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WJC: 2022 Team USA Roster Talk

ValeriKamensky said:
Beniers should play at the NHL next season, if he gain the strength.
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I mean, he maybe could hang at that level next year but I wouldn't count on it. I know everyone loved him at this tournament and he did look very good for a draft eligible player, but he really needs to develop his offensive game if he's going to turn into the type of player people are expecting. Another year at Michigan would do him good.
 
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Jaykay said:
I mean, he maybe could hang at that level next year but I wouldn't count on it. I know everyone loved him at this tournament and he did look very good for a draft eligible player, but he really needs to develop his offensive game if he's going to turn into the type of player people are expecting. Another year at Michigan would do him good.
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I certainly hope that team who drafts him don't rush things with him. One more season in Michigan is better for all parties.
 
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William H Bonney said:
One wildcard is Jacob Perrault. It'll be interesting to see if USAH puts on a full-court press if he's even interested in playing for Team USA. He doesn't seem to be a Hockey Canada favorite.
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IIRC. He’s locked into playing for Canada in international tournaments from here on out since he was on team Canada for the u-17’s.
There’s a good chance he’ll make team Canada next year anyway.
 
I agree with you guys in some point. But don’t you consider Beniers as a 1OA contender? I mean if he is going 1st or 2nd he will be in NHL next season. I doubt Dmen will take both 1st and 2nd place, and right now Beniers is clearly the best forward of this class. But Things change, 2,5 months ago at the top of my rankings was Johnson.
 
ValeriKamensky said:
I agree with you guys in some point. But don’t you consider Beniers as a 1OA contender? I mean if he is going 1st or 2nd he will be in NHL next season. I doubt Dmen will take both 1st and 2nd place, and right now Beniers is clearly the best forward of this class. But Things change, 2,5 months ago at the top of my rankings was Johnson.
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I like Beniers and he probably could play in the NHL next year in some capacity.....but he shouldn't. Neither should Johnson, Power, etc. Some of these guys need development time.
 
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I'd actually predict zero 2021 draftees playing in the NHL next season. Beniers may be among the closest but as others have noted, strength is an issue. I don't other top prospects like Hughes, Johnson, Power, Eklund, Lambos, Clarke, or Edvinsson have a chance either.
 
There is always some surprises when some unexpected names are making strides and i want to mention Josh Doan. He is playing really well this year. Interesting to see how his development continues and can he play himself to the summer camp roster. He is going to play next season in Arizona State.
 
William H Bonney said:
Yes, to get consideration. I'm not saying any 2004s won't be in contention, but USAH is more averse to it than most hockey federations. Whether the IIHF U18s happen this year will play a big part as well as to how those guys may get noticed.
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I don't think any 2004's are going to make it. Probably none even get selected to the camp. If Luke Hughes, whose a consensus top five pick, has had two brothers go through this team and USAH, and whose father probably knows and is friends with many of the decision makers, can't even get selected to the selection camp, then I don't think any 2004's are being selected, even if one or two of them may be slightly better than he was. We just don't take U18's to this tournament. Thats the way it is. I wish it was different.

I think Eichel, Matthews, and J. Hughes were the only recent U18's to make it, two 1OA's and the best 2OA in recent memory. Thats the level it'd require. It's possible for some of these 2004's to reach that level, but with the shortened season, it probably makes it even more unlikely. And our teams have gotten deeper since those guys have played at this tournament. It's now harder to make our WJC team.

The only caveat I'll add is that there's a serious lack of 2003 goalies. I'm not sure we'll see a 2003 goalie get drafted, especially not early birthday 2003's. The reason I say that is because I'm not convinced there are going to be three goalies next December better than Dylan Silverstein. I don't even think he's that great of a prospect, but if the 2003's are awful and he's average, shouldn't we take the best players?
 
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William H Bonney said:
Sanderson and Faber anchoring the top pairing is going to be huge.
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Not that it matters a great deal in April, but I would guess that Sanderson plays with Powell and Faber with Kleven. Those were the familiar pairings from the NTDP. It could change at some point during the tournament, but even last year I remember they started out with York-Thrun that played a lot together at the NTDP.
 
ValeriKamensky said:
I agree with you guys in some point. But don’t you consider Beniers as a 1OA contender? I mean if he is going 1st or 2nd he will be in NHL next season. I doubt Dmen will take both 1st and 2nd place, and right now Beniers is clearly the best forward of this class. But Things change, 2,5 months ago at the top of my rankings was Johnson.
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I don't think he goes #1 overall and frankly as a fan of a team that is really bad, I still wouldn't put Beniers into the NHL next year. I think he could do it, but I don't think it is the right place and I don't think it puts him in a position to excel in a year where his development should have the premium focus. I would keep him at U of M for sure if the Wings picked him. I would keep Powers there too though, I really don't see a guy I want to throw into the deep end of the NHL next year in this draft currently.
 
The Zetterberg Era said:
I don't think he goes #1 overall and frankly as a fan of a team that is really bad, I still wouldn't put Beniers into the NHL next year. I think he could do it, but I don't think it is the right place and I don't think it puts him in a position to excel in a year where his development should have the premium focus. I would keep him at U of M for sure if the Wings picked him. I would keep Powers there too though, I really don't see a guy I want to throw into the deep end of the NHL next year in this draft currently.
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Lets face the facts - this is a weak draft. There are no dominant players in this draft and absolutely no players that are close to playing in the NHL next season. NONE. Hughes was dominant. Lafreniere was dominant. Those guys still struggled in the NHL. Powers and Beniers will go top 5 but both should return to Michigan for at least one more season. If they dominate then move on. They were good players this season as freshman but were not dominant.
 
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Will be interesting to see what Jacob Perreault does now. His brother was just named to the NTDP U17 roster, and it's not like Jacob has been been a favorite of Hockey Canada's, either.

I'm sure they're already talking, but I would imagine the odds are good that Perreault will be at the WJSS.
 
William H Bonney said:
Will be interesting to see what Jacob Perreault does now. His brother was just named to the NTDP U17 roster, and it's not like Jacob has been been a favorite of Hockey Canada's, either.

I'm sure they're already talking, but I would imagine the odds are good that Perreault will be at the WJSS.
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Agreed. Good for us if true!
 
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The season is mostly over, and if USAH is planning to resume the normal WJSS in late July, we should see a roster in the next month or so. It's been a weird hockey year, but let's see how wrong I can get a camp roster prediction of 44 players, which was the total they had originally invited last year before it was canceled.

Forwards (x25):

Matty Beniers
Brett Berard
Cameron Berg
Thomas Bordeleau
Tyler Boucher
Tristan Broz
Matthew Coronato
Tanner Dickinson
Dylan Duke
Jackson Hallum
Cross Hanas
Jack Hughes
Matthew Knies
Chaz Lucius
Declan McDonnell
Sasha Pastujov
Jacob Perreault
Dylan Peterson
Mackie Samoskevich
Red Savage
Landon Slaggert
Ty Smilanic
Luke Tuch
Jeremy Wilmer
Chase Yoder

Defenseman (x15):

Sean Behrens
Shai Buium
Brock Faber
Alex Gagne
Ty Gallagher
Aidan Hreschuk
Luke Hughes
Brent Johnson
Wyatt Kaiser
Tyler Kleven
Ian Moore
Jack Peart
Eamon Powell
Jake Sanderson
Ryan Ufko

Goalies (x4):

Drew Commesso
Kaidan Mbereko
Xavier Medina
Tucker Tynan
​
Notes:
  • This won't be a flashy team, but I think it can be a very good team, and certainly capable of medaling, which should be the expectation at a minimum.
    • There's enough forward talent/depth to build some scoring depth, even if they can't rely on a superstar performance like Zegras. The defense should be deep with high-end talent, and Commesso should be one of the best goalies in the tournament.
    • This team's makeup reminds me a lot of our 2010 team. That team got elevated performances beyond expectations (i.e. Stepan, D'Amigo, Campbell, etc.), but the teams could have very similar compositions.
  • Beniers should be the only NHL risk since Sanderson chose to return to UND. Beniers is capable of playing in the NHL next year, no matter where he's drafted, with his skating, smarts, compete-level, and 200-foot game, but it's best if he returns to Michigan to continue to advance his offense.
  • Forwards:
    • With Jacob Perreault's brother joining the NTDP U17 team, I would imagine there's a good chance he's in the mix now.
    • The first 18-20 forwards should be comfortably in line for invites for now. The forward depth starts to get shaky when you get into the 20s, though. A sample of other names to watch include Blake Biondi, Josh Doan, Alex Gaffney, Avery Hayes, Ryan Kirwan, Jackson Kunz, Ben Schoen, Ty Voit, etc.
  • Defense:
    • Very deep group and the option to have Sanderson and Faber either anchor the first pairing or the top 2 pairings is a huge advantage.
    • There are guys left off that would be worthy of looks, especially since there are some big, toolsy, raw OHLers who didn't play at all this year. A sample of other names to watch include Noah Ellis, Hank Kempf, Ryan Mast, Bryce Montgomery, Scott Morrow, Simon Motew, etc.
  • Goalies:
    • Commesso is the clear #1 right now and definitely capable of being one of the best goalies in the tournament. However, if he gets injured or underwhelms, the team could be in trouble unless Tynan is fully recovered from his gruesome injury and returns to his previous level of play. Flip a coin between Medina/Campbell for a spot.
    • I'd prefer they take an '04 goalie (Dylan Silverstein) for experience and preparation given how bad the '03 goalie class is, but USAH has seemed resistant to that approach in recent tournaments.
  • Coaching:
    • Nate Leaman is a hot name on the rumor list with all the NHL coaching vacancies, and if he had to vacate the WJC role (like David Quinn did a few years ago), I hope Greg Carvel gets the nod. Carvel's destined for an NHL head coaching role sooner rather than later, but I'd love to see what he could do with this defensive core given what he's done at UMass.
 
I haven't been able to see as much hockey as normal this year, but if I were to choose a roster right now only based on my projected camp roster, it'd look something like this:

Forwards (x13):

Tristan Broz - Matty Beniers (C) - Jacob Perreault
Luke Tuch - Thomas Bordeleau - Chaz Lucius
Brett Berard - Matthew Coronato - Mackie Samoskevich
Dylan Duke - Landon Slaggert - Ty Smilanic
Tyler Boucher

Defense (x7):

Jake Sanderson (A) - Eamon Powell
Tyler Kleven - Brock Faber (A)
Wyatt Kaiser - Luke Hughes
Jack Peart

Goalies (x3):

Drew Commesso
Tucker Tynan
Kaidan Mbereko
​
Notes:
  • The forward group is harder to choose than I think any of us would have expected 12+ months ago. The emergence / continued development of guys like Coronato, Samoskevich, Broz, Knies, etc., in addition to the increased likelihood of Perreault accepting an invite, has done a lot to improve not just the depth, but the top-end options for the team.
  • The forwards I want to follow the most in the next 8+ months are Matthew Knies, Sasha Pastujov, and Tristan Broz. I have Knies (most one-dimensional) and Pastujov (skating) off the team for now, but how they all perform in their freshman NCAA seasons will mean a lot to whether they're on the team or not. If Perreault doesn't choose to come on board, I'd slot Pastujov into the lineup.
  • I'm not married to my line combos per se, but more went for a balanced top 9 where each line is capable of scoring goals, with a prototypical WJC 4th line USA favors.
  • There's likely only 1-2 defensive roles up for grabs with 3 returnees, a top 10 2021 draft pick, and a 2020 3rd rounder who had an excellent freshman season in play, but I'm a huge fan of Jack Peart's game and I think he'll be tough to keep off the team.
  • The defensemen I want to follow closely that I don't have on my team are Shai Buium and Brent Johnson.
 
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My guess is that Ted Donato is going to be head coach if Leaman gets NHL gig.
 
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