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WJC: 2021 Team USA Roster Talk - Part 2

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William H Bonney said:
Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have this year's returnee group, but I think you're being a little unfair. Berard was a great 3rd liner this year and he should be even better in that role next year. Sanderson was pretty good this year, and excellent tonight, and he'll be a dominant player next year if he's back. Faber struggled in the semis, but he was good overall. Kleven sat, but he's more than capable of being a good 3rd line d-man next year.

We'll have a very good defense and goalie next year. But we won't be able to win like this tournament where we have a superstar forward to ride, but that's okay. Who knows how it'll go since a lot can change in a year, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them put together a team like the 2010 WJC team stylistically.
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All I was saying is most of the top line talent will be gone. And turnover at this tourney happens a lot, but let's be honest from a Gold medal winner this might be the worst group overall returning I can remember. Only good thing is knowing Bordeleau is going to be here which is huge...and this 02 group is MUCH stronger than 01...maybe Stranges steps up and takes a top spot same as Similanic..Peterson as well...but we don't have a ton of 01 help here.
 
AmericanDream said:
All I was saying is most of the top line talent will be gone. And turnover at this tourney happens a lot, but let's be honest from a Gold medal winner this might be the worst group overall returning I can remember. Only good thing is knowing Bordeleau is going to be here which is huge...and this 02 group is MUCH stronger than 01...maybe Stranges steps up and takes a top spot same as Similanic..Peterson as well...but we don't have a ton of 01 help here.
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At least we won't have the added pressure of being on home soil next year.
 
AmericanDream said:
All I was saying is most of the top line talent will be gone. And turnover at this tourney happens a lot, but let's be honest from a Gold medal winner this might be the worst group overall returning I can remember. Only good thing is knowing Bordeleau is going to be here which is huge...and this 02 group is MUCH stronger than 01...maybe Stranges steps up and takes a top spot same as Similanic..Peterson as well...but we don't have a ton of 01 help here.
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The 2002 age group isn't as start-studded, but I think we will go in with a more defensive style of team. Good defensemen, good goaltending, and enough big scorers. Players like Bordeleau, Samoskevich, Beniers, Coronato really could be enough.

I know the Canadians declared themselves the favorites at the start of this tournament and demanded that all the pressure would be applied on them, but I thought our 2001 players had internal pressure. These guys have had so much success over the years, but they hadn't won these major tournaments. This was it. Their last chance, so they must've felt a lot of internal pressure. And they got the job done.

Our 2002 age group will almost be playing with house money. Some of these guys will have already won a WJC championship, and the 2002 age group is a really hard working age group. They were a lot better in their U18 year than U17 year, and that was due to hard work, not natural talent.
 
There are two important next steps USAH needs to take in my mind:
  • Perform more consistently at senior tournaments, including the World Championships
  • Lose top players from their WJC roster each year and still compete for gold
We still have a long way to go, but it's pretty cool for the 2nd time in 4 years we won gold while missing significant amounts of talent.

The 2017 team won gold without Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, Zach Werenski, Noah Hanifin, Brock Boeser, and Christian Fischer. They also cut Alex DeBrincat.

The 2021 team won gold without Jack Hughes, Nick Robertson, John Beecher, Thomas Bordeleau, Robert Mastrosimone, Alex Vlasic, and Drew Commesso. I'm not a fan of Vlasic at all, and Commesso wouldn't have played, but those guys would have all been on the team if available.

USAH needs to make it commonplace for us to be missing multiple top players each year and to still play for gold. That's what Canada does and that's where we need to get, too. It'll take a long time to make that happen on a regular, but I hope we can. For now, doing it twice in 4 years is a good start.
 
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Pavel Buchnevich said:
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.
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Speaking of Beniers... he and Boldy worked so well together it was crazy... too bad they had to lug Caufield's tail through the tournament... Caufield just didn't carry his weight on that line at all.
 
Lets hope that this was last time without fans.

Four shutouts from seven games. Not bad! It was good to see that our top guys kept their level and even raised their game when most important games started. That is not always been the case. Third line was a huge for us in this tournament and they was able to bring that important secondary scoring. Specially Farinacci was a unsung hero of the team.

I feel that Turcotte and Kaliyev both stepped up in semi-final and final which was a huge factor for this outcome. Knight also played his best game when it was needed.

Our defenders still struggled couple times at the own zone when they needed to clear the puck but overall it was much better.
 
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This team with Hughes, Robertson, Beecher, and Bordeleau would have been nuts. Without the benefit of hindsight:

Boldy - Hughes - Caufield
Robertson - Turcotte - Zegras
Beniers - Beecher - Brink
Kaliyev - Bordeleau - Brisson

Then one of Berard, Colangelo, Farinacci, Moynihan as extra.

That top 6 would have been outrageous. Have to imagine Caufield scores 5+ goals with Hughes, even with his struggles. And that second line would be that much better with Robertson's speed.

Yeah Canada would also benefit from Lafreniere and Dach, but I think adding Hughes and Robertson alone would have been more impactful considering the depth of Canada. Lafreniere and Dach would be displacing guys like Mercer or Tomasino, who were 13th forwards at times before the tournament. Hughes and Robertson would have displaced guys like Slaggert and Moynihan, which is a much bigger skill gap.
 
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When you think you're funny but use the same joke over and over and it's not even a good one
 
WhiskeyYourTheDevils said:
This team with Hughes, Robertson, Beecher, and Bordeleau would have been nuts. Without the benefit of hindsight:

Boldy - Hughes - Caufield
Robertson - Turcotte - Zegras
Beniers - Beecher - Brink
Kaliyev - Bordeleau - Brisson

Then one of Berard, Colangelo, Farinacci, Moynihan as extra.

That top 6 would have been outrageous. Have to imagine Caufield scores 5+ goals with Hughes, even with his struggles. And that second line would be that much better with Robertson's speed.

Yeah Canada would also benefit from Lafreniere and Dach, but I think adding Hughes and Robertson alone would have been more impactful considering the depth of Canada. Lafreniere and Dach would be displacing guys like Mercer or Tomasino, who were 13th forwards at times before the tournament. Hughes and Robertson would have displaced guys like Slaggert and Moynihan, which is a much bigger skill gap.
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That would've been an outrageous squad.
 
WhiskeyYourTheDevils said:
This team with Hughes, Robertson, Beecher, and Bordeleau would have been nuts. Without the benefit of hindsight:

Boldy - Hughes - Caufield
Robertson - Turcotte - Zegras
Beniers - Beecher - Brink
Kaliyev - Bordeleau - Brisson

Then one of Berard, Colangelo, Farinacci, Moynihan as extra.

That top 6 would have been outrageous. Have to imagine Caufield scores 5+ goals with Hughes, even with his struggles. And that second line would be that much better with Robertson's speed.

Yeah Canada would also benefit from Lafreniere and Dach, but I think adding Hughes and Robertson alone would have been more impactful considering the depth of Canada. Lafreniere and Dach would be displacing guys like Mercer or Tomasino, who were 13th forwards at times before the tournament. Hughes and Robertson would have displaced guys like Slaggert and Moynihan, which is a much bigger skill gap.
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The true talent of this American group was to play a total team game over a short series. They accomplished that, as well as everything they needed to do in one final game against a more talented roster to win gold. A team that was more than its parts. Introducing a number of new players might just upset the apple cart. Maybe Bordeleau doesn't 100% buy into the system, maybe Hughes decides that he can do it all himself with the puck. The players they had did what they needed to do over a small number of games and got the job done.
 
canuck2010 said:
The true talent of this American group was to play a total team game over a short series. They accomplished that, as well as everything they needed to do in one final game against a more talented roster to win gold. A team that was more than its parts. Introducing a number of new players might just upset the apple cart. Maybe Bordeleau doesn't 100% buy into the system, maybe Hughes decides that he can do it all himself with the puck. The players they had did what they needed to do over a small number of games and got the job done.
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Good points. Zegras' heroics aside this was a by and large a blue collar group that bought into a team concept. Any changes in the lineup could have disrupted that chemistry and approach even though it would have looked better on paper.
 
Caufield wasn't great but the kid demands a ton of attention in the offensive zone. Teams know he is an elite scorer and give him no quarter. Let's not pretend like that doesn't benefit his linemates. I see people calling him an all-time bad US player etc. What a bunch of BS
 
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Jaykay said:
If you need me I'll be reading the responses to when I said this team should be the gold medal favorite a year ago in this thread: WJC: - 2021 Team USA Roster Talk
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Nice prediction though. I mean I still don't think you were right on "favourite" to win but they definitely did what you said they'd do so congrats for that. Pretty accurate on your team all things considered too. And if anybody gets into semantics, not many will predict a WJC team a year away and get things that right.
 
MNRube said:
Caufield wasn't great but the kid demands a ton of attention in the offensive zone. Teams know he is an elite scorer and give him no quarter. Let's not pretend like that doesn't benefit his linemates. I see people calling him an all-time bad US player etc. What a bunch of BS
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He is still quick to the puck, solid on breakouts, good in transition. He just was a little off on scoring execution. His line didn't score much but they also didn't give up very many chances.
 
William H Bonney said:
There are two important next steps USAH needs to take in my mind:
  • Perform more consistently at senior tournaments, including the World Championships
  • Lose top players from their WJC roster each year and still compete for gold
We still have a long way to go, but it's pretty cool for the 2nd time in 4 years we won gold while missing significant amounts of talent.

The 2017 team won gold without Auston Matthews, Matthew Tkachuk, Zach Werenski, Noah Hanifin, Brock Boeser, and Christian Fischer. They also cut Alex DeBrincat.

The 2021 team won gold without Jack Hughes, Nick Robertson, John Beecher, Thomas Bordeleau, Robert Mastrosimone, Alex Vlasic, and Drew Commesso. I'm not a fan of Vlasic at all, and Commesso wouldn't have played, but those guys would have all been on the team if available.

USAH needs to make it commonplace for us to be missing multiple top players each year and to still play for gold. That's what Canada does and that's where we need to get, too. It'll take a long time to make that happen on a regular, but I hope we can. For now, doing it twice in 4 years is a good start.
Click to expand...
In my opinion, that should be exactly the goal. Get as many guys to the nhl as possible, but have enough depth that we’re still real contenders. Then we’ll be “there”
 
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