WJC: 2021 Canada Roster Talk Part 3

[Peiskos]

Just a flat out choke job. No two ways about it.

But once the dust settles at the end of the day and we look upon everything it’s been the 4th final appearance in 5 years for Canada with 15’, 18’, 20’ gold and 17’, 21’ silver to show for it. Pretty damn decent haul.

Could be much worse, we could be the Russians with no gold since 2011 or Swedes since 2012.

 

[Get North]

I think Canada was able to overwhelm Finland with their pressure and forechecking.. Same with Russia because they don't have quite the depth that USA has. But, USA is able to match the depth while having elite forwards on their team. We can now say that McMichael, Krebs, and Newhook are not on the level of Zegras, Caufield or Turcotte.

We had Lafreniere and Hayton to carry the load last year but the kids this year are not on that type of skill level. They brought basically 13 skilled forwards instead of any muckers or speed guys like Formenton/Foudy. That's not a winning formula to building Canadian teams at the international level.

The comparisons to Sochi look real bad. But, juniors should never be compared to men.

 

[golffuul]

Tough game to watch as no one seemed all that interested in playing a hard-nosed game. No traffic in front of the net and there was a lot of behind-the-back passes and perimeter play. Feel bad for Levi who played his heart out all tournament long.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

There’s no excuse for the way they got outplayed for a large chunk of the game. Just got dummied by the US and skated with no urgency. By the time they found their legs again it was too late, US battened down the hatches and that’s all she wrote. Don’t know how they could go into the first intermission and come out with the same piss poor effort in the second. What the hell was said in the room during then? They couldn’t regroup beforehand?

Whatever. Same old same old. Keep losing to the US every gold medal game then. Why stop the streak now?

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Alright, my unimportant unprofessional player-by-player evaluations since I just feel like it:

G Devon Levi: A+

Was outstanding throughout, Canada's most consistent player.

D Bowen Byram: A-
D Jamie Drysdale: A
D Thomas Harley: B+
D Braeden Schneider: B
D Kaiden Guhle: B+
D Justin Barron: B

Overall, everyone on the defensive end was a plus for Canada, even the ones people liked to rag on. This was a top tier unit top to bottom, they did their jobs in every game this tourney.

C/W Dylan Cozens: A (would have been A+ with a better performance in Gold Medal game)
C Alex Newhook: B+
C Quinton Byfield: C+
C Ryan Suzuki: B-
C Connor Zary: C+

F Jakob Pelletier: B+
F Peyton Krebs: B-
F: Jack Quinn: C-
F Dylan Holloway: C+
F Cole Perfetti: C+
F Connor McMichael: B
F Philip Tomasino: B-
F Dawson Mercer: A-

Cozens showed me two things: he's a good pick by the Sabres, and he's a complimentary NHLer at heart. He's really good and could be a good linemate for Eichel down the line. Outside of him, Newhook's tenacity impressed me, he seems like a great 2nd liner to be. Pelletier was pretty good and looks like a tweener, don't see tremendous upside but he'll be a player teams will love to have as part of their depth; same applies to Mercer plus a little more, did an excellent job on the penalty kill and provided good offensive pressure.

My one consistent takeaway from the forwards: outside of Mercer, the other 2020 draftees weren't really impactful. Perfetti provided a little offense but looked behind the play due to his skating, while his size did him no favors. He thinks ahead but needs to improve his stride a little to make his skill set come together. Holloway made some decent plays here or there, will probably be a better player next year for Team Canada. Byfield...........he was okay against Russia, was solid in the six point performance, but the other four games were complete throwaways. Almost a year ago, I said my best impression of Byfield was the very first, I thought I was seeing the next big thing; I've been waiting for that feeling since.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

I love Cozens and think he’s going to be a great pro, but damn did he pick a bad game to have a stinker.

 

[SympathyForTheDevils]

It was a fine result for a fine team. I think people are mostly disappointed because of the ridiculous overhype for this particular edition of TC. Partly because of the weak division, and partly because of that dumb tidbit about the number of 1st round picks. Newsflash: literally every Team Canada could be made up purely of 1st round picks, outside of goal. The reason they're not is because lower-profile prospects usually develop and leapfrog some of these 1st round picks, something they've had little opportunity to do this year.

This was a good team, but a bit lacking in term of high-end offense. I like Cozens, but if he's your best forward by a large margin, at this level, it's probably not one of the greatest WJC team of all-time. This a tourney for 19 year-olds, and the 01s never seemed like that strong a group for Canada (especially with Laf absent). That said, even if it is a tourney for 19 YOs, there was a disappointing lack of offensive flair from the 2020 draftees, especially Byfield and Perfetti.

 

[Jeti]

Weird that people are still complaining about Byfield and Perfetti when they were two of Canada's better forwards tonight. They generated way more chances than the top line.

There's a decent chance both are on the team next year and will be dominant.

 

[DropTheGloves]

Weird that people are still complaining about Byfield and Perfetti when they were two of Canada's better forwards tonight. They generated way more chances than the top line.

There's a decent chance both are on the team next year and will be dominant.

I think they should get the shortest of rope, Byfield especially given that’s two stinker tournaments now. If he can’t get up for a winner take all game against the United States, what will it take?

 

[Mikeshane]

Calling this team the best ever is laughable, which admittedly most people doubted. But calling it some super deep team wasn't accurate either which a lot more people said it was.

Good:
--------
Cozens
McMichael

Solid
-------
Holloway
Krebs
Pelletier
Tomasino
Mercer
Newhook

Weak
-------
Perfetti
Byfield
Zary
Suzuki
Quinn

Pretty much an average team Canada up front, maybe one more skill guy than usual. But most of the skill guys didn't do much.

If you take away the Swiss and German joke games I think Canada had 10 goals with goalies in the net in 5 games. Weak offence.

 

[GOALOFSSON]

Quinn - I’m glad my team didn’t draft him, I don’t know what the coaches see in him

I'm glad your team didn't draft him too

 

[Gold Standard]

Disappointing result...but can't win every year. you win some you lose some.

Thanks to all the kids who participated so that our Christmas resembled something of a normal Christmas.

See you next year in Edmonton/Red Deer one more time.

Looking forward to watching a lot of these players progress and move up the Hockey Canada depth chart.

 

[Boud]

Team had a good tournament overall but it's true that this year pretty much all teams aside from USA and Canada were below average.

The Fins had a poor tournament even though they finished third, the Russians fell flat and Askarov was putrid, Sweden unheard of in this tournament. Germans had a fun team but a lot of injuries and not enough depth overall.

USA was the only legitimate test that Canada faced during this tournament and they really fell flat. It felt like I was watching the Leafs play against the Blue Jackets. Canada had more talent but they didn't play as a team for portions of the night, a lot of guys trying to do too much on their own. USA really played a synched game and everyone was on the same page and that's why they won. They sticked to their gameplan and stiffled Canada's offense, limited second chances and their D was so good at keeping guys on the outside. That's how you win games.

I was particularly impressed with Byram in the last few games. I really liked how he stepped up in the play and tried to make things happen all game. Drysdale was very good as well.

Out of the forwards Pelletier was impressive, hard worker and really made every shift count. I like what I saw from Cozens, Tomasino and was pleasantly surprised by Holloway. Mercer should've been used more as others have pointed out.

Byfield was the biggest dissapointment though. He was invisible for pretty much the entire tourney other than that massacre against the Swiss team. For a guy coming in his 2nd year I was expecting him to take more of a role on that team but he didn't. He looked lackadaisical at times and you could see that players could keep up with him and he wasn't able to beat guys with his speed only. Didn't use his size enough to create lanes in front of the net, wasn't bringing enough offense in high danger areas.

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

For as much as people love to crap on Byfield around here, maybe he shouldn't have been getting the lowest ice time every game:
(this is just for the medal rounds, so the 6 point game isn't included here)

 

[nbwingsfan]

Byfield with ANOTHER poor international showing...

 

[Back in Black]

Well, Team Canada looked good in the 1st 7 minutes......

 

[Wishywashy20]

Short tournament, but what a disappointing tournament for Byfield

I have been on his ass for two years now even saying he should be the 13th forward but he actually played his best game in the final.
Everyone including myself need to tame down expectations due to guys like over zealous Craig Button persistence and the fact he was drafted too high.
He has serious limitations in his game and because of his size the expectation is that he should steamroll opposition.
He needs big minutes to be at his best but the problem is he can’t produce so his effective role is better served by others in a limited TOI.

 

[Lambo]

Team had a good tournament overall but it's true that this year pretty much all teams aside from USA and Canada were below average.

The Fins had a poor tournament even though they finished third, the Russians fell flat and Askarov was putrid, Sweden unheard of in this tournament. Germans had a fun team but a lot of injuries and not enough depth overall.

USA was the only legitimate test that Canada faced during this tournament and they really fell flat. It felt like I was watching the Leafs play against the Blue Jackets. Canada had more talent but they didn't play as a team for portions of the night, a lot of guys trying to do too much on their own. USA really played a synched game and everyone was on the same page and that's why they won. They sticked to their gameplan and stiffled Canada's offense, limited second chances and their D was so good at keeping guys on the outside. That's how you win games.

I was particularly impressed with Byram in the last few games. I really liked how he stepped up in the play and tried to make things happen all game. Drysdale was very good as well.

Out of the forwards Pelletier was impressive, hard worker and really made every shift count. I like what I saw from Cozens, Tomasino and was pleasantly surprised by Holloway. Mercer should've been used more as others have pointed out.

Byfield was the biggest dissapointment though. He was invisible for pretty much the entire tourney other than that massacre against the Swiss team. For a guy coming in his 2nd year I was expecting him to take more of a role on that team but he didn't. He looked lackadaisical at times and you could see that players could keep up with him and he wasn't able to beat guys with his speed only. Didn't use his size enough to create lanes in front of the net, wasn't bringing enough offense in high danger areas.

The Finns have a poor tournament? The last 3 Games were very good by the finns.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

For as much as people love to crap on Byfield around here, maybe he shouldn't have been getting the lowest ice time every game:
(this is just for the medal rounds, so the 6 point game isn't included here)

I just can't get behind this metric. Either you produce or you don't. "Expected" results don't mean much to me.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

posted this in the wrong thread lol

To all my Team Canada Brothers and Sisters... it was a fun ride .. and it was a good time.
Be proud of the boys.
Have a great hockey season.

 

[Anichels]

Here’s what I noticed, especially in the final game.

Cozens - You’re a co-captain, and completely no showed in the biggest game of the tournament. Gotta do more than put up points on inferior opponents.

Byram - this dude has all of the talent in the world. I do question his decision making, he needs to simplify a bit.

Perfetti - I’ve never seen someone so effectively kill a powerplay in my life. Not impressed.

McMichael - Couldn’t get anything going all tournament, disappointing.

Quinn - I’m glad my team didn’t draft him, I don’t know what the coaches see in him

Byfield - Stepped up in one game against a bad team. Deserves every bit if criticism.

Drysdale - Had a rough game but was solid all tournament.

Schneider and Guhle I thought were both solid as well although maybe not much offensively in their games.

Levi played well, this game was not his fault. Everyone else was fine to meh. Just super disappointed.

Agreed, typically Canada has a bonafide "shutdown" pair that matches up against the top lines - I thought the lack of adversity this tournament probably led to Canada rolling 3 defense pairs, rather than line-matching.

In my opinion, Schneider/Guhle/Byram were our shutdown defensemen, and both goals were scored during an extended forecheck - and the defensive unit didn't look like they knew how to stop it. Kudos to the Americans for realizing this, and taking advantage of a Canadian team that didn't get properly tested.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

For as much as people love to crap on Byfield around here, maybe he shouldn't have been getting the lowest ice time every game:
(this is just for the medal rounds, so the 6 point game isn't included here)

I never understood this type of stat. Who's doing the expecting? How is it calculated what someone is "expected" to produce? Also expected stats don't translate into actual stats. It's a complete hypothetical statistic.

 

[canuck2010]

In general terms I'm not sure I like the style of Canadian hockey over the last so many U20s. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe hockey has changed so quickly however I miss the physical part of the game that we used to play. I miss power hockey, taking the puck to the net etc. Too much fancy passing, too many toe drags and being cute.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

I never understood this type of stat. Who's doing the expecting? How is it calculated what someone is "expected" to produce? Also expected stats don't translate into actual stats. It's a complete hypothetical statistic.

It's based on the quality of chances you are creating via pass or where you shoot from. In a short tournament where tons of luck is involved it gives you a better idea if they are creating scoring chances. It is very useful.

 

[robsenz]

Was about to be the most overrated junior team yet, none of the guys were gamebreakers like we've seen in past years. Our hockey program is full of entitled teens hanging on to past tournament performances. Get some kids with heart next year please.