WJC: 2024 Team Canada Roster Talk - Part 1

[FromChaos22]

How did Mateychuk look, other than being one of the few solid players?

 

[Mathieukferland]

How did Mateychuk look, other than being one of the few solid players?

He reminds me of PK Subban. He has “happy feet” and is a bit of a wild card out there, but like PK needs to learn to pick his spots better

 

[ChazzMichaelMichaels]

Just brutal all around.

Minten, Beck, Warren, Savoie, Poitras, Cowan and Dumais played so horrible the whole tournament and Rousseau collapsed when it mattered.

Letang should never be allowed near a TC team again after his choices.

Thought Cowan was pretty damn good. 15 mins TOI in the tournament and wasn't on for a single goal against at 5v5. Created a bit as well.

How did Mateychuk look, other than being one of the few solid players?

Thought he was really good. A bright spot on a blueline that maybe isn't as good as a Team Canada blueline usually is. One of the few that looked a cut above for Team Canada.

 

[MM917]

How did Mateychuk look, other than being one of the few solid players?

I thought he was clearly our best defenseman and with Lamoureaux the only guys I felt comfortable being on the ice.

But he was also probably a little out of his depth having to be the clear #1 guy. He could have really used having Korchinski, Luneau and Molendyk there to take some of the pressure and ice time from him. Not his fault that he was asked to do too much because we only had 2 competent defensemen there.

Thought Cowan was pretty damn good. 15 mins TOI in the tournament and wasn't on for a single goal against at 5v5. Created a bit as well.

Cowan is fine as a 4th line grinder, but offered nothing offensively. If he is back playing 5-8 minutes and maybe killing penalties if he can do that ok, but offensively he is a black hole of suck.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Thought Cowan was pretty damn good. 15 mins TOI in the tournament and wasn't on for a single goal against at 5v5. Created a bit as well.



Thought he was really good. A bright spot on a blueline that maybe isn't as good as a Team Canada blueline usually is. One of the few that looked a cut above for Team Canada.

He was OkY defensively but contributed basically nothing offensively despite often playing with the offensive players.

That can also go back to the offensive players not really contributing either though.

In the end, there wasn’t really anyone outside of Celebrini that stood out in a good way. Lamoureux the giant played his role fairly well I suppose

 

[newfy]

Top players outside of Celebrini just couldn't perform. Recipe for disaster when the NHL has the rest of this age groups talent. Savoie, Dumais, Geekie, Poitras just weren't good enough and there was no error for them to not be anything but good. Not sure how you can include Minten in there other than the fact that he was named captain. Was never expected to be a big offensive role player for them but yeah he didnt produce offense I guess. Although he had his best game today.

You include Minten because he got NHL time, was considered a lock in training camp, given the C, and was getting big powerplay minutes. It may be on coaching and he didnt deserve to be in a big offensive role, but he was and he stunk it up just like the rest of that group.

That entire group underwhelmed so badly, and shame on Letang for just keeping on throwing them over the boards without trying to shake anything up.

 

[ChazzMichaelMichaels]

He was OkY defensively but contributed basically nothing offensively despite often playing with the offensive players.

That can also go back to the offensive players not really contributing either though.

In the end, there wasn’t really anyone outside of Celebrini that stood out in a good way. Lamoureux the giant played his role fairly well I suppose

Yah, I liked Celebrini, Lamoureux and Mateychuk.

Thought Geekie and Danielson were good as well, just felt like they were ready to take over a game and it just never quite happened? Thought Beck was good as well.

the 18 year old's struggled to put their stamp on the tournament which isn't surprising as that's what usually happens. Yager, Cowan, Wood and Bonk will be a good starting point for next year as returning players.

Really thought Savoie (probably pretty hurt though), Dumais and Poitras would have had bigger impacts.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I'm not anti-Leaf more than the average hockey fan, but the Leaf players were terrible. How the f*** did the management get fooled by the Leafs depth issues into thinking these two were as good as the Leafs proclaimed them to be?

And obviously they weren't the only two issues. When two undrafted players are two of your best players, you got major problems. It's once in a blue moon that an undrafted player even suits up for the Canadian team. That's how bad this team was.

Poitras is another like the Leaf duo. His NHL team has major depth issues. He wouldn't have been in the NHL this year otherwise. I think he might've not made the team without that.

But then you have some other players who flat out played bad like Geekie, Savoie, and Dumais.

 

[kyle44]

I'm not anti-Leaf more than the average hockey fan, but the Leaf players were terrible. How the f*** did the management get fooled by the Leafs depth issues into thinking these two were as good as the Leafs proclaimed them to be?

And obviously they weren't the only two issues. When two undrafted players are two of your best players, you got major problems. It's once in a blue moon that an undrafted player even suits up for the Canadian team. That's how bad this team was.

Poitras is another like the Leaf duo. His NHL team has major depth issues. He wouldn't have been in the NHL this year otherwise. I think he might've not made the team without that.

But then you have some other players who flat out played bad like Geekie, Savoie, and Dumais.

Yeah, pretty much this. I keep seeing people crapping on Poitras on social media because he's an "NHL player" and should be dominating. The reality is, if a player looks average relative to his peers at this tournament and is an NHL player, that likely says more about the construction of the NHL team than the player.

I was floored Minten cracked the Leafs to start the year, and I think it is one of the main reasons he made this team. I had him on my shortlist for Canada in a likely 4th line role, but nowhere near a lock. All of the sudden he makes the Leafs, sits out selection camp games as a "lock" and is named captain, despite never playing for Canada internationally previously. No disrespect to the kid, but he never should've been in a prominent role for this team.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Yeah, pretty much this. I keep seeing people crapping on Poitras on social media because he's an "NHL player" and should be dominating. The reality is, if a player looks average relative to his peers at this tournament and is an NHL player, that likely says more about the construction of the NHL team than the player.

I was floored Minten cracked the Leafs to start the year, and I think it is one of the main reasons he made this team. I had him as a shortlist for Canada in a likely 4th line role, but nowhere near a lock. All of the sudden he makes the Leafs, sits out selection camp games as a "lock" and is named captain, despite never playing for Canada internationally previously.

Wonder if the Leafs enticed/pressured Hockey Canada to include Minten. If the Coyotes had taken Minten instead of Duda in that slot in the 2022 Draft for example, does Minten even get a sniff? Or was he always a lock because he plays a "200 ft game"?

 

[kyle44]

Wonder if the Leafs enticed/pressured Hockey Canada to include Minten. If the Coyotes had taken Minten instead of Duda in that slot in the 2022 Draft for example, does Minten even get a sniff? Or was he always a lock because he plays a "200 ft game"?

Tough to say what goes on behind the scenes. The 2004 birth year for Canada isn't the greatest, so I thought he'd certainly get a look for the team, but I never fathomed he would be named captain and play a front line role alongside Canada's best offensive player in an elimination game. Not to mention on the first powerplay unit when he he's hardly a PP specialist in the WHL.

 

[Seras]

Team sucked so obviously the leaf's pressured people into including their dead weight, they should lose a 1st round pick for this nonsense

 

[NyQuil]

Team sucked so obviously the leaf's pressured people into including their dead weight, they should lose a 1st round pick for this nonsense

Well it doesn't take all that much apparently.

 

[RedHawkDown]

Team sucked so obviously the leaf's pressured people into including their dead weight, they should lose a 1st round pick for this nonsense

Due to the Leafs interfering with the TC WJC selection process, the NHL regrettably has no choice but to forfeit Ottawa's 2025 1st round pick.

 

[NyQuil]

When you lose in the quarters, it's usually because you didn't take care of business in the round robin.

 

[Seras]

Due to the Leafs interfering with the TC WJC selection process, the NHL regrettably has no choice but to forfeit Ottawa's 2025 1st round pick.

I like it, go straight for the Capital, teach all of Canada a lesson

 

[broc]

Matthew Savoie with no goals and a single assist all tournament. Shameful.

this whole team should be purged. No one stepped up, and the best player was the 17 year old Celebrini.

 

[NyQuil]

Matthew Savoie with no goals and a single assist all tournament. Shameful.

this whole team should be purged. No one stepped up, and the best player was the 17 year old Celebrini.

Purged is a bit strong.

I do think that this year’s performances should still factor into next year’s selections.

 

[nbwingsfan]

I'm not anti-Leaf more than the average hockey fan, but the Leaf players were terrible. How the f*** did the management get fooled by the Leafs depth issues into thinking these two were as good as the Leafs proclaimed them to be?

And obviously they weren't the only two issues. When two undrafted players are two of your best players, you got major problems. It's once in a blue moon that an undrafted player even suits up for the Canadian team. That's how bad this team was.

Poitras is another like the Leaf duo. His NHL team has major depth issues. He wouldn't have been in the NHL this year otherwise. I think he might've not made the team without that.

But then you have some other players who flat out played bad like Geekie, Savoie, and Dumais.

Boston is 2nd in the NHL and Poitras was playing at a ~0.5ppg pace so he absolutely would have made the team. Never mind he was one of the few guys to actually get more than 3pts in the tournament.

He definitely didn’t play up to expectations though, which for some reason most NHL players sent back usually do not.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

How'd Yager look?

 

[Number 57]

Real funny looking at Canada's top scorers and guys like Yager, Rehkopf and Wood being on top despite being 4th liners/extra forwards. I mean even Celebrini started out as 4th line centre. It's pretty clear the top dogs didn't deliever (Poitras, Savoie, Dumais, Geekie)

I wonder what would have happened if they had rolled these lines from the get go:
Yager-Celebrini-Rehkopf
Wood-Poitras-Danielson
Minten-Beck-Savoie
Cowan-Geekie-Allard
Dumais/Firkus

Roll these lines and add in Luneau/Molendyk on defense and this is probably a whole other story for Canada this tourney... anyway on to next year

 

[FrankieC]

Yah, I liked Celebrini, Lamoureux and Mateychuk.

I genuinely am unclear what one could have liked about Lamoureaux's game. Thought he was the 2nd worst D on the roster and was a major reason as to why this team couldn't get results.

does Minten even get a sniff? Or was he always a lock because he plays a "200 ft game"?

The entire roster seemed to be built with a 200 ft mindset from the D on out. We chose size and checkers over skill and game sense.

 

[MM917]

I'm not anti-Leaf more than the average hockey fan, but the Leaf players were terrible. How the f*** did the management get fooled by the Leafs depth issues into thinking these two were as good as the Leafs proclaimed them to be?

And obviously they weren't the only two issues. When two undrafted players are two of your best players, you got major problems. It's once in a blue moon that an undrafted player even suits up for the Canadian team. That's how bad this team was.

Poitras is another like the Leaf duo. His NHL team has major depth issues. He wouldn't have been in the NHL this year otherwise. I think he might've not made the team without that.

But then you have some other players who flat out played bad like Geekie, Savoie, and Dumais.

Cowan over Heidt and Cristall when the team lacked skill is a baffling decision.

Yah, I liked Celebrini, Lamoureux and Mateychuk.

Thought Geekie and Danielson were good as well, just felt like they were ready to take over a game and it just never quite happened? Thought Beck was good as well.

the 18 year old's struggled to put their stamp on the tournament which isn't surprising as that's what usually happens. Yager, Cowan, Wood and Bonk will be a good starting point for next year as returning players.

Really thought Savoie (probably pretty hurt though), Dumais and Poitras would have had bigger impacts.

Agree 100%

Surprised to see people putting Geekie on the bad/disappointing list. He was one of only two guys (Celebrini) able to create any offense. His problem was terrible linemates not anything he did. Despite the crap he played with he still was able to produce goals and chances.

 

[novisor]

Thought Cowan was pretty damn good. 15 mins TOI in the tournament and wasn't on for a single goal against at 5v5. Created a bit as well.

Cowan looked good but my God he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn

You think I am wasting my time watching the rest of this dog shit tournament?? LOL no

lmao ok tough guy

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Boston is 2nd in the NHL and Poitras was playing at a ~0.5ppg pace so he absolutely would have made the team. Never mind he was one of the few guys to actually get more than 3pts in the tournament.

He definitely didn’t play up to expectations though, which for some reason most NHL players sent back usually do not.

I’m not sure Boston being good and him scoring at close to a .5PPG pace means he would have made their team.

He’s playing with good line-mates. 13 points in 27 games is decent, but it’s completely within the fluky range.

He was 6th in OHL scoring last year. Didn’t hit 100 points. He’s a good prospect that wasn’t NHL ready. He should’ve been sent back. Boston had two top six centers retire, which opened the way for him. Without that, he’s back in the OHL. I think he will also find himself scratched or sent back to the OHL as the NHL season goes on. I don’t think he’s ready, even if his first 27 games aren’t shabby.