World Junior Championships

[kinot-2]

They are on TSN and they are on now. 

We have 5 draft picks playing.

Joshua Roy, center/left wing, Canada, 2021 fifth-round pick (150th)

Petteri Nurmi, defenseman, Finland, 2022 seventh-round pick (194th)

Jan Mysak, center/left wing, Czechia, 2020 second-round pick (48th)

Oliver Kapanen, center, Finland, 2021 second-round pick (64th)

Riley Kidney, center, Canada, 2021 second-round pick (63rd).

[BigTed3]

Thus far, not terribly impressed with Joshua Roy.

The good: he seems to have a good nose for where to go in the offensive zone and he has a decent shot.

The bad: he floats a lot. Doesn't accelerate, doesn't battle much for loose pucks, keeps one hand on the stick much of the time the puck is not on his stick. In general, I find his play without the puck is not very strong, and if you want to play in the NHL, that has to be much better. I know some are high on him as a prospect because of how prolific a year he had in the Q, but I'm not seeing a style of game that's going to make for an easy transition for him.

[claremont]

12 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

Thus far, not terribly impressed with Joshua Roy.

The good: he seems to have a good nose for where to go in the offensive zone and he has a decent shot.

The bad: he floats a lot. Doesn't accelerate, doesn't battle much for loose pucks, keeps one hand on the stick much of the time the puck is not on his stick. In general, I find his play without the puck is not very strong, and if you want to play in the NHL, that has to be much better. I know some are high on him as a prospect because of how prolific a year he had in the Q, but I'm not seeing a style of game that's going to make for an easy transition for him.

He just turned 19 - one of the youngest players in his draft year. I will give the kid a pass and watch a few more games. They put him in a position to succeed playing on the top line, but he does need to improve his skating. I have seen too many top scorers from the Q kind of stall - Alexandre Daigle, Veleno, Zadina amongst many others, so hopefully the "new" development team do not rush him. 

[maas_art]

16 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

Thus far, not terribly impressed with Joshua Roy.

The good: he seems to have a good nose for where to go in the offensive zone and he has a decent shot.

The bad: he floats a lot. Doesn't accelerate, doesn't battle much for loose pucks, keeps one hand on the stick much of the time the puck is not on his stick. In general, I find his play without the puck is not very strong, and if you want to play in the NHL, that has to be much better. I know some are high on him as a prospect because of how prolific a year he had in the Q, but I'm not seeing a style of game that's going to make for an easy transition for him.

Yeah its tough to say after a game or two how this really translates.  In junior he seemed more engaged from what i saw, so I wonder if this is more to do with him trying to read his teammates & get used to the system.

I still think he has the potential to be a core piece but, like all prospects, has things he needs to work on for sure. 

[BigTed3]

6 hours ago, claremont said:

He just turned 19 - one of the youngest players in his draft year. I will give the kid a pass and watch a few more games. They put him in a position to succeed playing on the top line, but he does need to improve his skating. I have seen too many top scorers from the Q kind of stall - Alexandre Daigle, Veleno, Zadina amongst many others, so hopefully the "new" development team do not rush him. 

 

2 hours ago, maas_art said:

Yeah its tough to say after a game or two how this really translates.  In junior he seemed more engaged from what i saw, so I wonder if this is more to do with him trying to read his teammates & get used to the system.

I still think he has the potential to be a core piece but, like all prospects, has things he needs to work on for sure. 

Oh, I'm not saying he's a flop. I'm saying I wasn't impressed with his WJC debut and that he seems to have a number of things to work on that currently don't translate well to the NHL. It's not to say he'll never be an NHLer but I've seen a lot of talk here about how he's a top prospect and some have even penciled in to competing for an NHL job this year or next. I'm simply saying that I don't think he's one of our top 5 prospects and I don't think he's all that close to being ready for the NHL. He's got a lot of things to work on to get to a pro-level game. In some ways, he actually reminds me of Guillaume Latendresse... good player from 30 feet in to the offensive net but doesn't really show a real understanding of what he's supposed to be doing otherwise, be it defensively or without the puck.

[maas_art]

44 minutes ago, BigTed3 said:

Oh, I'm not saying he's a flop. I'm saying I wasn't impressed with his WJC debut and that he seems to have a number of things to work on that currently don't translate well to the NHL. It's not to say he'll never be an NHLer but I've seen a lot of talk here about how he's a top prospect and some have even penciled in to competing for an NHL job this year or next. I'm simply saying that I don't think he's one of our top 5 prospects and I don't think he's all that close to being ready for the NHL. He's got a lot of things to work on to get to a pro-level game. In some ways, he actually reminds me of Guillaume Latendresse... good player from 30 feet in to the offensive net but doesn't really show a real understanding of what he's supposed to be doing otherwise, be it defensively or without the puck.

Yeah i dont think they (Habs) would have let him go to the WJC if he was likely to play this year. We vetoed Slaf, Guhle and even Mesar. 

I do think he has a fair bit of work left to do but I do also think he has the potential to be a strong player for us in the future, but as we've seen time and again, "promising prospect" doesnt always = quality NHler. 

I still cant get over our "strong RHD" situation a few years ago - and NONE of them worked out. Crazy. Not Brook, Not Fleury, Not Juulsen (albeit injuries derailed his future), even guys like Lernout, Koberstein and Thrower looked like they should be bottom pairing RD and not a single one of them worked out.  Crazy. 

[MALMACIAN_CRUNCH]

On 8/11/2022 at 4:11 PM, maas_art said:

Yeah i dont think they (Habs) would have let him go to the WJC if he was likely to play this year. We vetoed Slaf, Guhle and even Mesar. 

About that… Guhle, I get. Slaf, I’d have liked to see him against his peers. But Mesar??? Why in the world is he not playing? Drafted 26th and what? He’s a walk on? No chance he belongs with the big club this year, so why keep him out of the tournament?

[maas_art]

23 hours ago, MALMACIAN_CRUNCH said:

About that… Guhle, I get. Slaf, I’d have liked to see him against his peers. But Mesar??? Why in the world is he not playing? Drafted 26th and what? He’s a walk on? No chance he belongs with the big club this year, so why keep him out of the tournament?

I *think* their reasoning is that they want Slaf to feel as comfortable as possible & it seems like those 2 have been joined at the hip since draft day. So i think this is more about keeping them together (and Slaf confident) than thinking Mesar is likely to play anywhere other than Laval or the minors next year. 

[MALMACIAN_CRUNCH]

21 hours ago, maas_art said:

I *think* their reasoning is that they want Slaf to feel as comfortable as possible & it seems like those 2 have been joined at the hip since draft day. So i think this is more about keeping them together (and Slaf confident) than thinking Mesar is likely to play anywhere other than Laval or the minors next year. 

Makes sense, although with that in mind, I’d rather they had sent both to play in the tournament. I’m really hoping Slaf doesn’t get thrown into the lineup this year anyways, I’d rather see him in Laval. And since Wright, one way or another is likely going to look better in the short term, or would have been nice to give Slaf a shot at showing off what he can do in a tournament against his peers. So far all we’ve seen is a good Olympic showing, bookended by looking underwhelming against adults.

[maas_art]

35 minutes ago, MALMACIAN_CRUNCH said:

Makes sense, although with that in mind, I’d rather they had sent both to play in the tournament. I’m really hoping Slaf doesn’t get thrown into the lineup this year anyways, I’d rather see him in Laval. And since Wright, one way or another is likely going to look better in the short term, or would have been nice to give Slaf a shot at showing off what he can do in a tournament against his peers. So far all we’ve seen is a good Olympic showing, bookended by looking underwhelming against adults.

One thing to note about Slaf's season in Liiga that I wasnt aware of until recently is that he actually had good stats when he came back international play.   When you see 10 points in 31 games its pretty underwhelming but i think it was something like 4 points in the first 21 games - then international - then he came back & got 6 points in his last 10 games, and then decent stats in the playoffs & worlds etc. 

I think there's a definite trajectory there.  I still would feel more excited about Nemec or Cooley or Wright based on our team needs and depth, but i also trust HuGo's moves and I am cautiously optimistic.  If Slaf is some mini Jagr or something we're all going to be shaking our heads that we even were worried.

And i agree with you that I dont want him rushed but at the same time, if he comes into camp and dominates, Id definitely like to see him show what he can do in the regular season, at least for a few games. 

 

[MALMACIAN_CRUNCH]

On 8/15/2022 at 3:42 PM, maas_art said:

And i agree with you that I dont want him rushed but at the same time, if he comes into camp and dominates, Id definitely like to see him show what he can do in the regular season, at least for a few games. 

 

Meh, I have my doubts he’ll dominate. I do however believe he can play just well enough to bait us into rushing him in, and for me the risk in that outweighs the reward. I’d like him to go straight to Laval. If he’s truly ready, he’ll be up with the club by Christmas. But that’s just my opinion, I have a feeling he’ll get the Kotkaneimi treatment.

[maas_art]

2 hours ago, MALMACIAN_CRUNCH said:

Meh, I have my doubts he’ll dominate. I do however believe he can play just well enough to bait us into rushing him in, and for me the risk in that outweighs the reward. I’d like him to go straight to Laval. If he’s truly ready, he’ll be up with the club by Christmas. But that’s just my opinion, I have a feeling he’ll get the Kotkaneimi treatment.

This (the bolded part) is definitely the concern.

I would be REALLY worried with the old management but im hopeful with the team we have in place now (clearly with a huge emphasis being put on development) that we might be ok.  

 

[ChiLla]

Didn’t get a chance to watch any games but Roy and Mysak seem to be doing okay stats-wise. McTavish, however, seems to be playing on an entirely different level than everybody else.

[rkgoalie]

mctavish is sooooooooooo  nhl ready.

[claremont]

4 hours ago, ChiLla said:

Didn’t get a chance to watch any games but Roy and Mysak seem to be doing okay stats-wise. McTavish, however, seems to be playing on an entirely different level than everybody else.

Agree on McTavish - JRoy may have a good shot and some good hockey sense, but IMO he has a lot to work on with respect to his skating and puck possession before he's close to NHL ready. Dufour and Islanders pick and close to JRoy in these and QMJHL stats, has IMO looked better so far. Mysak has some grit but I haven't seen enough from him yet. 

[HabsAlways]

On 8/11/2022 at 2:11 PM, maas_art said:

Yeah i dont think they (Habs) would have let him go to the WJC if he was likely to play this year. We vetoed Slaf, Guhle and even Mesar. 

I do think he has a fair bit of work left to do but I do also think he has the potential to be a strong player for us in the future, but as we've seen time and again, "promising prospect" doesnt always = quality NHler. 

I still cant get over our "strong RHD" situation a few years ago - and NONE of them worked out. Crazy. Not Brook, Not Fleury, Not Juulsen (albeit injuries derailed his future), even guys like Lernout, Koberstein and Thrower looked like they should be bottom pairing RD and not a single one of them worked out.  Crazy. 

Brook also got derailed by injuries

[claremont]

So Czechia bounces the USA and Mysak out scores and outplayed the lofty Cooley 

[maas_art]

2 hours ago, HabsAlways said:

Brook also got derailed by injuries

truth.

[kinot-2]

Canada plays the Finns tommorrow for the GOLD.

[rkgoalie]

14 hours ago, kinot-2 said:

Canada plays the Finns tommorrow for the GOLD.

lets go boys you got this 

[rkgoalie]

i will go with a 5-2 canada win,

[kinot-2]

6 hours ago, rkgoalie said:

i will go with a 5-2 canada win,

Gonna be a tough game. 

 

[ramcharger440]

Roy with a goal he has been getting better as the tournament goes on. Cooley was a bit of a letdown.....looked kind of lost.

[H_T_L]

4 minutes ago, ramcharger440 said:

Roy with a goal he has been getting better as the tournament goes on. Cooley was a bit of a letdown.....looked kind of lost.

Cooley is another guy i just don't see the hype about. 

[electron58]

17 minutes ago, ramcharger440 said:

Roy with a goal he has been getting better as the tournament goes on. Cooley was a bit of a letdown.....looked kind of lost.

Joshua Roy has been getting better, and he has the trust of his coach, which is huge. Playing in all situations.  Most used player in their last game. Used to kind of shadow Jan Mysak.  Plus, he's getting a lot of love,  from the press. All positives,  so far.