Re: WJC Thread
PostedCOLON Sat Jan 05, 2013 3:53 pm
Yea I agree, Nilsson looked unbelievable. As well as that sens prospect Wikstrand or something?
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/opinion ... -work.html18. Mike Milbury on John Gaudreau: "He's Datsyukian." Gaudreau's got a lot of fans who hope he can take those skills to the next level.
19. The other Americans who impressed were Jones, who "looked like a confident veteran" after a nervous start, and Jacob Trouba, who may have set a record for man-crushes at this event. The scout quoted on Jones said Trouba "added poise and efficient transition game to his in-your-face regular abrasive style."
20. One final U.S. player: Rocco Grimaldi. He might have been winning coach Phil Housley's greatest success. A person who knows Grimaldi well said the kid "put a lot of pressure on himself... one of the last cuts two years ago and he missed last year with an injury." When he was not able to produce early on "it affected his overall team game. His ultra-competitive nature got the better of him and it had to be reined in." Housley did that, then built him back up for the gold-medal game, where Grimaldi scored twice in the final.
21. Team Canada: Don't like to kick people when they are down, and those were painful defeats for the Canadians. Appraisals were fair and honest. A consistent No. 1 item on that list was that, aside from Morgan Rielly and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins "most guys were ghosts of who they are/who they should be," one NHL scout said.
22. Scouts felt Dougie Hamilton had trouble keeping up with the "pace and expectation" because he's lacked a sufficient challenge in junior. Malcolm Subban, a great competitor, has to work on the glove hand.
23. Draft eligibles who helped themselves: Valeri Nichushkin (Russia). Elias Lindholm and Alexander Wennberg (Sweden) -- the Swedes did real well considering who was missing. Mirco Mueller (Switzerland). Marko Dano (Slovakia): "If this kid had anyone to play with... he would be talk of tourney."
24. Leon Draisaitl (Germany), who plays in Prince Albert, cannot be taken until 2014. But talent evaluators really like him.
25. Draft eligibles who struggled: Rasmus Ristolainen (Finland) got biggest criticism. "Wasn't sharp, didn't like to get hit and took rough penalties." Countryman Alex Barkov didn't dominate as was hoped: "Still a stud... but was not nearly the 200 foot player I expect."