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Re: Canada invites 41 players to summer camp (Junior)
Go Lazar!! -
Re: Canada invites 41 players to summer camp (Junior)
Three Sens invited. Tied with Winnipeg for the most of any team.
Of those three, Lazar is a virtual lock, assuming he doesn't make the Sens, and will likely be captain and play on a top line alongside the Jets' Nic Petan, and one of Bo Horvat, Max Domi, Michael Dal Colle, Sam Bennett or Brendan Perlini. While, as I mentioned previously, either of Domi or Horvat would give that line a lot of championship experience, which seems to be what the coaching staff is going for, I'd like to see Perlini there. Lazar and Perlini are excellent goal-scorers with two of the best shots to come out of the past two drafts, while Petan is an elite playmaker. And all three are elite skaters, so the three of them together, with a pair of puck-movers like Morrissey and Theodore to get them the puck, would be too much for any defense in the tournament to keep up with. Also Perlini's size would counter-balance Petan's lack thereof, and both Lazar and Perlini have no issues with going hard to the net.
I don't really see any way Harpur makes the team, especially since we'll already have another 6'6 giant defenseman in Sam Morin, who plays with an edge and can contribute a lot more offense. True, discipline has often been a problem for Canada in recent years, but I can't see it being so much of a deciding factor that Harpur could make it over Morin. That said, we can see why he was invited. The coaching staff wants winners and players who can play roles. Harpur does exactly that; he's a pure stay-at-home defenseman with no delusions about what he's there for, and was a key cog on a Guelph defense that went to the final game of the Memorial Cup. Of course, for him to have any chance of making this team, just like for him to have any chance of making the Sens down the road, he'll need to drastically improve his puck skills. Right now I'd say there are five locks to make this defense squad: Morrissey, Theodore, Morin, Nurse and Bowey. Chris Bigras should likely be included in that list since he's a returnee. Haydn Fleury, Travis Sanheim and Dillon Heatherington are the next most likely to make the cut, which leaves Harpur well on the outside looking in. But if one or both of Morrissey or Nurse makes their NHL teams, that could open things up a bit.
Nick Paul has a much better chance of making it than Harpur, but is also very much a longshot. On the plus side of things, Paul is an extremely hard worker, who was a key member of a North Bay team that played certain style and employed him in a certain role which were not at all conducive to personal success, but rather elevated a group of individuals to a level of team success far greater than the sum of it's parts. You know NHL scouts saw something in a player when they drafted him as high as the fourth round despite just 28 points in 66 games in his draft year. The thing that will likely keep Paul from making the team is the same list I mentioned earlier in this post, of potential linemates for Lazar. Canada is ridiculously deep down the left wing this year for some reason. So the only way Paul makes it is if all three of the following conditions are met, at least to some degree: a. a couple of those left wingers make their NHL teams (which is actually very likely), b. Canada's coaching staff is set on having role players in the bottom six who will embrace and excel in those roles and c. Paul gets off to a hot start for the Battalion in the OHL.Comment
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