U18: 2021 USA U-18 Roster

[montreal]

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[Jaykay]

No Chesley?

 

[William H Bonney]

Hutson isn't the best U17 defenseman currently or as a prospect, but he's likely there as an LHD replacement for Hughes, whereas Chesley and Casey, who are better, are RHD.

 

[J bo Jeans]

Ahaha Marty St Louis couldn't convince his son I guess

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Said it elsewhere, but I'll say it here.

Not expecting much. I doubt we have a team good enough to win.

Coaching this season for this age group has been brutal. As bad as I've ever seen for the NTDP. Goaltending is going to be the worst of the big five countries. Hopefully the guy they brought in from the WHL is better than Mbereko because I absolutely do not feel like we can win with Mbereko starting. Defense is missing its best player, so thats going to be pretty tough to overcome. The bottom of the roster defensemen shouldn't have made the team. And while I like our forward core, there aren't really the star level 03's that we had in some previous age groups. I'm not sure there's a player there thats going to take over the tournament.

I would say this is the best case scenario lineup.

Duke-Lucius-Pastujov
McGroarty-Hughes-Wilmer
Cooley-Gasseau-Stramel
Janicke-Savage-Gilmartin
Howard-St.Louis

Behrens-Gallagher
Hreschuk-Schmidt
Hutson-Martin
Murchison-Straky

Holt
Mbereko
Homer

First line is set. I wouldn't say the fourth line I listed is our fourth best line, but those are much closer to grinding type of players than the other lines. Thats a good line that'll probably be among our most effective. The other two lines are about figuring out where to place everyone. Howard/Stramel are interchangeable on that third line, but I'd prefer Stramel's size/physicality/skating to Howard's goal-scoring. Hreschuk-Schmidt should be the shutdown pairing, and Behrens-Gallagher the offensive pairing. The bottom two pairings are about getting minutes from those guys, and letting the top two pairings do the hard work. Hutson could have a big tournament though, if given the ice time. The others aren't very good. Goaltending is a weakness. Homer is pretty terrible. Don't know much about Holt, but hopefully he's better than Mbereko, whose mediocre, at best.

 

[Get North]

Ty Murchison is underrated, he should get a chance to play with Behrens or Hreschuk and experiment the off-side for some of these players. Guys like Nate Schmidt and TJ Brodie find roles on teams because they can play on their off-side and it takes a certain skill/adjustment to play smoothly.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

It looks like someone might’ve gotten injured on defense. Chesley wasn’t listed with the 17’s for their game today, but if he was unavailable, they would’ve put him in the scratch category. I’m only speculating, so that could certainly be wrong, but they stop listing players when they move up.

On second thought, I’m probably wrong. Hejduk is also missing, and I’d be shocked if he was getting a promotion. They probably just forgot to list these two in the scratch category for an injury/COVID.

 

[William H Bonney]

Chesley was an obvious addition, but Hejduk is a total head scratcher. He's in the bottom tier of U17 forwards.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

but Hejduk is a total head scratcher. He's in the bottom tier of U17 forwards.

I would guess it’s because the team already has 12 forwards, aside from Lucius and Gasseau. Hejduk has played as a 13F this season, so he wouldn’t be unfamiliar with that role. But I agree with you otherwise. Pick the best players, not a guy who knows how to be the 13F.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

It’s pretty pathetic that NHL Network isn’t going to show our games at this tournament until the QF’s. We are also the hosts. You’d think that they’d be promoting this tournament more than they are.

 

[William H Bonney]

It’s pretty pathetic that NHL Network isn’t going to show our games at this tournament until the QF’s. We are also the hosts. You’d think that they’d be promoting this tournament more than they are.

They'd rather run endless re-runs of low quality productions than promote the sport, which is definitely on brand for the NHL and the NHL Network.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Good performance in the exhibition.

Mbereko put in a good performance. He’s about as good as DeRidder was from the 2000’s on that team that made it to the final. I’m not sure he’ll be able to win us a game, but I think he can manage a game well enough if the defense does a good job in front of him.

Defense was good. Not many complaints. Schmidt could be a little better. That’s about it. Hreschuk, Behrens, and Gallagher were great.

The forward lines will need work. We have two lines that work well with Janicke-Savage-Gilmartin as the shutdown line and Duke-Cooley-Pastujov as the scoring line. Duke and Pastujov could score with anyone centering them, and Cooley is a capable fill in for Lucius, so that line is going to need to score for us. The other two lines are a lot of mismatched parts. I’m hoping we can get a few individual plays throughout the tournament from McGroarty, Stramel, and Howard. They won’t find any consistent rhythm due to their linemates, but a few key plays might be needed at some point in the tournament.

 

[wings5]

Chesley was an obvious addition, but Hejduk is a total head scratcher. He's in the bottom tier of U17 forwards.

At least this locks Hejduk in with USA hockey. Sillinger also can't go for Canada for this tourny so still a chance he flips at some point..

 

[William H Bonney]

At least this locks Hejduk in with USA hockey. Sillinger also can't go for Canada for this tourny so still a chance he flips at some point..

Hejduk has spent his entire life in Colorado, so he's not eligible for the Czechs. And he isn't good enough (at least as this point) to worry about locking up anyway.

 

[William H Bonney]

You can see the team's goals from last night's exhibition here:

 

[SK94]

Why not then just bring some U18 guy like Caden Brown if Hejduk was picked. Least he has been with the boys since day one.

 

[canuck2010]

At least this locks Hejduk in with USA hockey. Sillinger also can't go for Canada for this tourny so still a chance he flips at some point..

I've already had my knuckles rapped for this but I don't like the fact that Sillinger played in the USHL this year when he could have played in the W and I don't like the fact that he isn't able to play with Canada at the U18 tournament. I don't trust USA hockey and I'm not dumb enough to think that money doesn't enter into these decisions.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Why not then just bring some U18 guy like Caden Brown if Hejduk was picked. Least he has been with the boys since day one.

Brown, Luke Hughes, Boucher, and Wilmer are all injured. Lucius, Gasseau, and Martin probably have COVID, but could be injured. Silverstein would’ve likely been picked as one of the goalies, and he’s injured. Jack Hughes might also have COVID or be injured because I don’t think he played yesterday, although he’s still on the roster.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I've already had my knuckles rapped for this but I don't like the fact that Sillinger played in the USHL this year when he could have played in the W and I don't like the fact that he isn't able to play with Canada at the U18 tournament. I don't trust USA hockey and I'm not dumb enough to think that money doesn't enter into these decisions.

Are you kidding? The COVID protocol is the reason Sillinger isn’t playing. It’s the same that way for players of every country. I’m sure Beecher and Bordeleau didn’t like missing out on the WJC20 due to false positives weeks before the tournament, but they did.

 

[peconcan]

How come Nazar wasn’t added to the roster isn’t he one of the top 04s around

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

How come Nazar wasn’t added to the roster isn’t he one of the top 04s around

Only room for a few of them. There were some very good 04s not picked. This roster isn’t entirely on merit. None of the bad 03s were cut this year. The 04s added were added almost entirely due to unavailability of some of the 03s.

 

[DatDude44]

Hutson isn't the best U17 defenseman currently or as a prospect, but he's likely there as an LHD replacement for Hughes, whereas Chesley and Casey, who are better, are RHD.

Casey isn’t better than Hutson imo

 

[William H Bonney]

Why not then just bring some U18 guy like Caden Brown if Hejduk was picked. Least he has been with the boys since day one.

Quite a few U18s are missing the tournament due to injuries or Covid protocol, Brown included. This team has been hit hard this year with missing players.

 

[William H Bonney]

How come Nazar wasn’t added to the roster isn’t he one of the top 04s around

I would have picked him. He's the best '04 forward IMO.

 

[William H Bonney]

I've already had my knuckles rapped for this but I don't like the fact that Sillinger played in the USHL this year when he could have played in the W and I don't like the fact that he isn't able to play with Canada at the U18 tournament. I don't trust USA hockey and I'm not dumb enough to think that money doesn't enter into these decisions.

I'll rap your knuckles again until you take off your tin foil hat. He played in the USHL because he wanted to play. It's far better for his development to play than sit around and be uncertain when and if the WHL would start. I respect him for not bailing on his USHL team for the WHL once the latter started, it speaks highly of his character. He isn't playing in the U18s because of Covid, not some USAH conspiracy to nab him.