The Athletic Hockey Show - Which NHL prospects left off 4 Nations rosters could make Olympic teams in 2026?

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

4 Nations Face-Off rosters have been officially announced. World Junior selection camp rosters, too. So, on today’s episode of The Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series, Max, Corey, and Scott discuss which prospects left off 4 Nations rosters could be included when the 2026 Olympics roll around. Plus, the guys give their thoughts on Team Canada omitting four top-10 picks from their WJC camp roster, options for Team USA’s second line, and more. Hosts: Max Bultman and Corey PronmanWith: Scott WheelerExecutive Producer: Chris FlanneryProducer: Chris Flannery Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. Hey, everybody. Max Boltman here alongside Scott Wheeler and Corey Prondman for another episode of the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. We got a couple topics today. Both different international hockey events, we're going to get to the World Junior Selection Camp Rosters in a little bit. But I wanted to start with guys, the Four Nations rosters, which came out Wednesday night. Obviously, I'm sure people have heard plenty about who is on those rosters. But I wanted to start with guys, the four nations rosters. but I wanted to focus on some of the young players today that are not on these rosters who you think could have a chance

to be on the Olympic rosters about 15 months from now. And I think that starts, obviously, with Connor Bedard. Corey. Yeah, and you look at Bedard and where he potentially fit on this roster. Obviously, this is a high-end skill type of player

who is a guy who should be on a power play unit if he's on your team. I know he has been off to a little bit of a slow start this year, and that's been kind of discussed a lot in the media, but I think the Dar has been uncharacteristically snake bit. I think for those of us who've watched this guy for years, finishing has never been an issue of anything. It's been a major strong point in this player's game,

and I think that's going to even out of time. He'll get his goals, he'll get his points. He's going to be a major offensive contributor over the long term at the pro level in the NHL, potentially for a team Canada and future events. But I understand why he wasn't on this team, but looking forward, you know, he has to be able to power play job.

Like I said, even on the World Championships team like last spring, he was kind of a fourth line, 13 forward specialist on the power play. I don't know if you in an ideal world love guys in those specialist rules, unless they're like a really a first power play type of guy who you think will make a major difference for you. And I think on this team, where you have, you know, guys like McDavid and guys like McKinnon. I don't know if Badaards lose the needle that much for you for your power play, at least at this point in his career. but I think it's possible he'll be on that team at the Olympics, but he's going to need to play better over the next 12 months. I'm going to need to provide a better all-around game, I think, to convince coaches to bump somebody off one of those,

maybe those top nine spots. But that's where I look to quite somebody, something like Macklin Celebrini, and I think even though he's younger than Bedard, but has given, I think, a little bit more well-rounded game he has, that I could see a guy like Celabrini potentially work his way into that NMix, too, because he's a guy who you can, even though he's so young, he could kill penalties on the team Canada. He could maybe fit a limited minutes role on that fourth liner as a 13 forward.

So, you know, you look at Bedard, maybe a guy like Brad Marchand moves out of this mix over the next 12 months, depending on how his game ages, and then you can say, oh, that's the skill position, that's a skill spot to plug Connor into. But if that's not the case, then, you know, I think you're probably still in the same position where like he's an awesome, awesome player, but is he, is this too early or we're talking four years from then?

How about on the blue line for Team Canada, Scott? And this team Canada, I think, does have a very strong blue line, but you see guys like Colton Pereco when you wonder a year and a half from now, is he still going to be kind of the best option?

Does Canada have a young defenseman here that you're watching to see if he could maybe bump somebody like a Pareko out of the picture? I think Owen Powers probably the big one. Owen has played well for hockey Canada in the past. Owen is playing 25 minutes a night in the NHL and is among the league leaders in time on ice. Him and Dalene eat a ton of minutes for that Sabre's roster. I think the big thing with Owen has always been, again, in terms of special teams, not a natural power play guy when you've got Kail Makar on your roster, for example,

and even not a natural power play guy when you've got Rasmus Dalian in front of you in Buffalo. And then on top of that, I think in terms of that shutdown, defensive type that they look for lower in their lineup. He's always sort of for a lot of scouts and for a lot of even coaches that he's played for over the years going all the way back to when I spoke to minor hockey coaches and his junior coaches at the USHL level with the Chicago Steel. There's always been a desire to have Owen play with a little bit more Jan, a little bit more fire and competitiveness, be harder in front of the net on boxouts, really lean into his

size and use his size more than he has. he's always played a bit of a passive game defensively, and he defends at a very high level in the NHL with his stick and his length and his mobility, and those are major assets that will inevitably push him on to Team Canada at some point. But I think between now and next year, it's just going to be him showing people that if he's not a power play guy and if he's just tasked to be a hard to play against sort of defensive-minded type who plays off of a partner with maybe a little bit more skill and a little bit more flare in their game offensively

like Josh Morrissey or you go down the list, he's just got to, I think, show that sort of fire in his game. And that just might not be in his DNA. Like it's been a talking point with him for a long time. He might just defend a little bit differently than people maybe want him to and still do it at a very, very high level. Now, is that a high enough level

that he's a foregone conclusion for next year's Olympic team? I don't think it is. But it feels to me like if you're talking, about 10 or 11 defensemen that are in the mix for next year's team that he's probably already in the mix. And I'm sure they, I'm sure they considered Owen Power as part of this process, as I'm sure they did with Dougie Hamilton and McKenzie Weeger and some of the other studs, Vince Dunn, some of the other sort of high-end types that were left off of this team. He's going to be a guy that they watch closely over the next 12 months, I'm sure.

And I think that's going to be the debate with maybe if Owen Power was a knockoff somebody like Pareko, is that, you know, Pareko does have a little bit more meanness in his game, and he's a guy you can use in a more traditional PKD zone role. Obviously, not a guy. They're trusting to get offense out of that team, but power does have the same kind of lane, same kind of mobility, and it could be a little bit more reliable pock mover. And I think Perrako was kind of the one that people saw there.

They're like, oh, I don't know if that's the right call there, but I understand the unique role that he brings and the fact that obviously the manager of team. Canada, trust him and is very knowledgeable about him. But I can definitely see power bounce someone like that in a year from now. Yeah, especially because you think about, you know, Travis Sandheim was another inclusion that I think got a little bit of attention. Power may be a little more similar in how he defends to a Sanheim than a Pareko. But if you already have Sanheim, you're probably not doubling up on both.

Sanheim's only 28. I don't see a reason to think he's off of the Olympic roster a year from now. No, but it depends how they're years ago. or you know, it's called Munn's real. I don't think people thought Sandheim was likely or a lock to make this team either. So I think it would really just depend

how those teams progress and maybe if Buffalo ever becomes a playoff team or, you know, this season or next season. I think that could change the dialogue there a little bit. How about the blue line for Team USA, Corey? Because Team USA has a strong and I think still pretty young blue line

that they're working with. But even more guys coming up in the pipeline, I kind of thought Jake Sanderson was going to be on this roster and was a little surprised that he wasn't. Another guy like Luke Hughes, both his brothers are on this roster. Yet you have to think Luke Hughes, certainly within a year from now is going to put himself very much in that conversation. And I think the conversation for US is how young do they want that blue line to be?

You know, you have Brock Faber on there right now as a very young. Santer would be young. Luke would be young. And I kind of look to, you know, the really high-end mobility types who can, who have some, you know, good enough pocket. moving games and you look at, you know, Faber and you look at maybe a Noah Hannafitt any water. Can Sanderson knock out someone like Hannafin? It can Luke Hughes knock out someone like Hannafin.

I think that's a conversation. You know, I know Scott and maybe I think Max, two disagrees. I think I probably brought Sanderson or at least discussed ring the Sanders hit over favor. I understand Faber's been, you know, really good for Minnesota and Bill Guerrins, the manager there probably trusts him. But I think Sanderson, you know, whenever Sanerson, favor had been on the same team, Sanderson's been better. So I would just, that's just something in my mind when I'm thinking about those players is that I think, you know, I know he maybe don't have to, he had had the scorching

first half there. I think that's a guy who should have been in the mix. Luke's, I think first half didn't go the way someone had hoped. I think that's part because they're using Dougie in the powerplace block right now. And Luke's been really, really good over the last couple of weeks. But he started off kind of slow. And when you're that young, I thought, I don't think he was going to really make this team, given how it was October and November went. Well, I don't think I would, to me, would have been come down to Sanderson versus Faber. I think I would have taken Sanderson over Zach Werenski, but Werenzki having such a great year that I think he made that decision a little easy for Teen USA.

But just on profile, I think I like the way Sanderson defends better. And they have so many good defense options, especially guys who can play both ways. Like, it's a very deep pool for them on the blue line. Corey said Sanderson over Faber. You said Sanderson over Werenski. I'd go Sanderson over Noah Hanifin before either of those guys. So it speaks to the depth of what they're working with. I think Noah Hanofin of the 7d that they're bringing, I think Noah Hanofin's the number seven, if you will, for me. Yeah, I think you could argue Sanderson, you know, Sanderson's an elite skater, so is Hanifin. And then it comes down to like this, you know, I don't think Hanif, I think

Hanifin has offense, but I don't know if it's, you know, premium puck moving ability. And that's kind of always been debate with Sanders and paper, quite frankly, too, until recently in the NHL. So I think those are all good debates. And I said, it's just a very deep pool before you get into a guy like a Lou Kews, who we think could very well be in this conversation going forward. With all the skill and offense that the U.S. has on their blue line,

I do wonder for a year and a half from now about Adam Fox as a guy who I think really needs that power play role to be fully maximized. I think you're rank and Quinn Hughes ahead of him right now. It sounds crazy because Adam Fox is a top five

defenseman in the NHL, but just on roster construction. Is there any chance that Adam Fox would be in Jeopardy a year from now?

I don't know about yeah, I don't about Jeopardy, but I could see a world where he's not getting the minutes that you might think

he should be getting in that. Because, yeah, because, you know, a big part of why he plays so much as he's on the first power play

and the Rangers play that first power play unit pretty heavily over the years that he's been on the team. But if he's not on the first power play, you have Quinn Hughes on there instead. And you can have an argument which one those two should be that I think they play a little differently and would provide different looks for those powerplays. But yeah, he's not on a team with any like, you know, he's been a much better defender in the NHL than I think a lot of people expected. But we look at the guys that they have on that team, like a Charlie McAvoyer and so many other great players. I think he's not going to be a guy.

You're going to be rolling out there with the top even strength minutes. So I think that could be a very interesting debate depending on how these young defensemen we just mentioned continue to play over the coming years. I think if anything you're wondering about Jacob Slavin and whether Jacob Slavin begins to age out here at some point. I don't think Fox is even in that conversation.

The fact that Fox was one of the first six players that they named, I think, signals that whether he's on the first power player or not, they view him as an elite five-on-five play driver and he's going to be a big part of it. Yeah, I don't think either. Max Ross thinks he's not on the team. I think it's just a matter of like what would his role look like if he's not the go-to offensive guy. I think that's a reasonable question to ask given this roster construction. If we're going to just shout out guys who may or may not be in his conversation, I think he's probably not next Olympics. He's probably like the five years after that. But I do think that.

Like a guy like a Z. Boyum could be in this conversation five years from now. Like he's like I think there's some pretty special offensive traits there. And that being said, they might have too much offense, as you said, Max. Scott, let's go to the USA up front here because there's a cluster of guys. And I actually like most of these inclusions. I really agree with bringing Vincent Trocheck. I really agree with bringing Brock Nelson. I think it's going to give the United States a really balanced lineup.

And those guys are still really good producers. They are both on the older side, as is a certain. certainly Chris Kreider. And I wonder, are there any American forwards that you're watching over the next year as threats to kind of take some of those bottom six jobs? Well, I think you wonder about Maddie Baneers and whether Maddie Baneers can get back to that sort of 60-point skating, intelligent rookie season type of player that he was and sort of live up to his $7 million a year contract and become that type of guy, kind of what Dylan Larkin is maybe for that roster at the moment. can Maddie Benyers be the sort of Dylan Larkin of the future for USA hockey, if you will?

And then the other one is, I think, Logan Cooley and whether Logan can become a horse for them down the middle or if not down the middle, whether he's a player that they eventually get to a point where they feel comfortable moving him to the wing and complimenting one of their centers and becoming sort of a second center on a line, if you will. Logan's taken some steps. He's a good player for Utah. He's an important part of that Utah team, but I think there's a lot of people still waiting. for Cooley to be the guy there and not just sort of second fiddle to Dylan Genter now even, or obviously to Clayton Keller, who was another player who, a young player, not young anymore, really, but another player in his 20s who was left off of this American team. I think those are sort of the next in-line guys is really Cooley and Benares.

Those are the two that did immediately come to mind. Matthew Nyes, any love for Matthew Nyes, either of you? I could see Matthew Nyes as a heavy sort of fourth line guy. I mean, Matthew is, Nise is one of the heaviest players in the league, bar nine. Forget his age. Yeah,

he's a monster and he's great on the cycle and he's great down low. I'm just not sure he's ever going to have the offense, even as well as he's played offensively this year. But he could take like a Brock Nelson role away, I think, right? Like that would be, you know, just like some, something different from the lineup, if that was the argument. I don't know about next year, but we're talking about five years from now.

There's a couple of skaters, too, on Team Sweden that I'm watching. I mean, certainly I see Simon Edwinson a lot, and the Swedish blue line factory has been humming for the last, like, two decades. So that's a tough blue line to crack. But I do wonder, especially as Eric Carlson kind of continues to age, if there's a spot for a 6-6 guy who's that mobile who can defend that well and still give you a little bit of offense. And then William Eckland is another guy, Corey, that in San Jose this season.

It just really started to pop, and you almost wondered if he had a chance at this roster. Based on their comments, it seemed like he did, and I understand he's been a very important part of San Jose. He's an excellent skater. He competes really hard. He's for showing the offense he's had over the years. It looks like a legit top six-four to the NHL for a very long time, and absolutely can be in the conversation. I understand why do it bring a Leo Carlson. Leo is so special and dynamic with the puck and with that size.

being with good enough feet, like the talent is just pretty elite. So I understood why they led towards him. Scott, you're a resident Canadian on the show today. What do you think of Canada's goaltending situation here? How you feel about it for this tournament and kind of going into the future?

It still feels like there isn't a stud coming. As good as their goaltending has actually, honestly, been at the world junior levels. I think we always talk about how poor Canada's goaltending is, But they had a nice run there with Joel Hoffer and Devin Levi. Joel Hoffer was one of the better rookie goalies in the NHL last year. Devin's still obviously very much figuring it out at the NHL level,

but has been really good in the HAL. And obviously, before that in college and even with Hockey Canada briefly. But those guys don't feel, they don't have the same cachet of Connor Hellebuck and Jeremy Swayman and UC Saros and Jacob Markstrom. And obviously the Russian goaltenders in the league, It doesn't feel like Joel Hoffer is going to become a 60-game stud goalie in the NHL. I think even if you look at the American goalies that weren't on this roster, you go to Joseph Wool and Dustin Wolfe.

There are better fourth and fifth and sixth young options in terms of what's coming for the U.S. side than there necessarily is for hockey Canada. So it still feels like it's a long way off. I know that they're excited about obviously the two goalies in this year's draft class. they've invited Jack Ivan Kovitch to the world juniors, but you're talking about for Ravensburg and Ivan Kovitch and even Sebastian Kosa, you're still talking about years away from a men's senior team Olympic level tournament, right? Like obviously Kosa's a little bit further along just due to his age.

But you have to hope that one of those guys really hits and becomes a stud in the NHL because if they don't, you might sort of linger in this situation where you look at Team Canada and you get excited about the forwards and the defense minute at any best. on best tournament, but you start to wonder about the goaltending. All right, let's take a quick break right there. We'll come back to talk about the World Junior Selection Camp Rosters. All right, we are back. And gentlemen, we wrote about it earlier this week with the Team Canada selection

camp roster came out. And there were some notable omissions. Not all of them were entirely unexpected, at least when it comes to kind of making the roster. And I wonder when you look at guys like Beckett Seneca, not invited, Carter Yakumchuk, Zane Perak, not invited to the selection. camp. Obviously, I think those guys were real threats to make this team. Is them not getting an invite more of a reflection of if we don't think we're taking you, we're just not going to have

you come to camp and let you kind of stay in your rhythm with your junior team? Yeah, that rationale is often something that has been portrayed to me by people who tend to be putting these kind of junior camp together is that if you want to bring guys in that you feel like if you're not sure you want to use that one or two game evaluation to kind of sway you. But I don't think, you know, USA or Canada or any of these major nations want to be making major decisions based on the one or two games. And if they felt like they just didn't feel like the guys, some certain guys had a role that I think that just led to the decision. And those are two different issues. You know, we have the forward second Cedica, Tees again, one of the top 10 picks from this previous draft.

Then you have Zane Parrick and Kariak and Chuck that have the top 10 defensemen from this recent draft. And you look at the top, you know, when we were putting together this roster, it was a very competitive group of forwards, a lot of good debates when we were making our team cam projection, which is up at the athletic right now for those who want to see it. And we had some good debates over, like, I didn't, I wasn't even sure Andrew Kristol should he be in the top nine, even though he's having a two and a half point per game start to the year. You know, I've had, since we put out the roster, which didn't have Bradley Nadeau on it, I have people reach out to me saying there's no way Carolina released that guy without some reasonable shirt that Bradley

the nose on that team. So it's like, okay, well, who the heck is he taken off? Is it taken off this two point per game by or that two point per game or that two point per game guy or that two point per game guy or that two point per game guy or that jet Lechenko whom it was in the NHL last, you know, you know, sorry, this fall. It's so it's a very, very competitive team. And yeah, I think those are all variables to consider. And then on the blue line, it's like, well, if you're going to bring Parrick or Yakimchuk, they have to be on your power play. And they're all offensive guys. Well, you look at the, you look at the CHL this year.

The best offensive defenseman in the CHL this year has been San Dickinson. He has been just outstanding this year. And I think he's got, he can run that first power play or Matthew Schaefer might run that first power play. Matthew Schaefer has just been wowing scouts all season long between the Holinka, the CHL NTPs, he's playing the OHL. He's just looked dynamic. So I think they just looked at that. I think that's always the issue with these team in Canada as it's,

well, which good players are we leaving off? Which could, you know, whose first halves are we, you know, might have moved the needle for us a little bit there. You look like a guy like a Porter Marcon, for example, who had just a monster first half. I think that's kind of performance. Could have nudged at Beckett Seneca, who, mind you, I think the first game after he got kind of a five-point performance

against the Auto S-S67s, which I actually think, whether it's an anecdotal or not, I tend to find that these high profile cuts tend to go on tears shortly after the cut from Team Canada. So, boyling time to your question, I don't think anything there really surprised me. However, in my time watching these Canadian selection camps

and we do this Dancery December, some guy gets cut either from the camp roster initially or at the camp. I can't remember a time they cut four top 10 picks. That's got to be real high. You know, we have our debates when they cut Owen Tippett or they leave off Frank Clark or whatever. Those things happen. They, you know, the year they didn't bring Tyler Sagan or whatever.

Or, you know, all these things are typical, but they left a lot of high profile talent at home. And without even a chance even come to the camp to win a spot. So I would say from Canada's perspective is they better score goals. and they better score goals in those important games, that power play better work. Because if they don't, that's when the second guessing is going to come in. And Corey touched on it, Scott,

with the defense being here. But I think that's the kind of the big story out of this, is Perrek and Yakum Chuck. And we thought it might be either or, and I was surprised that it ended up being neither. I agree. Beckett's still a pretty raw player who's got some growing up to do

in terms of the maturity of his game, the one-on-one stuff. He's an 18-year-old. He'll be eligible for next year's team. T. Gingla has since been announced as having hip surgery. Those weren't surprises. Perrek and Yakumchuk were.

I spoke a couple of weeks ago after we announced our initial roster, Steve Steyos, the general manager of the Ottawa senators, reached out interested to sort of make his case to me about Carter Yakumchuk. And they felt that he deserved to be on the team, that he warranted being on the Ottawa senators and that if he was there, that Hockey Canada would have been begging them to get Carter Yakumchuk back. I think ultimately there were,

as long as there's one question mark about a player, that's sometimes enough. One thing that doesn't sit well with the coaching staff or the management group, that's typically enough. I think with Perec, it was the decision making and the worry that some of the the discipline trouble he's been in this year and even last year with suspensions and his just temper and that kind of a thing. I think there was worry that in a big game he might cross-check a kid or take a bad penalty or sort of pull himself out of the game. So I think that was the worry with Porek. And then I think with Yakimchuk, it was just a question of the skating and the pace of play and whether he was going to be up to it that way relative to the rest of the guys they're bringing in.

The one commonality of the guys that they're bringing is that they prioritized mobility. Sawyer Minio is an unbelievable skater. Tanner Mollendike's an unbelievable skater. Sam Dickinson's an unbelievable skater. Harrison Brunachie's best quality is his skating. Really other than Oliver Bonk, the bulk of the defensemen that are going to be. Matthew Schaefer is a phenomenal skater. The bulk of the defensemen, other than Oliver Bonk on this roster, they're one attribute that's their standout skill is their mobility.

And I think with with Yakimchuk, that that was kind of ultimately what probably was the hang-up. And then with Perak, I think it was the discipline. You know, I've watched a lot of Sagina all this year. I'm sure Scott has too, because Michael Misa, the top draft eligible is on that team.

And I've been keeping eye than him. A guy like a Ben Kendall made a high end draft eligible, but he's going to be, you know, a reasonable draft pick. He's having a great start to this year. He's on Calgary. So we've been watching a bunch of Calgary games, too. Quite frankly, Parake and Yakenshuk have not been good enough. They've been good players.

They have not been what you thought they should have been for an 18-year-olds who had both had 30 goals in the CHL last year. Everybody knows I'm a big Yakim-Chuk defender. Neither of them have been good enough. They've been good, not great in the games I've watched. and I didn't think, I thought there was a good chance neither of them

were going to make the team. I thought one or both would get to the camp just to see if they, if they can kind of seek who's going to be our power play guy, do we trust him or not?

How does he do in this environment? But ultimately they decided to go the other way in parks, I think of how well Sam Dickinson played this year. But as well, Matthew Schaefer, we mentioned how Porter Martone's great first half

could have bumped off one of those other four candidates. I think with how good Schaefer has been there. this year, I think he's going to make this team. And I actually think he's going to play, they're going to play him at this thing. And I think he's going to play a significant role on this team canon. I think the way he's played this year could have potentially bumped off some of these other guys we're talking about. Scott, I wonder, especially when we talk about

young players and Schaefer is one of them. I wonder about up front though. They're taking two draft eligible here, or sorry, one draft eligible in Part of Martone. And one guy who won't be draft eligible until 2026 in Gavin McKenna, we do not usually see many draft eligible in prominent roles, let alone underagers in prominent roles, double underageers, I should say prominent roles. I think the differentiator there is that we've seen both of those players play with the age group above them, and we've seen them be the cream of the crop, the class of their, not just their age group, but the class of the age group in front of them. We saw it at U18 Worlds with Martone

and McKenna as the two pieces of Canada's top. line on a roster that also had Jet Wuchenko and T. Jiginma and Colbo Dway and all these other guys, they were not just the best players on that team. They were the best players in that tournament. We saw Matthew Schaefer play an important role. That was kind of a bi-committee sort of situation at U-18 Worlds, but we certainly saw Matthew Schaefer be the guy at the Hulinka and the guy at U-17s. Before that, these are all players who performed at a very, very high level for Hockey Canada. Hockey Canada cares about that. They care about. how these guys have elevated on a gold medal stage in a gold medal game.

And in all three cases, those guys have been not just good players, but leaders. Martone was the captain, et cetera. So I think they trust those guys. It's not just in the belief in the talent. It's a trust in sort of who they are as kids and their readiness for the world junior stage and playing in front of a crowd of 20,000 people at the Canadian Tire Center when the chips are on the table. So that, I think, was as much part of it. was just the track record with Hockey Canada from those kids.

The only thing I would say is I think when you look at Hockey Canada is I don't think they typically will gift rack under 20 spots, the guys who haven't been on the other 20 team before. So even though I think we all think that McKenna, Martode, and Schaefer are deserving candidates and making this team and might even all play significant roles, whether it's regularly even strange, maybe some power play on this team, I think all three that we're going to have to go into the selection camp and at least play decent against the U-Sports guys. to actually preserve their spot on this team,

but I expect that they all will. All right, and then real quick on Team USA, I don't think the Team USA selection camp roster was quite as surprising. There was one player that we had on our projection, Max Plant. Actually, too, Max Plant was not invited, and Will Smith was not on the initial list. Obviously, we continue to presume that if USA has the opportunity

to have Will Smith from San Jose, they will, but maybe looking like maybe that won't be the case for this World Junior Tournament. I feel like since we trashed him on this podcast, he's just been on a tear. Well, hey, if that's what it took, then you're welcome San Jose. I still want to talk about that second line, though, Corey, because that was when we were doing the projection article a while back, that was one of the things we struggled with, is do you play two guys like Cole Eisenman and Trevor Connolly together, both on the selection camp invite roster? I presume both will make this team. Would you play them together or split them up?

My guess is they'll split them up. They didn't play together with the U-18 team last spring. I'm going to guess just because I can see. a world like Connolly isn't what I would call a natural goal score so I can see a world where he's making plays to set up Cole. But I think they really like Brody Zemer a lot. So I can see a world where you're using one of those guys as kind of like the, you know, the grittier player, the guy who will get to the net, who guys will win battle with along the boards to get Cole or Trevor the puck. So I can see that being a way they're going to counterbalance

that. I think putting both of those guys in the same line could be very fun to watch. on some shifts and it might drive coaches crazy on other shifts. I was going to say they didn't play together at U18 Worlds, but they did in the gold medal game briefly, and they had four or five respectively, Connolly and Eisenman of their best shifts of the tournament, and then Connolly went out and cost his team the tournament right after that line had sort of been put together.

So, yeah, I don't know how they'll feel about those two players playing together or how David Carl in particular will feel about those two kids playing together. I would expect that we'll see it at some point, whether that's in pre-tournament or even in practice sessions in their camp or even early on in the tournament against an easier opponent to see how they respond. I think we would all expect that if both of them aren't on the first power play, that both of them will be on the second power play. There's only so many forward spots on that first power play unit. But I do wonder about Danny Nelson between those two and sort of using it as sort of defensively minded. Now, Oliver Moore's got the motor in the engine and works his tail off as well. But Nelson in particular, that sort of defensive-minded go-getter,

good player along the wall and along the cycle, that type of player with an Eiserman or Connolly or both. I think there could be a natural fit there. One other thing I thought was really interesting from this roster is in the time I've been covering the World Juniors, I can't remember a time USA brought a 17-year-old. year old to this camp who was not from the U.S. program. And they did that this year with Blake Fiddler from the Edmonton OILKings,

who just got done playing for a quasi-team Canada on Team CHL versus in those games against the program, played for the U.S. at the whole income in the summer, played for Canada at the U-17s last November. And USA, I think, got cut one, maybe two defensemen from this team right now. and I don't know if Fiddler's quite ready for the world juniors from what I've seen this year. These are very good pro prospect, but a part of me is wondering whether this almost is a way to, so the way it's those who don't know, in order to be considered officially Canadian or officially American or another nationality in the eyes of the IHF, you have to play a one double IHF event and be registered for that country.

Once they register you in the eyes of the double IHF, you are now officially, you know, that nationality going forward. in your playing career. So if Blake Fielder, for example, gets registered as a seventh defenseman for Team USA, he is now locked in as an American player. I'm not saying they would do that. It seems kind of irrational to do that, but Harvey wonders if it was close between him

and another guy, they're like, well, let's see, let's bring him into camp, see how he looks. That's taken playing the long game to a whole new level. I almost hope that they do that just for that. Great show today, guys. That's going to do it for us. Thanks for listening to this episode

of the Athletic Hockey Show Prospect Series. We'll talk to you soon.