As for your original post Vlad, very well done, as usual.
I disagree on the Suter/Phaneuf thing. For a while, i was on the other side of the fence than you, but I'm probably moving into the Phaneuf camp. That's not because Suter did anything wrong, but Phaneuf showed me some things that I wanted to see in him. The biggest reason I preferred Suter than Phaneuf is I thought Suter was a more controlled, stable presence in the defensive zone. I still think Phaneuf might be more effective if he went for the big hit less often, but his ability to pick his spots has improved noticeably. Maybe it's just a personal thing, but I don't like wild defencemen. That's why I'd invariably take a Wade Redden type of player, steady, poised and in control, over an Ed Jovanovski, who plays a more reckless, renegade-style of game on the blueline. Another junior parrallel is when Brendan Bell won the OHL and eventually CHL defenceman of the year award, I was adamant that Karol Sloboda was actually the better defenceman. Phaneuf showed me a real ability to play either style. I still like Suter more than Phaneuf in some ways, but if there was a gap, Phaneuf has closed it.
Also, I'm a fiend for a strong first pass, and PHaneuf's last year was lacking. While it still needs work, and Suter's is better IMO, Phaneuf is improving in this area. Coburn actually has a fantastic first pass, one of the reasons I liked him so much in this tournament.
Overall, I prefer the type of defenceman I see Suter as over what I see in Phaneuf, but right now, Phaneuf is just better. It's rare to be able to say a guy in the WHL is ahead of a guy in the AHL, but that's how it is right now. I don't disagree with you on Phaneuf, but I do think you sell Suter short. Maybe it's because you think that comparison is unfair to Phaneuf, and thus discriminate against Suter as a result, I'm not sure. But I do think you need to give Suter more respect.
I also agree to an extent on Ladd. I was a major critic of him before this tournament, and while I still do not see him being much of an offensive player in the NHL, I do have a new-found respect for his all-round abilities. I will toot my own horn though, and point out I said before the draft I'd take Drew Stafford over Andrew Ladd, and right now, I think Stafford is the better prospect. Stafford was without a doubt one of the US' two or three best players and could have been on the 2nd all-tournament team had such a group have been named. I think Stafford's showed more offensive ability than most believed, while Ladd's ofensive upside seems to have been reduced, with his all-round game gaining more respect in turn.
On another point, I'm obviously just a bit excited about Meszaros. But I will also say that while Klepis was no Havlat, Kaygorodov is looking like a damn good second round pick that year.
The final thing I'll say in response to your post Vlad, is with respect to the selection of the team. This team won gold, and that is all well and good. It also flat out dominated. And while I'm not questioning the coaching staff, I will maintain that Steve Bernier in particular, should have made this team. The young man has simply improved too much for his efforts to go unnoticed. I stand corrected on Colin Fraser, he was certainly better than I expected. But I will say that I think Sutter had a pretty significant margin for error, not that he pushed the limit in any way or anything.
