WJC: 2021 Team USA Roster Talk - Part 2

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[KaseMeOutside]

The coaches cant be afraid to shake up the lines we cant depend on 1 line+Farinacci to win this game. USA has to play a near perfect game imo

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Beniers played 9:18 of the 3rd. I’m sorry, but that’s insane. Beniers is turning into some sort of cult figure. He’s a good prospect, but he needs to be better against Canada and earn his minutes. We have to play to win. He needs to help get Caufield going.

 

[SK94]

There was so many same mistakes against Finns like usaully against them but this time they were able to fought it through. Our D-mens were horrible at their own zone again. They get stuck there so easily and gives puck away way too many times per game. Finland got good moments way too many times today because of this. Same problem has been there for whole tournament and Canada is going to smoke us if they can't fix it for gold medal game. There was also way too many stupid penalties today.

I think Turcotte was a really good today and Kaliyev has also been better than people want to admit in last couple of games.

I also think that we have to run pretty much with three lines against Canada. Fourth line has not been good enough and i think Brisson is the only one who has been misused. I think in a right role he could have been scorer.

Top three players choices was a joke. Knight has been okay and York has not even been our best defender...

What a surprise that Canada played in a first quarterfinal...

 

[SanDogBrewin]

If the US passing and breakout stays the same as the semifinals Canada is going eat them up. Happy for the win against Finland. Still think the US can play better and they have too. Canada are burning on all cylinders.

 

[JiricekSaveUs]

Knights is going to need to step it up a bit if we’re to beat Canada

 

[De Montreal]

Farinacci is making a name for himself in this tournament, reminds me a bit of Shane Pinto last year. How do you evaluate his play? Do you think he has a future in the NHL? What's his ceiling? 40 pts guy?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Farinacci is making a name for himself in this tournament, reminds me a bit of Shane Pinto last year. How do you evaluate his play? Do you think he has a future in the NHL? What's his ceiling? 40 pts guy?

Bottom 6 center. More likely third line than fourth line.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

One thing going in our favor is that we haven't gotten Caufield going yet and Knight has been far from his best. It's no guarantee either of those two show up, but statistically speaking, they are due to have big games.

Caufield could be able to do what Kaliyev did, a big goal in a big spot that most other players on the ice can't score. And the elite goal-scorers can score them in bunches, so it wouldn't be shocking if Caufield had 2-3 goals in this game. Knight only played well against Sweden in the important games. Weak against Russia, not his best against Slovakia, and not his best against Finland. This guy is way too good to play mediocre/average hockey at the frequency that he has. He's due for a big performance where he shuts out the other team.

 

[bland]

Beniers played 9:18 of the 3rd. I’m sorry, but that’s insane. Beniers is turning into some sort of cult figure. He’s a good prospect, but he needs to be better against Canada and earn his minutes. We have to play to win. He needs to help get Caufield going.

I get it though, the US was on the back foot and that Beniers line was the only constant source of forechecking and pressure. Momentum was clearly tilting at Knight. Kaliyev had a big scoring night, but aside from the odd shift neither he or Zegras were working all that hard off of the puck in the middle 45 or 50 minutes of the game.

The US won an uphill battle in the 3rd period.

 

[Ed Ned and Leddy]

Beniers played 9:18 of the 3rd. I’m sorry, but that’s insane. Beniers is turning into some sort of cult figure. He’s a good prospect, but he needs to be better against Canada and earn his minutes. We have to play to win. He needs to help get Caufield going.

For sure. I think part of the issue is Leaman's reluctance to shuffle lines. I think he just trusts the Beniers and Boldy line more defensively than his other lines.

I think if we've got a lead and we're trying to grind it out defensively, we should ride Turcotte. I don't think Leaman trusted that line to do the heavy lifting in the third because neither winger offers Boldy's defensive contributions, but to me, that's why you shuffle lines to better utilize Turcotte if you're trying to hold onto a lead.

Beniers has been really good on faceoffs for Michigan this year, which is likely where the priority on draws stems from. But yeah he was getting shredded on the dot last night, and Canada will punish us for that. Gotta adjust.

The Canada game is obviously a different challenge, I don't expect us to spend the third period trying to grind it out maintaining a two goal lead. I'd have swapped Caufield and Kaliyev ages ago, but it feels like that ship has sailed at this point.

 

[Ed Ned and Leddy]

I won't pretend I love every roster decision we've made up to this point, but now you basically ride or die with the lines we've got and hope for the best. Obviously Canada is loaded, but I think we absolutely have the difference makers to get a win tonight.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I won't pretend I love every roster decision we've made up to this point, but now you basically ride or die with the lines we've got and hope for the best. Obviously Canada is loaded, but I think we absolutely have the difference makers to get a win tonight.

At the end of the day we're playing for Gold. As Bonney says that should be our minimum expectation every tournament.

 

[Ed Ned and Leddy]

At the end of the day we're playing for Gold. As Bonney says that should be our minimum expectation every tournament.

For sure. Tough to complain too much when we're at least silver medaling.

 

[SK94]

Third gold medal game in last five years. Fourth for Canada. 2 gold medals for both sounds a lot better than 1 and 3.

US leads 3-1 in finals. Canada won in 1997. US won in 2004, 2010 and 2017. Lets keep the streak going.

 

[William H Bonney]

We should start with a 1-0 lead to make up for the 2018 Hlinka robbery where the Cozens 'goal' was allowed after the game was over to send it to OT.

 

[cleveland408]

We should start with a 1-0 lead to make up for the 2018 Hlinka robbery where the Cozens 'goal' was allowed after the game was over to send it to OT.

You called Kaliyev an aircraft carrier last thread. I'd say he's a slow moving battleship with a cannon

 

[ORRFForever]

Question...

I know Finland is a Top 5 country and the Czechs are not, but why are the Czechs unable to ice a competitive team against the U.S. (no matter how well the Czechs play against other teams, they melt when they play the U.S.) while Finland ALWAYS pushes the U.S. to the brink?

 

[William H Bonney]

Question...

I know Finland is a Top 5 country and the Czechs are not, but why are the Czechs unable to ice a competitive team against the U.S. (no matter how well the Czechs play against other teams, they melt when they play the U.S.) while Finland ALWAYS pushes the U.S. to the brink?

Style of play and coaching.

 

[SK94]

Style of play and coaching.

Exactly. Finland's style of play is like kryptonite for US.

 

[ORRFForever]

Style of play and coaching.

Then the Czechs need to change their style against you (if possible) instead of being embarrassed game after game after game.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

For sure. I think part of the issue is Leaman's reluctance to shuffle lines. I think he just trusts the Beniers and Boldy line more defensively than his other lines.

I think if we've got a lead and we're trying to grind it out defensively, we should ride Turcotte. I don't think Leaman trusted that line to do the heavy lifting in the third because neither winger offers Boldy's defensive contributions, but to me, that's why you shuffle lines to better utilize Turcotte if you're trying to hold onto a lead.

Beniers has been really good on faceoffs for Michigan this year, which is likely where the priority on draws stems from. But yeah he was getting shredded on the dot last night, and Canada will punish us for that. Gotta adjust.

The Canada game is obviously a different challenge, I don't expect us to spend the third period trying to grind it out maintaining a two goal lead. I'd have swapped Caufield and Kaliyev ages ago, but it feels like that ship has sailed at this point.

Exactly. It’s a shuffling lines thing. He doesn’t want lines to be disrupted. I think it’s very rigid coaching. He only has five natural centers, and I’m not sure Zegras has taken a shift at center all tournament.

Leaman wants to use the first line after each penalty, so in his mind he can’t use Turcotte on the PK. What it’s doing is it creates a situation where he only has 5 PK’ers (Beniers, Boldy, Farinacci, Slaggert, Moynihan).

It’s rigid because game situations dictate the need for more flexibility. Those guys will take penalties and they’ll get injured. It even got so bad at one point that Brink was on the PK.

A less rigid coach would allow Zegras to play center the first shift after penalties on a line with Caufield and Kaliyev. That allows much more flexibility on the PK. You could play Farinacci/Beniers as your first PK pair and Turcotte/Boldy as the other. That would leave Slaggert/Moynihan as the third duo, and if needed due to situational game management to have a center on each pair, you can shift that first duo around.

It’s too rigid and his personnel decisions have created a situation where we cannot afford such rigid coaching for the PK. The personnel doesn’t exist to have success with it. Beniers does not win FO’s at a particularly high rate, Slaggert/Moynihan are really not all too good to be playing that type of big role, and then Brink obviously cannot PK. His coaching in that third period was ridiculous. He needs to be less rigid in his in-game decisions.

 

[William H Bonney]

Hopefully, the fact that the team should feel like underdogs will get them to show up ready to play hard and fast from the start, which they haven't done in the last 2 games.

Some general things I'll be looking for:

• There's been too much overpassing and individualistic offensive play in the last 2 games. The coaches should demand a shot at every chance to start the game and urge the team to crash the net. Levi's has had it fairly easy and he's playing well, so they need to make him uncomfortable early.
• The forwards need to provide better support to the defensemen on the breakout. The team has relied too much on 50+ foot breakout passes and it's leading to a lot of the turnovers on the breakout.
• Knight needs to have his best game. He's been very average this tournament and he's given up some incredibly weak goals. They need him to be one of the best goalies in his age group, which he normally is, so it's time for him to show it.
• Depth scoring. I'm sure Canada is going to hound Zegras in particular. The 2nd line needs to provide some scoring depth. Caufield needs to simplify his game, stop overhandling the puck, and start hitting the net with his shot.
• Shortened bench. Ride the players that show up to play. Guys like Slaggert should barely be touching the ice if they don't show drastic improvement, whereas someone like Farinacci has earned a lot more ice time.

Let's go Team USA!

 

[William H Bonney]

Pretty strong period overall. I guess at this point we shouldn't be surprised when the team shows up for Canada. These are by far the two most talented teams in the tournament.

They were sloppy with some unforced turnovers in those first 6-8 minutes, but after that, they've carried more of the play.

Knight looks very dialed in thus far, which is huge.

Boldy looks excellent again.

Finally seeing some situational line switching from the staff (i.e. putting Farinacci out there for that late offensive zone shift in place of Kaliyev).

The PK almost shot themselves in the foot with 3 failed clears when each should have been an easy out. You can't give Canada's PP that much undeserved zone time.

 

[SanDogBrewin]

Best period in the dot all tournament for the US. Stay out of the box pk looking shaky with some blown coverage down low.