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WJC: 2020 Team USA Roster Talk

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US is the most talented team in the tourney.

Zegras is a beast. What a steal by Anaheim. I expected more from Turcotte. Wahlstrom is so damn overrated.
 
Liked the line changes. Wahlstrom needs to be careful with that AHL type late flying elbow. Defense much tighter today so far. US might catch Russia leaning in their sticks in the 3rd.
 
Am I the only one whose been thinking we have been playing drunk all tournament, we are losing the puck in the simplest of plays
 
Least PK has been better toady. Otherwise it has not been too positive. We need more from our offense. Last PP was horrible but otherwise it is clear that second PP unit should be first.
 
So far the game has been back and forth..not a clean game by us, but we have carried the play for much of it. The defense has been strong, worker bee like group like I said..minimizing the mistakes.

Turcotte and Caufield have to find it soon, team needs them to start scoring. Kaliyev is awesome, so damn glad he is here.
 
Turcotte and caufield have been brutal what's up with that
 
For once you have to give credit for Sandelin. Our defensive game took massive step today. PK was much better. Offense needs to be better tho. Specially Caufield, Turcotte and Wahlstrom. Knight was really good and i love fighting spirit from everyone.

Hopefully they are ready for tomorrow because it was hard game and Czechs are coming hard.
 
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ASPIFC said:
For once you have to give credit for Sandelin. Our defensive game took massive step today. PK was much better. Offense needs to be better tho. Specially Caufield, Turcotte and Wahlstrom. Knight was really good and i love fighting spirit from everyone.

Hopefully they are ready for tomorrow because it was hard game and Czechs are coming hard.
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He mixed things up which is all you can really ask from a coach. Overall defensive effort was better though and Knight was dialed in. Good win.
 
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AmericanDream said:
So far the game has been back and forth..not a clean game by us, but we have carried the play for much of it. The defense has been strong, worker bee like group like I said..minimizing the mistakes.

Turcotte and Caufield have to find it soon, team needs them to start scoring. Kaliyev is awesome, so damn glad he is here.
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Yeah, Kaliyev has such a great shot, and really knows how to find the soft spots in a defence. He’s a pure goal scorer, can’t believe he slid to the 2nd round. It WAS a deep draft though, on team USA alone all of Kaliyev, Pinto, Brink and Robertson look like they should have been 1st rounders.
 
ponder said:
Yeah, Kaliyev has such a great shot, and really knows how to find the soft spots in a defence. He’s a pure goal scorer, can’t believe he slid to the 2nd round. It WAS a deep draft though, on team USA alone all of Kaliyev, Pinto, Brink and Robertson look like they should have been 1st rounders.
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Kaliyev slid to The Kings because most scouts thought his speaking abilities and demeanor were huge turnoffs - it's as simple as that.

If you watched the Kings Draft video they wanted to take him with their 2nd 1st rounder but weighed the odds that he might slide to them at beginning of the 2nd round rather than Bjornfot. Huge gamble, but payed off.

 
People are going to complain about not scoring more but Russia is a really good team. I'd easily have preferred what we saw - improved PK and defensive effort - than scoring more goals. Not every game is going to be an offensive explosion no matter how much skill you have.

Russia doesn't have a PP goal yet, but the PK looked a lot better, which was much needed. More pressure, held their structure better, blocking shots, etc. Hopefully they can build on that.

The defensemen as a whole were very good. Loved how they were getting in shooting lanes and blocking shots. Team doesn't have a dominant #1 like we've seen in prior gold medal squads (McAvoy, Trouba, Carlson, etc.) but it's a deep group and all 7 guys can play and play well, which is a luxury because if certain guys are struggling, you have the option to just bump up the next guy.

Miller was great. Smooth transitions, controlled breakouts, used his reach to disrupt the play a lot, no bad turnovers. He's been getting better each game.

Emberson was a beast again and Jones was good too. Really liked that pair.

Stastney has been great at blocking shots, but he can't keep taking so many penalties. 4 minors in 3 games is too much. Harris needs to move the puck faster on the breakout as he's getting caught being slow on it.

Zegras just creates offense. His hands and vision are as good as anyone in the tournament. Should have been getting top ice time since the start, but hopefully he's in a prime role to stay for now.

The "grinders" - Hall, Pivonka, Ford, Drury - were good today, especially in the 3rd. First time those guys have really established their game.

Turcotte and Caufield have been disappointments thus far. Caufield in particular is pressing too much. He's over thinking it out there, which is leading to a lot of incorrect decisions. He should follow Kaliyey's lead and just start putting the puck on net. Need these guys to be better. Wouldn't be surprised to see them show up late like Bellows in 2017 or Grimaldi in 2013 to make a huge difference.

Knight didn't have to be great, but he played very well. Tracked the puck a lot better than he did against Canada, especially with his glove.

Romanov was a standout for Russia. Really impressive player.
 
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We can't finish 1st in the group unless Canada falters in their last 2 games (Germany, Czech Republic) by not securing all 6 points. Right now, we control our own destiny for 2nd place. Beat the Czechs and we finish 2nd at worst, which is important as we'd almost assuredly avoid Sweden/Finland in the QFs unless one of those two gets upset. Not impossible, but Group A may have the 3 weakest teams in it, so I wouldn't count on it.

We need to come out fast and score early tomorrow against the Czechs to get them rattled. Not only are they on home ice, but their backs are against the wall. Unless Russia were to lose in regulation to Germany, the Czechs need at least 1 point in their final two games (USA, Canada) to possibly avoid the relegation round since Germany has the tie breaker over them. Important to take the crowd out of it early and deflate the team.
 
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William H Bonney said:
We can't finish 1st in the group unless Canada falters in their last 2 games (Germany, Czech Republic) by not securing all 6 points. Right now, we control our own destiny for 2nd place. Beat the Czechs and we finish 2nd at worst, which is important as we'd almost assuredly avoid Sweden/Finland in the QFs unless one of those two gets upset. Not impossible, but Group A may have the 3 weakest teams in it, so I wouldn't count on it.
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They do, I have never seen groups this skewed.
 
ecemleafs said:
what is the tiebreaker scenario if the usa beats the czechs?
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Assuming that win is in regulation and Canada beats Germany and the Czechs in regulation as well, Canada takes first because they'd have the head-to-head over the USA.

If Canada doesn't take all 6 points in their final 2 games, the USA just needs to beat the Czechs in regulation to take 1st.
 
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I think we played better today, but I still think this team is going to have trouble winning with players like Drury and Beecher elevated in the lineup. I also think the coach is overplaying the Pinto line. They've scored some points, but I don't think their shift to shift play has been that good. I suspect their PDO would say as much, if someone calculated it.

I did like Turcotte's play a lot better today. Kaliyev played well. Zegras continued putting up points. If we can get these guys some more ice time, and get Caufield going a little more, we can definitely win this tournament, but I still don't like the lines and deployment.

Knight was also a lot better today. That helps a lot. The defense was pretty good. I'd elevate Emberson to the pair with Samuelsson, pair Jones with Miller, play York more and on a pairing with Harris. Stastney's the clear 7th best D, in my opinion, and I think Harris play has slipped the last few games.
 
We need to make sure we win tomorrow. If we finish in the top two, we get Switzerland or Slovakia, which is close to a walkover QF matchup. Otherwise, we’ll play Finland or Sweden.
 
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