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WJC: 2020 Team USA Roster Talk

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I'm thinking the team looks something like this

Farabee-Turcotte-Caufield
Boldy-Zegras-Wahlstrom
McLaughlin-Drury-Kaliyev
Beecher-Pivonka-Janicke
Brink

If Wise is healthy, he can play 3C, Drury drops down a line, and Pivonka is off the team. I might pick Nic Robertson for that last forward spot over Brink, but NCAA guys usually make it over CHL guys. It's probably a year too early for Farinacci and Mastrosimone.

Samuelsson-Wilde
Miller-Emberson
York-Jones
Johnson

It's probably a year too early for Struble and Lacombe, and their lack of high level competition thus far doesn't help. It'll likely also be a year too early for Helleson. Demin, Harris and Regula all could be in contention for those last two spots with Jones and Johnson, but I think Regula doesn't make it because NCAA players will get preference, and I don't think Demin and Harris are good enough to keep Jones and Johnson out of spots, despite the year advantage in college hockey, but I think those last two spots could go to any combination of those players.

Knight
Wolf
Saville

DeRidder could make it over one of the last two, but I don't think he should.
 
Struble change of plans as he's going to head to Northeastern for the upcoming season instead of the BCHL.



Certainly helps his chances here. He would have had to have an excellent WJSS camp, dominant the BCHL, and then have another excellent WJC camp to make the team. It would have been pretty shocking for a guy that's only played low level hockey to make the team without doing so. Yes, he would have been taking a step up as the BCHL is better than prep hockey but it's still the 4th weakest league he could have realistically played in this season.
 
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William H Bonney said:
Struble change of plans as he's going to head to Northeastern for the upcoming season instead of the BCHL.



Certainly helps his chances here. He would have had to have an excellent WJSS camp, dominant the BCHL, and then have another excellent WJC camp to make the team. It would have been pretty shocking for a guy that's only played low level hockey to make the team without doing so. Yes, he would have been taking a step up as the BCHL is better than prep hockey but it's still the 4th weakest league he could have realistically played in this season.
Click to expand...

this is music to my ears!!!! great job kid!
 
So do we think Farabee has a shot at the NHL this year, or a year in the AHL? I feel like he wouldn't have left college to play in the AHL
 
JiggsNY said:
So do we think Farabee has a shot at the NHL this year, or a year in the AHL? I feel like he wouldn't have left college to play in the AHL
Click to expand...

Everything said publicly by the team & through back channels seem to be pointing to Farabee playing in the NHL at some point this year.

Him, Frost, & Rubtsov are getting pretty talked up as guys who are right there on the bubble. The latter two are obviously older & don’t have contract slides to potentially be had by the team unlike Farabee. I don’t think the Flyers will care about burning an ELC year off for Farabee but they could be conscious of sliding a service year.

The Flyers as of now have an open spot in their top nine heading into camp/preseason which could be up for grabs. They’d have to find a bargain essentially to fill it externally once Provorov, Konecny, & Laughton’s extension’s take up a big chunk of their remaining cap space. But I’d figure Frost was the odds on favorite as of to take that spot & Farabee starts out in the AHL.

I think from a Team USA perspective it’s ultimately a wait & see where you’re just hoping that the timing aligns up in your favor. Fletcher’s been a lot more active with shuffling his roster in season than Hextall was. It essentially took injuries to force call-up’s for Hextall while Fletcher is more performance on both ends & injuries.
 
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No surprising cuts. All the replacement players gone (Warren, McCarthy, Koumontzis), the guys that should have never been there in the first place (Loheit, Vlasic, DeRidder), and the guys for which it's just a year too early (Lindmark, LaCombe, etc.)

None of these guys sent home were real contenders at this point. They have 4 months to change that.

I'm only really surprised to see Krygier survive the cuts.
 
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The goalies are locked in. Now it’s a matter of who backs up Knight between Saville and Wolf.

I also think the defense is easy to pick. Samuelsson and Miller are locks. Wilde, York and Emberson are virtual locks. I think the last two spots come down to Jones, Johnson and Harris, but I think it’s not that close of a race. I think Jones and Johnson are on the team, barring a big change in form.

Forwards is much harder to pick. There’s 18 in camp, but I’ll say 12 make it because I think Wise will be there once he shows that he’s fit enough to play. That means six cuts. Ford, Gruden and Hall are easy cuts. I think Pinto and Robertson will also be cut due to the forward depth. That leaves one more cut. I’m going to say Pivonka for now because we probably have enough grinders. If Wise isn’t fit, we need another center and one who can play PK and win face offs. But if the coach wants an extra grinder, I can see Brink being cut.

Farabee-Turcotte-Caufield
Boldy-Zegras-Wahlstrom
McLaughlin-Wise-Kaliyev
Beecher-Drury-Janicke
Brink

Samuelsson-Emberson
Miller-Wilde
York-Jones
Johnson

Knight
Wolf
Saville
 
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Pavel Buchnevich said:
The goalies are locked in. Now it’s a matter of who backs up Knight between Saville and Wolf.

I also think the defense is easy to pick. Samuelsson and Miller are locks. Wilde, York and Emberson are virtual locks. I think the last two spots come down to Jones, Johnson and Harris, but I think it’s not that close of a race. I think Jones and Johnson are on the team, barring a big change in form.

Forwards is much harder to pick. There’s 18 in camp, but I’ll say 12 make it because I think Wise will be there once he shows that he’s fit enough to play. That means six cuts. Ford, Gruden and Hall are easy cuts. I think Pinto and Robertson will also be cut due to the forward depth. That leaves one more cut. I’m going to say Pivonka for now because we probably have enough grinders. If Wise isn’t fit, we need another center and one who can play PK and win face offs. But if the coach wants an extra grinder, I can see Brink being cut.

Farabee-Turcotte-Caufield
Boldy-Zegras-Wahlstrom
McLaughlin-Wise-Kaliyev
Beecher-Drury-Janicke
Brink

Samuelsson-Emberson
Miller-Wilde
York-Jones
Johnson

Knight
Wolf
Saville
Click to expand...
9 first round picks (if my count is right) in the forward group alone is absolutely bonkers. Even without Hughes this group is insane, hopefully we don’t waste the opportunity.
 
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Based just on the guys playing in the Summer Series

Farabee-Turcotte-Wahlstrom
Boldy-Zegras-Caufield
Robertson-Beecher-Kaliyev
McLaughlin-Pinto-Brink
Gruden/Drury

Miller-Wilde
York-Emberson
Samuelsson-Stastney
Johnson
 
Has Stastney been better somewhere else because I came away from today’s game particularly unimpressed.
 
Chainshot said:
Has Stastney been better somewhere else because I came away from today’s game particularly unimpressed.
Click to expand...

He was a good player on the U18s but he wasn't impressive at Notre Dame when I saw him this past year and he's looked mostly in over his head in the action I've seen at the WJSS. Admittedly limited viewings though for me at Notre Dame and the WJSS. He's a really good skater, but his problem is he's not really great at anything. He's got some offensive skill but it doesn't really translate often and he's adequate at best defensively. He's basically an average sized puck mover that skates really well.

Stastney and Krygier are the two guys that stick out as not really belonging, but at least with Krygier you can see a path for him that's right up his alley - he's there to audition for the physical, shutdown defenseman role, a role he's always played. I think that's a narrow path for him but USAH likes taking guys like that and they've usually done well with those guys in the past, so it wouldn't surprise me.

What's the path for Stastney? The only one I can see for him is playing on his offside, which seems to be the option the staff is considering too as he's played on the right each game. But he doesn't play the right side for Notre Dame and he hasn't shined doing so here either, so he's not doing well trying out for a role he doesn't play normally like Krygier.

I get the sense the staff is seeing if Stastney can do well on his offside because they know he's not a top option on the left. Miller and Samuelsson are locks there and York basically is as well. And right now, Johnson, Jones, and Harris are all much better players than Stastney. Johnson is far better defensively and more physical. Jones far better offensively and brings more grit. And Harris is more well rounded and has shown better offensive ability at this level. Not to mention that Johnson and Harris have both lined up on the right here as well, so it's not like Stastney's the only guy getting a chance to prove he can handle that role.

That doesn't mean say only 3-4 LHD can make it. There's only 3 true RHD options right now (Wilde, Emberson, Regula), Regula is missing camp due to injury, no one should be surprised if those 3 don't all make it (I'd put Emberson basically as a lock though), it's a year too early for the other RHD options barring huge starts to the year (Helleson, etc.), and USAH is comfortable taking a heavy LHD core (they've had 5 LHD, 2 RHD each of the last two tournaments). But if they're going to take a 5th LHD, the only way I can see it's Stastney is if the staff just thinks he's the LHD that can best play on the right. Because if they're going to take the best 5 LHD, Stastney's not even in the top 6 options at camp, and that's without considering the possibility that they're targeting a #6/7 role for a shutdown guy like Krygier.
 
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I've often had the argument on HF that the results of these games don't matter. It's not the point and the teams aren't optimizing for results. Each team is here to evaluate players, identify roles, implement systems, build chemistry, and so on far more than they are to win summer hockey exhibition games.

Many agree, others often haven't. So I decided to put data to it and reviewed the last 6 summer showcases, updated the standings to remove split squad games (so as to not inflate points for Team USA as they play more games / some years the split squads play each other), and mapped the WJSS standing to WJC finishes.

Unsurprisingly, doing well at the WJSS has little predictive value when it comes to the WJC 5 months later. In the chart, the WJSS rank is based on the corresponding WJSS tournament for each WJC (so 2014 WJC = 2013 WJSS). For example, Canada finished first at the 2013 WJSS and then finished 4th at the 2014 WJC. Or conversely, at the 2016 WJSS, Finland finished first, beating everyone, but at the 2017 WJC, Finland was in the relegation round while the teams they beat at the WJSS won gold (USA), silver (Canada), and lost the bronze (Sweden).

[TABLE="class: brtb_item_table"][TBODY][TR][TD="align: center"]
WJSS Rank​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
'14 WJC​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
'15 WJC​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
'16 WJC​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
'17 WJC​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
'18 WJC​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
'19 WJC​
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD="align: center"]
1​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
4th​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
5th​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
4th​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
9th​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
3rd​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
6th​
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD="align: center"]
2​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
5th​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
7th​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
3rd​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
1st​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
1st​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
2nd​
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD="align: center"]
3​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
2nd​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
4th​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
1st​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
4th​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
2nd​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
5th​
[/TD][/TR]
[TR][TD="align: center"]
4​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
1st​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
No 4th team​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
No 4th team​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
2nd​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
6th​
[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]
1st​
[/TD][/TR][/TBODY][/TABLE]
The sample size is too small to say this in anything but jest, but hell, you'd rather finish 4th in the standings at the WJSS than anything else as 75% of the time you end up in the gold medal game.

A good reminder that it doesn't matter who wins these games. At all.
 
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It's going to be hard to choose this team. A lot of depth - both in top end talent but also quality grinders as well. Some big names will be left at home. Interested to see if my opinion changes over the final 2 exhibitions, but if I had to pick the team right now based only on those players in camp, I'd go with this, which is a balance of my preferences and what I think USAH may do:

Forwards (x13):

Nick Robertson - Alex Turcotte - Oliver Wahlstrom
Joel Farabee - Trevor Zegras - Cole Caufield
Matthew Boldy - Jack Drury - Arthur Kaliyev
John Beecher - Jacob Pivonka - Trevor Janicke
Blake McLaughlin

Defense (x7):

K'Andre Miller - Ty Emberson
Mattias Samuelsson - Bode Wilde
Cam York - Ryan Johnson
Zac Jones

Goalies (x3):

Spencer Knight
Dustin Wolf
Isaiah Saville
​
Notes:
  • Cuts:
    • Forward: Bobby Brink, Parker Ford, Jon Gruden, Curtis Hall, Shane Pinto
    • Defense: Jordan Harris, Christian Krygier, Spencer Stastny
  • Like most years, there will likely be a couple players that are in real contention that aren't here right now, whether it's guys missing due to injury (i.e. Regula, Struble, Mastrosimone), guys sent home early, or guys not picked at all.
  • I don't think they need more than 3 "grinders" on the team but USAH loves these types, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them take 4, so I have Drury, Pivonka, Janicke, and McLaughlin here. Those are quality guys for that type of role though.
  • With Wahlstrom and Caufield as locks at RW, I struggle to see them also taking both Brink and Kaliyev. Brink's more well rounded at this stage but Kaliyev excels more at what he does best and he's played better in camp, so I'd give him the edge for now. Plus, the favoritism in play that had Brink added to the U18 WJC team and not Kaliyev was largely driven by Coach Wroblewski and won't be as much of a factor here. In a world where they're possibly leaving one of these guys home, if it's in favor of taking a 4th grinder, I hope they reconsider.
  • Outside of Brink, I think you can make arguments for Ford or Pinto but I think they need to show a bit more to start their NCAA seasons to get in contention over more experienced players like McLaughlin, Janicke, Pivonka. I don't see where Hall or Gruden fit in right now.
  • I don't see a worthwhile scenario where Stastney or Krygier are under consideration. Stastney's just a poor man's version of too many other guys here and while Krygier has done better than I ever expected, this isn't really a team that needs a pure shutdown defenseman. Samuelsson can play that role and most of the other guys in contention are fairly well rounded that's it not worth say leaving Jones's skating and offensive ability or Johnson's skating, defensive game, and breakout ability home for a guy like Krygier. Plus they're already loaded at LHD. It'd be different if Krygier was competing for a shutdown role as a RHD in a year when they're light on RHD options, like how Phil Kemp made it last year. Harris is a strong contender in my opinion and would be a deserving choice as well, I just like Johnson and Jones more.
  • In terms of the guys that have done the most to boost their stock, I'd probably choose Robertson, Beecher, Johnson, and Jones.
    • Robertson has looked like he did at the Hlinka last summer and his puck pursuit and offensive ability would be great assets here.
    • While it's likely that Beecher wouldn't produce like this at the WJC, you can't discount that he has produced while playing center and wing here, and with his size and skating, that gives the staff confidence that they could place him in a variety of roles and he'd bring something to the table regardless.
    • Johnson has just been his typical self - still unrefined when it comes to racking up points but his skating and breakout ability are on display and he's still very good defensively. He's also done so while playing on the right side, where there's plenty of opportunity to make the team.
    • Similar to Johnson, Jones has showcased what he's best at - fantastic skating with a flair for offense. He's done a really good job getting his shot on net. He's a guy that you can envision playing 10-12 minutes a game with possible PP duty and the ability to handle increased minutes.
  • In terms of guys that I think can do more in the last 2 games to boost their stock, I'd probably choose Wilde.
    • He hasn't been bad (he's been a bit careless with the puck but that will always be part of his game and it's been nothing like his previous lows) but I don't think he's necessarily locked up a spot either.
    • I wonder if the staff will start to look beyond Wilde if they don't envision him on the PP at all, where there's a lot of good options with Miller, York, Jones, Wilde, etc.
    • He should have a leg up for a roster spot though as a RHD, as right now there's only really 3 RHD in real contention (Emberson, Wilde, Regula) and it would be foolish to only take one RHD (i.e. Emberson).
    • But I'd like to see him dominate in the last 2 games, if he plays in both, because while he had a good year last season after a down U18 year, I think he's got more work to do to dig himself out of the hole he was in with USAH and help finalize a roster spot.
 
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William H Bonney said:
It's going to be hard to choose this team. A lot of depth - both in top end talent but also quality grinders as well. Some big names will be left at home. Interested to see if my opinion changes over the final 2 exhibitions, but if I had to pick the team right now based only on those players in camp, I'd go with this, which is a balance of my preferences and what I think USAH may do:

Forwards (x13):

Nick Robertson - Alex Turcotte - Oliver Wahlstrom
Joel Farabee - Trevor Zegras - Cole Caufield
Matthew Boldy - Jack Drury - Arthur Kaliyev
John Beecher - Jacob Pivonka - Trevor Janicke
Blake McLaughlin

Defense (x7):

K'Andre Miller - Ty Emberson
Mattias Samuelsson - Bode Wilde
Cam York - Ryan Johnson
Zac Jones

Goalies (x3):

Spencer Knight
Dustin Wolf
Isaiah Saville
​
Notes:
  • Cuts:
    • Forward: Bobby Brink, Parker Ford, Jon Gruden, Curtis Hall, Shane Pinto
    • Defense: Jordan Harris, Christian Krygier, Spencer Stastny
  • Like most years, there will likely be a couple players that are in real contention that aren't here right now, whether it's guys missing due to injury (i.e. Regula, Struble, Mastrosimone), guys sent home early, or guys not picked at all.
  • I don't think they need more than 3 "grinders" on the team but USAH loves these types, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them take 4, so I have Drury, Pivonka, Janicke, and McLaughlin here. Those are quality guys for that type of role though.
  • With Wahlstrom and Caufield as locks at RW, I struggle to see them also taking both Brink and Kaliyev. Brink's more well rounded at this stage but Kaliyev excels more at what he does best and he's played better in camp, so I'd give him the edge for now. Plus, the favoritism in play that had Brink added to the U18 WJC team and not Kaliyev was largely driven by Coach Wroblewski and won't be as much of a factor here. In a world where they're possibly leaving one of these guys home, if it's in favor of taking a 4th grinder, I hope they reconsider.
  • Outside of Brink, I think you can make arguments for Ford or Pinto but I think they need to show a bit more to start their NCAA seasons to get in contention over more experienced players like McLaughlin, Janicke, Pivonka. I don't see where Hall or Gruden fit in right now.
  • I don't see a worthwhile scenario where Stastney or Krygier are under consideration. Stastney's just a poor man's version of too many other guys here and while Krygier has done better than I ever expected, this isn't really a team that needs a pure shutdown defenseman. Samuelsson can play that role and most of the other guys in contention are fairly well rounded that's it not worth say leaving Jones's skating and offensive ability or Johnson's skating, defensive game, and breakout ability home for a guy like Krygier. Plus they're already loaded at LHD. It'd be different if Krygier was competing for a shutdown role as a RHD in a year when they're light on RHD options, like how Phil Kemp made it last year. Harris is a strong contender in my opinion and would be a deserving choice as well, I just like Johnson and Jones more.
  • In terms of the guys that have done the most to boost their stock, I'd probably choose Robertson, Beecher, Johnson, and Jones.
    • Robertson has looked like he did at the Hlinka last summer and his puck pursuit and offensive ability would be great assets here.
    • While it's likely that Beecher wouldn't produce like this at the WJC, you can't discount that he has produced while playing center and wing here, and with his size and skating, that gives the staff confidence that they could place him in a variety of roles and he'd bring something to the table regardless.
    • Johnson has just been his typical self - still unrefined when it comes to racking up points but his skating and breakout ability are on display and he's still very good defensively. He's also done so while playing on the right side, where there's plenty of opportunity to make the team.
    • Similar to Johnson, Jones has showcased what he's best at - fantastic skating with a flair for offense. He's done a really good job getting his shot on net. He's a guy that you can envision playing 10-12 minutes a game with possible PP duty and the ability to handle increased minutes.
  • In terms of guys that I think can do more in the last 2 games to boost their stock, I'd probably choose Wilde.
    • He hasn't been bad (he's been a bit careless with the puck but that will always be part of his game and it's been nothing like his previous lows) but I don't think he's necessarily locked up a spot either.
    • I wonder if the staff will start to look beyond Wilde if they don't envision him on the PP at all, where there's a lot of good options with Miller, York, Jones, Wilde, etc.
    • He should have a leg up for a roster spot though as a RHD, as right now there's only really 3 RHD in real contention (Emberson, Wilde, Regula) and it would be foolish to only take one RHD (i.e. Emberson).
    • But I'd like to see him dominate in the last 2 games, if he plays in both, because while he had a good year last season after a down U18 year, I think he's got more work to do to dig himself out of the hole he was in with USAH and help finalize a roster spot.
Click to expand...
what he said....
 
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I think USAH would like to not pick Wilde if they had better options because it doesn't seem like he's a big favorite of theirs, but I think he's a little too good to not be picked in his 19 year old year. I forgot about Regula. He's definitely another option. I think he might be picked over Harris because I think he's a clear better of an option and there's probably an argument for him over Jones and Johnson, but if its close, you have to think that USAH is taking the college hockey players. Johnson also has the advantage that he'll be back next year. Regula's role on the team is a little redundant with Emberson on the team.

I just can't see Brink and Robertson both making it, especially if Kaliyev is going to make it. If you are penciling in Wahlstrom, Farabee, Boldy and Caufield for spots, which I think most would, can you justify that the last three non-grinder winger spots go to offense-only 18 year olds? Outside of Wahlstrom and Farabee, there aren't many options for the top nine forward spots, which is why I think they end up taking a few of them, whether its Wise, McLaughlin, maybe Drury plays in the top 9 instead of the fourth line. I also would not be shocked if Gruden is picked, although I don't think he belongs anywhere near the roster. He's a big favorite at USAH. Appert played him in the top six with the U18's over better players. Appert was a teammate of Gruden's father at Ferris State.
 
ForrestHabsGump said:
I feel like cutting Harris is not the real thing to do.

He showed more than Johnson and Jones in my opinion and had amazing flashes.
Different type of players, but Offensively and Defensively Harris is more well rounded
Click to expand...

we'll see what kind of season he has to start as I assume he's going to be the #1 on Northeastern so that should hopefully mean a regular spot on the PP where he needs to show he can put up some legit offense. For now I think he's on the bubble so he's going to need to outplay someone to make it even if it's as the 7th D. His PK and defensive abilities while being able to play both sides effectively along with his great skating/mobility are solid assets but I think he needs to do more offensively to make the team.
 
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