Series Talk: Four Nations Face-Off Tournament

[chet1926]

Doughty and Parakyo and Sanheim are low key kinda bad. Not bad for the NHL. But in terms of a best on best tournament?

It's pretty pathetic.

There are a few players on Canada's roster that are questionable.

How Blackwood is not on this roster is mind blowing. The goalies are trash and Blackwood is simply better, probably the best Canadian goalie at this point.

Hell a tandem of Blackwood and Kuemper would have been infinitely better.

Defense is really bad outside of Makar and Toews. You have guys like Bouchard, Reilly, Dobson, Hamilton, Weegar, even Byram not on the team, that's a choice when you are rolling guys like Sanheim, Parayko, and Doughty's corpse.

 

[chet1926]

Honestly, for Dmen in particular every coach in the league is the same. People complain about Bednar using Cale/Toews so much.... But if you gave any of the other 31 coaches in the league a Defensive pairing that consisted of two of the Top 10 guys in the world together, he's going to put them on the ice every single chance he gets any time a game is reasonably close.

Bednar is simply doing what every other coach in the world would do. He does overuse the top forwards a bit, but that's also arguably a product of our poor depth and also the injuries we end up dealing with every single year.

If we had a fully healthy lineup, I think most nights Mack would sit around 20 minutes.

It was really interesting watching Cooper do the same thing Bednar does with 8 and 7. They are just really good it's hard not to play them.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

He looked off McDavid and I was like dayum nate just got that Dogg in him

 

[Foppa2118]

Even with Sanheim in and back to 6 D, Toews-Makar will log huge minutes on Saturday night against USA.

The game against Finland on Monday might be the only chance for them to get a bit less ice-time, provided Canada can get at least a point against the Americans.

Toews showed tonight that he’s not just a product of Makar. He is Canada’s second best defenseman, full stop.

I don't watch the other D men often enough to know how to rank them, but if that's the case, I think it's more a product of Canada losing step with developing high end defenseman.

I think Devon is a very good defenseman, and he had a good game, but I also thought the chances he got he made weak shot attempts on, and I didn't like the way he played the first goal by Brodin. A bit too soft IMO which is occasionally an issue for him, though he's been doing much better at battling physically while defending lately.

Had body position on the Swedish player, and could have stopped him from going to the front of the net with some small cross check shoves or just sticking his rear end out to block him, but he let him get by and screen his goalie for the goal. Not a terrible defensive play, but he could have done more to prevent it, and that's what you should expect out of Canada's #2.

Overall a very good game from him though.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

All the Oiler fans are crying and calling MacK selfish for not passing to McDavid in overtime. They always find something to bitch about. What a miserable fan base.

I dunno...... they make me think it's just another night at the hfboards Colorado site.... lol.

Guys here can bitch about anything too. Even after a win.

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

Maybe this tournament will be a good learning moment for MacK.

Other top players don't just skate full tilt towards the opposing net every chance they get.

 

[Foppa2118]

All the Oiler fans are crying and calling MacK selfish for not passing to McDavid in overtime. They always find something to bitch about. What a miserable fan base.

It wasn't even bad. Nate is just being nice and deferring to McDavid being the best in the world like he always does.

Nate was looking to pass, but they gave him the shot. There was a stick in the passing lane and McDvid was so far away in the other circle, that by the time the pass got there for a likely one timer, the goalie would have had time to get in position.

When you have a shot like Nate's, and you're in OT of a short tourney, the right play is to shoot there.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Oilers twitter going nuts tonight. Mack didnt look off Connie on that play either. Ekholm basically begged Mackinnon to shoot. He took away that pass and besides McDavid was damn near the boards on that rush.

 

[Foppa2118]

I remember the year the Ducks won the cup, Pronger and Niedermayer played about 30 minutes a game.

I don't think Ryan Suter ever came off the ice when he played for Minny.

These guys played a different style than Cale though and the NHL didn't require as much skating in their day.

Niedermayer and Suter played a smooth skating style like Toews that probably didn't raise their heart rates much. Big guys like Pronger could play a ton back then because they didn't have to move much.

Cale has a power/quick twitch element to his style, and skates close to flat out in both the D zone and the O zone every shift. An underrated part of all of this is how hard he battles physically in the D zone, while still hustling offensively. Cale turns 27 in October, he can probably only play the way he plays, 30 mins a game for so long.

He's been able to play this much so far, but it only works until it doesn't. Then you look back and say, "was it really important for me to play him 30 minutes in a game we weren't winning in January?"

I like Bednar and want him to stick around, but that's what he did in that Hawks game Jan 8. Played him 29:34 in a 3-1 game, in the first game of a back to back, where it was pretty obvious they didn't have it in them to come back.

To make it even more nonsensical, Bednar kept Cale out on the ice for the last 4:30 of that game. There were a couple whistles, but Cale was hunched over visibly huffing and puffing at the blue line not even trying to get to loose pucks, because he was so tired. Even kept him out the last 10 seconds after a whistle. Like why?

 

[Avsfan1921]

Oilers twitter going nuts tonight. Mack didnt look off Connie on that play either. Ekholm basically begged Mackinnon to shoot. He took away that pass and besides McDavid was damn near the boards on that rush.

They’re just mad because Connor didn’t sit out in protest from the “unjust” suspension lol.

 

[Foppa2118]

I was gonna put some money on Sid to win MVP but I missed my chance.

He was +1500 before the game. Then he was +1000 during the game. Now he's +500.

Toews is +30000. Imagine if he went on a heater and won? He's gonna get the ice time for it. A few goals, especially some big ones late, some good defense, and Canada wins, and he's right there in the running.

Disclaimer: please gamble responsibly.

 

[MacKaRtin]

Didn't have the chance to watch anything but the highlights. How was the intensity level?