WJC: 2020 Team USA Roster Talk

[NUhockey]

Posted this in the CZE/USA game thread but this has the playing time summary from the first three games:

 

[ASPIFC]

 

[AmericanDream]

good start 1-0 good guys!! Pinto has been really strong

 

[SanDogBrewin]

Don’t bury your chances and you can find yourself down. Too much over passing on the powerplays. Good thing Knight has been on.

 

[ASPIFC]

I haven't seen a more frustrating period for a while. Two or three posts. Lots of chances and one goal. Crowd was done and then one shot and 1-1. Second penalty was a joke and 2-1. Not great.

 

[Alberta Yote]

Best player in the tournament not even on PP1. That kind of depth certainly makes the US team favourites for gold.

 

[ASPIFC]

I don't like our PP. Then Zegras is getting maybe 30s after first PP unit are wasting most of the PP.

 

[TopC0rner]

I don't like our PP. Then Zegras is getting maybe 30s after first PP unit are wasting most of the PP.

Zegras has been on the first PP in about 50% of the powerplays against Russia. This game, it's been less but players from his PP unit were on the ice when at least 2 penalties happened, and you start a PP with fresh legs.

 

[bsu]

Too many of our "point producers" not producing points, looking at Caufield and Turcotte.

 

[Jaykay]

Too many of our "point producers" not producing points, looking at Caufield and Turcotte.

Happy now?

 

[bsu]

Too many of our "point producers" not producing points, looking at Caufield and Turcotte.

It worked!

 

[Sojourn]

It worked!

Now he needs to do it in 5 on 5 hockey, because he isn't going to have that much room in regulation.

 

[Joe Zanussi]

Mission accomplished. Top 2 in group.

 

[ASPIFC]

So now Czechs need to beat Canada for us. Not happy how we played after first period. First period was more or less good but way too many missed chances. PP was horrible. 1/7 is not going to be good enough when elimination round starts. Both PP units need to do much better. Disallowed goal was 50/50 situation and honestly this victory feels bit undeserved.

No disrespect but Czechs without their number one goalie and two best forwards should not challenge us like that. Lets hope Finland beat Switzerland so least QF opponent should be good for us. Competition is harder tho. I don't remember that there has ever been preliminary round without easy games.

 

[DanM]

Happy now?

Happy for the kid, but it is 1 goal during 3 on 3

He still needs to contribute a hell of a lot more, but it is a start.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Too many of our "point producers" not producing points, looking at Caufield and Turcotte.

To be fair, outside of the states powerplay a lot of American forwards aren't doing much and even some who get prime pp minutes aren't doing a whole lot.

 

[Chazz Reinhold]

Pretty funny that Beecher and Drury got an OT shift before Turcotte and Caufield. Tells you all you need to know about this clown coach. It fortunately worked out today, but that’s borderline malpractice in 3 on 3 OT.

 

[William H Bonney]

Awful performance. Got the early goal they needed and were dominating the Czechs, had the crowd out of it, but didn't capitalize further, and Czechs got a goal and then the wheels fell off. In the grand scheme of things they still locked up 2nd but now they only take 1st if Canada loses against the Czechs. Not that I expect that to happen (Czechs got a huge point, which is why they were celebrating like they won when it went to OT, so I wouldn't be surprised if they have a huge letdown tomorrow), but at least put yourself in the best position to succeed by getting all 3 points.

This team overpasses. A ton. Do they all realize they're not all Zegras? Shoot the puck. Yeah, they had some bad luck with multiple posts, etc. but you'll make a lot more luck by shooting the puck. They passed up at least 8-12 prime scoring chances this game, a lot of which were in the first 10+ minutes when they could/should have blown this thing wide open.

Special teams were awful. 2 more PP goals against. They won't medal if they don't fix the PK. They're too lackadaisical. Can we apply more pressure? It's been too easy for the opposition triangle up high to maneuver the puck unimpeded.

The PP was dreadful and the coaches need to do a better job managing the PP units. Too often the same unit, usually the 1st, is out there for 90+ seconds (as evidenced by how much longer the average shift of guys like Wahlstrom, Robertson, Jones, etc. are), and the last 30 seconds of their 90+ shift is them tired but selfishly staying on and then the remaining 30 seconds of the PP is gone while we retrieve and try to set back up with the 2nd unit. Our point men also need to take more shots on the PP. I get that we have Wahlstrom/Kaliyev/Caufield, but they're becoming too predictable. Also, I feel for York as he barely gets any shifts and then gets dropped into PP duty with dead legs having not touched the ice or the puck for long period. Not really setting him up to be able to successfully QB that unit.

Caufield and Turcotte had the nice goal to end it, but they were useless for the 60 minutes outside of that shift besides the post Caufield hit early. I'm fine leaving them together, but they need to have a strong game for a change and get Beecher off that line.

Zegras again was our best forward by a wide margin. Two ridiculous passes on his assists and probably the only guy on the team that can make Drury look offensive. Kaliyev was good too. Most of the other forwards were average at best.

Emberson and Jones were good again. The rest of the defense not so much. Miller put his dunce cap back on and Samuelsson looked like a 44 year old Hal Gill out there.

Knight wasn't bad but he needs to be better. He's not really giving up any bad goals, but he's capable of playing much better and making bigger saves than he is. 2 of his 3 games have been below his standard thus far.

Can we please ride our top players (which will change game by game) more? Zegras shouldn't be playing 15 minutes when he's playing like this. It's asinine.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

That was a really bad performance, and we're lucky to have won.

To me, a lot of the problems in this game were the defense. Miller was abysmal. Harris constantly made bad decisions. Too many penalties from Samuelsson. Jones was a non-factor. Stastney sucks. York doesn't play. The only one who didn't standout in a bad way was Emberson. I also thought Knight once again is playing down to these other goalies. He's not been terrible in any of the three games, but this game and the Canada game I thought he should've been better. You expect a first round pick goalie to be better.

I think we need to see some line changes, once again. We saw some individual performances in some shifts, but these lines don't seem to work well together. The Pinto line plays 20 minutes a game, and while they always seem to get a goal on the PP or at ES, they are rather underwhelming from shift to shift. They are all good players, but I don't find that the line needs to remain together. I don't see the point of Brink on the 4th line. He's too weak to have any impact when his line doesn't have the puck, and you aren't going to have much of that with Ford/Pivonka/Hall. Beecher adds nothing to the line with Turcotte and Caufield. If you are going to refuse to play Zegras at center, what I would do is add Zegras to the line with Turcotte and Caufield. Make that a line. I like Pinto with Robertson, and I'd add Kaliyev to that line. That can be another top six line. The third line can be Wahlstrom with Brink and Drury. Beecher can go to the 4th line.

Zegras-Turcotte-Caufield
Robertson-Pinto-Kaliyev
Brink-Drury-Wahlstrom
Beecher-Pivonka-Hall
Ford

Samuelsson-Emberson
Miller-Jones
York-Harris
Stastney

 

[Steve Zissou]

Too many of our "point producers" not producing points, looking at Caufield and Turcotte.

Looks like you have this on copy and paste now. Get over yourself.

 

[OKOptimistic]

How many more spinning passes does Zegras have to make to keep us alive this tournament

 

[bsu]

Awful performance. Got the early goal they needed and were dominating the Czechs, had the crowd out of it, but didn't capitalize further, and Czechs got a goal and then the wheels fell off. In the grand scheme of things they still locked up 2nd but now they only take 1st if Canada loses against the Czechs. Not that I expect that to happen (Czechs got a huge point, which is why they were celebrating like they won when it went to OT, so I wouldn't be surprised if they have a huge letdown tomorrow), but at least put yourself in the best position to succeed by getting all 3 points.

This team overpasses. A ton. Do they all realize they're not all Zegras? Shoot the puck. Yeah, they had some bad luck with multiple posts, etc. but you'll make a lot more luck by shooting the puck. They passed up at least 8-12 prime scoring chances this game, a lot of which were in the first 10+ minutes when they could/should have blown this thing wide open.

Special teams were awful. 2 more PP goals against. They won't medal if they don't fix the PK. They're too lackadaisical. Can we apply more pressure? It's been too easy for the opposition triangle up high to maneuver the puck unimpeded.

The PP was dreadful and the coaches need to do a better job managing the PP units. Too often the same unit, usually the 1st, is out there for 90+ seconds (as evidenced by how much longer the average shift of guys like Wahlstrom, Robertson, Jones, etc. are), and the last 30 seconds of their 90+ shift is them tired but selfishly staying on and then the remaining 30 seconds of the PP is gone while we retrieve and try to set back up with the 2nd unit. Our point men also need to take more shots on the PP. I get that we have Wahlstrom/Kaliyev/Caufield, but they're becoming too predictable. Also, I feel for York as he barely gets any shifts and then gets dropped into PP duty with dead legs having not touched the ice or the puck for long period. Not really setting him up to be able to successfully QB that unit.

Caufield and Turcotte had the nice goal to end it, but they were useless for the 60 minutes outside of that shift besides the post Caufield hit early. I'm fine leaving them together, but they need to have a strong game for a change and get Beecher off that line.

Zegras again was our best forward by a wide margin. Two ridiculous passes on his assists and probably the only guy on the team that can make Drury look offensive. Kaliyev was good too. Most of the other forwards were average at best.

Emberson and Jones were good again. The rest of the defense not so much. Miller put his dunce cap back on and Samuelsson looked like a 44 year old Hal Gill out there.

Knight wasn't bad but he needs to be better. He's not really giving up any bad goals, but he's capable of playing much better and making bigger saves than he is. 2 of his 3 games have been below his standard thus far.

Can we please ride our top players (which will change game by game) more? Zegras shouldn't be playing 15 minutes when he's playing like this. It's asinine.

Really enjoy your posts.

Thanks

 

[TopC0rner]

Can we please ride our top players (which will change game by game) more? Zegras shouldn't be playing 15 minutes when he's playing like this. It's asinine.

I know he made huge plays in the game, but Zegras wasn't better than the rest of Team USA in the third (including a full 2 mins PP shift) and OT.

Also, I think Czech were lucky to get this game to OT. USA hit many posts, missed empty nets, etc.

I have to agree with you that the PK needs to do a better job. They give up way too many goals.

 

[bsu]

Why does Zegras play the middle of the ice on the PP? Makes no sense to me.

 

[William H Bonney]

I know he made huge plays in the game, but Zegras wasn't better than the rest of Team USA in the third (including a full 2 mins PP shift) and OT.

Also, I think Czech were lucky to get this game to OT. USA hit many posts, missed empty nets, etc.

I have to agree with you that the PK needs to do a better job. They give up way too many goals.

There's more to the game than just the 3rd/OT though. None of the OT shifts were good until the Caufield goal and the 3rd period was a slog in general. Over the course of the game, Zegras outpaced his forward counterparts.