That said, I do this every year and it's sometimes even surprising to ME how close I come to what the coaches do. I usually have a couple calls TOTALLY wrong, but in general it's not too hard to guess what's going to happen. I'll tell you what I think line by line, which won't be easy because the lines will probably change before Boxing Day and maybe after. I will highlight my top 5 guys to watch too.
So before the game yesterday, without having seen these guys play at all, I tried to guess what the forward lines might be. I chose the first line perfectly! LINE 1: Left wing - Foudy, Center - Dellandrea Right Wing - Dudas. This is weird. Foudy and Dudas are Centers. Dellandrea is too but sometimes he plays right wing. So I had him on RW, Dudas on LW and Foudy as center. Dudas shoots R so he'd be deadly for one-timers on his off wing. He's small and he is QUICK! Foudy had a goal and he was all over the place in the game. Dellandrea showed some great moves. The player of the game and one of my top two guys to watch in this tourney, was Aiden Dudas. He showed good speed, good passing, good penalty killing and a good scoring touch. And I think I like him even more because he's the smallest guy on the team tipping the scales at 168. This was by far the best line in the game. Great chemistry. I wouldn't change it. After saying all that, there's a good chance that this line will end up being a kind of high scoring third line.
LINE 2: This line will be line 2 only by default. It's because it will include the projected number one pick in the next draft - Alex Lafreniere. He is one of five players who stunk the joint out in the last World Jrs. so he has that under his belt. He's got 23G, 47A in 32 games this season with the Rimouski Oceanic. Keep in mind that the Quebec league always has higher scoring than the OHL or WHL or the like. I don't know why, but it's always the case. His 70 pts. are the most of any player on the squad so he'll be one to watch. He's a set-up man so he'll want a goal scorer on his line. And he's one of only THREE guys who are not listed on HockeyDB as centers. He's a LW. His center in yesterday's game was Barrett Hayton, but that's likely to change. Joe Veleno wasn't able to suit up yesterday, but he and Lafreniere are good together so the coaches won't mess with that. I predicted these two together, but that's a no brainer. I predicted Cozens on their right because he IS a right winger and he's a goal scorer. He's already got 20 goals for the Lethbridge Hurricanes this season. But the coaches put Nolan Foote on the right wing. He's got 15 goals with the Kelowna Rockets and speaking of rockets, his shot was impressive. So I think this might be a good fit with Alex and Joe.
LINE 3: I had Quinton Byfield on the left wing of the third line. I say line 2 will be line 2 by default because I have one of my feelings about this kid. A LOT of people agree. He's 17, tall, heavy and smooth as silk. He skated around like he was playing pond hockey yesterday. This was an exhibition game, and it was Switzerland so he might not be allowed to do that in a real game vs. Russia or the US or one of the better teams. But he was darn impressive on offense as well as defense. He's got 22G and 35A with the Sudbury Wolves this season. That's comparable to Lafreniere's stats because he's in a tougher league. Even though Lafreniere has been touted as the number one pick for a couple of years now, this kid could shock the hockey world! I'd tell you to keep your eye on him but he'll be very hard to miss. They had him playing with Cozens as center and Lavoie on right wing, but I think they'd be smart to put Dylan Cozens on the right wing (cuz he IS one) and put the returning player, who has been playing in the NHL with Arizona this season, Barrett Hayton, in the pivot position. THIS should be their number one scoring line. Hayton looked very comfortable on the ice yesterday, like an NHLer playing with minor league players. All three of these guys are goal scorers who can also pass. This line could be DINE-O-MITE! I hope they put it together!
LINE 4: Line 4 will definitely be the fourth line. Well, I guess nothing is definite. When I was making lines, I couldn't help but notice that Raphael Lavoie and Benoit-Olivier Groulx BOTH play for the Halifax Mooseheads and both are lighting it up this year. 48 pts. in 30 games for Raphael and 41 pts. in 26 games for Groulx. They're both listed as centers so they may not play on the same line for the Mooseheads, but you can bet they're together on the power play. Chemistry HAS to be taken advantage of so I think these guys will be together. Connor McMichael was playing right wing yesterday with Groulx at center on a line with Dawson Mercer on the left wing. Dawson Mercer is a RIGHT wing so I dunno what that was about. However, McMichael is probably the purest goal scorer on this team. He's already got 25 goals this season for - hey what do you know! - Coach Hunter's London Knights. If Liam Foudy weren't so good on that line with Dellandrea and Dudas, I'd stick him with McMichael because HE'S playing for Dale Hunter this season too. But you can bet both guys are on his power play and they'll be together on the power play for Team Canada too. Chemistry! So line four, if this is it, ain't gonna be no checking line.
This leaves two extra players: Dawson Mercer and Akil Thomas. Team Canada still needs to cut one player from the squad and it appears that player might be Thomas. He was used more sparingly in the game than any other player. From what I saw of him, he was good, but it looks from his ice time, like he's the guy who will be cut. Mercer is very young, undrafted and almost as small as Dudas so it might be him who gets the hook. There always seems to be one player on the squad who gets inserted into multiple positions for penalty killing, injury relief, garbage time with a huge lead and such. I think it'll be one of these two. Unfortunately, the other will be cut.
On defense, Canada has the monstrous Kevin Bahl at 6'7, 240. He'll be paired with Jacob Bernard-Docker as the shut down duo. Jared McIsaac and Ty Smith are both returning players from last World Jrs. They both looked solid, especially McIsaac. Bowen Byram was the only defenseman who I thought looked a bit sluggish yesterday. He's a Vancouver Giant and they're my minor league team, but I gotta be honest, he might be skated around by opposing forwards at this tourney. Hopefully not at a really important time. Calen Addison looks like he'll be a really good quarterback on the power play and he'll be taking shots that will be tipped by the goal scorers. He's had a cup of coffee in the NHL with Pittsburgh and he impressed me yesterday. Also his stats are strong so he's definitely one to watch. But there's another young kid who looks like he might go very high in the next NHL draft. He's 17 but I'd say he was the best defenseman in the game yesterday. Jamie Drysdale is his name and he's got more points, 31, than any of Team Canada's defensemen this season playing for the Erie Otters. That includes 6 goals. Addison has 7 goals for the Lethbridge Hurricanes, but fewer assists than Drysdale. These two could be DINE-O-MITE as the point men on the Canadian power play.
I'm not going to say much about the Canadian goalies because the Swiss didn't test them very much. However, they looked weak during the shootout. Hopefully there will be NO SHOOTOUTS this year.
So here are my top 5 guys to watch.
Quinton Byfield
Calen Addison
GO BOYS GO!
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