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World Juniors coming up soon. Talk about it all here.
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Re: 2015 World Junior Championship
Looking more and more like the Sens won't be letting Lazar participate :/ -
Re: 2015 World Junior Championship
I remember when I used to be so into this tournament.Comment
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Re: 2015 World Junior Championship
So I figured I'd start with some of the players to watch for. You've all already heard my age-old and beautifully simplistic formula for predicting the best players in the tournament. Just look at the pool of 19 year-olds, and the highest drafted player not in the NHL, should be the best player from that draft year. So according to this formula, Darnell Nurse ought to be the best player there.... but, in my opinion, he's not even going to be the best defenseman on team Canada, and maybe not even top two: for my money the best defenseman in the tourney will be Josh Morrissey hands down, and Shea Theodore has been an absolute revelation for the Ducks as a 26th overall pick. Those two should be Canada's top pairing, but Nurse will almost certainly be one half of the shutdown pair, alongside either Dillon Heatherington, Sam Morin or (less likely) Madison Bowey.
The decisions NHL clubs are going to make with some young players will have a drastic impact on the outcome of the tournament, and while that is the case every year, what seems unusual to me is how down-to-the-wire it is looking like some of these decisions are going to be this year. Going by my tried and true formula, three of the top forwards in the tournament should be Horvat, Domi and Lazar (potentially our number one line), but Vancouver has yet to decide on Horvat (although I think the chances are pretty decent at this point) and although I get the feeling Bryan Murray wants to let Lazar go, I'm just not sure the Sens can afford it right now with all the injuries up front and the team fighting for their playoff lives.
Should Buffalo loan Zadorov, he'd likely be Morrissey's top competition for best defenseman, and on the off chance Washington returns Burakovsky, he would be a top contender for the tournament's best forward award.
And what about under-agers? always one of my favorite things to follow in this tournament. Everybody already knows all about Eichel and McDavid, what else is out there? USA's probable second line center behind Eichel is Austin Matthews, the early favorite to go first overall in 2016, who is decimating USDP scoring records. Fellow Americans Noah Hanifin (who looks like all but a lock to go third overall in 2015, as he's light years behind Eichel and McDavid but just as far ahead of everyone else) and Zach Werenski (another potential top five for 2015) are sure bets to make the team; both are defensemen. Pavel Zacha and Oliver Kyllington will represent the Czechs and Sweden, respectively, although while both were considered top five picks coming into the season, neither has wowed, and they've been surpassed by Canadian scoring phenoms Mitch Marner, Dylan Strome and Nick Merkley, none of whom will get a chance to represent Canada this year (or perhaps ever at this tournament, as all could be in the NHL next year). Still, both Zacha and Kyllington should end up going in the top ten to fifteen.
Finnish winger Jesse Puljujarvi is another top prospect for 2016, and is already playing in the top Finnish pro league at just 16, and is holding his own there, so I'd be surprised if he doesn't make the WJC team, even though they look to have a very strong, deep team this year.
And one other thing always fun to watch for is top NHL prospects on non-contending teams. Nikolaj Ehlers is one of the five or ten best forwards in the tournament this year, but he's going to be in over his head trying to create any kind of offense playing for newly promoted Denmark. The Swiss will be able to offer a little bit more support to Kevin Fiala (who is often compared to Henrik Zetterberg, and is already putting up good numbers in the SHL at just 18) and 2015-eligible Denis Malgin, who would be a first rounder based on talent alone, but will likely fall a few rounds due to size constraints. I also recall talking about then-16 year-old defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler prior to last year's tourney, although he didn't end up making the cut. He'll be there this year and will play a key role on the Swiss blueline. It seems that every year Switzerland is further and further cementing themselves as perennial medal contenders (or at the very least, a team that doesn't need to worry about relegation).Comment
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Re: 2015 World Junior Championship
So I had already made my picks for Team Canada after the selection camp roster was released. I had Sanheim on my roster and was honestly shocked that he was cut already. He was our best defender at the U18s last year and I thought had a chance to be one half of the shutdown pair. But oh well, here's what I would go with based on what's left (and assuming, or rather hoping, that Horvat and Lazar will be made available). I built a team bent on winning a championship, so players with big game experience come first and foremost, and in that regard, league championship appearances are denoted by "^" and Mem Cup appearances by "*"
Max Domi^^*** - Bo Horvat^^*** - Curtis Lazar^^^**
Connor McDavid - Sam Reinhart - Jake Virtanen
Michael Dal Colle - Nic Petan^^^* - Anthony Duclair
Nick Paul^ - Robby Fabbri ^* - Brayden Point
Jason Dickinson^*
It is impossible to really say which is the top line, since our truly best players are more two-way forwards than pure offensive forwards, and our top offensive forwards are younger and less experienced, especially when it comes to big game experience, so instead of first and second, or even 1a and 1b, I would rather call them, say, the Championship Line and the Scoring Line. And indeed, the Championship line combines for 31 games of Mem Cup experience and almost 50 games of NHL experience.
Dickinson makes the ideal 13th forward because he can play all three forward positions and both both special teams situations, although with all the firepower up front, it's unlikely he'd get much opportunity on the PP. Obviously Lazar and Horvat is the top PK unit, and Reinhart the primary second option, while Paul, Point and Dickinson would share the remainder of those responsibilities. It will be interesting to see how the PP duties are shared, since aside from the top six forwards, Petan, Fabbri, Duclaire and Dal Colle are all serious threats with the man-advantage.
Josh Morrissey - Shea Theodore
Darnell Nurse - Dillon Heatherington
Samuel Morin - Madison Bowey
Haydn Fleury
That defense is about as good as Canada has had in recent years, as every one of them is very strong on both sides of the puck - with the exception of Heatherington, who is a pure shutdown guy, but can make a decent enough breakout play not to be a major concern with the puck on his stick.
Zach Fucale^*
Eric Comrie
Zach Sawchenko
I don't think there's any more for me to say about Fucale that hasn't already been said. I don't see Comrie as a legitimate threat to steal the starting job, but if he needs to he can come in and be solid enough to give this team a chance to win. There are surely better options for the third goalie than Sawchenko - Tristan Jarry comes to mind foremost - but it would be good for him to get the experience, since he's likely to be our starting goalie for the next two years after this.Comment
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Re: 2015 World Junior Championship
Matches, what's your take on Lazar or Paul making the team? Chances seemed to be dwindling for Lazar but Garrioch said yesterday that it still is a real option. However, with his first goal out of the way, that could kill the confidence argument. Apparently he's scared of losing his roster spot to Pageau.
Paul has had a great year, and is really showing potential that he could be an NHL player one day. He has size and skill. Do you see him on the team?Comment
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Re: 2015 World Junior Championship
I've all but given up on Lazar at this point. 16 minutes against Boston, first NHL goal the other night, injuries to Neil and Smith. But Lazar and Horvat out just opens the door further to Paul. And not just in the obvious sense that it opens up two roster spots, but more specifically, Lazar and Horvat were set to be our top two penalty-killing forwards. There's a lot of guys on this team capable of killing penalties, but coming up through that North Bay system, Paul is a bona-fide defensive specialist, who can play both center or left wing.
Canada likes to be a big team, and with small guys like Domi (lock), Petan (lock), Fabbri (95% lock) and Brayden Point (66% lock), and most of the top six forwards (Reinhart, Dal Colle, McDavid, Duclair) being just average sized, they need to add more size up front. A guy like Nick Ritchie is scary to have in a tournament like this, as like Bob McKenzie said on Twitter the other day, he took a penalty in one of the practice games that likely would have been a major and possible suspension according to IIHF rules. And discipline has been a major issue for Canada in recent years. Lawson Crouse is only 17 and I'd be surprised if he makes the team.
Also, he has that big game experience of playing in the OHL finals that we'll be missing out on losing all of Horvat and Lazar's Mem Cup experience. So yeah, at this point, I'd actually be be fairly surprised if he doesn't make the team.Comment
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Re: 2015 World Junior Championship
Petan - Reinhart - Duclair
Domi - McDavid - Virtanen
Dal Colle - Fabbri - Chartier
Paul - Gauthier - Point
Dickinson
Those are the forward lines I'd go with assuming Lazar is a no-go, along with Horvat.Comment
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Re: 2015 World Junior Championship
Its official, Lazar will play in the Junior tournament.
Curtis Lazar speaks to the media about being loaned by the ?#?Sens? to Team Canada to participate in the World Junior Hockey Championship. ?#?GoodLuckCurtis ... Sens TV will have the video up shortly.Comment
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Re: 2015 World Junior Championship
I'm all for this. I think the opportunity for life experience outweighs risk of injury. He'll rip it up.Originally posted by JasmineComment
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Re: 2015 World Junior Championship
No way! Awesome. He better be captain now...
Returning player; Canada's best forward at last year's tournament. Three WHL finals appearances, two WHL Championships, two Memorial Cup appearances, one victory. Triple OT winning goal in the Mem Cup semi-final against Guelph (which might as well have been the final, since it was the two best teams, and felt more like the final than the actual one). Oh, and 27 games NHL experience...
It's a pretty obvious choice.Comment
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Re: 2015 World Junior Championship
It's crazy how much things change so quickly. It seemed like after his goal on Monday, everyone was figuring there's no way the Sens will send him. By Wednesday during the day, it seemed like the possibility was becoming very real. After the game, judging by his TOI, it ended up as no huge surprise Lazar will be there.Originally posted by matchesmaloneComment
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Re: 2015 World Junior Championship
The goal was actually against Val-d'or in the semi-final. Guelph vs Edmonton was the finalOriginally posted by matchesmaloneComment
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Re: 2015 World Junior Championship
Is anyone else going down for this? I got tickets a long time ago, pretty pumped. I'm sitting seven rows from the ice, I think, in both Montreal and Toronto. I was going to wear a Team Canada jersey, but since Lazar is on the team now, maybe a Sens jersey? :lol:
I think I'm going to go to all of the Canadian games, maybe all of the US ones and some of the Russia/Sweden ones.
I went to the tournament when it was in Ottawa and it was some of the best hockey I've ever seen. I don't think we'll get to see a tournament like that in a long time.Comment
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Re: 2015 World Junior Championship
Sounds awesome. I wish I could go...I hear the tickets weren't all that bad price wise either.Comment
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