Early impressions:
-I think Guhle has been Canada's best defenceman. Aside from his blunder on the GTG against Austria, he's been solid, makes good decisions with the puck and as a result, has racked up the points. Byram showed some real puck poise as well.
-My concern around our D is that Power, Guhle, Severson, Parayko, Byram and Zellweger all seem to be the guy who want to make the big play, with Oleksiak as really the only stay-at-home type. We have a good puck-moving and mobile defence but they gamble a lot on the opposition blueline, and sometimes in our own zone when it comes to skating the puck out.
-Up front, no one has really stood out ahead of the rest. I think Tavares has quietly had a few good games, and was one of the few guys who was skating throughout the entire game.
-Dubois and Paul both have that ability to be redwood trees in the opposition zone, holding possession and waiting for outlets to move the puck while the opposition vainly tries to move them or knock them over. I don't know if these guys will be able to do that against the better competition in the tournament. Dubois and Paul have both been able to just bull their way into the slot or crease without anyone being able to stop them.
-Cozens came up big with the SHG in this game and always seems to play well with the Maple Leaf. He's almost like a new Ryan Smyth.
-A few guys have looked quick in transition, like McCann and Grieg today, but overall most of the scoring chances have come off the cycle. That's not a bad thing but I'd like to see better scoring chances when we have 3 or 4 wide. The cycle has undoubtedly benefited from our D standing up at the blueline as opposed to drifting back and managing the gap so it's certainly a double-edged sword.
-Guenther has played every game and I haven't seen him do too much - maybe I'm missing something. Tanev, McBain, Mercer have been kind of vanilla.
-Bedard's shot is otherwordly in terms of what a rocket it is, and I'm glad he's trying to get it off as much as possible. In general, he's often the most dangerous player on the ice with the puck on his stick, in past games making canny high IQ passes as well. In this one, however, he flubbed two of those top of the circle cross-ice passes which I really don't like on the PP. The pass is rarely fast enough to fool the goalie on the eventual shot, and there's a very high likelihood of it being picked off by the top forward, leading to an exit or even a potential breakaway if he can split the D. We've tried it a fair amount of times and it's never really worked. I'd rather we try to move the puck down low for the bumper play or the shot in the circle.
-The team has won all of its games and aside from some 3rd period hijinks and some laziness in defensive zone coverage, hasn't really been challenged that much or pinned in our own zone for long periods. I'm curious to see if Canada can raise their level of play in accordance with the opposition.