WJC: 2021 Canada Roster Talk Part 2

[Mickey Marner]

Does anyone else think Kirby Dach has a chance at having the greatest performance in tournament history ?

He's 6'4", well over 200lbs, one full year of NHL experience and at times he looked like the best player on his team with the Blackhawks in the playoffs.

I think '05 Bergeron is a more realistic target.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I would think Levi is the starter going into the tournament. If I recall correctly, there was an agreement between HC and his NCAA team where HC would not select him unless he was going to play. This would’ve been back in late November. Any one else remember hearing this?

It was if he wasn't going to make the team they wouldn't keep him until the last cuts. They aren't guaranteeing a goalie playing team well in advance of a wide-open goalie competition. That'd be stupid to do.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Russia will be really strong this year as well and has the best goaltender.

Id say Knight is pretty clearly the best goaltender. Askarov is a year younger though and a very interesting prospect himself.

 

[Statsy]

Does anyone else think Kirby Dach has a chance at having the greatest performance in tournament history ?

He's 6'4", well over 200lbs, one full year of NHL experience and at times he looked like the best player on his team with the Blackhawks in the playoffs.

Here’s a funny anecdote related by Buck Martinez once during a Blue Jays game:

A player (don’t recall who) went into a contract renegotiation with the Chicago Cubs and pushed for a bonus clause if he could best the single season club RBI mark. The GM said “Okay, I think we can put that in for you.”
The player exited the meeting quite proud of his slick negotiating skills. Then he looked up the club record for RBI’s only to find that the club record was also the major league record.... Hack Wilson’s otherworldly total of 191 set back in 1930! Slick negotiating, indeed.

The moral of the story is that before you talk about breaking a record, you should probably start with looking up that actual record.

 

[Statsy]

I don't imagine so, as only Naslund was even in the vicinity of Forsberg for the tournament points-wise. I do believe that it was televised though. It's also not like Forsberg only beat up on Japan of course. He's far from Kuznetsov in 2012 that way.

It was not televised. They were only covering Canada’s games back then. People like to say Forsberg only had good numbers because he went off against Japan, not actually having run the numbers and realizing that if you take that game out he still had 21 points in 6 games, including 4 against Canada in what to me stands out as the single most dominant game I’ve witnessed by any player against my own team.

 

[Raistlin]

Here’s a funny anecdote related by Buck Martinez once during a Blue Jays game:

A player (don’t recall who) went into a contract renegotiation with the Chicago Cubs and pushed for a bonus clause if he could best the single season club RBI mark. The GM said “Okay, I think we can put that in for you.”
The player exited the meeting quite proud of his slick negotiating skills. Then he looked up the club record for RBI’s only to find that the club record was also the major league record.... Hack Wilson’s otherworldly total of 191 set back in 1930! Slick negotiating, indeed.

The moral of the story is that before you talk about breaking a record, you should probably start with looking up that actual record.

How apt. Coming from a poster called statsy.

 

[My3Sons]

Yeah, Dach has no realistic chance of matching Forsberg (or Bure) but there's no shame in that. You almost never see 19 year olds that good actually play in this tournament, and in Forsberg's case he had an ideal situation with elite linemates with strong chemistry heading into the tournament plus some patsies to beat up on.



Those are interesting. Surprising to see Mercer in that spot. The continued pairing of Drysdale and Byram is still confusing. Plenty will change as things progress though.

I wonder if something is going on with Mercer. Maybe he's a bit banged up? He appeared to play well initially in the streamed scrimmage but finished the tryouts with only one assist and hasn't gotten any press to speak of. He may also just be playing meh and this is the coach's way of getting him to raise his level of play, although Mercer doesn't seem like that sort of player who needs the kick in the pants.

 

[EXTRAS]

Team Canada players don't get the ridiculous totals some guys get because they usually have many good players to split up all the ice time opportunities.

Going after the most points by a Canadian (schenn/mccourt with 18p) would be a more realistic goal, than going after the 8 guys Ahead of them. Although I don't see it happening, as imo there have been many better players who have fallen short.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Byfield was the youngest player on the team last year and I think he is again this year lol

 

[JPeeper]

Does anyone else think Kirby Dach has a chance at having the greatest performance in tournament history ?

He's 6'4", well over 200lbs, one full year of NHL experience and at times he looked like the best player on his team with the Blackhawks in the playoffs.

I can say with 100% confidence that Dach will not score 31+ points this tournament.

Foppa averaged 4.4 points a game through 7 games.

The next closest in Naslund with 7 fewer points at 24.

 

[ORRFForever]

I can say with 100% confidence that Dach will not score 31+ points this tournament.

It would be a lot cooler if he did.

 

[snipes]

This team also has a pretty wide net in terms of where the players come from. 8 provinces (all but Manitoba and New Brunswick, four from Atlantic Canada total) plus the Yukon. Not bad. I'd guess that they've never had players from 9 provinces/territories, and it happened pretty naturally.

10 players from Western Canada is nice.

 

[ORRFForever]

It was not televised. They were only covering Canada’s games back then.

It's amazing how far the tournament has come. We have TSN to thank for that.

 

[snipes]

It's amazing how far the tournament has come. We have TSN to thank for that.

It’s an absolute ratings giant now. My favourite hockey to watch, so many insane things happen at the U20 level, the momentum swings are so exciting and stressful.

 

[ORRFForever]

It’s an absolute ratings giant now. My favourite hockey to watch, so many insane things happen at the U20 level, the momentum swings are so exciting and stressful.

IIRC, it crushes the NHL during the holidays. Again, amazing.

 

[Ducati Boy]

Biggest issue will be rust. Most other teams and players have had some competition this year.

This could be a bigger factor that many suppose.

 

[Statsy]

Biggest issue will be rust. Most other teams and players have had some competition this year.

This could be a bigger factor that many suppose.

Don’t forget, they still get exhibition games and a soft prelim schedule to warm up. If they haven’t got it going by the QF then that’s another issue, but it looks to me like there’s plenty of runway here.

The good news is we’re well rested!

 

[Ratsreign]

Looking forward to watching Devon Levi play a game, if not more. He seems like a steal for FL as a 7th round pick.
Underestimate Devon Levi at Your Own Peril | The Hockey News on Sports Illustrated

 

[JackSlater]

It was not televised. They were only covering Canada’s games back then. People like to say Forsberg only had good numbers because he went off against Japan, not actually having run the numbers and realizing that if you take that game out he still had 21 points in 6 games, including 4 against Canada in what to me stands out as the single most dominant game I’ve witnessed by any player against my own team.

I could swear that I've seen highlights from that game, though it may be a case where something is so well known that you invent a memory of it. There are Swedish television highlights from the 1993 tournament available on the internet but I'm not going to check for the Japan game at the moment.

 

[Prominence Problem]

I could swear that I've seen highlights from that game, though it may be a case where something is so well known that you invent a memory of it. There are Swedish television highlights from the 1993 tournament available on the internet but I'm not going to check for the Japan game at the moment.

 

[Prominence Problem]

10 players from Western Canada is nice.

I hope someone brings back wearing a cowboy hat in the medal line up.

 

[Erikfromfin]

Button says Canada will win gold undefeated.... but little comfort for other nations Button is wrong with his predictions pretty much every year so..

 

[JackSlater]

I'm pretty sure that that's Sweden vs the Czech Slovak team, Russia, and Canada only. TSN still shows the Canada Sweden game and there are Swedish highlights out there of Sweden vs the Czech team. I never noticed before that Naslund was apparently the captain of that team, which feels odd.

 

[Statsy]

Yep. For those that caught my comment a few pages earlier about how dominant Forsberg was in that game against Canada, here’s the video evidence. There were enough Forsberg highlights in that one game to fill a months worth of games (the video starts with some other games from the tourney and then goes into the CAN/SWE game eventually).

 

[Statsy]

I'm pretty sure that that's Sweden vs the Czech Slovak team, Russia, and Canada only. TSN still shows the Canada Sweden game and there are Swedish highlights out there of Sweden vs the Czech team. I never noticed before that Naslund was apparently the captain of that team, which feels odd.

I’m guessing you probably didn’t mean that as a slight, but take it from a Vancouverite, Naslund was a freakin’ awesome captain. Pretty sure he had some leadership abilities in his junior days as well.