GDT: 2020-21 IIHF WJC, Edmonton/Red Deer, Canada: 12/25/20 - 1/5/21

[Rooks]

Honestly, I couldn't care less what anybody else did. Don't really care too terribly much about the US winning either, though I happy it happened. I watched this tourney specifically to see how our prospects took up the challenge. Came away incredibly impressed with Turcotte, very impressed with Faber and Bjornfot, pleased with Simontaival, Kaliyev and to a degree Chromiak. Couldn't see much of Spence or Parik.

But Byfield? Sorry, he laid an egg. Didn't want to see it, hurts to admit, but he just didn't show up. We know its just a short tournament, not the be all or end all of anything, but you can only ever really judge people on what they do - not what they are supposed to do. Byfield looked far too comfortable in letting the game go on around him. Turcotte took it by the throat, he showed a desire to make a big difference.

It hurts to say but I think that's a fair assessment on Byfield's performance. Never hoping to look for a bounce back from a 2nd OA as they should come out of the box a dominate and assertive player compared to their peers. But it is what it is, and I wholeheartedly will be rooting for him. All in all, it was an amazing tournament for Kings prospects as a whole. Can't help but love Turcotte's game. I think he showed this tournament why the kings picked him. And if he is an indicator of criteria on how they are building this future team I can't wait to watch a group of players play with that sort of heart and tenacity.

 

[redcard]

Byfield was more impactful this year than Turcotte was last year.

 

[Chazz Reinhold]

 

[Steve Zissou]

 

[BringTheReign]

Wow, did not expect to see Byfield so high. I wonder if his six point game skewed the average though. I have to agree that he wasn't noticeable offensively in Canada's last two games.

 

[killermiller]

I felt like Canada's coaching sucked.

Lines constantly juggled, rewarding players like Krebs with more ice time when he's trying no look passes to no one.

It's no surprise to me that Byfield couldn't get going when he seemingly had different line partners every shift, I still noticed that he was much more physical out there and responsible defensively.

 

[Steve Zissou]

 

[cyclones22]

Those are Semifinal and Final round only numbers. That just goes to show you how completely mis-deployed Byfield was by his coach.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Canadians be mad.

 

[All The Kings Men]

True story.

 

[Chazz Reinhold]

Wow, did not expect to see Byfield so high. I wonder if his six point game skewed the average though. I have to agree that he wasn't noticeable offensively in Canada's last two games.

That’s medal round only.

 

[bouncesonly]

whadda wizard:

 

[Eagle Fang]

I don't really understand what Expected Primary Points means. I tried to Google it and it's the likelyhood of points based on certain sequences of events? Is that right?

Either way, it's surprising to see Byfield up there based on that definition in relation to what I saw which means I know shit about hockey xD

 

[bouncesonly]

Canadians be mad.

f*** them, all they do is talk sh*t too

 

[Chazz Reinhold]

I don't really understand what Expected Primary Points means. I tried to Google it and it's the likelyhood of points based on certain sequences of events? Is that right?

Either way, it's surprising to see Byfield up there based on that definition in relation to what I saw which means I know shit about hockey xD

Expected points are measured based on shot quality (based on historical data of how likely particular shots are to go in the net) and creating quality shots for others.

It’s not some all-decisive measure, but it does show who’s creating quality offensive chances.

 

[Eagle Fang]

Expected points are measured based on shot quality (based on historical data of how likely particular shots are to go in the net) and creating quality shots for others.

It’s not some all-decisive measure, but it does show who’s creating quality offensive chances.

So essentially according to that metric, in the last 2 games Byfield was the most effective offensive player for CAN? Who'd have thought...

 

[ru4reals]

I felt like Canada's coaching sucked.

Lines constantly juggled, rewarding players like Krebs with more ice time when he's trying no look passes to no one.

It's no surprise to me that Byfield couldn't get going when he seemingly had different line partners every shift, I still noticed that he was much more physical out there and responsible defensively.

Totally agree. Was not impressed with Krebs, Perffetti and especially Quinn. But Whatever the better team won today. One of the best performances from team USA at the World Juniors. Wonder what would have happened if Nate Leaman coached last years team. Anyways great great win and Knight was awesome tonight. He didn't get enough credit.

 

[funky]

Okay. First day go congrats to all the Kings fans in the USA. The USA team played an awesome game and very deservedly won the gold medal. I am a true Canada fan but I really enjoyed watching how do US team played.

I am very stoked about Faber. I loved the pick of the draft and I think he is one of the most underrated prospects out there. Well maybe not after this tourney.

Turcotte gave a big FU to the critics. Love the tenacity and you can see the skill.

Was it just me or did Kaliyev seem to be taking the body a lot. He is a big boy. Love when he truck Ghost Caufield. I think he may be more than just a one trick pony that people expect. Get some good NHL coaching into him he can thrive.

Not worried about Byfield at all. Do not like how he was deployed. Yes a lot of that is on him but I did not like our (Canada’s)!style of play. I felt as a whole the Canadian team was neutered from playing a more aggressive game. Coach was probably very worried about Penalties but man it was hard not watching our boys truck the opposition. We dressed a defense with Guhle, and Schneider who were known for their nastiness but I rarely saw it. Every game I ever watched Zary play He is a bulldog looking for a bone. That didn’t happen in this tournament. I Saw Byfield come out and make numerous hits the first game then that seemed to disappear.

I also did not like the fact that the coaching staff relied on the top line so heavily during the round Robin. At one point the first papa unit stayed out for a full two minute shift when they were obviously tired. At the time the team as a whole seem to be trying to find their old fence and their shot and I believe if they would’ve spread the wealth it might’ve kickstarted some of the other players.

Zegras is so talented. He and Turcotte are Kane and Toews. It will be fun watching the head to heads. Both players are little pricks as well. They will definitely go after each other.

Simontaival looks like a prospect to keep an eye on. This tournament was a little unfair as some of the players have been playing regular hockey for a bit. Still you can see the skill he possesses and he’s got a very aggressive game. I wasn’t expecting him to go to the dirty areas that he did at his size. The kid looks like he could be a fire hydrant when he fills out.

last but not least I loved Berniers. That is exactly the type of player Canada needed or the style of play Canada needed to be playing.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Honestly, I couldn't care less what anybody else did. Don't really care too terribly much about the US winning either, though I happy it happened. I watched this tourney specifically to see how our prospects took up the challenge. Came away incredibly impressed with Turcotte, very impressed with Faber and Bjornfot, pleased with Simontaival, Kaliyev and to a degree Chromiak. Couldn't see much of Spence or Parik.

But Byfield? Sorry, he laid an egg. Didn't want to see it, hurts to admit, but he just didn't show up. We know its just a short tournament, not the be all or end all of anything, but you can only ever really judge people on what they do - not what they are supposed to do. Byfield looked far too comfortable in letting the game go on around him. Turcotte took it by the throat, he showed a desire to make a big difference.

The problem is just context. I'm not really caring how Byfield did here because of how he was used. He was still sadly one of Canada's best forwards in this game and in the medal around as a whole. But how can you look for a dude to save you in one breath then play him less than literally anyone else in another? When you have McMichael running around at minus 2, Cozens doing nothing but an empty net in the medal round, Zary begging for refs to save them, etc. and you still give Byfield less minutes than anyone else--and he still wins literally almost every faceoff, has the best advanced stats on the team, and so on, I'm not too broken up about it. Like I said earlier, he's gonna go back to juniors and post 2ppg and people will wonder why, and it's as simple as he's put in a scoring role with scoring minutes instead of getting deployed like a f***ing plumber then complained about.

I guess the difference between 'hero' and 'zero' to me isn't one/two goals in the boxscore. The guy did everything but save the team from themselves from the least-forward spot. He was one of Canada's best players by any metric despite how much they tried to bury him. It DOES matter that no one else did anything because QB was one of the only players to regularly advance play in a positive direction and generate chances.

 

[LAKings88]

I liked parts of Byfield’s game and he is still young. The tools are there. The Kings will do right by him.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

At least everyone got to see the good of Turcotte. That makes me really happy. Kid was a f***ing monster and playing his game, just high pace, high drive, in your face, win at all costs.

 

[Peter James Bond III]

I honestly believe Turcotte could step on the Kings tomorrow and make the team. Not that he will or should.

Kind of like how Iafallo walked on the team from day 1. (Alex was 23 though!) Alex was probably not quite ready, but could do it.
Because he was smart, could skate, good defensively, was reasonably tenacious and had enough skill. He's much further, 3
years later, but he could do it. Turcotte is smart, tenacious, has NHL ability, outstanding in all 3 zones,
always effective from start of shift to end of shift. Has good hockey IQ. And is now strong enough.
He has certainly added a half inch or so and at least 10 lbs of muscle.

Center is harder to break in at 19 for certain...but I bet he could play LW and be fine.
Of course, a year on the Reign playing center in all situations is probably best.
With a VENTI cup of coffee...or 2.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I honestly believe Turcotte could step on the Kings tomorrow and make the team. Not that he will or should.

Kind of like how Iafallo walked on the team from day 1. (Alex was 23 though!) Alex was probably not quite ready, but could do it.
Because he was smart, could skate, good defensively, was reasonably tenacious and had enough skill. He's much further, 3
years later, but he could do it. Turcotte is smart, tenacious, has NHL ability, outstanding in all 3 zones,
always effective from start of shift to end of shift. Has good hockey IQ. And is now strong enough.
He has certainly added a half inch or so and at least 10 lbs of muscle.

Center is harder to break in at 19 for certain...but I bet he could play LW and be fine.
Of course, a year on the Reign playing center in all situations is probably best.
With a VENTI cup of coffee...or 2.

Pretty much exactly what Yanetti said even last year.

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

Canada's coaching was horrendous, and they ran into an opponent at the worst time where simply being more talented wasn't good enough

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

One stat I find cool is that Turcotte took 128 FO's in this tournament (won 54% of them.) I said a few games ago in another thread that he'll probably lead the tournament by the end of it. It turns out Lundell took a crazy amount of them over the last two games and Turcotte took less, so Lundell ended up with 2 more over the full tournament. But being right up there in second is pretty cool. I'm sure you guys are used to that type of stat with Kopitar.

If you look at the leaders in that category every year in the NHL it's a list of the best two-way centers in the league, so I think being one of the better two-way centers in this tournament is one of the more projectable categories to NHL success. The top 3 were Lundell, Turcotte, Khusnutdinov, probably the three best two-way centers in the tournament. It's not an infallible stat, but I think it generally is a good barometer of who the best two-way centers are.