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

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Raccoon Jesus said:
I don't think Byfield is that far away. I think he needs to be used offensively if you want him to create offense, not play 4th line minutes with relative plugs and be told to dump the puck in.

His only 'problem' right now is not saving Canada, he's far and away their best defensive player by advanced stats because he's clearly being told to focus on possession and defense. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Everyone is going to be 'shocked' when he goes back to juniors and puts up 2PPG again when it's his default state, be 'the guy,' play 20 minutes. It's so f***ing stupid.
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It’s almost like he’s too coachable, kind of like Kopitar at times. Coach asks him to be a 3rd line grinder center and he does that. Like you can tell at times during the Sutter years Kopitar could’ve tried to do more risky stuff but deferred to the safe possession play like coach said.
 
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tbrown33 said:
yup. a big difference is that the Kings have already been developing Turc for over a year. They havent even had Byfield in LA yet. You can see the difference, Turc is playing a much more NHL style game. Byfield is just still raw - but tomorrow, he’ll be in a pro environment finally.
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And this, in a normal year Byfield would’ve been at rookie camp during summer and training camp before the season. Kings probably haven’t done anything other than zoom calls with him yet.
 
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Tell me USA played like our cup teams! Gritty and in your face! For Canada to score they would have to skate the entire 200 ft of ice. In the O zone they're gonna be stuck on the outside or facing the boards. When Canada manages to bust through they had a goalie focused and on his game. Like Quick, you knew the other team was not going to score!
 
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Raccoon Jesus said:
Still, the point is, he's a dumb scapegoat.

Where's Cozens been this game? Same draft pedigree, a year earlier, wearing the C...getting absolutely caved in despite getting monster minutes.

Pick a player that's not Byfield and there are only 2-3 other Canadian forwards that aren't just straight getting trucked for the game. Sure, he hasn't scored--he's also at the very least advanced the play. Do we want more? f*** yeah. But if you're going to treat him like your 13th forward and still get better results than 10 other Fs, you can't just lay into his draft pedigree 'we wanted more from 2nd OA'....
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So many people, including some on here, conveniently forget Byfield was asked to play a role he’s ‘unaccustomed to’. That’s the words of the coach. I suspect he’s done that as the team was stacked with skill and he was one of the few that could adapt to the role asked of him. I guess they felt they had enough goals in the rest of the lineup and for me he has had a decent tournament, given his role. I don’t agree with the way he was deployed, especially when his 6 point game shows his offensive upside, but there you go. If you have to play players in unfamiliar roles, you have selected the wrong roster.

The fact Byfield can win his board battles, adapt his game and be strong at the dot really encourages me to think he will adapt his game to the NHL level. The fact the head coach called him ‘coachable’, when talking about his unfamiliar role, was great to hear.

As for Turcotte and Kaliyev, it’s great to see them step up in the big games. It says it all for me. That’s a pro/winning attitude from both... Turcotte especially.
 
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I don't think we could have asked for a much better WJC as Kings fans. For Team USA, Turcotte stepped up in a big way. He was the #1 center on the gold medal team and looked great in all situations. He's all but ready for the NHL in my opinion. Kaliyev has a lot to work on, but he displayed his NHL-caliber shot in clutch situations, which is exactly what you hope for. He's at least two years away, but having him in the AHL and working with our strength and conditioning coaches is a step in the right direction. Brock Faber, man, what else is there to say? He started the tournament as an extra skater and ended up playing with Cam York on the top pair, and was arguably the best defender on the team. This kid is special, he is excellent in his own zone but he's also got a pretty good transition game in that he can absorb pressure and get the puck where it needs to go to start the offense. He's still got a few years of maturing, but the sky is the limit with him. He outplayed Sanderson (and Kleven, who barely even played) by a fair margin. Best US defenseman of the 2020 draft right now.

Team Canada might be the only disappointment for the Kings. They asked Byfield to play a bottom six role and he did just that. I'm not really concerned; Byfield is younger this year than Turcotte was last year at the tournament, and we weren't worried about Turcotte last year. It's funny that being a top twelve (tied) scorer at the WJC as an underager is even a concern, but here we are. Seven points in seven games for Byfield. I would expect to see him become Canada's #1 center at next year's tournament and really dominate though. As for Spence, well, he really didn't play. Too bad.

Simontaival, talk about scoring some clutch goals. From what I saw, he mostly parked his ass in front of the net and showed soft hands when he got there. He wasn't always on, but he showed a lot of promise for a young guy under a lot of pressure to perform. I'm not sure he ever makes the team, but he proved he deserves a look.

Bjornfot played great for Sweden. He was probably their top defender. He and Turcotte were really battling in the Sweden-USA game, and Bjornfot won almost every battle (except Turcotte's somewhat-lucky goal). Bjornfot reminds me a lot of Faber, he never gets rattled and is always in a good position to make an outlet pass, and if he's in trouble he can skate it out of danger. It's not so much high-end speed as it is poise and creativity. If not for Faber's outstanding play, Bjornfot would have been our best defender in the tournament for sure, and it was pretty close for me as is. He looks ready for the NHL.

I didn't get great looks and Chromiak or Parik, so I won't really comment on them.

Two other standouts for me were Matthew Beniers, 2021 eligible from USA, and Brad Lambert, 2022 eligible from Finland. Both of these guys showed a ton of potential and I wouldn't be surprised to see them as top five or ten picks.
 
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SFKingshomer said:
Call me crazy and biased but I prefer Lundell , Turcotte, and Cozens game to Zegras.
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they're... different. i don't know. complementary pieces kinda right? i'm really high on zegras, he really looks like patty kane out there sometimes with how he finds soft spots and i really like players like that who are head-up in the o zone looking instead of just hammering bad shots

i think there's an inherent gamble with that type of player but i think he's solid enough to make it work. turcotte is a much "safer" choice but i think less likely to disappoint
 
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tny760 said:
they're... different. i don't know. complementary pieces kinda right? i'm really high on zegras, he really looks like patty kane out there sometimes with how he finds soft spots and i really like players like that who are head-up in the o zone looking instead of just hammering bad shots

i think there's an inherent gamble with that type of player but i think he's solid enough to make it work. turcotte is a much "safer" choice but i think less likely to disappoint
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I'd have to see Zegras as a center and asked to do the little things Turcotte does before making a decision on him.
 
tny760 said:
they're... different. i don't know. complementary pieces kinda right? i'm really high on zegras, he really looks like patty kane out there sometimes with how he finds soft spots and i really like players like that who are head-up in the o zone looking instead of just hammering bad shots

i think there's an inherent gamble with that type of player but i think he's solid enough to make it work. turcotte is a much "safer" choice but i think less likely to disappoint
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I think it was Ferraro, may have been Emerson in a podcast, that referred to Turcotte and Bjornfot's "b games," the idea that you always know what you're getting from them, and that in MOST of your NHL games, you're going to offer your "B" game because it's rare at the highest level to just have those "A" nights where the puck follows you around. When they're not on their A game, their B game is still going to benefit, rather than hurt, you, and Bjornfot is one of the most consistent D out there.
 
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Said this before as an American I want our American boys to tear it up against everyone else. As a Die Hard Kings fan I want every player on that American team that's not our boys to bust. Just being honest. :DD
 
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SFKingshomer said:
Call me crazy and biased but I prefer Lundell , Turcotte, and Cozens game to Zegras.
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I don’t know man, respect your opinion but you do seem to have a bit of a bias against his type of player, remember you being down on Kane too.

Just hard to teach that type of offensive skill. He has some faults but when the puck is on his stick in the offensive zone he is pretty magical.

I think he does have a lower floor than those guys but his ceiling is pretty darn high. If they all reach full potential he is probably the only superstar from group.
 
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Zegras may look like a winger, but man, he looks like a f***ing all-star winger. He is electric out there. You guys can hate if you want but he looks like the real deal. And honestly, I wouldn't mind liking some of the Ducks players. Perry, Kesler, Bieksa, talk about some unlikeable guys. Not that we were much better to them, I'm sure, with Brown and Doughty.

At least no one can hate Kopitar.
 
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Herby said:
I don’t know man, respect your opinion but you do seem to have a bit of a bias against his type of player, remember you being down on Kane too.

Just hard to teach that type of offensive skill. He has some faults but when the puck is on his stick in the offensive zone he is pretty magical.

I think he does have a lower floor than those guys but his ceiling is pretty darn high. If they all reach full potential he is probably the only superstar from group.
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Ive mentioned Zegras since before the draft after watching video of him. He makes plays out of nothing and has unreal potential. Just simply stating that Turcottes play goes unheralded because he wasn’t flashy but did all the little things to free up pucks for Zegras. They are great line mates. To me it’s a Marc Savard to Bergeron sort of comparison.
 
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I think it boils down to they're just 'different.' I think Patrick Kane as a style comparable is fine but he's arguably the best US player in history so I'm not quite ready to crown Zegras that yet.

He looks the part of the electrifying point-compiling winger that's for sure. But he still has some growth as well--people are willing to overlook that he was frustrated by checking and completely unwilling to get his hands dirty. That's something he's going to have to deal with at the NHL level. It will take him a few years to deal with, say, Anze Kopitar in his face.

That's not at all to say the other players like Lundell and Turcotte don't have anything to learn. Their offensive ceilings are definitely a question. But like I mentioned in another thread, their "B" game--what's going on when they aren't scoring--is top-notch. Turcotte is everything we appreciate about Lizotte PLUS being pissed off with a better scoring touch. I don't think it's easy to pick between the two (Turcotte and Zegras) because we're talking entirely different players that complemented each other so, so well.
 
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bouncesonly said:
McGuire: Cannot see the US beating Canada
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To be fair, he went a few radio shows the next morning and said he had been wrong - and gave full kudos to the US. In fact, when other hosts tried making excuses for Canada, he jumped in with: give credit where credit is due - the US pounded Canada down low & made them play defense for the first time, and they couldn't handle it.
 
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SFKingshomer said:
Ive mentioned Zegras since before the draft after watching video of him. He makes plays out of nothing and has unreal potential. Just simply stating that Turcottes play goes unheralded because he wasn’t flashy but did all the little things to free up pucks for Zegras. They are great line mates. To me it’s a Marc Savard to Bergeron sort of comparison.
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Cozens-Zegras-Turcotte = Carter-Giroux-Richards

All effective, but completely different types of players.
 
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