Would like to start with my impressions after seeing medal round in person.
First about the defense.
Carlson seemed out of place, as I already said probably. Misfit or misused - can't say. Not much icetime, often on PK though. USA had exactly 2 defenders as I thought before the tournament. McD and Suter. They played each 2nd shift literally.
Bylsma didn't use John in offensive role until the game was over. But then he unleashed him but it was too late. Both times =) Carlson-Orpik and whoever else used was a bad pair. No chemistry. I hope it's a good learning experience for JC.
Fowler was okish, much TOI given. Faulk - nothing, Shattenkirk - invisible to me. So they played with Suter and McD and coudn't get any zone possessions other than Kane/Kessel's individual efforts or just dumping. Many "leaders" invisible and ineffective. Kane and Kessel were the best overall by 2 matches. 0 goals though.
Back to defense. I've tried to watch Edler a bit. He was playing 1st pair with Karlsson (instead of OEL). So this is a young offensive and mistake prone player (Green-like if you want). I did not see much problem with Edler. He was solid I think. I do believe he could be solid on small rinks also.
Then Finland. #nonamegoodqualitydefense. Maatta was very good. Hehe. Bad news guys =)
Then Canada. Their D dominated. JayBo was solid and visible, I think even better than AP27. Keith-Weber - no comments. And another pair. Doughty. And I don't even know who played with him. I didn't recognize that D. Absolutely invisible. Probably it was Vlasic. Very good D overall. Price was good also. The rest is history. They just dominated.
So these impressions got me thinking the common problem is coaching. JayBo was called useless and so on. Edler's got his "damaged goods / regressed" status recently also. On the other hand some Ds who are viewed as good didn't play like that obviously.
What else? Good news is Pens got Bylsma. They will lose eventually. Nothing was changed by Dan until the endmatch siren. Very good.
Bad news - we will lose earlier probably, because Oates doesn't seem to be good fit either.
PS: Had a little chat with Shero. Said Letang is better, Vokoun is maybe this season and he said something like he doesn't expect another D, they have enough depth on position. Said he would like a winger but in this market it's very hard to get one. I thought last thing should be interesting for you guys, GMGM should remember this words and reproduce them later =)