Ryan "That Troll" Lambert doing god's work

lol Hockey Canada aside - cut day is an atrocious exercise in over-the-top Canadian hockey media theatrics, no argument there - pretty funny how he attributes Oleksiak and Leblanc making the team to being "forcibly" removed from NCAA hockey and not to the fact that, oh y'know, they were a year older and bigger (maybe not for Oleksiak lol, he's a monster) for a tournament that's typically dominated by 19-year olds.

I put "forcibly" in quotations...anyone remember Leblanc's interview after being drafted by the Habs in the first round? Said he was going to Harvard "for a year or two" to develop his game. He wasn't there for an education; it was an insurance policy in case of injury. Give me a ****ing break. And the fact of the matter is, Canadian major junior is just miles ahead of the NCAA with respect to player development. Not as young men, not as contributors to society, but as future professional hockey players. That's the bottom line. It's a fact. Why that's so hard for NCAA fanboys to accept is beyond me.

Sean Monahan isn't a collegiate player, he's gonna be a top 5 pick this year, he got the snips for older, more physically mature players. Why don't we write an article lamenting how Hockey Canada could possibly cut this kid?

Lambert isn't half as funny as he thinks he is and he's correct about 25% of the time. That's not a good combo if you're gonna write like a smug prick. How the **** do guys like this, who've probably never played in an organized game in their life, become such unabashed moral authorities on the sport? It really bothers me.

Yeah, hemad.jpg

im on the G-Lee train on this

Geddy: I'm not buying that carrying non NHLers was Russia's downfall in 2010. They got beat like 8-2. They just can't ice the kind of defensemen that Canada can - they haven't developed an elite defender in a long time. As for Burmistrov he isn't even doing well in the AHL - is there reason to think he's an elite prospect anymore?

Might be unfollow B Mckenzie time as he dissects choices for World Juniors.

#SeparatedAtBirth

Oh, I realize that. I posted earlier in response to Khaos that I had to explain to my buddies they didn't really have a lot of options.

I'm just stating what I saw more so with respect to forwards; career KHLers like Danis Zaripov and Sergei Zinovjev looked completely shell shocked when they played Canada in 2010. If I was in charge of the Russians and I had the option of filling my final few roster spots with guys like Artem Anisimov and Nik Kulemin instead of career KHL guys, that's where I'm leaning - I don't think there's a substitute to already being acclimated to the speed of the NHL game.

And the international ice argument is kind of a fallacy; elite Canadians and Americans aren't shocked by the wider ice, it only enhances their ability to attack with numbers and create. If anything, international ice slows the game down a bit because it takes that much longer for a defender to arrive and try to strip you or check you. True game speed is generated by elite puck movement ldo.

Also, *7-3. Don't need to make it more embarrassing for them than it already was

St. John's is awful - Jason Jaffray's their next best player. Burmistrov's getting zero insulation, might have something to do with his anemic numbers.

Personally, I really like his skillset, was impressed in the Jets games I saw last year. I don't know what his ceiling is but he's a fun little player to watch.

Meh, he was our Mike Mayock long before he was our Adam Schefter. This is his favourite time of year, always has been.

maybe not shocked, but their grinding/size advantage is diminished. evander kane and joe pavelski are an interesting case study this season.

The Hitler/Bettman pic is slightly ironic...

Pavs started off slow but has 9 pts in his last 7 games, ballin!

Last game (of probably 6 or 700) I ever went to with my dad. We were in the Russian section and you should have seen him jumping in the aisle and giving it the full treatment all 7 times.

RIP pop, you were the best dad a kid in Canada could have ever hoped for.

I didn't cite him as a pejorative.

did some digging around to see if i could prove or disprove this bc i vaguely recalled one of the PD contributors writing first hand anecdotes about junior or minor league, but couldn't remember which guy it was. probably someone else... (GIS returned a few pics of a pretty hipsterish looking dude that would prob put Geddy on life tilt)

anyway one think i did find was that...



agree with most of your rant tho. i don't get the need for the media coverage of cut day, idk they feel like anyone wants or needs to see that. seeing the cuts on the ticker is plenty good enough for me. and yeah, it's a tourney for 19yo kids for the most part. there might be a slight bias against US college players, but his argument about that being why these 18yo kids aren't making the team is clearly stupid.

re: Burmistrov

isn't he supposed to be a more defensive-oriented player anyway? i mean over here all Russians are assumed to be amazing offensive players, but some just aren't. is it maybe more a problem of expectations with him?

re: NHLers in the KHL

again sylar almost certainly has a better idea than myself, but most of what i've heard about guys playing over there is more of a "playing to stay in shape, and basically just trying not to get hurt" type deal. plus adjusting to all the new circumstances, yeah not terribly surprised if guys are struggling to put up points.

I didn't necessarily think so, but this wouldn't be the NHL thread if I didn't take every possible opportunity to pimp a Sharks player (lockout or otherwise!)

OBAMA HAS SPOKEN.

I could see the added width throwing guys off whose primary objective over here is to get it deep and establish the cycle, but for guys who like to create off the rush (see: mostly the entire team Canada will send over), they're not spooked.

So naturally, it'll be incumbent on Hockey Canada to avoid selecting meatheads. We have a history of making things more difficult than they need to be...



That game was all kinds of awesome.

I know...regular contributor to Kent Wilson's FlamesNation.ca and ldo I'm not a fan.

unfortunately he got beat out at camp by some kid who went undrafted last year

sick 1st round pick there, lololololololol!

also two 17yo's make it in MacKinnon & Drouin

oh crap, now i wish i was watching the team canada cuts tv coverage.

don't think so. he was a sniper in the chl. thrasher player development is all sorts of screwed up though. i am sure they all tried to "round out his game".

nicklas backstrom is doing just fine.

I dunno, it kinda seems like you're more mad than him on this. Have you ever read thesleepinggiant.us? It has pictures of Hulk Hogan and John Carlson on the front page, and his other columns are super over the top. Lolcanada

He should leave that nancy, underachieving nation and go to where his monstrous talents and animal instincts will be valued and used to their fullest potential- the good ol' US of A!

Burmistrov looked pretty sick offensively against lolmikegreen a couple yrs ago.

Murs why have you not made a peehs

one of my favorite clips ever

Id fail miserably at it, that's why