PWiz30
I love to hockey!
- Jan 3, 2013
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WC: 2019 US Roster Discussion
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William H Bonney
Registered User
He hasn't faced much as the US is carrying the play pretty easily in the 3rd but Demko looks really composed out there. Calm, no wasted movement, tracking the puck well.
The beginning of that shift was a little spotty as Hughes and Kane seemed to get crossed up and kept skating into the same open space. Looks like a team that has only played together for day and half
William H Bonney
Registered User
Has anyone seen Kreider take a shift in a long time? I wonder if he got injured or is possibly sick. He started out with the Larkin line, but Vatrano is now taking a regular shift. Blashill isn't running a shortened bench and there's no reason to in an exhibition. Hopefully he's ok.
Update: I didn't see him in the handshake line at the end either, so something is up.
Update: I didn't see him in the handshake line at the end either, so something is up.
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Debrincat and Gaudreau out there at the same time, proving that one can skate the One Ring into Mordor.
William H Bonney
Registered User
A good exhibition for the team. It took them awhile to get going but once they did they controlled the play as you'd expect. They got an opportunity on the PK and PP and they faced some adversity, which are both really important when they're trying to ramp up in 4 days for the tournament.
The defense settled after a rocky start. Suter, Hanifin, and Fox stood out the most to me. No one was bad per se, but Martinez and Skjei were fighting the puck a bit, especially early. But man do they need Jones here. C'mon, Seth!
The Eichel line was great and DeBrincat and Gaudreau were great as well. Larkin was uncharacteristically quiet. The 4th line got better after a really bad first period.
Okay performance from Schneider. He gave up a weak one but also made some really nice saves when the team was still finding its legs. I was more concerned with his rebound control and situational awareness, especially in the 2nd when he wasn't covering the puck with a long change and a tired line on the ice, which happened numerous shifts. Glad Blashill also got Demko in there. I thought he looked better, although he only really faced 1-2 decent chances in 20 minutes.
The defense settled after a rocky start. Suter, Hanifin, and Fox stood out the most to me. No one was bad per se, but Martinez and Skjei were fighting the puck a bit, especially early. But man do they need Jones here. C'mon, Seth!
The Eichel line was great and DeBrincat and Gaudreau were great as well. Larkin was uncharacteristically quiet. The 4th line got better after a really bad first period.
Okay performance from Schneider. He gave up a weak one but also made some really nice saves when the team was still finding its legs. I was more concerned with his rebound control and situational awareness, especially in the 2nd when he wasn't covering the puck with a long change and a tired line on the ice, which happened numerous shifts. Glad Blashill also got Demko in there. I thought he looked better, although he only really faced 1-2 decent chances in 20 minutes.
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Unfortunately your description of Schneider's play is the norm for him lately...
Quinn seemed to get victimized a bit more than the other D earlier in the game. He was caught up ice on a couple of shifts, one of which lead to a penalty. He seemed to settle in as the game went on. Jack didn't look out of place at all.
- Apr 27, 2005
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Gaudreau & Debrincat should for sure stay together, they were great together.
Top line looked very good.
J Hughes looked awesome, JVR will give him that net front presence.
Fox was impressive as well.
We have a lot of skilled handsy, patient players who should play really really well on big ice (Kane, Keller, J Hughes, Gaudreau, Debrincat, Eichel, Ryan, Fox, Q Hughes).
Top line looked very good.
J Hughes looked awesome, JVR will give him that net front presence.
Fox was impressive as well.
We have a lot of skilled handsy, patient players who should play really really well on big ice (Kane, Keller, J Hughes, Gaudreau, Debrincat, Eichel, Ryan, Fox, Q Hughes).
William H Bonney
Registered User
I thought Fox was good in his first test at this level. He wasn't bad defensively which is the worry and he distributed the puck well as you'd expect. He still makes me nervous with the amount of toe drags he likes to pull in the neutral zone and at the offensive blue line and even though he almost always pulls them off, I have a feeling it'll backfire here at some point.
I agree with others that Quinn was getting caught up ice too much early on but that was at a time when the entire team was out of it. Once he settled in like the others, I thought he was fine.
SanDogBrewin
Righteous bucks!
William H Bonney
Registered User
The Devils have a really interesting opportunity to evaluate Hughes in a way that a team with the #1 pick has probably never had in that their head coach is an assistant coach here and their GM is one of Team USA's advisory GMs. They're getting a first hand, comprehensive look at a potential draft pick beyond on ice play in an unprecedented way. What's he like on the bench? In the locker room? How does he take in game feedback? Watch video? And so on. Not that I think they're actually considering Kakko with the pick, but it's a pretty unique opportunity for them to cement their opinion one way or the other.
Lays
Registered User
- Jan 22, 2017
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Fox was good all around. Not very noticeable but made a lot of nice plays including a secondary assist. He was good defensively and made a nice rush back to stop an odd man rush from happening. Even though I’m a massive Q. Hughes he didn’t look good today, a few mistakes
William H Bonney
Registered User
As nice as the Hughes assist to JVR was, the zone entry and feed to Kane to JVR for what would usually be a goal was even more impressive. Here's that entire play which eventually ended in the Hughes to JVR goal:
goonybird
Young boy expert
- Jul 9, 2015
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AmericanDream
Thank you Elon!
JVR is pretty much like to hell with all that skating, just gonna plop my butt right here...lol
Kakko would have had the goal AND the assist.
You mean, 1+1 from one goal?
I am happy we still have players like him. These days it is just so much skating, skaring and more skating. Hopefully Hughes can found him many times in this tournament. I also have to say that Eichel is probably my favourite player ATM. Big body, huge skill level and can also skate so damn well. Sabres D and goalies just suck so much that we can see Eichel here.
I also think Fox should be in top six after what i saw today.
- Apr 27, 2005
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I've been following Fox for some time, I have very little doubt that he's this team's best offensive defenseman.
William H Bonney
Registered User
AmericanDream
Thank you Elon!
if Cale Makar did not exist, Fox would be the talk of the town right now, what Fox did this year was as impressive as Makar IMO...
CaptTennille
President of the Blair Betts Fan Club
In fairness, the scorekeeper would try and award the assist to the another Finnish player but would look at the gamesheet and get stressed out by all the consonants in every name and just say "screw it, close enough"
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