson
Samuelsson - Walsh
Miller

 

[William H Bonney]

Can Poehling get a little more love in here, please?

Assist on the first goal. A natural hat-trick in the last 7 minutes. Nice hands on the second goal. Caused the turnover on the tying goal, which was a beautiful far top corner snipe.

No incredible comeback without him.

He's been great. Providing more offense than I expected, but he's been all over the place. Reminds me of his performance at the Hlinka. A real leader on this team.

I'll lose it if Hastings moves him back to wing. He should have been at center all along. Leave him there. If he wants to move one of the top 4 centers (Poehling, Hughes, Norris, Barratt) to wing in the top 9, fine, but it should be Norris or Barratt as they're not in the same stratosphere as Hughes talent wise and Poehling has outplayed them by a large margin.

 

[William H Bonney]

This is a huge part of the problem. He's an outstanding talent, but he's playing like everything has to run through him. It's not working and it impedes the ability of other players on the ice to use their own skill because they're all relegated to complimentary roles. He's always going to make some plays but he's not helping the team play better.

With Quinn, I think it's an overconfidence issue. He thinks he can and must do everything. Confidence isn't a bad thing, but I wish the staff would just sit him down and let him know that he doesn't need to do everything, even if it may feel that way. Honestly they should show him tape of the way he played at the World Championships versus tape of this tournament thus far. He simplified his game a bit playing against professionals and played really well. He doesn't need to lose all the bravado, or skating and stick handling displays, but if he forced it a bit less and moved the puck a bit faster, I think he'd see the his production ramp up, the times he's getting caught out there gassed go down, and the team's play improve.

 

[jj cale]

Miller being in over his head doesn't mean he's directly responsible for all the underlying reasons he's in over his head. There's a lot of reasons. Some of them are his fault (getting beat wide a lot, terrible neutralizing the front of his net, turnovers), some of them are not his fault (playing his off-side), and some of them are what they are (still a raw d-man, hard to succeed as an 18 year old d-man here).

Naming reasons that just support the notion that he's in over his head doesn't change the fact that he is. It's not a slight on Miller or his status as a prospect; it's really hard to play well in this tournament as an 18 year old d-man, especially when you're still a pretty raw one at that. Ask Charlie McAvoy. He struggled as an 18 year old, dominated the tournament as a 19 year old leading Team USA to Gold, and then stepped right into a starring role in the NHL.

It's why USAH forcing Kemp on this team (the diehards have known this was coming since the WJSS) and going for an off-the-wall pick in St. Ivany that they weren't going to play only exacerbates Miller's inexperience.

USAH management always thinks they're too smart for their own good and this is what happens. When you pass up experienced, 19 year old d-men that should be here (Keane, Walsh) it's bound to bite you when players falter because the decision makers pigeon holed themselves into minimal options. They can't move Kemp up the lineup because he can't move the puck and his defense (his speciality) hasn't even been good. They can't play St. Ivany because they don't trust him but he's here because Vanbiesbrouck was obsessed with having length on defense, instead of having the not lengthy enough Keane and Walsh, who are both far more experienced than St. Ivany and used to playing big minutes against the opposition's top lines. That's not to say Keane or Walsh would be guaranteed to be good here, but they give you options to mix things up when a unit is struggling; instead, Vanbiesbrouck and company have no options other than hoping guys figure it out.

How much more balanced would this defense group be?

Hughes - Keane
Samberg - Anderson
Samuelsson - Walsh
Miller

I don't want to embarrass you or anything but I've just got say I always love reading your takes, I really learn a lot not just about what is happening in the U.S system but about hockey in general.

I mean it's a genuine pleasure to read and take in.

 

[William H Bonney]

Poehling and Wahlstrom played well together. I'd keep them on the same line (and it was a wonder why they didn't see ice-time together in the OT, as they were both HOT). I'd probably switch Wahlstrom and Chmelevski in your line-up, then depending on circumstances it's easy to swap Poehling/Hughes.

I'd be fine with that. Poehling, Chmelevski, and Wahlstrom drove that comeback, usually on the ice together, so I had to choose one. I wouldn't be opposed to putting those three as a line if Chmelevksi is comfortable playing left wing. If so, you could go:

Chmelevski - Poehling - Wahlstrom
Farabee - Hughes - Robertson
Barratt - Norris - Madden

As long as Hastings and company finally leave Poehling where he belongs (center) and finally give Chmelevksi the huge minutes he deserves, that's the change I care about for now.

 

[SabresSharks]

Quinn needs to remember that this sport isn't kind to a do-it-all-myself player, no matter how talented. I'm hoping he'll be more of a catalyst for team play during the rest of the tournament.