International TournamentsDiscuss International Tournaments like the WJC, Olympics, and World Cup, as they take place, or discuss past tournaments. performances.
With the exception of Finland, two players have disappointed me the most as well: David Musil and Nail Yakupov. Musil has really heavy feet and he has taken a lot of penalties. He simply has had a lot of trouble with faster forwards. I expected much more from him. Yakupov has not been scoring much. Also, I have to say that Faksa is a guy who has not impressed me in this tournament. Very invisible in the games that I have seen.
I remember Musil being really impressive last year. He really caught my eye with his smart, physical play. I haven't watched any of the Czech games this year, though. What happened?
This once again shows that NHL #1 draft pick isn't the most talented or the best player, it's the player who's expected to play his hockey at the NHL level.
RNH is the best and most talented player in this tournament, and from his draft year, by far imo.
Kid is special, but I wouldn't expect an average fan(not calling you that, just saying) to see that. He's definitely not all flash and dash, but neither is Datsyuk. It took years for the masses on here to recognize how good Datsyuk is, and all the subtle plays he makes shift-to-shift. RNH has a lot of the same qualities, which makes him easily one of my favorite players in the NHL.
For me, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has been most disappointing. For all the hype, I was expecting to see a superstar performance with a lot of spectacular end-to-end rushes and a big pile of goals. Against Russia, he got 3 assists, but they weren't spectacular, "Wow, did you see that" types of assists. They were just routine, directing the puck toward your teammate kinds of assists. They count, but they were nothing special, and he was the guy who was supposed to deliver the special, no one else can do that type of play every game. Both he and Yakupov were No. 1 NHL draft choices, and I didn't see Nugent-Hopkins do anything that Yakupov couldn't do.
Leading the tournament in points...so disappointing.
I see what Yakushev72 is getting at in his post and I agree with him a bit.
RNH has been used as a PP specialist and has received very sheltered minutes. You can bet if there is a favorable offensive zone faceoff, that you'll see #9 out there more often than not. Considering all the penalties in the tourney, he has received an obscene amount of PP time. I'm curious to know the TOI breakdown for him and his line because they've been getting big time sheltered minutes. It may be the coaching staff, but it could also be construed as indictment's to RNH's overall game or lack thereof to be more specific. I'm honestly having a hard time deciding if it's because of how he's being used or if he's being used in this way for a reason.
To be a franchise #1C that so many are quick to label him, I want more than what has so far been a very one dimensional tourney for him. If he doesn't put up points (mainly on the PP) then he has had very little impact on the game. I think it's pretty telling that we rarely see him take a defensive zone faceoff all game (definitely not late in the game) and that Schiefele is called upon to take the draw in important situations. He's been very ordinary in ES play whenever we actually get to see more than a shift before a penalty is called. His impact has almost been solely on the PP in the tougher games against the USA and Russia.
I'm sorry, but I'm left wanting a lot more from the young man who is described as 'head and shoulders' above the rest by so many.
Most teams in most leagues and tournaments give their offensive stars more offensive zone starts and their shut down lines the defense zone starts. Its called strategy. If you start guys like RNH in the defensive zone, that limits their effectiveness at putting pucks in the net.
Most teams in most leagues and tournaments give their offensive stars more offensive zone starts and their shut down lines the defense zone starts. Its called strategy. If you start guys like RNH in the defensive zone, that limits their effectiveness at putting pucks in the net.
No, no.. This is HFBoards, every superstars first priority is to play great defensively, doesn't matter if they don't score if they gave great effort. For example if Nuge scores 5 goals and Drouin has good PK shift it means that RNH is soft defensively that only is good because of excess PP time and Drouin was the reason for the win because of his defensive prowess..
RNH has been Canadas best player, not sure what more you should expect. I've obviously been watching him very closely and it's painfully obvious that he doesn't belong at this level.
He makes plays all the time that make me say "Wow, this kid is good!". But like I said earlier, he's the type of guy who even if you don't really notice, you'll look at the end of the night at the score sheet and see that he racked up 2 assists. Special player.
Heres a highlight package from his first 38 games in the NHL. Look how many plays make you say "wow" and remember it's only the first 38 games he played in the NHL.
Whats clear to me is that his smarts are way above anyone elses that ive seen in this tourney.
He get right to the open spots with minimal fuss.
Surely that has to dissappoint those fans looking for "flash".
Mark Scheifele is the player that has most disappointed me, and it's a no brainer; kid has looked absolutely terrible. Constantly killing plays with poor decisions, and lacks the hockey sense to play against the best players at this level. His lack of balance has been obvious, as he's been falling all over the ice whenever he comes into contact with an opponent, which is especially troubling considering Scheifele is 6'3, 185lbs. His passing game has been mediocre, and his terrible finishing skills have killed many solid chances for his team.
Complete opposite opinion when it comes to the other high Jets draft pick in the tournament - Jacob Trouba, who would be my pick for tournament MVP if it ended today. The Jets should be extremely excited with what Trouba has shown so far, but horrified at Scheifele's play in the round robin.
Other disappointments for me:
Nail Yakupov - just doesn't look like a top pick to me, having trouble doing anything on the ice, showing a lack of hockey sense, finish, creativity, teamwork and leadership
Jonathan Huberdeau - expecting a lot more from him considering how he played last year in the tourney, looks like he took a step back this year, still weak on the puck and can't win battles with bigger players
Filip Forsberg - showed a major lack of finish, and played a game that does not translate to the NHL level; he needs to simplify his game and avoid trying fancy dangles and pretty passes and get the puck in the back of the net or he'll never live up to expectations
Rickard Rakell - same criticisms I had for Forsberg I have for Rakell, too much dangling and needs to score on his chances or he'll never end up as an NHL player for an extended period of time
Rocco Grimaldi - did not look like a future NHL player, plays a game that can work in the NCAA but not at the NHL level, sure he can skate but like other speedy forwards, he just can't handle making plays at that speed, also suffers from tunnel vision and a lack of finish
J.T Miller - didn't see anything that made me think he's a future top 6 forward, showed a lack of talent and hockey sense
Tyler Biggs - looks out of place even alongside guys like Vesey, Hartman, Bardreau etc... severely lacks talent
Radek Faksa - had no idea he was even playing versus the Americans, was completely invisible
And also Team Finland as a whole, looked amazing in pre-competition, thought they could possibly challenge for gold
Ok, let's be reasonable here. I wouldn't call RNH middle of the rung or below. The kid is an excellent talent and an emerging star in the NHL. He is one of the studs in the tourney.
But that's what leaves me disappointed in his play. Yes, he is leading the tourney in points. The Germany game was a stat padding affair. So was the Slovakia game to an extent. My criticism stems from the games against the USA and Russia - legitimate competition. His goal in the USA game was a beauty, very Eberle-like. That was early in the game and then he was pretty ordinary the rest of the game. Again, he got gobs of PP time and favorable offensive zone draws at ES the entire game - sheltered minutes. Yeah, he's not flashy and he relies on his hockey sense like so many are chirping... he should be making more of an impact at ES in a 'lowly' Junior tournament when he's a #1C in the NHL. I don't think I'm being unreasonable in expecting that.
As for the Russia game, his stat line looked great. 3 assists. 2 PP assists during Nichushkin's major, a feed to Hamilton who's lazer did most of the work and touching the puck in a goal mouth scramble which Sheifele eventually potted through some hard work. Nothing really earth shattering there and considering he was out there for what seemed like 4 minutes out of the 5 in the PP. In any case, he's a PP specialist so he'll get his points. His other assist was a simple soft shot to the net intended to keep the play going which was finished off by a sweet play by Drouin. Drouin was by far the best player on that line the rest of the game, deservedly getting the POG afterwards. If not for Drouin, RNH had little impact at ES again. The coach is quick to throw him out there in any offensive zone faceoff, but it's as if they are scared almost to get him out there in any big defensive situation. So Canada's best player is MIA in a close game late in the game, that's not a good thing. His brain fart at the end of the Russia game didn't help either.
Am I being harsh, could be. I'm just underwhelmed in his overall play. His points have been REALLY quiet and I don't get why people are so overjoyed with that fact? Saying that's his style and this and that... There's more to the game than just points, there are other ways to make an impact in other phases of the game. Past players who had dominant tourneys showed up and had a much larger presence during the games IMO. I've seen enough of him just pulling up at the right boards and looking for a pass. Go attack the net and make something happen rather than playing so passively. Oh yeah, it's his style to play that way.
I expect more from him now that it's crunch time. Hopefully with Drouin, they can build on how they looked in the last game. RNH needs to impress more than a 17 year old draft eligible, that wasn't the case last game.
Is this post for real?
I'm not exactly sure what you expect from RNH this tournament. He is absolutely obliterating the opposition AINEC. 2.75 PPG compared to the next highest which is 1.8. Do you expect him to score at a 5 PPG pace?
RNH isn't sheltered. He is the prime, go-to offensive player for Canada, hence his high offensive zone starts. It's not like he's out there against 4th lines/3rd pairs. Opposing teams put their top shutdown unit against his line.
This isn't the NHL, specific players are assigned a certain role in this short tournament, which is why you don't see a guy like JC Lipon on the PP like he is so used to this past year. It's rather a short tournament where players are put in position for their strengths. RNH shouldn't be starting shifts in his own end because he is much more useful to the team to try to create offense, which is what he's doing.
Hodgson, Eberle, Tavares, Hall, Kadri, Schenn, all of these players got what by your standards 'sheltered minutes' since they got a ton of offensive zone time.
How has RNH been a dissapointment? Dude has made the best play every single time he has touched the puck all tournament. His ability to just be in the right place, make the right pass, get the puck to the right areas and just see the play are Gretzky-like.
He is playing 20 minutes a game and literally hasn't turned the puck over once, he hasn't been hit once, he has broken up a ridiculous amount of plays and has just done everything exactly how it should be done.
He leads the tournament in points and he hasn't impressed? lolwut? I sorry he makes smart plays instead of trying to make 1 on 1 challenges.
Some people greatly underestimate how good RNH is. He just plays a perfect game that you can't stop. You look at any given shift RNH plays and he always in the right spot. You know he not going to do anything flashy but it doesn't matter because he doesn't need to. Everyone knows how he plays but they can't stop him from scoring because he is unstoppable. You can't hit or poke check him because he never in the position for that to happen. You can't just put two or three guys on him because since he has good linemates, then his linemates just score.
Only time I've ever seen RNH is a force that just makes all players around him better, and that is a pretty special quality.
Jesus Christ, Hopkins is playing sheltered minutes? What planet are you guys from? You think the second the opposition coach sees RNH jump the boards, he's like "alright, let's match him up with our bottom guys!" No, they're responding with their best guys. In no way, in no fashion, would any coach not respond to him being on the ice with anything but the best defensive matchup. This isn't the NHL where he's a raw rookie. He's by far the best player in the tournament. He's facing the best compeitition he can face at this level simply because the other teams can't afford to do anything else.
I'm not exactly sure what you expect from RNH this tournament. He is absolutely obliterating the opposition AINEC. 2.75 PPG compared to the next highest which is 1.8. Do you expect him to score at a 5 PPG pace?
RNH isn't sheltered. He is the prime, go-to offensive player for Canada, hence his high offensive zone starts. It's not like he's out there against 4th lines/3rd pairs. Opposing teams put their top shutdown unit against his line.
This isn't the NHL, specific players are assigned a certain role in this short tournament, which is why you don't see a guy like JC Lipon on the PP like he is so used to this past year. It's rather a short tournament where players are put in position for their strengths. RNH shouldn't be starting shifts in his own end because he is much more useful to the team to try to create offense, which is what he's doing.
Hodgson, Eberle, Tavares, Hall, Kadri, Schenn, all of these players got what by your standards 'sheltered minutes' since they got a ton of offensive zone time.
Bingo. It takes a special kind of obtuse to question why the top offensive centre is getting top offensive minutes.
I'm not exactly sure what you expect from RNH this tournament. He is absolutely obliterating the opposition AINEC. 2.75 PPG compared to the next highest which is 1.8. Do you expect him to score at a 5 PPG pace?
RNH isn't sheltered. He is the prime, go-to offensive player for Canada, hence his high offensive zone starts. It's not like he's out there against 4th lines/3rd pairs. Opposing teams put their top shutdown unit against his line.
This isn't the NHL, specific players are assigned a certain role in this short tournament, which is why you don't see a guy like JC Lipon on the PP like he is so used to this past year. It's rather a short tournament where players are put in position for their strengths. RNH shouldn't be starting shifts in his own end because he is much more useful to the team to try to create offense, which is what he's doing.
Hodgson, Eberle, Tavares, Hall, Kadri, Schenn, all of these players got what by your standards 'sheltered minutes' since they got a ton of offensive zone time.
Sadly, my post is for real. If you read my posts regarding this matter, I've been unimpressed with RNH's overall game and impact - mainly at ES. I can understand people thinking I'm 'obtuse' and just a casual fan that has no idea about the subtle plays that he makes.
Take away the Germany game as that was a cakewalk and he padded his stats with 5 points. I can't remember too much about the Slovakia game so I'll leave that out. In the last 3 games, RNH was rather pedestrian at ES and I didn't notice much of an impact from him at all.
While I grasp the idea of putting your top offensive weapon out in as many favorable draws as possible (the dreaded 'sheltering of minutes'), he didn't produce outside of a major PP because of a boneheaded play by Nichushkin against Russia. With the amount of ice time he has received in the 'big' games, I expected more than 1 g 1 a in 3 games at ES. Consider the immense hype before the tourney and so his performance has been even less impressive. I expected more from him and to have a greater impact, but he didn't for whatever reasons.
As for my criteria, I'm pretty sure all the players you listed weren't the #1 overall pick who had already completed an entire season in the NHL and succeeded. Not to mention playing very well in the AHL this year before the WJC... RNH was the Captain of the team and considered it's best player. He received the type of ice time you would expect from your big gun, he hasn't performed like a big gun. That's my beef and I feel it's legitimate.
For all thos saying RNH he had a poor game today.. he's not even close to the answer in this thread. Unless you were expecting him to be head and shoulders above everyone else in this tournament.. I guess you could be disappointed then. But in real life, he was never supposed to be that.
Also wondering why some are saying E. Lindholm. He was the best '13 draft eligible player during the group stage. Rarely made any mistakes, scored some points and was playing a whole game with both hitting and good defensive plays. Perhaps for those who expected him to be the go-to player in this tournament... he never was.
That said, Seth Jones has looked like an absolute beast in both the quarter finals and Semis.. and is by far the most impressive so far.
Mark Scheifele is the player that has most disappointed me, and it's a no brainer; kid has looked absolutely terrible. Constantly killing plays with poor decisions, and lacks the hockey sense to play against the best players at this level. His lack of balance has been obvious, as he's been falling all over the ice whenever he comes into contact with an opponent, which is especially troubling considering Scheifele is 6'3, 185lbs. His passing game has been mediocre, and his terrible finishing skills have killed many solid chances for his team.
Complete opposite opinion when it comes to the other high Jets draft pick in the tournament - Jacob Trouba, who would be my pick for tournament MVP if it ended today. The Jets should be extremely excited with what Trouba has shown so far, but horrified at Scheifele's play in the round robin.
Other disappointments for me:
Nail Yakupov - just doesn't look like a top pick to me, having trouble doing anything on the ice, showing a lack of hockey sense, finish, creativity, teamwork and leadership
Jonathan Huberdeau - expecting a lot more from him considering how he played last year in the tourney, looks like he took a step back this year, still weak on the puck and can't win battles with bigger players
Filip Forsberg - showed a major lack of finish, and played a game that does not translate to the NHL level; he needs to simplify his game and avoid trying fancy dangles and pretty passes and get the puck in the back of the net or he'll never live up to expectations
Rickard Rakell - same criticisms I had for Forsberg I have for Rakell, too much dangling and needs to score on his chances or he'll never end up as an NHL player for an extended period of time
Rocco Grimaldi - did not look like a future NHL player, plays a game that can work in the NCAA but not at the NHL level, sure he can skate but like other speedy forwards, he just can't handle making plays at that speed, also suffers from tunnel vision and a lack of finish
J.T Miller - didn't see anything that made me think he's a future top 6 forward, showed a lack of talent and hockey sense
Tyler Biggs - looks out of place even alongside guys like Vesey, Hartman, Bardreau etc... severely lacks talent
Radek Faksa - had no idea he was even playing versus the Americans, was completely invisible
And also Team Finland as a whole, looked amazing in pre-competition, thought they could possibly challenge for gold
Great post - Scheifele, IMO, has been the most disappointing player at this tournament. You could add that he has turned into a world class diver as well.
I will give 18 year old's a slight pass, this still remains a 19 year old tournament.
