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Tournament Starts Today

I'm going to be extremely bold and predict that this Auston Matthews kid that the Leafs apparently drafted has a slim chance to make the team this season. Crazy I know especially since he's being absolutely carried by McDavid right now and looks completely out of his element on his own. But hopefully he can reach his career potential which I understand to be a 4th line grinder? Here's hoping.
 
No goal on that PP if Matthews didn't slip Ristolainen's check.

Really enjoying the 1/2 sort of head-to-head competition for these past two drafts.

Matthews celebrates his linemates' goals harder than he does his own.
 
Komarov has laid a full handful of heavy hits into Ekblad for Rielly to see.

Finland's kid line of Laine - Barkov - Aho being rendered pretty ineffective, but they're probably Finland's best line right now.

TNA up 4-0 thanks to relentless pressure forcing turnovers and a very leaky Pekka Rinne. I expect to see Rask for the 3rd.
 
Komarov decks the largest player on the ice (Parayko) and forces the crucial turnover for the Finns to break the goose egg.
 
This win does sort of highlight what's been an occasionally unspoken reality of "best on best" tournaments. So long as Canada only gets one entry, a lot of the best players in the world aren't there.
 
While watching the games it struck me that this tournament may be the most condensed skill in one tournament due to the NA/Europe teams. There's no Swiss or Denmark etc sending a team with mostly non-NHL players. These games are all killer, no filler. I don't think any other tournament can boast such talent ratio.
 
Rielly and Ekblad, 22:54 and 23:53 TOI respectively. More then anyone else on the team. I am glad Rielly is getting lots of meaningful ice time. Matthews on the ice for the only PP.
 
Blair has a valid opinion on the USA vs. Canada game coming up...if USA gets bounced from this tourney, it'd be quite the blow to the ratings.  The only saving grace, and a likely one, would be if TNA made it to the finals.

They could sell the young USA stars as the future of their team.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/forget-division-title-wild-card-bust-blue-jays/

For me, I'd love to see a Canada vs. TNA final.
 
Frank E said:
For me, I'd love to see a Canada vs. TNA final.
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Me too. The added effect of this would be that the Team USA brain trust would implode and they'd move to skill and speed builds. It's just better for the sport to be headed in that direction.
 
Frank E said:
Blair has a valid opinion on the USA vs. Canada game coming up...if USA gets bounced from this tourney, it'd be quite the blow to the ratings.  The only saving grace, and a likely one, would be if TNA made it to the finals.

They could sell the young USA stars as the future of their team.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/forget-division-title-wild-card-bust-blue-jays/

For me, I'd love to see a Canada vs. TNA final.
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13 of 23 from USA on TNA.

Canada's complete domination of late likely hurts international competition. It's only been fun for us. Prior to this recent run of domination the talent seemed a lot more balanced.
 
I don't know if "The NHL wants a Team USA vs. Team Canada final" can really be called Jeff Blair's opinion as it's pretty patently obvious from the way the groups were set up.

Team NA is lucky that their first two games will be against teams with pretty bad defenses. It'll be interesting to see how they do against a team with a smart, experienced blue line that can transition the game back at them. Sweden will obviously be their first real test on that front.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
 
Team Russia's loss to Sweden (2-1) puts Captain Ovechkin's squad in a must-win situation if they are to advance in the tournament.

Russia plays Team North America tonight.
 
I hadn't really thought about it before, but, to the (debatable) extent that pressure comes into play in international tournaments, TNA really benefits from a lack of national pressure.  All the national teams have expectations from their countries to represent well and to succeed.  Even the Team Europe guys are each expected to represent their own countries as well as they can in the absence of their national team.  For the TNA guys, while they have those cheering them in Canada and the US, the success of their countries in the tournament doesn't fall on them at all.  They're just playing for themselves and each other.

I'll agree that it's debatable either way how much pressure to succeed does or doesn't influence performance in this kind of tournament.  But I think having nothing to lose, in terms of expectations for success, is an ideal scenario for any player in that situation.
 
Heroic Shrimp said:
I hadn't really thought about it before, but, to the (debatable) extent that pressure comes into play in international tournaments, TNA really benefits from a lack of national pressure.  All the national teams have expectations from their countries to represent well and to succeed.  Even the Team Europe guys are each expected to represent their own countries as well as they can in the absence of their national team.  For the TNA guys, while they have those cheering them in Canada and the US, the success of their countries in the tournament doesn't fall on them at all.  They're just playing for themselves and each other.

I'll agree that it's debatable either way how much pressure to succeed does or doesn't influence performance in this kind of tournament.  But I think having nothing to lose, in terms of expectations for success, is an ideal scenario for any player in that situation.
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To take it even a step further for these guys it's "Play well here and I make the national team next time".
 
Tortorella on the thinking behind putting Abdelkader with Patrick Kane (for now): "There isn't any thinking."

Truer words never spoken.
? Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) September 19, 2016
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