There's a group of defensemen who are a cut above the rest but most of the field are guys who aren't that far apart in terms of skill & just need to find a coach that will vouch for him. I wasn't sure if he could find a niche to become a full-time NHLer but he's stuck around longer than most fringe players his age. Carolina's partnership with the Wolves seems to have helped him because a lot of those Quad-A guys end up there.
Wjc takeaways It was Canada's to lose and they didn't so bleh. That said, their reliance on offense is the best defense is not a wise development strategy. The upset on boxing day was something. Having to go to OT again for the gold. Yes they won but despite having the best u20 player on earth, the dominant performances just weren't there.... well except for the us semifinal thrashing. Sigh. Wright and fantilli were pretty invisible. They didn't do nothing but a fourth and potential second overall shoulda had more impact Bedard deserves every bit of hype he gets. I feel so spoiled as a fan, got to witness the tail end of Gretzky lemieux, was 17 when ov Crosby started, got Matthews and mcdavid, and now I get to see bedard and hopefully michkov. Hughes and nemec are a step ahead of most players very impressive. Let's see who drafted them?... Oh.... Great.... Czechia and Slovakia far exceeded expectations. Even if Russia played the end result may have been the same. Rangers prospects were ok. Othmann, despite being on bedards line, was kinda middling. Adam sykora however was very impressive. These guys should be pieces for deadline deals. Watching the tsn broadcast still makes me irate.
I didnt watch much of the tournament at all...I did see a few Twitter "scouts" freaking out saying "Maybe Luke Hughes isnt that good?!" which to me is nonsense. He is the same as his brothers in that he is never going to be a stalwart defensively, but he does so many other things well that you can live with the defensive fuck ups. He might even be a better skater than Jack, which is kind of insane to think about.
It’s been quite a pleasant surprise watching Trent Frederic turn into a legitimately useful NHLer, he’s been great