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WJC: 2023 Team USA Roster Talk

I don't have super high expectations for this group but sometimes it's better that way. Should be a good skating team, and looking forward to having the tournament back at its normal time either way.
 
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Jaykay said:
I don't have super high expectations for this group but sometimes it's better that way. Should be a good skating team, and looking forward to having the tournament back at its normal time either way.
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It’s best to be under the radar.
 
William H Bonney said:
No surprises other than Buium. We're not going with size on defense. The Muszelik invite made no sense as it was obvious who the 3 goalies would be. Devine isn't good enough for this level. Leonard is good but he's only 17 and they're already going to have a lot of 18 year old forwards and this young up front.
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This team is going to skate and play really fast.
 
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I would’ve cut one of the small defensemen and taken Buium, but otherwise not much to be upset about with those cuts.

Give me this lineup.

Duke-Cooley-Snuggerud
McGroarty-Gauthier-Blake
Brindley-Lucius-Boucher
Stramel-Savage-Laba/Connors
Laba/Connors

Behrens-Hughes
Mittelstadt-Chesley
Peart-Ufko
Hutson

Augustine
Mbereko
Oke

We have good goaltending compared to the rest of the teams, we have good forwards, and our defense is small and might not fit into the roles they are likely to play in, but the most skilled defense of the teams by far. Gold medal if the defensive strategy to take the smaller defensemen works out.
 
Jason MacIsaac said:
Mittelstadt-Casey also part of PK1...I would say locks for the roster and Devils fans everywhere rejoice.
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Casey should be a lock but Behrens isn't on any unit and is an assistant captain so maybe shouldn't read too much into it. It just looks like a collection of guys that weren't on the PP units.
 
Gold medal defense but that offense is not that great. I like the goaltending for the most part but this just doesn’t look like a gold medal team compared to Canada this year.

What might be our saving grace is Finland looks a little light this year, Russia isn’t in the tournament, and Sweden doesn’t have Edvinsson or Wallstedt.
 
FLYguy3911 said:
Casey should be a lock but Behrens isn't on any unit and is an assistant captain so maybe shouldn't read too much into it. It just looks like a collection of guys that weren't on the PP units.
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I don't think the captaincies had anything to do with playing time. They literally just gave them to the 3 returning players.
 
Statsy said:
You don't give a letter to a guy that's not a key part of your team.
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I don't know about that. If they were giving out letters based on importance you'd have guys like Cooley and Gauthier with them.

Looks like they had Behrens on 4th pairing and no special teams. Sounds like he might be 7th defenseman.
 
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WhiskeyYerTheDevils said:
I don't think the captaincies had anything to do with playing time. They literally just gave them to the 3 returning players.
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The poster I quoted was talking about locks. There aren't bigger locks than the guys given letters.

Call me skeptical, but I doubt Luke Mittelstadt is hopping over the boards with PK1 when the tournament opens up.
 
Dominance said:
Not Tyler Boucher, surely?

Looks like one line that would compete for best in the tournament and really not much else threatening up front.
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The team's strength is definitely on the blue line, but some of the guys up front are pretty unheralded. Connors, Duke, and Lipkin are pretty solid, plus some high pedigree guys like McGroarty and Lucius.
 
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WhiskeyYerTheDevils said:
I don't know about that. If they were giving out letters based on importance you'd have guys like Cooley and Gauthier with them.

Looks like they had Behrens on 4th pairing and no special teams. Sounds like he might be 7th defenseman.
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That was a practice and it means nothing. I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the top pairing with Hughes.
 
WhiskeyYerTheDevils said:
The team's strength is definitely on the blue line, but some of the guys up front are pretty unheralded. Connors, Duke, and Lipkin are pretty solid, plus some high pedigree guys like McGroarty and Lucius.
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It’s true, there is always at least one college kid I had never heard of previously who shines offensively for the US.
 
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Statsy said:
That was a practice and it means nothing. I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the top pairing with Hughes.
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That's what I assumed before camp as well, but I'm skeptical now. No reason to practice different combos unless they were seriously considering them.
 
Dominance said:
It’s true, there is always at least one college kid I had never heard of previously who shines offensively for the US.
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I've seen a lot of Blake this year. He's not the strongest guy and as a result he has struggled with puck battles. That said, with space, he is uncommonly clever and deceptive. Even in a group of elite players like this, he'll do some things to get passes or shots off, or buy time, that will leave you shaking your head.
 
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Dominance said:
Not Tyler Boucher, surely?

Looks like one line that would compete for best in the tournament and really not much else threatening up front.
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We have 6 first round picks among our forwards. Then another two with good chances to add to that in 2023. Some non firsts like Blake and Duke are good players, even if they aren’t first round picks. And then some grinders that have a good chance to play NHL games like Savage, Connors, Laba, and Lipkin.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a younger forward group, and there’s not that star 19 year old forward, but the US has iced worse forward groups than this one, and this one is debatably good for a US forward group.
 
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PK’ers should be Hughes, Chesley, Peart, and Mittelstadt. Other four are too small to be regular PK’ers, given the roles they are likely to play for this team. Hutson-Chesley also never works. Hopefully the coaching staff learns that quickly.

MichaelFarrell said:
Gold medal defense but that offense is not that great. I like the goaltending for the most part but this just doesn’t look like a gold medal team compared to Canada this year.

What might be our saving grace is Finland looks a little light this year, Russia isn’t in the tournament, and Sweden doesn’t have Edvinsson or Wallstedt.
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We don’t match up to Canada with the forwards, but they don’t match up to us with the defensemen and the goalies.
 
This was the tweet about the PK’ers. I bet that’ll be Hughes when the games start. The rest makes sense. Never hurts to get a fifth guy some reps, but Hughes needs to be all situations for us and the best defensemen in this tournament.

 
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