Line Combos: World Junior Talk

[SlapJack]

Mitch Marner’s 2016 WJC team finished 6th.

Canada hasn't won gold without a Sen on their roster since 2009. That was the year Ottawa hosted and Karlsson showed up to show the world how good he was. Going in to the tournament, all the talk on the Swedish blueline was about Hedman, but Karlsson was incredible.

Lots of memorable Sens performances over those years with Ostapchuk getting 2 gold with Canada, Grieg, JBD, Batherson, Formenton getting 1, plus Sanderson and Kleven getting one for US.

 

[IpsoPostFacto]

It all comes down to coaching. Or lack thereof.

interesting. I thought there were 2 answers to that question - particularly in the situation that Canada is in.

A coach could circle the wagons in an "us against the world approach" and stick up for the team and note how everyone is nitpicking and rally the boys, etc. etc.

He could also go with the "we are appalled" approach and rip the team up one side and down the other.

Instead, he goes with the "it's really bad, but what are ya going to do".

Amazing.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Jokes aside kind of impressive leafs drafted both Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten. Yea they’re getting shit on now but I bet they’ll be very good bottom 6 leaders in the nhl

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

if only Canada had a slightly undersized predominately offensive defenseman they could have picked to run their power play


Any chance Cameron et al take Cole Hutson on the team? They had the best PP QB in the CHL available, CHL D of the year in 2023-34 and didn't take him

Can you say OVER THINKING IT

Carter George (the goalie) had as many points over 4 games as 9 Canadian forwards

 

[Norris4Norris]

if only Canada had a slightly undersized predominately offensive defenseman they could have picked to run their power play
Z!

Any chance Cameron et al take Cole Hutson on the team? They had the best PP QB in the CHL available, CHL D of the year in 2023-34 and didn't take him

Can you say OVER THINKING IT

Carter George (the goalie) had as many points over 4 games as 9 Canadian forwards

I don't think Cameron has the ability to overthink.

He underthinks for sure. Hilarious mistake not to take the best available D. Too bad George has to play goalie, we could use him as a forward!

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Ok, we already have Kleven and Andonovski playing the role we hope Eliasson does. Not to mention Chabot and Sanderson down the left side already as well.

Draft the most valuable asset available. Hutson still probably has a ton of trade value as an asset. Not sure about Eliasson. We have so many Eliasson clones in the system.

And we still have Don Boyd as the head scout with no apparent adds or expansion or change to the group that clearly value size and pims above IQ and skill

just look at our farm system. Either way this is not really a WJC issue. If we go to the give up a 25 or a 26 Draft pick thread... I think its 25 at this point and hope by 26 we have some improvement in our Scouting team.

 

[darude]

What's wild about the whole selection thing is you'd think normally you would want to bring a mix of guys to have some flexibility and options.

Instead they built a middling defensive lineup to handle the US which can't even do that...

 

[NyQuil]

What's wild about the whole selection thing is you'd think normally you would want to bring a mix of guys to have some flexibility and options.

Instead they built a middling defensive lineup to handle the US which can't even do that...

I think they dramatically underestimate what elite players can do when asked to play different roles than their club teams.

I always thought that was a real strength of Canada relative to our competition so to see us move away from it is puzzling.

 

[Cosmix]

Dave Cameron painting his masterpiece right now

Cameron and his staff have failed to communicate the importance of disciplined play to the players.

From now on (for Canada) - IQ tests when selecting players .

IQ test for those making the choices too!

 

[Cosmix]

And we still have Don Boyd as the head scout with no apparent adds or expansion or change to the group that clearly value size and pims above IQ and skill

just look at our farm system. Either way this is not really a WJC issue. If we go to the give up a 25 or a 26 Draft pick thread... I think its 25 at this point and hope by 26 we have some improvement in our Scouting team.

Staios has had plenty of time to make changes to the scouting staff. Its performance is now on him.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Staios has had plenty of time to make changes to the scouting staff. Its performance is now on him.

noted

 

[Senscore]

Staios has had plenty of time to make changes to the scouting staff. Its performance is now on him.

If changes are going to happen in any substantive capacity they are going to happen soon.


I certainly hope they do anyway.

 

[starling]

Carter George (the goalie) had as many points over 4 games as 9 Canadian forwards

Only 2 forwards have more points than the goalie after 4 games. Impressive.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

I think they dramatically underestimate what elite players can do when asked to play different roles than their club teams.

I always thought that was a real strength of Canada relative to our competition so to see us move away from it is puzzling.

Very good point.

 

[GCK]

I think every Canadian hockey fan (and media) were shocked by the omissions to the team. This isn’t hindsight this was obvious.

 

[Cosmix]

Only 2 forwards have more points than the goalie after 4 games. Impressive.

The Canadian team certainly has had a lot of shots but not scored enough goals. I think I saw on the last game that the shooting percentage for one player dropped from about 15% in junior leagues to about 5% at this tournament. That is one of the issues. The other major issue has been penalties taken.

If changes are going to happen in any substantive capacity they are going to happen soon.


I certainly hope they do anyway.

The last draft (2024) was done under Staios' direction, so he is responsible for those picks.

 

[NyQuil]

The Canadian team certainly has had a lot of shots but not scored enough goals. I think I saw on the last game that the shooting percentage for one player dropped from about 15% in junior leagues to about 5% at this tournament. That is one of the issues. The other major issue has been penalties taken.


The last draft (2024) was done under Staios' direction, so he is responsible for those picks.

I’m pretty sure I read that Canada has the worst shooting percentage of all the teams at the tournament.

 

[Cosmix]

I’m pretty sure I read that Canada has the worst shooting percentage of all the teams at the tournament.

I have seen the stats yet for all teams.

If changes are going to happen in any substantive capacity they are going to happen soon.


I certainly hope they do anyway.

Changes should have been started last summer when scouting contracts were up for renewal.

 

[DylanSensFan]

We win. Everyone is all smiles.

We lose. Everyone from roster construction to coaching to GMing to DEI culture is going to get the blame.

Other countries are getting better. Here in Canada we've arguably priced out over half the population from ever playing

No, watching the last few world juniors has been a ruination of my birthday. I used to be able to rely on team Canada at least being in the gold or bronze medal game on Jan 5. Now, over the past few tournaments they've barely been able to beat middling teams. I've quit watching. It isn't worth my time to watch bad coaching and a poor roster built by a terrible GM.

Yeah, other countries are getting better. Yeah, the cost of hockey and developing players in Canada has become too expensive. But we have a lot of talent in Canada that simply isn't being utilized. When Yakemchuk wasn't even chosen to tryout that was enough for me to say that I am not going to watch this garbage Hockey Canada is currently producing.

I am also no fan of David Cameron. He was a terrible coach in Ottawa and I don't find him the be particularly good as a World Junior coach. I don't understand why Hockey Canada hasn't moved on from him.

 

[Bileur]

Canada hasn't won gold without a Sen on their roster since 2009. That was the year Ottawa hosted and Karlsson showed up to show the world how good he was. Going in to the tournament, all the talk on the Swedish blueline was about Hedman, but Karlsson was incredible.

Lots of memorable Sens performances over those years with Ostapchuk getting 2 gold with Canada, Grieg, JBD, Batherson, Formenton getting 1, plus Sanderson and Kleven getting one for US.

Watching Stutzle at the WJC was an absolute thrill.

 

[NyQuil]

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Cameron and his staff have failed to communicate the importance of disciplined play to the players.


IQ test for those making the choices too!

...and even then, you'd think any player that had spent any time watching this tournament would know about the IIHF and their officiating standards. Most of these kids have played in these sorts of tournaments before. Just because the CHL is a bit easy on penalties doesn't mean every other level of play they've had their entire lives were a free for all.

I mean hell, just as a viewer, discipline was one of the biggest buzzwords you heard on tv for the last 25 years during the WJC. How the hell do the kids not know it?

 

[Gil Gunderson]

We win. Everyone is all smiles.

We lose. Everyone from roster construction to coaching to GMing to DEI culture is going to get the blame.

Other countries are getting better. Here in Canada we've arguably priced out over half the population from ever playing

Maybe so, but that’s not the reason they’re not winning. It’s not like Canada was dominating and winning every single tournament in previous decades either.

Hockey is not an accessible sport and is probably losing popularity (relatively) but you can still put out Canada’s B team and on paper there is more talent there than any other country’s A team. Sometimes you just lose and sometimes you make bad player selections.

 

[darude]

I think every Canadian hockey fan (and media) were shocked by the omissions to the team. This isn’t hindsight this was obvious.

This isn't even Homerism; leaving Parekh off the roster is probably the biggest WTF of the entire thing. I'd love to have seen Yak out there but I could see an argument for other people before him, and I imagine his slow start to the season didn't help any. But Parekh had 96pts in the OHL last year and is on pace for similar production this year (currently 40pts in 30GP).

Maybe so, but that’s not the reason they’re not winning. It’s not like Canada was dominating and winning every single tournament in previous decades either.

Hockey is not an accessible sport and is probably losing popularity (relatively) but you can still put out Canada’s B team and on paper there is more talent there than any other country’s A team. Sometimes you just lose and sometimes you make bad player selections.

You could argue that putting out our B team this year might be better in every position except goaltending.

 

[bicboi64]

You could argue that putting out our B team this year might be better in every position except goaltending.

Just out of curiosity, who would Team Canada's world Juniors B team even be?