Toggle sidebar

Best World Junior lineup since 2006

  • Xenforo Cloud will be upgrading us to version 2.3.5 on March 3rd at 12 AM GMT. This version has increased stability and fixes several bugs. We expect downtime for the duration of the update. The admin team will continue to work on existing issues, templates and upgrade all necessary available addons to minimize impact of this new version. Click Here for Updates
donghabs98 said:
Which World Junior lineup do you think has been the strongest/best since 2006?
Click to expand...
In what way? Canada's 2008 team was stacked with guys who became elite players (Stamkos, Doughty, Subban, Giroux and Tavares), some good top 6/top 4 guys (Alzner, Simmonds, Marchand, Turris) and effective NHLers (Schenn, Hickey, Mason and Bernier). The team won gold but lost a close game to Sweden.
 
2015 Team Canada was the most dominant but the 2008 Team Canada had in hindsight a star studded group who lost once and barely beat Sweden in the final.
 
There hasn't been a super strong team in that period. I believe the 2015 Canadian team is the only team that won every game and didn't require extra time to do so.
 
JackSlater said:
There hasn't been a super strong team in that period. I believe the 2015 Canadian team is the only team that won every game and didn't require extra time to do so.
Click to expand...
They were also never trailing and besides 0-0 it was never even a tie.
 
2013 usa since the NHL lockout kept the best 18 and 19 year olds in the AHL or junior.
 
Last edited:
Those doubting the 2013 USA team are out to lunch. Recall, that was a lockout year tournament, yet the USA was dominant by the end of it.

Anyways my top 5 of recent memory (not a ranking)
2016 Finland
2015 Canada
2013 USA
2011 Russia
2008 Canada

If I had to pick one, I'd say tossup between 2008 Canada and 2013 USA. But both teams were built fairly similarly. Strong on D with a few key offensive contributors. I think I'd take USA on a tiebreaker due to goaltending.

That 2013 USA team was stacked, especially on the back end and in net. Probably the best combo of defense and goaltending this tournament has ever seen. They just got stronger and stronger as they tournament went on.

Goaltending:
John Gibson in net, with Jon Gilles and Garrett Sparks backing up. That's unbelievably good.

Defense:
Seth Jones
Jacob Trouba
Shayne Gostisbehere
Jake McCabe
Connor Murphy
Mike Reilly
Patrick Sieloff

That's 6 of 7 defenseman who are already in the NHL, most of them playing significant roles. And it was a great mix of shut down D and puck movers. 2 way dmen Trouba, Jones, and McCabe combined for 8 goals and 22 points! Plus you had Reilly and Ghost as additional puck movers and Murphy and Sieloff as shut down guys.

Up front is where they look weak. But with such a strong puck moving d-core, you only need a few guys who can drive offense. As the tournament went on, Gaudreau took over. He had 7 goals and 9 points in the 3 games leading up to the final, including 2g + 1a showing in the semifinals against Canada. Add guys like Galchenyuk, Miller, Trochek, and Vesey, and you've got enough firepower to be very good. Their checking line was also very effective - Hartman, Bardreau, and Pietila were all excellent.
 
my vote goes to 2015 Team Canada. best junior team since the 2005 dominant Team Canada.

After that it would be 2008 Team Canada.

Finland 2016.

My top 3 since 2006 as per the OP.
 
2013 USA for me by a pretty easy margin.

Canada was to be as stacked as could be and got torched by the US.

That US squad was as deep and high-end of a group I have seen in a long time. Add the best young goalie in the world and yep, I am going to pick them.

Gibson
Gaudreau
Trouba
Jones
Galchenyuk
Miller
Gostisbehere
Vesey
Trocheck
McCabe
Hartman
etc
etc
etc

almost 8 names for the World Cup will come from this group
 
2013 was the last time all the best players were available to play, and the USA won. So it's easily them
 
Not sure if it was like all time best Finland 2016 was epic to watch.

They scored tons of goals against teams like Canada and Russia, and Pulju tied for Gretzkys point record (points record for draft eligible players in WJC) and Laine tied goal scoring record with mario lemieux and Aho went high on all time list too. When you see them doing like or outdoing that kind of names, you start to think we got helluva prospects in this team.

Anyways those kids were beast line and secondary scoring had players like Kapanen and Rantanen, Saarela + Hintz all good scorers in mens leagues already. And it really showed up, scoring like 6 goals against any one.
 
QnebO said:
Not sure if it was like all time best Finland 2016 was epic to watch.

They scored tons of goals against teams like Canada and Russia, and Pulju tied for Gretzkys point record (points record for draft eligible players in WJC) and Laine tied goal scoring record with mario lemieux and Aho went high on all time list too. When you see them doing like or outdoing that kind of names, you start to think we got helluva prospects in this team.

Anyways those kids were beast line and secondary scoring had players like Kapanen and Rantanen, Saarela + Hintz all good scorers in mens leagues already. And it really showed up, scoring like 6 goals against any one.
Click to expand...

Kind of disingenuous to equate Puljujarvi and Gretzky, considering Gretzky was nearly 2 years younger when he played in his lone World Juniors, and was not eligible for the draft that year. And Laine scored more than Lemieux (7 to 5), but again, Lemieux was a year younger when he did that (he didn't play in his draft-eligible season). I mean the Finns are good, but to stretch facts like this to try and boost them is unnecessary.
 
WhiskeyYourTheDevils said:
Those doubting the 2013 USA team are out to lunch. Recall, that was a lockout year tournament, yet the USA was dominant by the end of it.

Anyways my top 5 of recent memory (not a ranking)
2016 Finland
2015 Canada
2013 USA
2011 Russia
2008 Canada

If I had to pick one, I'd say tossup between 2008 Canada and 2013 USA. But both teams were built fairly similarly. Strong on D with a few key offensive contributors. I think I'd take USA on a tiebreaker due to goaltending.

That 2013 USA team was stacked, especially on the back end and in net. Probably the best combo of defense and goaltending this tournament has ever seen. They just got stronger and stronger as they tournament went on.

Goaltending:
John Gibson in net, with Jon Gilles and Garrett Sparks backing up. That's unbelievably good.

Defense:
Seth Jones
Jacob Trouba
Shayne Gostisbehere
Jake McCabe
Connor Murphy
Mike Reilly
Patrick Sieloff

That's 6 of 7 defenseman who are already in the NHL, most of them playing significant roles. And it was a great mix of shut down D and puck movers. 2 way dmen Trouba, Jones, and McCabe combined for 8 goals and 22 points! Plus you had Reilly and Ghost as additional puck movers and Murphy and Sieloff as shut down guys.

Up front is where they look weak. But with such a strong puck moving d-core, you only need a few guys who can drive offense. As the tournament went on, Gaudreau took over. He had 7 goals and 9 points in the 3 games leading up to the final, including 2g + 1a showing in the semifinals against Canada. Add guys like Galchenyuk, Miller, Trochek, and Vesey, and you've got enough firepower to be very good. Their checking line was also very effective - Hartman, Bardreau, and Pietila were all excellent.
Click to expand...

I think it's the U.S team too to be honest and I think it's just as you say,the goaltending puts them over.

Just can't see Fucale outdueling Gibson.


It would be a barn burner gold medal game, but I see that U.S team winning it.
 
Canada last year was really stacked. Excited to see how their NHL careers pan out. I think they will be one of those groups we look back on and go "dang, that was a lot of great players on one World Juniors team." USA 2013 is looking good. Russia in '11 with Kuznetsov, Orlov, Panarin, and Tarasenko all on one roster is some nice high end talent.
 
Canada 2015 was the most dominant. Hard to debate that. They never trailed the entire tournament. No team in this time frame had an easier time. But as far as overall on paper team in hindsight, 2008 Canada, easily at this point. 5-7 years from now that 2013 USA team or 2015 Canada team might win out, but I doubt it. Too much top end talent on the 08 team.

2008 Team Canada

F- Steven Stamkos
F- John Tavares
F- Claude Giroux
F- Brad Marchand
F- Kyle Turris
F- Brandon Sutter
F- Wayne Simmonds
F- Shawn Matthias

D- Drew Doughty
D- PK Subban
D- Karl Alzner
D- Thomas Hickey
D- Luke Schenn

G- Steve Mason
G- Jonathan Bernier
 
Last edited:
I say it's Canada's 2015 team because they were never losing in any of the games they played in and the only time it was a tie game is when the score said 0-0.
 
mayfield7 said:
Canada 2015 was the most dominant. Hard to debate that. They never trailed the entire tournament. No team in this time frame had an easier time. But as far as overall on paper team in hindsight, 2008 Canada, easily at this point. 5-7 years from now that 2013 USA team or 2015 Canada team might win out, but I doubt it. Too much top end talent on the 08 team.

2008 Team Canada

F- Steven Stamkos
F- John Tavares
F- Claude Giroux
F- Brad Marchand
F- Kyle Turris
F- Brandon Sutter
F- Wayne Simmonds
F- Shawn Matthias

D- Drew Doughty
D- PK Subban
D- Karl Alzner
D- Thomas Hickey
D- Luke Schenn

G- Steve Mason
G- Jonathan Bernier
Click to expand...

The Problem is you can t look in the future! This is the different between 2008 and maybe 2015 or 2016. You don know how good are the players from 2016 in future. But from 2008 you know more ;)! This is a logical problem.
 
So far it seems the strongest argument has been made for the US team.

Should have/could have been the team Canada from the same year, but that team was incredibly mismanaged and poorly coached.

Edit: Actually after looking at that 2008 Team Canada roster, it's gotta be that one. Norris Trophy winner, one of the top defensemen in the game to not win a Norris, two first overall picks, one with a 40 goal season. Hard to beat that roster.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Ad

Ad

Top Bottom