For Oiler fans, one of the few remaining feelgood stories on the team is RNH's Calder run. Should that get derailed it's draft talk full throttle and I'm trying to put it off as long as possible this winter.
Canada lost last night against the Russians, ending their annual run to the Gold at the New Year's tournament. I'm no expert and the Canadians could ice three strong teams every year for this tournament but for me there was some strange happenings during the roster selection process.
On December 24th I wrote "the roster selection process is open to question. Some good players were sent home and the team looks weak in transition and has question marks down the middle." I hate people who second guess after a loss, but in this case there were legit questions about what they were doing and the young men retained versus sent home. Team Canada appears to have favored grit over skill and defensemen who can get the puck to the forwards over creative playmakers. They also chose wrong in goal. I think it was a mistake, just my opinion.
Regarding RNH, I'd rather the Oilers use caution and bring him back only after he's had enough time to fully recover. As nice as a Calder would be, I hope he's not rushed back for short-term reasons.
ReplyDeleteRegarding team Canada's selection process, how much longer is Prendegrast going to be allowed to select amateur players for hockey organizations?
Team Canada's scouting has come down with the same disease as the Oilers had from 2000-2007,... Kevin Prendergast. Naming KP as the head scout is kinda like naming a high school dropout to the Minister of Education. IE : Mikhnov (17th overall ) Niinimaki (15th overall ) Pouliot ( 22nd,.... ahead of Kesler / Richards / Perry / Weber / Eriksson )
ReplyDeleteGoaltending was clearly not a strength of the Canadians the past couple of years - whether Bunz would have made a difference I don't know.
ReplyDeleteWhere are the great French goalies?
As for the rest of the selections, maybe next year they will move away from role players and look to the most talented in the country.
Kevin Pendergrast looking as size rather than skill?
ReplyDeleteTHE HELL YOU SAY!!
What I don't get is picking role players to play roles on a National Team.
Jon Toews is one of the best hockey players in the world and when he plays for Canada, he usually used as a checking center.
They don't pick Maholtra and leave Toews off the team.
Hockey Canada also has tended to leave off underage players like RNH, Seguin, Duchesne, etc, in favor of inferior 19 year olds.
Take the best players then give them their roles in camp, don't leave off talented players because they don't fit some ridiculous mould they are trying to fit players into.
Also,
Loyalty to goalies who aren't posting better SV% than their backups in the CHL is also quite dumb.
Re: RNH
ReplyDeletePosted this at ON when someone was deriding Gagner:
Points in last 20 games played by the player (Oilers forwards of note )
Eberle 25pts
RNH 21pts
Hall 18pts (3 in last 2 games playing with Hemsky
Gagner 16pts
Smyth 13pts
Jones 11pts
Horcoff 10pts
Hemsky 9pts
Now that Gagner is healthy 0.80 pts/gm over the last 20 is pretty good.
He has only two less points than Hall in the last 20 games, but everyone wants to trade Gagner, I don't get it.
Eberle and RNH are ridiculous.
RNH's totals are slightly skewed by the 5pt game vs. CHI being his 20th game. If he had played one more game and scored 1 points, he would have 16pts in 20games, the exact same as Gagner.
Hemsky said before the CHI game that he finally feels good, and has looked very good the last two games, but in the last 20 has certainly been a drag on offense.
I'd use that as an opportunity to sign him for 2 years as cheap as I could.
I really think people underestimate how long it takes to go from being out with an injury to back up to full speed.
As much as I'd love to hope on the bash KP bandwagon, there is an up side to this: The U18 tournament sure looks a lot more competitive globally when Canada isn't sending it's "A" Squad.
ReplyDelete...Just saying...
As far as RNH goes... Eberle doesn't look nearly as good without his dynamic centre. I'm heading to the Calgary game later in the month - sure hope the kid is back by then. Either that, or Hemsky keeps cranking things up - starting to show glimpses of his former self.
Jordan,
ReplyDeleteI think I agree with you... the only positive of having Prendegrast selecting Team Canada is that this does make the rest of the countries look more competitive. :D
The problem of picking a team to fill predetermined roles goes far deeper than the national team. It's how the Oilers pick their team too. It's how we've ended up with the back end of a roster full of useless players when the AHL is full of potentially good players.
ReplyDeleteIt is all so wrongheaded. When will hockey people learn that the idea of "roles," of "scoring" and "checking" lines, hell, of giving lines numbers at all, is a case of magical thinking disguising itself as practical wisdom.
The recipe for winning is really very simple. Pick the best players. Play them. Win.
The second-guessing over a team's performance at an international competition is as much a Canadian tradition as discussing the weather and asking politicians to fix our lives. I don't really feel the need to over-analyze a team that out-shot, out-chanced but under-lucked the opposition.
ReplyDeleteYes, in an Oilers fan's opinion, KP should never be in charge of anything, but Hockey Canada has done a relatively good job the last decade or so of picking teams for various tourney's. And as gets mentionned around here alot, hot goalies, tournament of small sample sizes, puck luck all play a part in this loss.
Too bad, I feel for the kids, but frankly you learn more from failure than you ever do from success (unless you are Steve Tambellini/Kevin Lowe).
RNH being out sucks too.
ReplyDeleteBut I still think Eberle continues to outshine his veteran teammates, regardless of the lack of Nuge on his line.
Oh, and Woodguy I just saw Brownlee's response to your post on the Hemsky thread at oilersnation.
ReplyDeleteThat guy sure presents himself as a jackass. And the thread itself is pitiful.
I think Oilersnation is pretty representative of the fanbase which tells me we get the team we deserve. Which is sad. The only thing sadder is that the collective intelligence of our media is even lower than that of the fanbase. What I would give for Spector to never hear from Spector again.
A little off topic but going back to the assasination, of especially, Green and Harski. I guess I saw them gooder than they were per numbers. Besides the fact of playing three and four games in four nights, Khabi blew the first goal, was too far back in the net on the second and a successful flip pass behind the defense is tough on everyone.
ReplyDeleteU20 participation in each country:
ReplyDeleteCountry-U20players-#Arena
Canada-468,096-7486
USA-302,164-1800
Russia-61,000-2340
Sweden-41,053-478
Finland-35,167-276
Czech-22,828-81
Germany-18,128-219
Switzerland-13,775-187
Slovakia-5,896-68
Denmark-2,245-23
Latvia-1417-17
Anything less than Gold is embarrasing!
@rickibear do you have link for those numbers? A co-worker mentioned that he saw a news report saying the USA minor hockey registration numbers passed Canada for the first time this year. I can't find a thing though.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how the reporters keep the gloves on so well for the juniors. I understand but it is still slightly amusing. I can't find any analysis or interviews of Ryan Murray, and can't even find whether he got benched after the 4th goal he helped or not. Weird in hockey world.
ReplyDeleteRegarding RNH, the oilers website lists him as being on the IR, which I believe was necessary in order to make room for a call to the farm. This means he has to be out at least a week, which is 3-4 games regardless.
ReplyDeleteIt's entirely possible that he could miss more time, and some information from the club would be great, even necessary by now. But the IR factor is likely where TSN got the 3-4 number from.
A drinking buddy once related the story of a high-level competitive rower who achieved the holy grail of ten perfect strokes in the race of his life. Unfortunately it was the semi-final.
ReplyDeletePerfect rowing strokes are like perfect golf strikes: the water pings off your blade with something akin to sexual ecstasy. I've spoken with many athletes who describe one race or even one practice ride as the pinnacle of their life on earth. Perfection with the real thing is pretty good, too, but it's too messy and capricious to become a life pursuit in quality over quantity, so the born strivers often invest more heavily in sports than the opera of the masses.
It's a special kind of person who can reliably summon up potency and staying power when the chips are down. Every athlete wishes to achieve this, few own the red shirt.
Many of the athletes who can pull this off lead extremely structured lives, and often choose solo sports over team sports. In team sports, clutch tends by nature to be formed over a pretty small sample size. Sick skill and the world's lowest panic point certainly help, yet for every Eberle who endures you have a Gagner chewing up penalty shots long after the magic is gone.
You can't entirely reduce a tournament like this one to BPA. Are the guys going to wake up on game day feeding off the vibe, or juking at sixes and sevens? BPA was a pretty good formula for Red Army: a highly structured environment with a lot of continuity.
Dryden spoke about this at some length in one of his books. On the teams he played for, his role was to never play so badly as to lose the game outright. He was on the Mulligan program if they were evening spaced. The legend of Fuhr is that he played his best as he breasted the tape. Another legend from that era for the new guy in town was "expect the puck". More than one I've heard recounted stood in front of a yawning cage having a Vezinni self-dialog "Inconceivable!" when he should have been pulling the trigger.
One has to wonder how many missed unmissables RNH would have racked up until his teammates garnered a clue. In any case, regardless of whether Bugs Bunny pokes his finger in the barrel or not as the puck skittles toward destiny, it's all very heroic affixing the helms under BPA reville. There's no question BPA procures the strongest team, if it doesn't peak too soon, or not soon enough, or not precisely twice in a row.
Deadman,
ReplyDeleteThat sounds nice and is true in general. However, the unnamed assumption is that the guys "picking the best team not just the best players" have an ability to structure the team such that it, as you say, peaks the right time.
Since, there is no evidence that they, or anyone else, has that ability, the best default strategy remains to pick the best players and then put them in situations to succeed.
The problem is that the current coaching convention appears to be to invent arbitrary roles and then force the players you have into them. That seems like a good way to not peak at all.
I think it would be great to see U20 teams from Quebec, Ont/Maritimes and Western/Territories in this tourney. I know we'll never see it, and it wouldn't be fair to the other countries (or would it...), but I think it would be interesting. And the bonus would be not having to watch 10 - 0 games featuring Latvia and the like.
ReplyDeleteThe loss by Canada can be attributed to luck to some degree, but as Ricki's numbers show, other countries are able to ice pretty good squads based upon a much smaller player base.
ReplyDeleteHopefully Hockey Canada will start to re-evaluate some of the basics. They do a terrific job of making sure coaches are trained and kids are safe. However, some old concepts remain.
For instance, its my understanding that in many counntries (Sweden, Russia) that kids under a certain age practice almost 100% of the time. In Canada, at most minor hockey levels, we spend most of our time playing games.
If you have 10 year old playing a game he might be on the ice 30% of the time and of that he might touch the puck for 2 minutes in every hour.
Use that same hour for practice and the kid is skating virtually the whole time with a puck. Instead of taking 4 shots in game, he might take 40 in a practice.
Not hard to figure out why the Swedes and Russians are so skilled.
I'm not convinced that picking different goalies for Canada would have made any difference in the outcome of the game against Russia. The first three goals were deflected by Ryan Murray, leaving Scott Wedgewood little or no chance of stopping any of the three. The fourth goal was a two on nothing.
ReplyDeleteThe sixth goal was a 3 v 1 that Nathan Beaulieu gave up on. NHL goalies would have difficulties stopping any of these shots.
@ LMHF#1
ReplyDeleteNo Murray wasnt benched. Why would you suggest he even should be? He was one of Canada's best player last night. So a couple unlucky bounces went off him thats hockey.
Without Murray that comeback doesnt happen.
This is really off topic but follows from LT's comment about trying to avoid talking about the draft and Dead Man Walking's post.
ReplyDeleteI think part of the problem last night for Team Canada was panic plain and simple. KP needed to have a few guys on the team who could calm everybody down. That is a special gift given to the few - Paul Coffey was pure chaos until he was paired with that undrafted kid who was the definition of calm. Charlie Huddy brought ice to a team that was all fire. KP and the Team Canada people picked a team that was all fire as did the Russians. The result was an incredibly entertaining hockey game but a bad result for Canada.
Sometimes you need to balance your roster not just in terms of defence and forwards as we often talk about here but in terms of emotion, talent, and character.
I had come, as I assume many did, from watching Oilers versus Buffalo. Things could be worse people we could be Buffalo fans. They have a team with a world of talent, tons of character and a huge payroll and are struggling just to keep their heads above water. They have a lot of BPA and can't gel. They really need to make some sort of move but are hard up against the cap.
After the Canada-Russia game I started thinking about other great calmers. The often unsung guys who help stabilize their partners and teams. That was when I came up with this bizarre trade the Oilers could do with Buffalo. For Buffalo it would solve their cap woes while costing them no active roster players.
For the Oilers it adds a little balance - more warrior less talent. Plus the Oilers get one of the most exciting puck rushers in all of Junior Hockey. Kid can't play defence but man can he move the puck.
The Oilers could trade Buffalo Johan Motin for Ales Kotalik, Shaone Morrisonn and Jerome Gauthier-Leduc.
We leave Kotalik playing in wherever, and call up Morrisonn. JGL is the prize of course. Kotalik and Morrisonn are free agents one of who we wouldn't sign and one of who probably wouldn't sign with us.
That said, the trade would probably help us get better this year because in Morrisonn we get one of the toughest guys ever to play hockey. He played that amazing series against Montreal in 2008 with a broken jaw and a separated shoulder. That is tough.
Even playing badly, as Morrisonn has since leaving Washington, he is a veteran with over 400 games in the NHL and a ferocious competitor. He would almost certainly play better than Teubert or probably Peckham while providing an instructive lesson in how hard it is to reach the NHL and to stay there. If we don't like what he brings move him at the deadline or just don't re-sign him.
The trade then becomes Jerome Gauthier-Leduc for Johan Motin.
"No Murray wasnt benched. Why would you suggest he even should be? He was one of Canada's best player last night. So a couple unlucky bounces went off him thats hockey. "
ReplyDeleteCurtis - I don't consider those plays to be luck. He was making bad decisions in terms of only getting his stick in the lane, not using his body or positioning and then continuing to do so after it had already cost his team. Say what you will about Don Cherry, but he once went on a great rant about not jamming your stick into the lane. He was right. The fourth play was a little less clear, but even there he was already playing rattled.
I also didn't suggest he be benched in the comment you read (I did in yesterday's thread though), I simply wanted to know if he was because I turned it off in disgust. I don't regret that decision either.
Overall, the D, which should have been a strength, turned into a weakness at the wrong time. That decision that Oleksiak made to leave the ice and cause the 4th Russian goal was astounding. I'm very glad we didn't draft him based on the type of game I saw in other contests and decisions like that.
Master loc- impossible to say. You are however giving the Canadian goalie a lot of leeway in regards to the goals allowed. If not for the ill advised poke check that wasn't he would have had a chance to stop the breakaway goal... Instead he took himself out of the play and ended up on his chest a la Luongo - which is not good goaltending.
ReplyDeleteAgain, One can't say the outcome would have been better but it most likely would have been different.
Unrelated question: if Carcillo is injured does his suspension start when healthy again and if so, how does the NHL monitor this or do they bother?
@LMHF#1 Totally disagree. He was one of Canada's best players last night.
ReplyDeleteBendelson said...
ReplyDeleteMaster loc- impossible to say. You are however giving the Canadian goalie a lot of leeway in regards to the goals allowed. If not for the ill advised poke check that wasn't he would have had a chance to stop the breakaway goal...
I remain 100% unconvinced. I've seen replays of all the goals. The first three goals were all deflected in by his own defenseman. And you're suggesting that the goalie is responsible for stopping a goal on a Two on NOTHING? wow, I guess there's no point in having any defense back there, just have five forwards and Canada should have won.
I'm suggesting a goalie has a BETTER chance to stop a breakaway when he doesn't position himself flat on his face after setting up for a ill advised poke check. You can't say he played it well at all - so yes the goal may still have gone in but the way it was played was brutal.
ReplyDelete5 goals on 13 shots, of course our goaltending had to be better last night.
ReplyDeleteMaster Lok - the Russian goalies were better than the Canadian goalies. The big stops were not made by Wedgewood when they were needed. You can provide as many excuses as you want for the Canadian goalies but by my eye they were outclassed in the net.
ReplyDeleteFor the Oilers it adds a little balance - more warrior less talent.
ReplyDeleteAnybody whose solution to what ails the Oilers includes "less talent"...well, I do not think that "solution" means what he/she thinks that it means.
"Steve Smith"...
ReplyDeleteso·lu·tion (s-lshn)
n.
1.
a. A homogeneous mixture of two or more substances, which may be solids, liquids, gases, or a combination of these.
b. The process of forming such a mixture.
2. The state of being dissolved.
Oh god... I'm so confused right now.
Talent's a powerful solvent.
ReplyDeletevor
ReplyDeleteneither Morrison or Kotalik are currently counting against Buffalo's cap-I guess that deal would save them some real money but Pegula is rich and that's why they were able to bury both those players in the first place.
I like the idea however-trading our cap space for assets...but the Oilers don't make deals like that.
Actually waht is wrong is that we consistently define hockey "talent" very narrowly. The current definition in wide use is one that doesn't include some critical things. These include competitiveness, character, calmness under pressure, and the ability to play at a high level while hurt. Nor for that matter does our definition include getting pissed off at obnoxious Canadians and bringing your A game when it matters like Kunetsov did. He came to the tournament with the sole goal of ramming it up our collective asses and he did.
ReplyDeleteThere are a number of similar intangibles that matter to winning in any sport. When those intangibiles are coupled with what we call "talent" it can be an amazing thing. (See Messier, Mark).
In other words we are currently using "talent" when talking about hockey players very much like teachers, principals, school pyschologists or adminstrators once used IQ. If you don't have a high IQ you can't succeed and there is no place for you on our team. Of course in recent years the definition of IQ has changed immeasurably. Now we have EQ, seven different kinds of IQ, executive function, etc.
The truth is on any team you need some balance between "talent" and warrior. Let me define warriors - those guys who are in the 1500 or so most "talented" hockey players on earth but not in the top 600. But their other hockey gifts (see above) let them have long careers amongst the top 600 players in the world while some guys (see Schremp, Robbie) who have top 600 "talent" don't.
KP assembled a team that was short experience and didn't bother to check and make sure that at least some of his players lacked the gene for panic. It was unbalanced emotionally and it cost that team dearly. Team Canada didn't get out talented they dug themselves a huge hole by playing stupid under pressure and then talent (and character) tried to dig them out.
I maintain that fun as they are to watch the current Oilers are unbalanced in the same way the boys on the bus were in the early days. They haven't quite figured out what it takes to win. Warriors like Lee Fogolin helped teach the first great Oilers team, that and the New York Islanders nearly dying to win a Stanley Cup. We need some Lee Fogolin's on this team. Eager, Belanger, Hordichuk, and Sutton were all attempts to get some balance in this area - poor decisions possibly but right idea. The thing is we still don't care enough many nights - so more warriors are needed even if in the short term it costs some "talent" ice time.
We need our super kids to figure out what Messier and Gretzky did - winning is about caring, leaving it all on the ice, and working your butts off. That is because at the NHL level there is a remarkable amount of "talented players." Championships are won by those players who can go out for one more shift, slide in front of one more blocked shot, and do it all when the rest of the "talent" is exhausted.
Vor, even if you are correct all of it depends upon some ability to identify the "don't panic," gene. Because hockey people have no such ability instead of identifying these players they choose guys that fit some prejudice they have but which doesn't actually contribute anything.
ReplyDeleteThis is why teams consistently misidentify these players. They have no idea what they are looking for.
Moreover, none of this addresses the question at hand. Even if it were true that we need more "warriors" the word itself means nothing. Even were I to accept the premise it changes nothing since everything depends upon the interpretation and application. For instance I think Omark is a talented player precisely because he is a warrior. Obviously, others disagree. Use of the term is the definition of begging the question.
"For instance, its my understanding that in many counntries (Sweden, Russia) that kids under a certain age practice almost 100% of the time. In Canada, at most minor hockey levels, we spend most of our time playing games.
ReplyDeleteIf you have 10 year old playing a game he might be on the ice 30% of the time and of that he might touch the puck for 2 minutes in every hour."
---
I bought electronic drums so I could practice them more often. A kid buying an acoustic drum set usually only has a small window to practice.
With headphones on, you can practice all day and night with an edrum kit.
But I learned through the years that I was missing a big component of drumming that only comes from fine-tuning your snare work. You can only get so far with an edrum snare before you need the real thing to finish your skillset.
So practices and games have their advantages, and the best thing to do is probably have practices and games both.
does anyone know if the Oilers need to qualify Hemsky with a 10% raise like a RFA? or do UFA's not need a similar 10% raise?
ReplyDeleteHemsky is a UFA July 1-they can't qualify him-only a signed contract will keep him Oilers property.
ReplyDeleteso gerta could the oilers sign hemsky to a 1 year 3.5 million deal if he will sign it?
ReplyDeletesure...if he'd sign it
ReplyDeleteGerta,
ReplyDeleteI probably mis-understand the nature of Buffalo's problem and how to manage the cap. Kotalik and Morrisonn aren't counting against the cap hit in the conventional way and I knew that. I thought they are, however, making Buffalo's cap problem extremely difficult to solve.
I sort of assumed Buffalo's owner has a threshold for how much money he is prepared to lose in order to win. I thought that his reluctance plus the fact the Sabres were at their 50 contract limit provided us with an opportunity. I had factored in that they really need help but don't have many roster players other teams are interested in - not that Buffalo would trade away anyway. On top of which their prospects aren't the best. So they need contract spots and cap room to take on a salary dump from say Columbus.
The Oilers are solving Buffalo's problem by creating a roster opening - and actually it would need to be two contracts we sent back. That would leave Buffalo at 49 and the Oilers at 50 2) Now they could send Boyes to the minors arguing that he is costing less than Morrisonn and Kotalik were. With Boyes salary hidden in the AHL and LTIR money Buffalo could trade for a salary dump at the trade deadline.
So I see the deal I proposed as clever cap management. I get that they could fix it by sending Boyes down right now. That they haven't suggests that Regier can't get permission was my thinking. That is why I only suggested a lower quality prospect as the return.
fair enough vor-I hadn't looked at Buffalo's 50 man roster,just the dollars.
ReplyDeleteSo I see the deal I proposed as clever cap management
You understand that Steve Tambellini is our GM,yes..?..:)
You understand that Steve Tambellini is our GM,yes..?..:)
ReplyDeleteSince july 31,2008:
08-09:
Traded for Kotalik, O'sullivan,
Claimed Macintyre on waivers,
Traded Garon to Pittsburgh.
09-10:
Traded For Whitney, A. johnson,
Traded away Grebeshkov, Macintyre,
Signed Habibulin, Comrie, Arsene.
Claimed Jones off waivers.
Resigned Strudwick.
10-11:
Traded for Van deer meer, Fraser;
Signed Foster, Giroux, Gerber, Petiot
Traded Bell to COL, Penner to LA
11-12:
Traded Fraser
Traded for Sutton
Signed Belanger, Eager, Hordichuck, Potter, Barker, Pettrell
GM????????? Dumpster Diver yes!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget:
ReplyDeleteTraded Ladi Smid, Dustin Penner and Andrew Cogliano for Heatly.
Traded Ladi Smid, Dustin Penner and Andrew Cogliano for Heatly.
ReplyDeleteYou can tell I'm a brilliant hockey mind because I opposed that trade...on the grounds that I didn't want to give up Cogliano.
Fun thought - if that trade had gone through we'd be looking at a top six right now of Sutton, Potter, Petry, Peckham, half of Whitney, and Plante.
ReplyDeleteAll you chaos theory types are no doubt telling me that we can't make that projection, since the loss of Smid would have presumably caused i. the Oilers to pick up another defenceman somewhere, and ii. a tornado to occur in Texas. I submit that the chaos theory doesn't apply to Tambellini.
I'd like to hear some opinions on what I would like to see happen with the World Junior.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it depends on where you sit but to me, there's best-on-best tournaments and then there are...others. Canada winning or losing the Spengler Cup means less than nothing to me. I'm sure the games are entertaining but the outcome isn't measuring anything.
I'm worried that as the NHL is evolving to a young man's league, the World Juniors will become (and maybe already have) a Spengler Cup for teenagers.
The best 18 and 19 year olds (in Canada at least) do not get a chance to ever play in this event or if they do, it rarely is as the focal point. When they are draft eligible, they are buried behind a flood of 19 year old men. When they are 18 and 19, they are playing in the NHL.
If the World Under 20's became the World Under 19's, what's the downside? Are the players a little worse at this age? I suppose, but ALL teams would be slightly worse and the product would be just as good.
All the 19 year olds would be gone leaving the old guys as the 18 year olds. The truly elite draft eligible Canadians would almost definitely play and play huge roles.
Going back in time, this 2012 (in 2011) team would gain Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Ryan Johannson, Sean Couturier and lose Michal Bournival, Boone Jenner and Tanner Pearson. The year before would have seen Skinner and Seguin join Hall (and Eberle at 18).
It's important to note, these guys would still be underagers but not so underage that they couldn't contribute. It would become an 18 year old (and elite 17 year old) tournament and that's exactly what I think they intended.
The other countries aren't affected as much for two reasons. First, they don't have the depth so a truly elite talent will play at 18, 17 or even 16. Secondly, they tend to wait until they are 19 or 20 before coming to the NHL. I'm not coming at this from a position of fairness to Canada...Christ, they host every year*** so fairness is out the window.
This tournament is all about seeing Kuznetsov, Yakupov, Grigorenko, Granlund, Huberdeau, Dougie Hamilton and the other guys who will have terrific NHL careers. I'll forget Michal Bournival existed in about 10 minutes.
***Buffalo and Grand Forks are Canada...who we kidding.