I feel for the folks who spent a C-note or better for ducats to Canada vs the Czechs, the Kazakhs and the Germans. It's a big money-maker for Hockey Canada, no doubt. But geez, you don't want people to feel ripped off or anything. You want hockey fans to feel like they're getting real value. You want to promote the game and make it accessible. Instead it's Tiffany prices for cubic zirconia. There I've got it off my chest.
Then again, fans will be getting value the rest of the way--at least in the match-ups of the real contenders (Sweden vs Russia, Canada vs U.S.) and the elimination round.
Took the pulse of NHL scouts this a.m. Things to watch for:
1. Canada needing to stay out of the penalty box. Stefan Della Rovere took three gratuitous penalties and Jamie Benn two in last night win over the Germans. "That was the risk you knew you were taking with this team, especially with Della Rovere," one scout said ... and it was an I-told-you-so (he said exactly the same thing after the team selection). Establishing the thumping forecheck will be key, so long as it doesn't make the refs twitchy. Yeah, there are lots of tournament-eligible players who are in the NHL but, while Stamkos and Doughty are the more prominent names thrown around, it just might be that Colton Gillies is missed more than either of them. He'd have provided that physical element and it's hard to figure out what Minnesota is doing with him--seems like the Wild could have easily loaned him out. Oh well, the Canadians will have to stay out of the box vs better teams (and better powerplays) the rest of the way. You can hope that the refs working tomorrow night's showdown with the Americans will call a North American game (no weird phantom penalties on marginal contact). Then again, don't get your hopes up. Some of the officiating in this tournament has been brutal--e.g. the ref missing Victor Hedman throwing his stick on a clean Latvian breakaway yesterday.
2. Draft-eligible Jordan Schroeder will be the forward to watch for the U.S. "He'll be in the NHL next year," one scout assured me. Maybe. Wonder if he's one of those Minnesota kids who just longed to be a Gopher. If he is in the NHL, that would be a couple of huge steps up. I talked with Schroeder the other day. He told me that he crammed four years of high school in just three years so he could get to the University of Minnesota early. He has no size at all going for him but he's like Patrick Kane when it comes to elusiveness. It looks like he's there to be hit but good luck trying. So far, Schroeder has shown great finish--two goals (the first and the eventual winner) and an assist in the Americans' tight win over the Germans the other day. Funny, I saw him at the world under-18s in 2007 but I can't remember a thing about him. Asked a couple of scouts and they said the same thing--made no impression in that tournament. Fortunes rise and fall pretty quickly. If he performs vs Canada like Kane did in his draft year--the biggest American threat--then it will look more and more like he'll be one-and-done at UMinn.
- 3. I know that Pat Quinn deserves a lot of respect for doing his work with Hockey Canada's teams at all levels. I wonder, though, if this is a great fit for him. Or at least if he's entirely comfortable with it. Obviously, he got an amazing result out of the under-18 team he took to Russia last year ... but still, he's a pro coach, a NHL coach. He can't demand of the U20s what he would demand of a guy drawing a paycheque for 82 games of service. It's the difference between, say, a private enterprise job (pros) and a government post or teaching gig (U20s). I wonder how free he is to say exactly what he thinks. A reporter mentioned to me last night that it seemed Quinn, a great quote in other incarnations, struggled to find the right words during press conferences here. I don't think it would be easy for him to skate around the truth and go the route of the party line and talking points. The other trouble spot is that Hockey Canada requires work by committee--which is fine when you have a coach coming up through the CHL but a different story with a guy who has been the first and last word in the NHL. One scout said to me that he wondered exactly how much input Quinn had on roster decisions. Given the nature of the job he could well have willingly delegated to his assistants and scout Al Murray who are more familiar with the talent here.
- 4. Weird thing the Swedes did the other day. A lot of scouts came out to the Latvia whitewash to get a look at Marcus Johansson, a highly regarded late 90 who had skated on the first line with Oscar Moller in Sweden's opener. Johnasson didn't take a shift. From first line to spare part. Especially odd that he doesn't get in so while Moller and the first string take regular shifts in a non-competitive game. The Swedes have done a great job in getting their U20 program back in the land of the living after years in the wilderness--that said, some of their game decisions like this one are head-scratchers.
- One scout on Moller: "We're still waiting on him to pass the puck. Just once. Even when they're killing Latvia."
- An IIHF official pooh-poohed my previous published suggestion that the under-18s be used as the relegation-promotion criterion for the world juniors--i.e. the 2007 U18s, the 89-birthdays, would qualify teams for the 2009 U20s, again 89-birthdays. The IIHF official said there are more pressing problems--though I'd ask Kazakhstan for a second opinion after getting drubbed here. He insisted that the decline in play in the Czech Republic and Slovakia is a much greater concern. Well, maybe. Granted, it's not a banner time for either program. But get this: The IIHF pinned blame on the CHL for robbing the Czech and Slovak cradle of all their best teenage talent. This got guffaws among the scouts. I mentioned that a airline ticket out of Prague or Bratislava with a CHL destination is is, in fact, salvation for the best players--would Jakub Voracek be in the NHL today if he had stayed in the Czech Republic rather than work on his game with the Halifax Mooseheads for a couple of seasons? That said, it is a down cycle. There were three players drafted out of the Czech Republic last year--the same number of kids drafted out of the Junior A team in Smiths Falls. One scout's punchline: "We told our Czech scout to sell his home and move to Smiths Falls."
