WJC 2021

[mikeg]

🔥🔥🔥🔥

[Habs_fan_in_LA]

Jan 3, 2021 0:30:15 GMT -5 mikeg said:

🔥🔥🔥🔥

He is a great scorer and could be great in the right environment Hope the Hab’s first line will be the right place for him. Great jockey but weak NBA center.

[GNick99]

Jan 2, 2021 21:09:20 GMT -5 Tankdriver said:

Is anyone else not impressed by team Canada? They might win gold and have 20 or 21 first round picks on the team, but I am just not wow'd by this team. I don't see the high end talent or superstars. Maybe it is just me.

They lost 2 top players. Dach and Lafreniere.

[NWTHabsFan]

So, the big question here is...how has Caufield looked? At times, he is like the player everyone hoped the Habs drafted. For large chunks of this tourney, he has looked some weird combination of frustrated and snake bitten. And for other stretches, he has looked rather ineffective. The biggest thing to realize is that his game has actually been better than his stats. That is all fine and dandy, but this guy will be paid to score goals, not just look pretty. When he does not score goals, is it a complete failure?

First, there are parts of his game that have really improved since last year. He is a better skater, shiftier, and better with the puck. He has underrated vision, because everyone expects him to shoot. But he actually can pass and dish the puck quite well. He has shown some nice puck transition skills this tourney as well. He is also much more committed to back checking and coming back on the defensive side of the puck. Small forwards often struggle on this simply due to size, but his effort and awareness is way up from before. And his shot is still very top notch. So, why has he not put up better numbers?

It is part bad luck, a big part of coach’s usage, and a bit of how he still needs to adapt his game. He has had chances, but so few of them are going in. If say three or four of those had gone in over five games, the conversation would be night and day. But, he still needs to convert at a better rate than he has. His usage has been at times very odd. Using him in the slot or bumper role on the PP is such a mismatch, that I am really surprised that Leaman, Donato and team have not changed this up yet. Put a bigger body like Boldy there instead. CC has been in the middle of the classic WJC collapsed box on the PK that he has no time or is hardly ever open. Get a big body in there instead who can screen, battle D for position, or whack in ugly rebounds. Watch his highlights and past games. He does not score those kind of goals. He has never been used there. Get him on the half wall and allow him to be in constant motion finding soft spots on the ice and...lookout.

He has decent linemates five on five in highly touted 2021 pick Beniers and fellow first rounder Boldy. But darn, that line has really underwhelmed for a lot of its play. Grinding board work, dump and chase...hardly the type of game that should see Caufield excel. It is a shame we have not seen him on that top line with Zegras and Turcotte (the team’s two best playmakers by far) instead of that sluggish lazy Kaliev. Oh well, that would have been too much fun. I expect the coaches are trying to spread the talent around a bit. The one big knock on Caufield is that you expect a talented 19 year old of his calibre to make his own chances or be able to adapt. He still needs to work on that. He probably will also have to learn to get his nose dirtier and go to the tougher spaces to get some ugly points. Just watch other smaller guys like Brink and Berard. The former makes hay in the crease and the latter is willing to play in the hot spots against much bigger opponents at times.

The WJC is a snapshot in time. Will it be a perfect projection of future pro success or failure? Maybe, maybe not. I would bet that Poehling would like to have the magic of his MVP performance or his pro debut back instead of last season that was. Suzuki looked quite ineffective in Vancouver at the WJC, and then was a superb rookie. McDonagh and Sergachev had bad WJC, but that did not define them. Fucale won gold as the starting goalie, and never played an NHL game.

Cole had a decent game last night. He was really energized after his sweet goal and almost scored on the backhand on the next shift (memories of the pre tourney game against the tough Finns). Then he had this great chance off the bar. On the other hand, Guhle has the same number of goals as him. At least the birthday boy did not go home empty handed last night.

[seventeen]

The Avs have another really good one in Byram. He's clearly the best dman on that team and probably in the tournament. Sakic's biggest problem is going to be the CAP in a few years (but after they've won a couple of Cups no one will care).

Ah....nothing like top 10 picks.

[NWTHabsFan]

Jan 3, 2021 14:17:20 GMT -5 seventeen said:

The Avs have another really good one in Byram. He's clearly the best dman on that team and probably in the tournament. Sakic's biggest problem is going to be the CAP in a few years (but after they've won a couple of Cups no one will care).

Ah....nothing like top 10 picks.

Canada seems to have legitimate game breakers in Byram and Cozens and a real dark horse in Levi. It is a real shame we did not get to see what Dach could have done this tourney, although it is a much bigger shame for CHI who loses him for 4+ months in a shortened season when they are already light on healthy centres.

The Habs’ last chance at a top ten pick for a while likely slipped through their fingers this past summer.

[NWTHabsFan]

For those who missed last night’s game (it was a late one), here are some CC highlights. The commentators do talk about Caufield a lot, so interesting to hear their views on his play. This was from the NHL Network US based feed courtesy of Daniel Linn’s YouTube channel.

[seventeen]

I agree. The teams talent level is in purgatory. Too good to fail and not good enough to succeed. Thanks Geoff. May you rot in bankruptcy hell.

[Cranky]

Caufield has got a long road to make it to an NHL career. He needs another 15 pounds, get quicker, gets more pain killers.

The open looks he gets now will diminish to very few a game and closer to nothing. He can't play any sort of perimeter game in Julien world.

So those 15 pounds are mandatory to be a 200 foot player and actually be something more then a tripping hazard. That quickness, it's mandatory to get his looks. Those pain killers, they come in handy after 230 pound gorillas take a few shots...or several. Game in and game out.

Soooo.....he's neither a bust nor star-ready. He's another young prospect that got somewhere by his exceptional but narrow skill at the junior level. What's next is what he wants to make of it.

[NWTHabsFan]

Semi Final Day.

RUS vs CAN (Guhle) 6:00pm ET TSN

FIN vs USA (Caufield) 9:30pm ET TSN

[Cranky]

I wanted Newhook or Krebs...we got Caulfield.

Why?

[Cranky]

The Russian goalie is garbage. Me thinks that the only way he plays in the NHL.....as a Zamboni driver.

[Cranky]

Guhle pooooched his coverage. Ouch.



Edit..NO goal. But still, Guhle made a bad decision. He likex to hit, but he needs to also use his Atari.

Edit 2...now Guhle is not the first PKer.

[Cranky]

So far from a very limited video look...

Guhle...likes to hit, moderately mobile, choppy stride, one bad decision led to a goal, second bad decision was getting ahead of his man when his team did not have possession. The logic there was to get open for a pass....flawed because just as easily, the opposing forward could get it and lead to an great scoring opportunity.

Work in progress...

[seventeen]

Jan 4, 2021 19:14:29 GMT -5 Cranky said:

I wanted Newhook or Krebs...we got Caulfield.

Why?

We desperately needed a pure goal scorer. I had Krebs and Caufield as a coin toss.

Best player on Canada IMO? Byram. He’s a beast. He’s not big but he’s like Romanov. Guys hit him and he doesn’t budge. Byram ha better offensive instincts than Romanov. I’d trade him for Byram in a blink. And I like Romanov. But Byram has elite potential and I’m not as sure about that with Romanov.

Cripes, Colorado is going to be tough to beat. Makar, Zadorov, Girard, Graves, Johnson, Byram. Sheesh. Their 3rd pairing would give Habs first pairing a battle.

Sakic gets a goalie and this team is unbeatable.

[seventeen]

Quite the game going on. Finns tied it 3-3 on a PP but Kaliyev just scored to make it 4-3 US with a minute to go. I’d prefer the US. We beat the Finns in round robin and that’s a curse to me. Prefer the team we haven’t played. Finns are more physical too.

Boldy just blocked a full wind up slap shot from Heinola that looked pretty good.

[seventeen]

Yanks win.

[NWTHabsFan]

That was a good game. The Finns took it back in the third, and then Kaliev won it by doing what he does best: standing still and getting a great shot off.

Caufield got the play going on the third USA goal. He got an assist, but I thought he was rather unselfish a few times looking for the pass instead of wiring one. He is like a Kaliev that can actually buzz around and hustle, back check and drive the play on his stick.

[NWTHabsFan]

Tomorrow’s games are set. Medals at stake.

FIN vs RUS 5:30pm ET

USA (Caufield) vs CAN (Guhle) 9:30pm ET

Go Canada Go!

[Cranky]

Jan 4, 2021 23:52:14 GMT -5 seventeen said:

Jan 4, 2021 19:14:29 GMT -5 Cranky said:

I wanted Newhook or Krebs...we got Caulfield.

Why?

We desperately needed a pure goal scorer. I had Krebs and Caufield as a coin toss.

So Bbinz was greedy. Instead of taking a likely second liner we went for the undersized, one dimension "home run".

I certainly hope that Caulfield scores a few against us or else this tourney was a....ummm...ahhh...you know.

[Willie Dog]

Jan 5, 2021 0:35:01 GMT -5 Cranky said:

Jan 4, 2021 23:52:14 GMT -5 seventeen said:

We desperately needed a pure goal scorer. I had Krebs and Caufield as a coin toss.

So Bbinz was greedy. Instead of taking a likely second liner we went for the undersized, one dimension "home run".

I certainly hope that Caulfield scores a few against us or else this tourney was a....ummm...ahhh...you know.

How many goals would a second liner score?

People been screaming for a goal scorer... they drafted one, the kid has set records... just because he doesnt do well in tournaments, who cares... he needs to be properly coached, by Bouchard and then brought up... after CJ is gone and Ducharme is head coach.

As for the tournament he was a beast in the warmup game and it wouldn't surprise me if he was labelled a puck hog by someone... hes waaay to generous dishing the puck instead of shooting it... in the college games I've watch he'll shoot from anywhere... someone said something...

[GNick99]

Watched Cze/Can game. Impressed with Mysak. He is going to be good player. Skates well, hockey smarts, wins faceoffs. Upside offensive 2nd liner 50-55 pts, low side two way 3rd line center. I am leaning towards 2nd line center

[BadCompany]

Jan 4, 2021 23:52:14 GMT -5 seventeen said:

We desperately needed a pure goal scorer. I had Krebs and Caufield as a coin toss.

I wanted Krebs, but only because I thought that he was the most likely top 10 player to slide, because of his late-season injury. I saw it as a way to poach a top ten talent at 15. I did not see Caufield being available to us. As it turns out, Caufield slid as well, so we had our choice of TWO top ten players. I was happy with Caufield - you can't teach goals - but like most I had reservations about his size and skating.

His skating seems much better this year, and he also seems to be bigger, if that is possible. Or maybe he's wearing bigger shoulder pads, I don't know. He shows flashes of dominance, and he has clearly worked on some things that people criticized him for (defense, passing), but the production just isn't there.

He might be one of those guys that actually does better in a higher league, as it will be more structured, and the players/passers will be better. We want him to round out his game of course, but by the same token we always knew that his bread and butter is going to be his shot. Having a Suzuki or Kotkaniemi sucker defenses in, or better yet, anticipate Caufield's moves, might actually help him.

I'm not going to lie, I was hoping for a break-out performance, much like what we are seeing from Trevor Zegras. So I'm a bit disappointed. But I haven't thrown in the towel just yet. It's just that Caufield might take longer to get there than we were hoping for.

[Cranky]

Jan 5, 2021 9:15:28 GMT -5 BadCompany said:

Jan 4, 2021 23:52:14 GMT -5 seventeen said:

We desperately needed a pure goal scorer. I had Krebs and Caufield as a coin toss.

I wanted Krebs, but only because I thought that he was the most likely top 10 player to slide, because of his late-season injury. I saw it as a way to poach a top ten talent at 15. I did not see Caufield being available to us. As it turns out, Caufield slid as well, so we had our choice of TWO top ten players. I was happy with Caufield - you can't teach goals - but like most I had reservations about his size and skating.

His skating seems much better this year, and he also seems to be bigger, if that is possible. Or maybe he's wearing bigger shoulder pads, I don't know. He shows flashes of dominance, and he has clearly worked on some things that people criticized him for (defense, passing), but the production just isn't there.

He might be one of those guys that actually does better in a higher league, as it will be more structured, and the players/passers will be better. We want him to round out his game of course, but by the same token we always knew that his bread and butter is going to be his shot. Having a Suzuki or Kotkaniemi sucker defenses in, or better yet, anticipate Caufield's moves, might actually help him.

I'm not going to lie, I was hoping for a break-out performance, much like what we are seeing from Trevor Zegras. So I'm a bit disappointed. But I haven't thrown in the towel just yet. It's just that Caufield might take longer to get there than we were hoping for.

He is what we where dreaming he wont be. He's playing a perimeter game and it's not made up by dominating offensivly.

It's aone trick pony about getting in position to take a shot. So effectivly, in the offensive zone he really doesn't contribute that much to the cycle.....and plays high in the defensive zone.

Nowhere to be seen on the PK.

He has a lot of work to do. Our "elite" scoring expectations are getting closer to...is he going to be a top 6?

Krebs will be a top 6.

[frozone]

Everything in context. Kaliyev has been abysmal this tournament, but he scored maybe the most important goal of his life. That goal alone makes this tournament a memorable one for him. However, when projecting his potential NHL future, this tournament has definitely been more of a step backwards than a step forward.

Caulfield, on the other hand, has not had a memorable tournament. However, for his NHL future I would say that he's less of a longshot now based on his improved footspeed, speed of execution, passing ability, and ability to generate high danger scoring chances on his own. I'm actually a little surprised at how little people are valuing his displays of offensive awareness. How many chances has he generated, or posts has he hit? He looks dangerous out there.

I'd be more worried about Boldy, Turcotte and York than Caufield. I'll give each of them a pass though, since imo the coaching staff hasn't done any favours for any of these guys. Lots of questionable choices, especially regarding the PP formation. Last night, there was a play where Caufield chipped the puck out of the USA zone at full speed past the Finnish D. I'd give it a 75% chance that it would have been a breakaway for Caufield. He definitely had the jump on Finnish D. But as he sped past the USA bench, the coaches frantically yelled for a line change. So Caufield stopped dead and jumped off the ice. The score was 3-2 at the time iirc. Caufield has been on the ice for maybe 25 seconds. But who wants their best scorer to have a breakaway. I hear insurance goals aren't that important anyway.

[seventeen]

There is a long list of excellent players who did not show well at the WJC. A recent example is Elias Pettersson. In his draft year, he had 1 assist at the WJC. If scouts gauged his talent potential by the WJC performance they would have seriously downgraded him and many of them did exactly that. Conner Mcdavid had 4 points in 7 game sin his first WJC (as a 17 year old) and did better with 11 points in 7 games the following year. But really, 11 points? For McDavid? That's not really a good showing for a guy with his talent.

[seventeen]

Canada being outworked so far. Question is whether US can keep up a frenetic pace. Canada has to finish checks too. Too often Us getting to loose pucks first because they’re being allowed to skate too freely.

[Cranky]

Guhle...OUCH

Somebody got to tell him he's got to cover his man like a bad case of STD's. ALWAYS be in control and never be BEHIND the man and your goalie.

This is going to be noticed by the coaches and he's going to enjoy the pine....

[Willie Dog]

Is it just me or does the caufield line get short shifted

[Cranky]

Jan 5, 2021 22:39:16 GMT -5 Willie Dog said:

Is it just me or does the caufield line get short shifted

It's their 4th line.