The World Juniors is in my eyes not that relevant for future success and can be an overated tool for projecting players.
Quite an interesting quote. Overated, sure, you could argue that. But not that relevant? Having the worlds best players under the age of 20 play against each other would appear to me to be a great way to measure players and evaluate chances for suture success. Why do you feel this way?
Quite an interesting quote. Overated, sure, you could argue that. But not that relevant? Having the worlds best players under the age of 20 play against each other would appear to me to be a great way to measure players and evaluate chances for suture success. Why do you feel this way?
Quite an interesting quote. Overated, sure, you could argue that. But not that relevant? Having the worlds best players under the age of 20 play against each other would appear to me to be a great way to measure players and evaluate chances for suture success. Why do you feel this way?
It's a small tournament. What they do throughout the regular season is also much more important surely?
Plus, the World Juniors also has a disparity in talent. Draft eligible players on the Czechs, Slovaks etc simply aren't going to be able to perform to a level you might expect against much tougher stronger opposition in relation to their own team. It isn't like a CHL vs CHL game, where talent can be relatively close. Faksa had an ok event, but is considered a 1st round pick and what he did here will have little bearing on where he gets drafted.
The event is also not for 17 yr olds. What they do here doesn't really matter that much for future projections.
We have to remember Bjugstad was just coming off an injury in this tourney, literally. His first pre-tourney game was his first game back. Those who just saw him for the first time, didn't see the real Bjugstad. He looked off for the majority of the tourney, made lots of bad passes and plays. I'm not totally excusing him, but there is a legitimate excuse. No doubt he was rusty. He was one of the few U.S. forwards however who consistently drove to the net and worked hard all the time.
I don't get the comment about him needing to add a lot of weight either. He's already 205 lbs. He's a very tall kid so that weight needs to be distributed to a lot of space, maybe that's the confusion. He doesn't have any size problems matching up against 23 and 24 year olds in the NCAA though. Also, there's no way he spends 4 years in college. He's gone after this year and he'll be in the AHL for at least one season.
Rau was OK, far from their best player. He's not a guy that was going to thrive in a tourney like this though. He's a cerebral guy first, not a dynamic player. And especially with most of his teammates playing like garbage, there was noone for him to feed off of. I think he did alright for a small guy who's a bit of a project prospect. A terrific start to his NCAA career mostly got him on the team, I'm realistic about his NHL chances though, they're probably slim but he's a very hard worker and anything he gets in the future he'll definitely have earned.
Huby was great offensively, but man is he weak. The WJC really exposed this. It's one thing to dominate the Q, and even the Memorial Cup, but playing against the best junior players in the world, he got pushed around a lot. He has a hell of a summer ahead of him. I don't know if the Panthers really targeted getting him on a specific weight gaining program, but they better do it this summer, because if they did it didn't work. They really need to spend a lot of time with him. He's lighter than he was in training camp. It's laughable thinking about him potentially playing in the NHL right now. He'd have been carried off the ice by now.
Howden was good I thought, not dominant in any way, but he is what he is. A very hardworking, big, physical, reliable player who is solid in all three zones and can chip in with scoring every once in a while. A valuable commodity for any team interested in winning.
Kosov was definitely the pleasant surprise of the tourney for me. He showed a nice blend of size, speed, grit, and skill. I could definitely see him in our bottom six within 5 years.
I didn't catch much of Finland, but Donskoi looked OK. About what I expected/less than what I hoped for. He's a middling prospect for us, not great, not bad. If he never makes it, I won't be surprised, and if he does make it I won't be surprised either.
I think Hubs has to put on weight but there are guys, Riberio comes to mind, who are stick thin. If your style of game is high skill and head always on a swivel/vision you can manage. With that said, Hubs will definitely benefit from more weight. His game is similar to Riberio but Hubs definitely likes being around the net. The right decision was made to send him back to Juniors because I agree, he'd be another guy on IR.
As a big center who will go to the net, I think Bjugstad should put on a lot more weight. He looks lanky. Guds also needs to put on more weight. When I saw Guds in a t-shirt and shorts he was thin, not really solid. In their defense, they're bodies grew faster than they could manage to put on lean mass, but both of these guys need to put on a good amount more of weight. They will only get bigger and stronger. They're young so it's just a time thing. I bet this offseason will see these three guys come into camp with a lot more lean mass on them.
I think Hubs has to put on weight but there are guys, Riberio comes to mind, who are stick thin. If your style of game is high skill and head always on a swivel/vision you can manage. With that said, Hubs will definitely benefit from more weight. His game is similar to Riberio but Hubs definitely likes being around the net. The right decision was made to send him back to Juniors because I agree, he'd be another guy on IR.
Ribeiro is really slight too, but he's also a very good skater. Still something Huby has to improve. Ribeiro's very quick and elusive. You don't really see him getting pushed around because he doesn't allow himself to be. Huby got knocked around a lot and outmuscled in the corners and along the boards in the WJC, and the fact that he likes to go to the net makes it worse. He'll never be able to consistently penetrate traffic in front of the net unless he gets a lot stronger. He likes to play like a big guy, but the problem is he's not. It's obviously been shown that he can't gain weight during the season, so he's gonna have a hell of summer coming up like I said. Probelm is, his team is probably going to go to the Memorial Cup again so it'll be another short summer.
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As a big center who will go to the net, I think Bjugstad should put on a lot more weight. He looks lanky. Guds also needs to put on more weight. When I saw Guds in a t-shirt and shorts he was thin, not really solid. In their defense, they're bodies grew faster than they could manage to put on lean mass, but both of these guys need to put on a good amount more of weight. They will only get bigger and stronger. They're young so it's just a time thing. I bet this offseason will see these three guys come into camp with a lot more lean mass on them.
Bjugstad will put on more weight, but like you said these guys are young, only 19/20. For his age, I think Bjugstad's weight is fine. He only really looks lanky because he's 6'5". Gud looks big to me and he said before the season that he was 220 lbs., but I'll take your word for it. He has time though, again. He's definitely over 200 lbs. Both of these guys could easily get up to over 220 lbs.
Ribeiro is really slight too, but he's also a very good skater. Still something Huby has to improve. Ribeiro's very quick and elusive. You don't really see him getting pushed around because he doesn't allow himself to be. Huby got knocked around a lot and outmuscled in the corners and along the boards in the WJC, and the fact that he likes to go to the net makes it worse. He'll never be able to consistently penetrate traffic in front of the net unless he gets a lot stronger. He likes to play like a big guy, but the problem is he's not. It's obviously been shown that he can't gain weight during the season, so he's gonna have a hell of summer coming up like I said. Probelm is, his team is probably going to go to the Memorial Cup again so it'll be another short summer.
Bjugstad will put on more weight, but like you said these guys are young, only 19/20. For his age, I think Bjugstad's weight is fine. He only really looks lanky because he's 6'5". Gud looks big to me and he said before the season that he was 220 lbs., but I'll take your word for it. He has time though, again. He's definitely over 200 lbs. Both of these guys could easily get up to over 220 lbs.
Appears Connor Brickley may be out for the rest of the year. He severed a tendon and is listed as indefinite for his UVM team. Would like to have seen him on the World stage. He went down and so did that USA team. Kinda moving along at his own pace while playing for one of the worst NCAA teams in the country (based on record). I monitor the NCAA kids and he is interesting. Built like a brick at 6'0 195 lbs, great hands w/ over the top speed & quickness. I see that his college team will have difficulty keeping him another year.
Ribeiro is really slight too, but he's also a very good skater. Still something Huby has to improve. Ribeiro's very quick and elusive. You don't really see him getting pushed around because he doesn't allow himself to be. Huby got knocked around a lot and outmuscled in the corners and along the boards in the WJC, and the fact that he likes to go to the net makes it worse. He'll never be able to consistently penetrate traffic in front of the net unless he gets a lot stronger. He likes to play like a big guy, but the problem is he's not. It's obviously been shown that he can't gain weight during the season, so he's gonna have a hell of summer coming up like I said. Probelm is, his team is probably going to go to the Memorial Cup again so it'll be another short summer
But he won't have the combine or the draft so he can hopefully get some rest and add some muscle.
Appears Connor Brickley may be out for the rest of the year. He severed a tendon and is listed as indefinite for his UVM team. Would like to have seen him on the World stage. He went down and so did that USA team. Kinda moving along at his own pace while playing for one of the worst NCAA teams in the country (based on record). I monitor the NCAA kids and he is interesting. Built like a brick at 6'0 195 lbs, great hands w/ over the top speed & quickness. I see that his college team will have difficulty keeping him another year.
Actually, the injury will probably guarantee that UVM keeps him another year now. He was improving greatly, but now the Panthers will wait and see how he recovers - they've got too many bodies both signed and otherwise available to them to want to rush him to the NHL after he misses half a season.
Anyway, I was afraid this would be the result of that injury...sucks, because UVM couldn't stand to lose anyone at this point, and Brickley was their most improved player this year. It's really been a transition year because they lost the rest of that high-end defensive corps that got them to the NCAA tourney a few years ago, and they've also struggled with injuries (I think they're dressing a few walk-on players at this point).
Coach Sneddon's on the radio right now - haven't been paying attention, gotta turn it up
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"...and ultimately it doesn't matter."
