WJC: Whats wrong with Canada?

[Steve Kournianos]

It’s just cyclical. Canada had a pretty bad drought in the late 1990s to mid-2000s then a smaller one between 2010 and 2014. I think this year was a clear-cut perfect storm of silly coaching, questionable roster decisions, and a level playing field. Only a handful of games were blowouts and the final weekend was decided by an inch or two. Still, it shouldn’t have taken them until the 3rd period of the QF to play their best hockey of the tournament.

 

[Jordan Belfort]

Yawn

Are you going to message me again on the side? Lol

 

[Melrose Munch]

13/32 players in the 1st round of the 2023 draft were Canadian. 19/32 in 2024. 2025 is a very heavy Canadian-laden draft much like 2024. Yet this team can't win? Forget the fact that Bedard, Fantilli, Celebrini and Benson were the 4 players in the NHL still young enough to play. We have had that every season. When you have that kind of talent and don't win, and in the case of this particular team lose horribly, it starts at the top. The selection committee. The coaches, the management, the old boys club. Canada still should be winning this basically every year and they don't because they can't get it out of their head that a kid that may have been cut from a U18 or U17 team might have actually developed better in the last couple of years and is better than his peers today. It becomes a buddy system.

Used to be 25/26 of 28/30. Soon it will be 11/34 or 36. Hockey Canada is ruining hockey.

 

[KillerMillerTime]

Are you going to message me again on the side? Lol

Sure, I can handle your old age insults.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Used to be 25/26 of 28/30. Soon it will be 11/34 or 36. Hockey Canada is ruining hockey.

6 out of the last 9 picks in the first round were spent on Canadians and only 5 out of the first 24 picks in the 2nd round were Canadian. Flip a few of those and the numbers look closer to the "new normals". There's a good bit of draft day variance. 2022 for instance was a lighter year on Canadian first round picks, but 6 out of the 10 first picks of the 2nd round were Canadian.

 

[Namejs]

You guys really are taking this seriously

 

[Jordan Belfort]

Sure, I can handle your old age insults.

Clearly you can’t considering you sent me a private message crying into the abyss of the internet

 

[north21]

You guys really are taking this seriously

Lol

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I don't get this.

Joke about Canada being the 51st US state, given the current events going on.

Thus 50 states for the USA to choose from and 1 from Canada.

 

[647Hockey]

Nothing really.

Probably because the rest of world keeps getting better. And Canadian players already at the top cant get since they are already good.

Also, the federation seemed to leave out star scoring studs. In global tourney games, IMO you go big on speed and talent. This isnt a tournament with salary caps or 6 month reg seasons and another 2 months of playoffs where teams grind it out. It's around 2 weeks tops.

You dont do Rob Zamuner or Shayne Corson kinds of roster moves.

 

[njdevils1982]

You guys really are taking this seriously

now, this is funny and well played humour.

 

[JackSlater]

You guys really are taking this seriously

Noted Hockey Canada stooge Justin Trudeau taking the heat off the organization by announcing his resignation. Classic old boys club. Probably going to take a job with the Oilers in the off season.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Clearly you can’t considering you sent me a private message crying into the abyss of the internet

 

[GettingYourMoms]

If you said before tournament that Sikora will make Canadian PM resign i would say to you to get your head checked, absolutely insane!

 

[End on a Hinote]

Nothing really.

Probably because the rest of world keeps getting better. And Canadian players already at the top cant get since they are already good.

Also, the federation seemed to leave out star scoring studs. In global tourney games, IMO you go big on speed and talent. This isnt a tournament with salary caps or 6 month reg seasons and another 2 months of playoffs where teams grind it out. It's around 2 weeks tops.

You dont do Rob Zamuner or Shayne Corson kinds of roster moves.

No disrespect to Latvia, but even if the world is catching up, we shouldn't have lost to them.

Our problem is that Hockey Canada is too stubborn to adapt with the times and make the changes they need to. We are our own biggest hurdle at the moment.

 

[Crosby2010]

Used to be 25/26 of 28/30. Soon it will be 11/34 or 36. Hockey Canada is ruining hockey.

Let's take a look back as far as 30 years and you'll see that 19/32 Canadians in the 1st round is actually pretty good. And with that pool of talent you've got a lot on your side.

1995: 16/26
1996: 16/26
1997: 16/26
1998: 16/27
1999: 9/28
2000: 10/30
2001: 12/30
2002: 11/30
2003: 19/30

2010: 15/30
2015: 12/30
2020: 19/31
2021: 15/32
2022: 9/32
2023: 13/32
2024: 19/32

So in reality, outside of 1999 which was a horrible draft overall and definitely not a Canadian-laden one, the numbers in the 1st round are pretty similar to today. 61.5% of Canadians in the 1st round in 1995. 59.3% in 2024. There have been better years than others, but the 2020s has been a year with a lot of Canadians in the 1st round of the draft, including what is expected this year in 2025. 4 out of the last 5 1st overall picks were Canadian. Even 1991 was 13/22 which is 59.0%. It has been a while since it was 95% like you were eluding to. 1985 was 16/21. 1980 or earlier would be that kind of number. So what I am saying is that we still have a large pool of talent to choose from. It hasn't changed that much at all. The team that bounced us out of the quarter finals has a combined 2 players drafted in the 1st round of the 2023 and 2024 draft to choose from in this tournament. Even the U.S. had only 5 first rounders in 2023 and 3 in 2024. Finland had only two in 2024. I am not saying you look no further than the 1st round. Obviously some very good 2nd or 3rd rounders can make these teams, even further down the list. But I am just saying to think we didn't have a huge talent pool is ridiculous, and I say this knowing Bedard, Celebrini, Fantilli and Benson are in the NHL. We always have that. This is nothing new. How do you not win with this sort of talent in front of you to choose from?

 

[Golden_Jet]

If you said before tournament that Sikora will make Canadian PM resign i would say to you to get your head checked, absolutely insane!

Lil, and you whined about missing players that weren’t eligible to play in the tournament.

If Czechs got players from NHL like Pastrnak, Necas, Chytil etc they would also easily win, see how stupid your argument is? This thread is getting really annoying, you behave like sore losers.

 

[End on a Hinote]

Let's take a look back as far as 30 years and you'll see that 19/32 Canadians in the 1st round is actually pretty good. And with that pool of talent you've got a lot on your side.

1995: 16/26
1996: 16/26
1997: 16/26
1998: 16/27
1999: 9/28
2000: 10/30
2001: 12/30
2002: 11/30
2003: 19/30

2010: 15/30
2015: 12/30
2020: 19/31
2021: 15/32
2022: 9/32
2023: 13/32
2024: 19/32

So in reality, outside of 1999 which was a horrible draft overall and definitely not a Canadian-laden one, the numbers in the 1st round are pretty similar to today. 61.5% of Canadians in the 1st round in 1995. 59.3% in 2024. There have been better years than others, but the 2020s has been a year with a lot of Canadians in the 1st round of the draft, including what is expected this year in 2025. 4 out of the last 5 1st overall picks were Canadian. Even 1991 was 13/22 which is 59.0%. It has been a while since it was 95% like you were eluding to. 1985 was 16/21. 1980 or earlier would be that kind of number. So what I am saying is that we still have a large pool of talent to choose from. It hasn't changed that much at all. The team that bounced us out of the quarter finals has a combined 2 players drafted in the 1st round of the 2023 and 2024 draft to choose from in this tournament. Even the U.S. had only 5 first rounders in 2023 and 3 in 2024. Finland had only two in 2024. I am not saying you look no further than the 1st round. Obviously some very good 2nd or 3rd rounders can make these teams, even further down the list. But I am just saying to think we didn't have a huge talent pool is ridiculous, and I say this knowing Bedard, Celebrini, Fantilli and Benson are in the NHL. We always have that. This is nothing new. How do you not win with this sort of talent in front of you to choose from?

At the end of the day, it's like the stock market. Some years are better than us, but we are, and always will be, in the picture.

 

[Mr Kot]

Trudeau gone. Hockey Canada is already healing.

 

[Crosby2010]

Trudeau gone. Hockey Canada is already healing.

Can he take some Hockey Canada big wigs with him?

Okay, so in Canada we like to pump our history up and while no one has better history let's look at it with some context.

Gold medals at WJC:
Canada 20
Russia 13
USA 7

Silver medals:
Russia 13
Sweden 12
Canada 10

Okay, so check this out, the last 20 years, going back to the 2006 tournament:
Gold:
Canada 9
USA 6
Finland 3
Russia 1
Sweden 1

Silver:
Russia 6
Sweden 6
Canada 4

One notable thing, Russia which always medals normally, hasn't since 2020, but has not been allowed to play in the last 4 tournaments. So basically the reason their numbers aren't higher, at least with the Silvers, is they aren't there.

So you can say, no big deal, even in the last 20 years Canada is ahead, and we win the gold medal at the same rate as we have all-time. But in the last 6 years Canada 3 gold USA 3. So basically it is the US who is going hand in hand with us right now.

 

[King In The North]

Man watching Dave Cameron's interview again just pisses me off.

 

[lettuceAA]

The USA team had way more skill, it's was evident the entire tournament. Whether that's because of coaching style or actual skill who knows. But the Americans were faster, more skilled, crisper passes and way more dangerous off the rush.

NCAA is also way better hockey than the watered down CHL where the bottom half of majority CHL teams are border line Jr A players.

 

[Golden_Jet]

NCAA is also way better hockey than the watered down CHL where the bottom half of majority CHL teams are border line Jr A players.

lol, So is the bottom half of NCAA.

 

[lettuceAA]

lol, So is the bottom half of NCAA.

No it isn't. There is a big difference between a 18 year old 3rd liner on an average CHL team and a 22 year old 3rd liner on an average NCAA team.

 

[Namejs]

No disrespect to Latvia, but even if the world is catching up, we shouldn't have lost to them.

Our problem is that Hockey Canada is too stubborn to adapt with the times and make the changes they need to. We are our own biggest hurdle at the moment.

'The world' isn't catching up. Each team is a collection of 25 different players that changes every couple of years entirely. Some teams are worse than before. Some better. They bear no responsibility to confirm your preconceived views about how bad they should be.

You barely defeated Switzerland in the 2016 World Juniors and the game went to penalty shots. Is that because """the world""" was catching up? Have they caught up yet?

Switzerland had an extremely talented crop of players in 2016. Same as Latvia right now. These things happen. The Swiss sucked this time around.

And, no, you shouldn't have lost to them, but we live in a probabilistic world and hockey is a game of chance to an extent. Is there some natural law that states Canada has to always beat Latvia? Is that somehow predetermined at an atomic level?