International TournamentsDiscuss International Tournaments like the WJC, Olympics, and World Cup, as they take place, or discuss past tournaments. performances.
I only really watched Canada consistently so I can't comment on other players per se, but of all the players on the roster the one that underwhelmed me the most was actually Dougie Hamilton. I was expecting a near Pietrangelo clone and some rapid improvement from him after last years subpar WJ, but this year he just didn't get the job done. For all of his hype and potential I think he was one of the worst D we had at the tournament, it was infuriating to watch Spott give him so much undeserved ice time.
Huberdeau was god awful. Vastly overrated player. Lazy and thinks he has more skill than he does. Hamilton also was poor and looked overrated. Obviously Yakupov was brutal, many question marks there.
for me it was Hamilton and Hubredeau without question. Not that they were terrible but when the bar is set so high for those players they gotta be better than just OK. They each made some plays where you see the talent but just not consistently enough to be anything but disappointed in them. They should have been among the best in the tournament but they weren't.
This year's tournament raised some many questions on top prospects. But, guys remember, it's just 1 tournament. Huberdeau, Yakupov, Grigorenko, etc will all be good NHLers..except for Ryan Murphy.
I can't believe some people think Grigs was a disappointment, or even more laughable, worse than Galch.
Grigs>Galch this tournament, and it's not even close. Grigs actually showed up in the games that mattered. So much for those claiming he disappears when it counts most. That myth is officially debunked.
Are there actually people calling out Grigorenko here? Wow. He has probably been the most dominant forward in the tournament on a shift to shift basis. SOG is usually a pretty good stat to determine who is making things happen, and when the guy who leading the tournament in SOG is a pass first guy, you know that he's dominating. That's what we've seen from Grigorenko. You'd like him to finish more, but he's been an absolute beast.
He traditionally isn't a fourth line winger in juniors either.
MacKinnon was asked to fill a different role for Team Canada, and did his best with what he had to work with. Keep in mind, this is probably the first team MacKinnon has played on (at least since a very early age) where he wasn't the team's star or go-to forward. Let's not pretend that isn't a big adjustment.
I understand that, and perhaps I am reading too much into this. I wasn't expecting him to lead the team in scoring by any means, but his decisions with the puck were very questionable at times. With the exception of a couple plays, he was just underwhelming.
I've only seen one Canada game this WJC, and while Murphy wasn't great he wasn't super bad either. What is it people are disappointed with? Lack of points or bad defense? Or both?
Grigs>Galch this tournament, and it's not even close. Grins actually showed up in the games that mattered. So much for those claiming he disappears when it counts most. That myth is officially debunked.
I'm surprised how so many fans that create accounts on hockey boards can't look at the big pictures before posting stuff like that. I guarantee you that if Grigorenko was playing LW with Kuraly while Galchenyuk was centering Russia's 2nd line, you would be writing the exact opposite. Galchenyuk pretty much shutdown Huberdeau on his own multiple times yesterday, he has to refine his role on the team because he's playing with less qualitie linemates than his line in Sarnia against obvious better opposition.
Huberdeau was god awful. Vastly overrated player. Lazy and thinks he has more skill than he does. Hamilton also was poor and looked overrated. Obviously Yakupov was brutal, many question marks there.
I've only seen one Canada game this WJC, and while Murphy wasn't great he wasn't super bad either. What is it people are disappointed with? Lack of points or bad defense? Or both?
I'm surprised how so many fans that create accounts on hockey boards can't look at the big pictures before posting stuff like that. I guarantee you that if Grigorenko was playing LW with Kuraly while Galchenyuk was centering Russia's 2nd line, you would be writing the exact opposite. Galchenyuk pretty much shutdown Huberdeau on his own multiple times yesterday, he has to refine his role on the team because he's playing with less qualitie linemates than his line in Sarnia against obvious better opposition.
I saw a player who scored the tying goal to send his team into OT in the semifinals, a player who assisted on the game tying goal to send his team to overtime and had a game tying goal before that, and then helped by scoring in the shootout to send his team to the semis. He was Russia's best player those two games. That's the only guarantee, sir.
His faceoffs still need a ton of work, though.
It's only one tournament. This doesn't have any indication on who will be the better player.
Are there actually people calling out Grigorenko here? Wow. He has probably been the most dominant forward in the tournament on a shift to shift basis. SOG is usually a pretty good stat to determine who is making things happen, and when the guy who leading the tournament in SOG is a pass first guy, you know that he's dominating. That's what we've seen from Grigorenko. You'd like him to finish more, but he's been an absolute beast.
My thoughts exactly. In all games I was watching (except for today's 1st period) his line was dangerous basically every shift. Had he been just a little bit more lucky with his shots he'd easily be at 2 points per game now.
Although I still see some areas where he can improve, especially his top speed, he looked amazing out there and he's only 18.
Personally I was disappointed with most Finnish players (not Ristolainen though) and some Canadians as well. Would have also liked to see more from guys like Yakupov, Galchenyuk and Forsberg, although not all of those are to blame themselves for their performances (coaching etc.).
If you're a top-10 pick in any draft, you need to be better than any of those guys.
Really gotta wonder if you've been watching the same games as everyone else. I think Galchenyuk has looked pretty damn good. Rielly wasn't great, but wasn't bad. If Rielly "sucked bad," then what would you say about Hamilton? He was the worst defenseman on the team during this tournament save Ryan Murphy.
I don't think it's simply a matter of him being a scapegoat.
He's a player known for his offense and he got more offensive opportunities in this tournament than almost any other defenseman. If he makes a few mistakes offensively but still produces, I'd say that'd be pretty much what everyone expected of him.
But he didn't. He produced less points than any other defenseman with more PP time and a ******** of ES time. And on top of that struggled defensively too. That's not OK.
But Carolina fans can continue to believe people are just hating on their player and not give any acknowledgement to his poor play. If you'd told them Murphy would get #1 PP minutes, a crapload of icetime and finish the tournament with zero points, they'd concede that result would be a big disappointment, I'm sure.
Rielly scored a 5-on-3 goal the bounced off the defenseman and a few second assists. His defense is/was substandard. He didn't make a single highlight play the entire tournament.
Sorry, he sucked bad. Certainly not the 'best player in the draft' player he's been touted as. Not by a longshot.
Rielly scored a 5-on-3 goal the bounced off the defenseman and a few second assists. His defense is/was substandard. He didn't make a single highlight play the entire tournament.
Sorry, he sucked bad. Certainly not the 'best player in the draft' player he's been touted as. Not by a longshot.
Well he definitely played a lot better than that Dougie Hamilton guy who is a year older and wasn't out for almost an entire season.
Really gotta wonder if you've been watching the same games as everyone else. I think Galchenyuk has looked pretty damn good. Rielly wasn't great, but wasn't bad. If Rielly "sucked bad," then what would you say about Hamilton? He was the worst defenseman on the team during this tournament save Ryan Murphy.
This. He played decent, could have played better. With that said, he was definitely way better than Murphy and quite a bit better than Hamilton.
I saw a player who scored the tying goal to send his team into OT in the semifinals, a player who assisted on the game tying goal to send his team to overtime and had a game tying goal before that, and then helped by scoring in the shootout to send his team to the semis. He was Russia's best player those two games. That's the only guarantee, sir.
His faceoffs still need a ton of work, though.
It's only one tournament. This doesn't have any indication on who will be the better player.
Exactly!
People take this tournament way too seriously when evaluating prospects. The 6 or 7 games these guys play here don't override the 60+ games they play on their other teams.
I don't think it's simply a matter of him being a scapegoat.
He's a player known for his offense and he got more offensive opportunities in this tournament than almost any other defenseman. If he makes a few mistakes offensively but still produces, I'd say that'd be pretty much what everyone expected of him.
But he didn't. He produced less points than any other defenseman with more PP time and a ******** of ES time. And on top of that struggled defensively too. That's not OK.
But Carolina fans can continue to believe people are just hating on their player and not give any acknowledgement to his poor play. If you'd told them Murphy would get #1 PP minutes, a crapload of icetime and finish the tournament with zero points, they'd concede that result would be a big disappointment, I'm sure.
Really? Every time he did something well, it went completely ignored in the threads. But when he made a mistake? It was like he stole a Vancouver prospects' spot on the squad or something.
No Carolina fan will tell you he played awesome, but his 'bad' play has been greatly exaggerated. He could have easily had a few assists this tournament, and he wasn't a hand grenade on defense like many are portraying. He wasn't awful, but he wasn't great either. He was 'meh'.
Really? Every time he did something well, it went completely ignored in the threads. But when he made a mistake? It was like he stole a Vancouver prospects' spot on the squad or something.
No Carolina fan will tell you he played awesome, but his 'bad' play has been greatly exaggerated. He could have easily had a few assists this tournament, and he wasn't a hand grenade on defense like many are portraying. He wasn't awful, but he wasn't great either. He was 'meh'.
It's really, really hard to ignore the idea that a player known for his offense came in and was given massive PP time and was the only Canadian defenseman without a single point, while struggling defensively. I just don't know that you can call that simply "meh" and not what it was - bad.
This. He played decent, could have played better. With that said, he was definitely way better than Murphy and quite a bit better than Hamilton.
If decent play is throwing meatballs up the middle of the ice in your own zone or taking waster shots directly at the goalies stomach on 4v1 to lose puck possession... hate to see what awful playing by Rielly looks like.
It's really, really hard to ignore the idea that a player known for his offense came in and was given massive PP time and was the only Canadian defenseman without a single point, while struggling defensively. I just don't know that you can call that simply "meh" and not what it was - bad.
The only thing I'll give the pro-Murphy crowd is that he was hardly alone on the blueline in terms of sucking; he should not be considered the source of the issues. Still, he did nothing to earn the ice time that he did.
