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WC: General Talk '14 — Canada

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JackSlater said:
They wouldn't be bad, but to add Hamilton but not Murray or Smith and not a plethora of others would confuse me to no end.
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Hey, what else is new about a large number of player decisions, invites and non-invites, HC makes...they've been confusing the **** out of me since 2010... I've long since given up on "significant players", so I've turned my attention towards the young, promising player who could be worthy additions despite their age and lack of experience.

And are we certain Murray was/wasn't invited declined? I know he was banged up and sat out a game during the Pitt series due to an injury..so maybe invited and declined due to that...
I'd certainly take Hamilton over Gudbranson or Ellis... I think Hamilton is already a better d-man than either of these 2 and + has A team potential...where as the 2 aforementioned ...not so much
 
BowieSabresFan said:
How has Myers looked overall so far? I haven't been able to watch much as of yet.
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I think he's looked ok, for a player his size I don't see him having a problem with the big ice. But our defense has to be a lot better overall I think. Against the Czechs, I didn't like it in the third period. But I believe it will be better with time. We will see on Saturday, when we're facing Sweden.
 
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Mr Writer said:
Hey, what else is new about a large number of player decisions, invites and non-invites, HC makes...they've been confusing the **** out of me since 2010... I've long since given up on "significant players", so I've turned my attention towards the young, promising player who could be worthy additions despite their age and lack of experience.

And are we certain Murray was/wasn't invited declined? I know he was banged up and sat out a game during the Pitt series due to an injury..so maybe invited and declined due to that...
I'd certainly take Hamilton over Gudbranson or Ellis... I think Hamilton is already a better d-man than either of these 2 and + has A team potential...where as the 2 aforementioned ...not so much
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Yeah I agree on Hamilton to some extent. He looked good in the playoffs. I'm not sure about Murray, as news of rejections has been sparse. The only one I heard after the first round was that Seguin and Benn declined.
 
True Hockey Fan said:
I think he's looked ok, for a player his size I don't see him having a problem with the big ice. But our defense has to be a lot better overall I think. Against the Czechs, I didn't like it in the third period. But I believe it will be better with time. We will see on Saturday, when we're facing Sweden.
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Thanks for that. He's an excellent skater for his size, so the bigger ice shouldn't be a problem for him. He doesn't have much experience at this level though, so I was curious to see how he was adapting to the overall situation.

And I agree, Sweden will be a good benchmark. Hopefully, I will have time to watch that game.
 
Mr Writer said:
They did, but that was when results determined Olympic seedings.. now in this Skoda Invitational, the results mean nothing except for IIHF rankings...and I don't think anybody at Hockey Canada losses any sleep over those.
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Seedings for 2014 were determined by 2009-2012. Presumably 2013-2016 would determine seedings for 2018.
 
glue said:
Yeah..you think Sid would join Canada ;)

Or if LA losses against Anaheim tonight..Doughty joins :naughty:

I know...all of the above unlikely...
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Very unlikely. But I would love to add one star defenseman and one star forward. Say, Doughty and Carter. Make it happen Getzlaf! :D


Btw, I would change our line-up a bit.

Hodgson - Kadri - Brouwer
B.Schenn - Scheifele / Monahan - Burrows
Huberdeau - MacKinnon - Ward
Chimera - Turris - Read

Basically change MacKinnon for Scheifele. He could be more comfortable and productive at center. And he had a good chemistry with Huberdeau once they played together for Canada, if I remember. B.Schenn should be ok with playing on the wing.

OR, maybe MacKinnon will get better with time and his line will work, who knows.
 
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If Morgan Rielly doesn't play more than 10 minutes tomorrow I'll be flabbergasted. What kind of coach doesn't try different looks on their team just to see how things could be? Has he even changed the D pairings at all thus far?
 
FlowNoMo said:
If Morgan Rielly doesn't play more than 10 minutes tomorrow I'll be flabbergasted. What kind of coach doesn't try different looks on their team just to see how things could be? Has he even changed the D pairings at all thus far?
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That perplexes the **** out of me as well.
 
FlowNoMo said:
If Morgan Rielly doesn't play more than 10 minutes tomorrow I'll be flabbergasted. What kind of coach doesn't try different looks on their team just to see how things could be? Has he even changed the D pairings at all thus far?
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I haven't been able to see any games and TSN doesn't seem to show replays. Can someone give me a rough breakdown of minutes for the defencemen?
 
JackSlater said:
Thanks. Can't really complain about the minutes. Most important thing is for MacKinnon to get lots of playing time. Good to see them mostly spreading it around in this game at least.
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Prior to the game vs Italy, Rielly was averaging under 5 mins game. He played exclusively on the 2nd PP unit.
 
FlowNoMo said:
Prior to the game vs Italy, Rielly was averaging under 5 mins game. He played exclusively on the 2nd PP unit.
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For development purposes that is less than ideal, provided he is performing well. Better than nothing though. Outside of MacKinnon, Rielly might be the player with the best chance of participating in a big tournament for Canada in the future.
 
glue said:
Russia just got even scarier...they are now adding Malkin to their roster...:amazed:
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It's a good thing Canada takes this tournament seriously by sending their D team. With the exception of Mackinnon, nobody on this team would even make Canada's B team. Well maybe Turris but I doubt it.
 
jgoud said:
It's a good thing Canada takes this tournament seriously by sending their D team. With the exception of Mackinnon, nobody on this team would even make Canada's B team. Well maybe Turris but I doubt it.
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I'm not sure that Russia's strategy (sending nearly their optimal team to this tournament every year) is helpful at all when an actual best on best tournament arrives. Other countries send young teams that allow some players to get experience. Pietrangelo had the opportunity to be the #1 defenceman a few years ago, Tavares the #1 centre, Duchene in a prominent role and so on. Russia is using the same guys over and over. One advantage would potentially be testing chemistry, but given the low quality of the opposition relative to Olympic level squads it can probably be misleading.

Good for Russia if they really care to win this tournament every year, but I am much happier with Canada sending experimental teams to this tournament and winning the big tournaments. Of course, years like this make the tournament pretty much a write-off for Canada when only one big name of the future shows up.
 
JackSlater said:
I'm not sure that Russia's strategy (sending nearly their optimal team to this tournament every year) is helpful at all when an actual best on best tournament arrives. Other countries send young teams that allow some players to get experience. Pietrangelo had the opportunity to be the #1 defenceman a few years ago, Tavares the #1 centre, Duchene in a prominent role and so on. Russia is using the same guys over and over. One advantage would potentially be testing chemistry, but given the low quality of the opposition relative to Olympic level squads it can probably be misleading.

Good for Russia if they really care to win this tournament every year, but I am much happier with Canada sending experimental teams to this tournament and winning the big tournaments. Of course, years like this make the tournament pretty much a write-off for Canada when only one big name of the future shows up.
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The Russians have the Euro Hockey Tour which is mostly their experimental rosters except for the 1 stage they host...so given the state of things, their chances of winning the WHC is much greater than Olympics, so whatever guns and resources that are available to put into the fight are put into the fight....

I don't mind our young guys getting their first international experience at these events, we don't need any of our Olympic players, but we do need more experienced B team players and not half the team comprised of youngsters (the vast majority of whom will never see the Olympic team anyway).

The NHL said they would make a decision on 2018 soon...so, if they decide not to go to S. Korea, it will be interesting to see how HC's approach to this tournament changes. I've been saying it for years, HC's approach to the WHC is not only influenced by what they call "the Olympic Cycle"... I think that's half a load of BS. IMO. There's more going on than just preping young players for the next Olympics.
 
Mr Writer said:
I don't mind our young guys getting their first international experience at these events, we don't need any of our Olympic players, but we do need more experienced B team players and not half the team comprised of youngsters (the vast majority of whom will never see the Olympic team anyway).
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There should be no problem with the Olympic players refusing. I thought that Benn might have gone, but he also played in the playoffs and ultimately he contributed to the Olympic win. I thought Duchene might go, but he injured himself late in the year so his answer was obvious. I still think that Tavares would have played if healthy. The issue, as has been discussed, is the number of younger elite players not here for various reasons. Hall, Seguin, Johansen, Skinner etc. These guys would have been the experienced players in this tournament and could have taken leadership roles internationally for the first time.
 
JackSlater said:
There should be no problem with the Olympic players refusing. I thought that Benn might have gone, but he also played in the playoffs and ultimately he contributed to the Olympic win. I thought Duchene might go, but he injured himself late in the year so his answer was obvious. I still think that Tavares would have played if healthy. The issue, as has been discussed, is the number of younger elite players not here for various reasons. Hall, Seguin, Johansen, Skinner etc. These guys would have been the experienced players in this tournament and could have taken leadership roles internationally for the first time.
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No argument there.
A full time coaching staff (Andy Murray/Dave King as we've already discussed a 1000 times in these threads) could do a lot to help with the load of refusals.. if players are more familiar with the coaching staff, had more of a relationship with the coaches from year to year, then perhaps they wouldn't be so quick to decline an invite. Given Hall's experience last year, I understand his reluctance. I think Hall should shoulder a large portion of the blame for that poor performance...but regardless of who's at fault, I can't say that I really blame him for not wanting to go through that all over again... Do you really believe Hockey Canada is ALL IN at the WHC? And if you believe they are not, then why should the players be ALL IN.
 
Mr Writer said:
No argument there.
A full time coaching staff (Andy Murray/Dave King as we've already discussed a 1000 times in these threads) could do a lot to help with the load of refusals.. if players are more familiar with the coaching staff, had more of a relationship with the coaches from year to year, then perhaps they wouldn't be so quick to decline an invite. Given Hall's experience last year, I understand his reluctance. I think Hall should shoulder a large portion of the blame for that poor performance...but regardless of who's at fault, I can't say that I really blame him for not wanting to go through that all over again... Do you really believe Hockey Canada is ALL IN at the WHC? And if you believe they are not, then why should the players be ALL IN.
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The positive side is that we've been solid at the tournament so far, and without being cocky, I think we can reach the finals. Russia looks strong this year, and it will obviously be a tough opponent if we get to play them. But when I consider that we have an 'E' team here with no stars on the roster (so far), I like the way the team has played and I'm happy with it so far. There is some potential, the players look hungry and they don't lack speed, which is great if we're going to face the Russians.

The game against Sweden should tell us a bit more.
 
Big game coming up tomorrow vs. Sweden. We've looked good since the France game but Sweden's a big test and who wins that game wins the group.
 
True Hockey Fan said:
The positive side is that we've been solid at the tournament so far, and without being cocky, I think we can reach the finals. Russia looks strong this year, and it will obviously be a tough opponent if we get to play them. But when I consider that we have an 'E' team here with no stars on the roster (so far), I like the way the team has played and I'm happy with it so far. There is some potential, the players look hungry and they don't lack speed, which is great if we're going to face the Russians.

The game against Sweden should tell us a bit more.
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That's the key phrase there. I'll reserve judgement until then... I'm not as optimistic as you however. but we'll see how it goes. But considering the poor rosters (excluding Russia) if they can't get past a 1/4 game this year, there's something seriously wrong with how these WHC teams get selected, coached and prepares for the tournament. or a combination of the 3 is always my argument...let's hope for the best.
 
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