WJC: Canada 2018 Roster Talk

[Tripod]

Hopefully Carter Hart stays hot....4 straight WHL Goalie Of The Week awards.

 

[Statsy]

Hopefully Carter Hart stays hot....4 straight WHL Goalie Of The Week awards.

Wow!

 

[JackSlater]

Hopefully Carter Hart stays hot....4 straight WHL Goalie Of The Week awards.

Hart seems to be the man this year. Best reason for optimism on team Canada. 17 games, three losses but five shutouts. .961 sv%. I'm trying to keep things reasonable but I don't know if Canada has ever had a goaltender going into camp with more impressive numbers.

Also, camp starts today. Looking forward to seeing how these exhibition games go.

 

[93LEAFS]

Hart seems to be the man this year. Best reason for optimism on team Canada. 17 games, three losses but five shutouts. .961 sv%. I'm trying to keep things reasonable but I don't know if Canada has ever had a goaltender going into camp with more impressive numbers.

Also, camp starts today. Looking forward to seeing how these exhibition games go.

Barring an injury at camp, there are no bigger locks than Hart and Dipietro. I'm surprised they even gave the other kids invites. Hart for this year, Dipietro groomed for next year.

 

[Curufinwe]

Hart seems to be the man this year. Best reason for optimism on team Canada. 17 games, three losses but five shutouts. .961 sv%. I'm trying to keep things reasonable but I don't know if Canada has ever had a goaltender going into camp with more impressive numbers.

Also, camp starts today. Looking forward to seeing how these exhibition games go.

Hart's having a great season, but WJC games gets so loosey goosey I'd happily take .916 as his SV% for the tournament.

 

[Statsy]

Hart's having a great season, but WJC games gets so loosey goosey I'd happily take .916 as his SV% for the tournament.

This is my thought exactly. Unlike when he plays in the Dub, he will be facing tremendously potent firepower from multiple lines on many different countries. This tourney really puts goaltenders through the wringer.

 

[JackSlater]

Hart's having a great season, but WJC games gets so loosey goosey I'd happily take .916 as his SV% for the tournament.

Even with the nature of junior hockey that's a low save percentage for a top goaltender in this tournament. I'll look for something like .930, though of course percentages don't win games and the context of his saves matters more than anything else.

Now that the camp has started, Mark Masters is a useful resource on twitter.

 

[86Habs]

Yeah, good mention. The list of top 10 guys who never did it is fairly short. Makar would be the highest in recent memory. Just looking since 1990 the only top 10 guys who didn't make it without the NHL reason are. Some guys may have been injured but I am not aware of it.

Scott Scissions (1990)
Drake Berehowsky (1990)
Aaron Ward (1991)
Alek Stojanov (1991)
Todd Wariner (1992)- He was on the 1994 Olympic team which was a full season obligation at that time
Cory Stillman (1992)
Brett Lindros (1994)- Knowing his history assuming he possibly missed due to concussions
Steve Kelly (1995)
Terry Ryan (1995)
Johnathan Aitken (1996)
Lance Ward (1996)
Nick Boynton (1997)
Kris Beech (1999)
Brent Krahn (2000)
Alexandre Picard (2004)
Devin Setoguchi (2005)
Derek Brassard (2006) - Pretty sure he was injured
Zach Hamil (2007)
Logan Couture (2007)
Keaton Ellerby (2007)
Scott Glennie (2008)
Dylan McIlrath (2009)
Slater Koekkoek (2012)
Michael Dal Colle (2015)

Man, that is an ugly list outside of Couture and Brassard (although that was injury related). Stillman and Ward also had good careers as role players.

In terms of how they were regarded as prospects at the time, I would probably consider Berehowsky, Ward, Stillman and Boynton to be the most surprising names on this list, at least in terms of the pre-2000 guys. I also remember when Brett Lindros was cut in 1995 (which was not injury related, he was legitimately beat out for a roster position). Some of the guys on the list simply weren't very good prospects.

Regarding Scott Scissons, who's claim to fame was being taken immediately after Jaromir Jagr, a quick Google search turns up the fact that his performance at the 1991 camp was hampered a wrist injury, and he ended up being a late cut (ironically, the tournament was in Saskatoon, and he captained the Blades that year).

 

[Stud Muffin]

Still can't wrap my head around Tippett, Benson and Vilardi even though he's injured. Didn't get invited to the camp

 

[93LEAFS]

Still can't wrap my head around Tippett, Benson and Vilardi even though he's injured. Didn't get invited to the camp

I don't find any of them particularly surprising. Benson is a walking injury, who has never really dominated the WHL, he was always a bubble guy. Tippett is really divisive (I stand on the dislike side), plays way too straight line, doesn't put in a 200-foot effort and doesn't use his teammates well. If I had to watch him play with Mikey McLeod for a tournament, my remote might go through my TV. They are insanely frustrating at the OHL level. Villardi there is no real point. He's out, why send an invite to a guy who has no chance of reporting.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Can we make anything out of these lines or is this just a preliminary starting point?

 

[Critical13]

Why hasn't Frost been invited?

 

[canuckster19]

Can we make anything out of these lines or is this just a preliminary starting point?

Put the two Canucks on one line... what to make of that though...???

 

[irunthepeg]

Steel-Glass-Kryou
Steenberger-McLeod-Raddysh
Katchouk-Thomas-Suzuki
Gadjovich-Howden-Lind
Dube

Mete-Fabbro
Bean-Foote
Clague-Makar
Stanley

Hart
Dipierto

Should be one of the fastest teams Team Canada has iced in awhile. We are missing a stud forward though.

I hope we can have one of those years where we get surprise stud status at this tournament out of players we wouldn't expect. Too many years of the RNH/Drouin type players where we expect them to be the savior when we get them to the team and they just don't gel with the others for whatever reason and it doesn't propel us any higher.

 

[CanuckistanFlyerfan]

Why hasn't Frost been invited?

Great question....I have no clue.

 

[Coach7940]

Why hasn't Frost been invited?

I don't think many of these people have any clue who he is... Especially when you consider most do not think Katchouk and Timmins will make the team. I think some people will be surprised.

 

[Insulin]

Why hasn't Frost been invited?

Only 18, never played for Canada before.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Only 18, never played for Canada before.

Formenton was invited

 

[CanuckistanFlyerfan]

Only 18, never played for Canada before.

Neither has anyone else...until they have.

 

[Statsy]

Why hasn't Frost been invited?

The simple answer is that there are just too many to choose from.

 

[JackSlater]

I hope we can have one of those years where we get surprise stud status at this tournament out of players we wouldn't expect. Too many years of the RNH/Drouin type players where we expect them to be the savior when we get them to the team and they just don't gel with the others for whatever reason and it doesn't propel us any higher.

Drouin and especially Nugent-Hopkins weren't the problem in 2014 and 2013. The 2014 team just wasn't very good, though Drouin should have shared the puck more. Nugent-Hopkins played well even when hurt, Canada just never looked particularly good under Spott and then lost to a good team.

As for Frost - can he pay wing? If not then he was always going to be hard pressed to make the team. Scoring centres like Glass and Suzuki can at least play RW if needed.

 

[lakai17]

I'd throw Comtois with Thomas, Steel or Glass.

 

[Critical13]

The simple answer is that there are just too many to choose from.

I guess, but I would have him as a lock for the team, let alone getting an invite. Just a bit dissapointed.

 

[Statsy]

I guess, but I would have him as a lock for the team, let alone getting an invite. Just a bit dissapointed.

Yes, quite understandable, but if he keeps up this production, look for him to be a main guy on next year's team.

 

[MrHeiskanen]

Barring an injury at camp, there are no bigger locks than Hart and Dipietro. I'm surprised they even gave the other kids invites. Hart for this year, Dipietro groomed for next year.

Seriously underrating Colton Point. Point has had a superior year (than DiPietro) playing on a bad team in the NCAA against tougher competition.