Welcome to Fantasy Hockey Life, presented by fan Tracks. Here's your source of
information and analysis to help you win your fantasy hockey league. Block off,
hop a step hit on, Stay Lock. Here's your host, Jesse sovi
here and Victor Neuton. You host Hockey Live back once again. Jesse Severe
Britain Cracks joined by you rink side Victor Newt You know, Victor, how
you doing today? I'm doing awesome, Jesse. It's such a fun time
of year. We got World Juniors coming up, we got practice games,
and by the time we're listening to this, the tournament's going to be upon
you. And it's the Christmas gift every year that keeps on giving. How
are you doing? Yeah, you're darn right it is. It is the
gift that keeps on game. Last week, Victory, you pointed out to
me after we were recorded that I had said it was the last episode before
the holiday, and that's just not true. We're recording again and this is
the one that's coming out. Actually, I think this episode will come out
just hours before the tournament begins, right, because this will come out Sunday
and then the tournament officially begins on Tuesday. Probably in some crazy hour of
the morning that Americans are not attuned to. I'll be waking up at my
in laws house trying to figure out if they have any child Network, and
otherwise I'll be watching on my iPad pretty much. That's how it's going to
go down. Yeah, that makes sense. I'm going to be traveling too
at families, so I won't necessarily be able to watch that much in the
first couple of days, but then I'll be glued to the screen thereafter.
But yeah, I'm looking forward to it, and it's going to be it's
going to be exciting. I don't know how you feel about it this year
with the Americans being the favorite, it's a little awkward. Usually we're used
to going in and Canada or past year's Russia being the favorite. It's a
little I don't quite know what to do with myself. I'm used to rooting
a little bit more for the underdog, so it's a strange position to be
in. I you know what, Yeah, I don't even want to say
it, because this will probably be an ongoing theme for this entire episode.
Is I've got my USA USA hat and I've got my Yes, the Americans
are in kind of pole position right now. Hat but I'm not counting out
some of these other teams, these these Canadians, they will find a way.
Man, The Canadians will find a way, So I don't fade them
much, even if that's not maybe the popular consensus here. But yeah,
Victor, it's gonna be good times and a place that people could join because
you might be on your in law's couch or your parents couch, or with
whommever you celebrate the holidays couch and be like, I don't nobody here cares
about the World Juniors and this is a lonely conversation. All you need to
do is hop on the discord. We have a free discord where no doubt
people will be in there chattering about the World Juniors. You can get on
there hitting Victor and myself up one or the other. You don't have to
do this both up, but you could Fantasy HOCKEYLFE at gmail dot com or
catch one of us on x at Fan Hockey Life is me at Victor NUONEO
twelve is Victor, that's viic tr and YOUNO one two. That's how you
can get a link. The link is free to get into the discord,
which is also free. But in addition to fun free stuff, Victor,
we've got other preemium things that people can have, and this is your opportunity
to tell them what it is. We got a lot of great extra stuff
through the Patreon. You get one of the things I haven't mentioned in a
while, access to show notes. We write up usually pretty extensive notes for
all these shows. This one might be a little bit different because we'll explain
what we're gonna do a little bit later. But usually there's lots of graphs
and charts and notes, and sometimes I know, when I'm listening to podcasts,
I'm like, wait, that was interesting what he said, But what
did he say and what was the take on that? So it's nice to
be able to go back and just be able to look at that. And
so patrons have access to all of that, And there's lots of other great
stuff too, Patron Priority Channel, access to ranks and sheets and the tidy
the tier dining. So we've got a couple people that have dropped recently and
people waiting to take their spot, so that's happening. Plus we'll probably be
opening a new division in the summer, so just lots of great stuff and
extra attention, access to roster doctors and dms. This comes up a lot,
Jesse. People are in multiple leagues with that, people who might get
advice from us, and so they want private recommendations because their league mates are
everywhere and different discords and stuff. So that's one of the nice things that
you can get to that that we don't just offer to everybody. So yeah,
lots of great stuff. If you want to support the show, you
can head on over to patreon dot com slash Fantasy Hockey Life. Yeah,
and what's not Just like you said, Victor said, we have an opportunity
to get a little bit more of an in depth conversation, but really the
discord is there for chatter back and forth and there's a lot of smart people
on there who you would love to converse with other than just me and Victor.
So it's just a community. It's what it is, and I would
welcome everybody to come on a board. Victor, I can wait no more.
It is time for competition to stir up. Right after this, we
will be joined by our mysterious third guest and we'll be doing a fun exercise,
so I'll hang on. We are here today to talk of the World
Juniors. It's me, it's Victor, and it is Admiral Downey. He
is the highest ranking officer in the Fantasy Hockey life or community because he is
an admiral. I don't think there's anything above an admiral. Ryan. First
of all, how are you a man? I'm well and it's great to
be speaking with you, Jesse. As I was saying earlier today, throughout
our day on the discord, I've been promoted from the tidy segment to I
get to actually talk to Jesse Severe. So my day is going great.
We have geate keepers here, Ryan, But you did earn it was a
battlefield promotion. You sunk everybody else's battleship. And now you are here because
today we are gathered together to talk about World Juniors and we are going to
attempt in on air live draft, Victor Nuno, can you explain to me
what I'm about to inflict upon myself and everybody else. Yeah, as we've
been talking about, it's World Junior time. It's fun. And one thing
that we've been doing in the discord is having some pools. We have three
different pools, A, B and C and we've done these for a few
years and it's just for fun volunteer. We've for find it a little bit
this year. In the past we've had slightly different numbers of positions, but
we decided to go with five forwards, three d and one goalie, so
that's total of nine spots. And the scoring is simple. A point for
a goal, a point for an assist, a point for a win,
and a point for a shoutout for those goalies. And if goalies happened to
get and assist or haven't forbid a goalie goal, that's going to count.
So pretty straightforward scoring. And the players you select are there throughout the whole
tournament. Pre tournament games do not count, but third place, pronze medal
games absolutely do, so all of those games count, and so to some
extent, you're trying to pick the players and the teams that are going to
be around the longest, but also the ones that will be the best and
score the most points. So that's basically what we're looking for, who's going
to perform the best during the tournament. And one of the reasons we have
Ryan on is that he obviously he's been part of the show and he also
is a former champion of this format that we've done in the polls, although
in the past he had a bit of a cheat code, and I think
his name was Connor Berdard, Is that right, Ryan? I like to
think that I had some modicum of skill in picking. No, let's be
honest, for a second year it was Connor Bedard the whole way it was.
It would have been embarrassing if I lost having Connor Berdard's We'll see if
I can make some more strategy picks this time. Yeah, not everyone had
had him. Consensus has the best forward in that pool last year, so
that was slightly brazen to take him when you did, but it was still
a great pick. So the way it's going to go is we're just going
to snake and we're going to talk about a little bit. We'll stop at
a couple places and break down the picks a little bit, but we're not
going to try to give any anything away while we're still picking. And it's
going to go in snake order. So Ryan is first, Jesse's second,
I'm third, and then we'll snake back around so I'll do two with the
turn and then we'll keep going like that until all the picks are made,
and you don't have to go in any specific order forward, D goalie,
but you do need five forwards, three D in one goalie by the end.
So we'll see how this goes. Any questions, gentlemen, I'm good
to go. I found this out thirty seconds ago that I'm going to be
picking. I agree it is a bit challenging at the top of the draft
here, but I think there's a clear cut number one forward in this turn
of I think the conversation would be a little bit different because the other option
for top foward has been injured. I think number one I'm going to go
with Cutter Gotier. All right, Cutter Gotier And yeah, if you,
I guess maybe the person after, if you want to comment on that,
Jesse, or if you have any comments, Yeah, I know. I
think this is definitely a guy who ought to be here at the top,
and I were fraining to comment on the other comment that just happened there.
But Victor, I'm going to be basic here. I think we're talking a
little bit in the entry part of this or the opening to the show.
I think I think I'm ready to go ahead and go Canadian here, man
I am going to despite the fact that I'm not one percent sure he'll be
on the first line, but I'm believing in Macklin Celebrini. I'm going to
go Maclin Celebrini with pick number two overall, Victor, what do you think?
This is so basic? But I'm just gonna do it. I'm trying
not to embarrass myself. Your Victor, don't look at me like that.
So I thought you'd go Jesse. If I'm being starting to cut you off
there, Victory really not where I thought you'd go, given the red,
white and blue that you currently are wearing. I've got a scream at Eagle
on my sleep. There's no doubt about that. Yeah, I think that
Maclin is probably going to be one of the best players on the Canadian roster,
and he's going to get compared to Connor Badard last year, and it's
going to be totally unfair because he could have a great tournament and be worthy
of this pick and still people will be disappointed in him, which is not
going to be fair because of what Badar did was absurd. So, yeah,
I didn't think you were going to go to either. I think it's
a totally reasonable pick. I'm going to do something maybe slightly unusual, because
I think there's a very big value over replacement for the top defenders in this
cool So I'm going to go back to back d I'm going to take Blayne
Hudson, and I'm going to put a dent in Mattaichak and take him.
So I'm doing fun. Silence has come across the zoom chat here. Back
to the defenseman. Yeah, I honestly, I'm going to keep it rolling.
Man. You just took Hudson and Matichuk. I'm gonna take Sandy Pelica
at pick number five too, because thanks I was. If I would have
been pick three, I would have probably I don't know if I would have
don Hudson, but I would have done Mattaichuck in Sandy Pelica. I'm happy
with that. Man. Yeah, let's just leave scraps to down you over
here. I was feeling safe when you said you were going to go with
a defenseman because I thought, Okay, there's only three defensemen you want in
this entire tournament, and they're all gone now, and so I think I'm
gonna have to I'm gonna have to scrape a little bit here. That's it's
a little disrespectful to this next pick, but I think I'm super high on
him. He's younger. This is a nineteen year old tournament. Let's not
forget that element. It is a nineteen year old tournament. But I think
I'm going to go with a younger player here. I'm gonna go with zeev
Bulliam as my defenseman. I think he might be the fourth best defenseman available.
That is surprising because I think there's a clear top three, and then
I think there is a bit there's like some gaps here. So I'd expected
you would have gone forward, especially because we're probably not going to take another
D for a while. I would imagine just we'll see. But I could
also understand the feeling of, oh my god, I need a D now.
Anyone who is following our draft in pool A will no, I have
not taken a D yet. In fact, I think I might have just
taken a D with my fifth pick. I'm going very forward heavy, but
I just feel like with three gone already, I needed to jump in.
Yeah, you're messing with you. Got Ryan on tilt already because Ryan's got
a second pick here, and wait a minute, what just happened? There.
What did we just put? Who turned zeb into pick number four in
this draft? Oh? Ryan, you got six? Now you got seven?
Man, you got it. You're on tilt. But you still have
to go. Man, you got to play through the pain. Yeah,
that's right. I should have made ze five. Let me just make that
happen. There we go. Yeah, okay, so yeah, I'm gonna
go back with a forward here. I think I'm surprised that this guy fell.
I think this is what happens when you go on a d run.
I got to take who I think would be the best forward without the injury,
and I think I'm gonna go with snugger dr getting snuggy with it.
I like it. Oh you're going heavy? Oh my gosh. Yeah.
Do you have red, white and blue underneath that that shirt you're wearing there?
I don't know, right, I almost certainly do not. Wow,
Oh my gosh. I as long as we're this far down it, I'm
gonna go for a third different country because I got Celebriani, the Canadian,
Sandy in Pelica, the Swede. Let's go ahead. He's healthy, he's
the captain of Team USA. I want Rutger McGroarty on my team as my
second forward. Oh man, that's a bummer. I wanted him. I
got him in our nine team draft in the third round. That's pretty late.
I think there were some questions about him whether he was gonna play.
And then the Team USA announced their leaders today and he's wearing the captain and
he's skating on the top line, top power play. I think that's a
great pick. I think McGroarty is gonna be it's gonna be huge for them.
I think those three go tier, Snugrud and McGroarty are gonna be,
are gonna be big. That's a great pick. And now I have to
figure out what I'm gonna do going another deep No, I'm just kidding.
I'm definitely gonna go forward here, and I think there's still some pretty good
forwards out there. I think I'm gonna have to go with the other top
line of the Americans, and I'm just gonna snag Perro and Smith. I'm
just gonna just gonna go with those two. I think that I could try
to diversify and get some Canadians or Swedes. I think that's gonna happen later.
But I think between those two lines, the pro Smith and we all
know the other guy, but Leonard and then the Gothier Snugger route and McGarty
line. I think either one of those lines you could call the top line.
Probably the older guys of snuggerud Gothier and McGarty would might get the nod
there, just because they're a little bit older. But I think they're both
fantastic and are probably going to score a ton at least against the weaker teams.
Yeah, that's right, and you guys. You guys both get the
fun of doing the back to back picks, which I guess in a way
that's an advantage that I don't have a turn because I could just take one
and then just wait for the next one. But like Victor drove the action
with that two D man run, and that's not what I'm going to be
doing here. Hey. Yeah, this one is a little bit more debating
than I've been facing so far. I believe he is still first line,
first power play for the Canadians. I'll go Connor geeky and hope that he
is able to hold up to one of those top positions there. All right,
interesting on the turn here, I think I do need to get a
bit of Canada representation here. So I'm I'm gonna repeat a pick that I
did from Pool A here, and I think I'm gonna go with Carson ray
kopf As as my next pick here. I just really believe in him.
He's been obviously ripping up the OHL this season. He's he's a really exciting
player, I think, especially on the power play for Team Canada. And
then I think I might I might start us off on the goalie train here.
I think I'm gonna go ahead and take who I think is probably the
only undisputed number one goalie in the tournament that of consequence, and I think
I'm gonna take Sweden's Hugo Halin. I have things I say about both those
guys. One, Ray Coff, I don't disagree with you, But how
are you nervous at all? Because in the practice lines we've seen he hasn't
been on either power play. I know we talked about this in the discord.
Obviously that can change really quickly, but that would make me a little
nervous in terms of picking him in a pool just because he's not projected beyond
either, which seems crazy. But what are your thoughts on that? I
just think the way that team Canada usually runs their lines. You have this
kind of depth that they have that very few other teams have. USA has
it in Sweden this year certainly has it with a ton of nineteen year olds.
I think they usually go in with a set top six in this case
probably a top nine, and then the minute it doesn't work out, one
period goes by and they don't score one or two goals. I think they
like to shake it up a little bit, and I think Raykoff is one
of those guys who they'll be able to just throw him in there and see
what happens. So I think while he may not start the tournament on the
power play, I think it's possible that he ends it on the power play.
Yeah. I think that's fair. And there's only a couple of goalies
in this whole tournament that have experience being successful. There's another one still out
there and have it is certainly one of them. Undrafted still his brother guy
drafted by the Sharks. He's a defenseman. He'll be playing. He didn't
get drafted because he's five to ten. He could be the next he could
be the Swedish Sorrows. We'll have to see about that, but I really
like that pick. Go ahead, Jesse, I don't know you're Victor.
You're talking about some undrafted players. I'm not so sure that's that's a great
thing. But I'm gonna let it slide right now. I didn't name any
names. Okay, all right, all right, we're gonna let this slide.
We're gonna let a slide. I'm the bigger man here, that's all
I can say. Let's break the Swedish cap here. Additionally, some more
Swedes than we have had so far, because after all, they are the
host team. They're gonna get some juice out of being the host team,
probably be doing a little bit more scoring than they might they might always get.
And let's grab some Philip bishtat from the San Jose Sharks, from Victor
San Jose Sharks and give him a shot here. Victor, I really want
to your thoughts here on Bestead because I love the player. I now own
him in Triple D and like other podcasts hosts who like to talk about their
Dynasty teams on other podcasts, I really want you to tell me the Bestead
is going to be great in this tournament. I also drafted him in pool
as my number one pick, So please tell me this is a good pick.
I do think it's a good pick. I think he's going to be
really good in this tournament. In fact, I was considering taking him with
my next picks. I do like him. I think in terms of long
term he's probably more of a middle six center. I don't know. He
might have top line upside, but he's probably more of that middle to maybe
bottom six. He's just a really effective player, but he's someone who's learning
how to use his size and really leverage that in smart ways. He uses
a good Barkov ways, not like he's going to run you over, but
he's just really good at shielding and protecting the puck and just so he just
can't get the puck away from him. It's just really annoying but effective.
So I do think that he's gonna that's going to translate well because they have
a lot of I think Sweden has a really balanced roster. They have guys
that can do all the things that they need, different things like transporting the
puck, shooting and protecting it. They're not just like a bunch of shooters
or a bunch of checkers or something like that, and I think Bestet is
going to facilitate a lot of that, So I know, I think it's
a I think it's he's going to be good. Great Jesse, just here
trying to make me feel better. Ryan, I'm going for second, man,
I'm not gonna go third in this draft. That's all I could say.
We'll see about that. Where you going next, Victor, I'm gonna
definitely diversify because I have three Americans and one Canadian and two defensemen, two
forwards. I think I'm gonna go with one of my favorite players, and
he's on a team on a country that's a little bit depressed. This year.
I would say that the Checks aren't looking as strong as usual, but
someone's gonna play in that bronze medal game, and I think it might be
the Checks. And I think that Yuri Kulik is gonna just manhandle people because
that's what he's been doing for years now, even against bigger, stronger,
faster, theoretically competition. And you know, they're not completely devoid of they
have several drafted players. They're not the highest end guys. But I think
Coolick is going to be good for you know, a certain amount of points
and hopefully if he gets into that semi final, then he'll play a few
more games too. So we'll take Kolick with with the fifteenth pick, and
then with the sixteenth pick, I think I'm going to go back to Canada
and I'm going to take the emergency reinforcement top line center Matthew Patchua and Ryan
is devastated. Never heard of you, never heard him? You took my
next two guys. That just means that just means worse than Potakota. It
does we might as well be at this point. Yeah, that's that's a
real kick in the teeth for me, because it just seemed these two pro
guys are still here this late in the draft. I felt like I really
was gonna benefit there. But Alas, I'm gonna have to move on,
and I think I get back to back here and I've taken my goalie,
so I really just have to fill out these skater slots, and I think
I need to go with WHOA wait a minute, I think I'm next.
I think I'm next to Ryan. That's true. Yeah, you're just oh,
you're getting a little impatient there, Admiral. That's all right, that's
all right. You're right. Sometimes the Sailors need to really admiral and it's
it's okay, it happens. You can just throw them all board. I'll
make it easy for you because this isn't that great of a pick anyway.
But R two Kharki from Finland. We need three defensemen. I have one.
I'm going to take what I hope will be another one of the power
play quarterbacks in this tournament. And yeah, maybe he's not the best,
but we got it. We need three each. This is the shallowest position
for us to draft from. So ar two Karky from Finland, and you
are on with the show. Ryan, that's a great name. Not a
guy I was gonna pick. I was gonna maybe wait, see if I
could wait on him one more round. But a great pick there, Jesse.
I'm going to go with another pro player here. I really value these
guys who are coming back from the NHL, and this is a guy who
saw some time in the NHL this season. I'll take Tristan Luno with this
pick, and then with my pick on the turn here, I feel like
I probably need to go with a bit more Canada representation. Or there's two.
There's really two players I could pick from here. And actually, since
I know where Victor is going to go with his next pick, and since
he just took my two picks in a row, I'm going to go and
I'm going to make sure I take the best of the your Garden's trio.
Noah, Oastland's That's how I labeled him when I took him in our in
the fourth round of our pool. Yeah, and actually you did take one
I wanted to you. I don't know that I was going Oastland, but
I definitely was Eyeball and Luno as as another defender, just to prove that
Ryan and I share a brain. There you go. Oh shoot, all
right, next up, let's see he took Oastland. I will go back
to Sweden. And because it is Melli Khaliki Maka season, I'm gonna go
Johnny Lcarry Maki. It's the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day,
Victor. I know you you hate Johnny Lacarry Maki's guts, You hate
his stupid face and his jersey and everything about him. But I love him
and I'm gonna select him now. Melli Lucara Maki is the thing to say,
wait, aren't you the singer right whyan Christmas Day? Wait right,
bravo, bravo. Don't let me sing, especially when Ryan's around. That's
a that's a mistake. That's great, fantastic, all right, what are
we doing here? So I have two D four forwards. I need one
more forward, one more D and a frigging goalie. There's only been one
goalie taken. We only need one each. So there's plenty of options,
and I think it is a little bit of a challenge. I don't think
we're spoiling for anybody when we say that there's there's question marks up in Canada.
There's other question marks in the US because there are a couple of good
goalies and there's some other good goalies on teams that may not go as far.
So that's always the issue. I think this is difficult. We never
said anything about a timer, so I'm just going to think, for a
second, go ahead. While you're thinking, I'm just going to point out
the shallowness of this draft is throwing me a little bit because there's only three
of us, and I'm seeing a lot of names on the board that I
would love to have, So I'm really vacillating, especially with my forward pick.
The d is a little kind of up in the air. But I
share your pain here, Victor, because these forwards are tough to pick between.
Yeah. Like in our deep poll, it's like there's you're limited,
so the guys can stand out a little bit more. Here it's oh god,
there's so many still. Do I already have Smith and Perot? Do
I add the third member of that line and just go all in? Or
do I maybe pick a top foward on a different team. That's always my
strategy with these I don't know about you, guys. I generally just want
to go all in with one country. You know, if I think USA
is going to be one of the best, I just put all my chips
in that basket, you know, whichever country I think is going to go
far, because I think that's how you win these things. It's hard to
win if you spread yourself out, because you know, then other people who
have gone all in with one one team or one country tend to do a
little bit better. So I think, what the heck, I'm just going
to go. I'm gonna go Ryan Leonard and just complete the trio for my
last forward and then I think I want to think about the defenseman a little
bit, and I'm just going to go heavy USA and take Trey Augustine for
my goalie. Oh man, that's exactly who I was going to take,
all right, now, I got to think about this. Yeah, because
we only victory, you only have one selection left. I have two left.
Ryan has two left, So we are that close to the end of
the draft victor. While Jesse thinks, does the specter of Jacob Fowler alarm
you at all? With the Trey Augustine pick, I think Jacob Fowler is
fantastic. He's one of these guys that I think is just uber talented.
But Augustine has been there. He's been in the UA teens, He's brought
that team back from the brink of losing a gold medal game. He's had
plenty of World junior experience. I think the thing about Augustine that I just
like is that he's been in these pressure situations. He's a gamer. He
may not be the most skilled or athletically gifted in terms of his dimensions,
but he just always is there. He's always solid. So I think I
think, Yeah, it worries me a little bit because I think if you
just went based on like raw talent, maybe Fowler is better and maybe his
technical skills are better. But Augustine, having the experience, being older,
I think is gonna win out. But obviously the Americans are going to go
with whoever's hot and whoever's winning. If that happens to be Fowler and obviously
has a bad game, it could be over for him. But a little
bit worried about I just going to lean on the experience there and try to
have confidence in that. Take a short break, look strategically here as a
goalie, I think the money would be on Adam guy On of Slovakia.
The problem is this pool rewards two things, wins and shutouts, and how
many of either one of those am I really expecting him to get? So
I'm gonna hedge against Victor. I'm going to take the other half of the
American tandem and take Jacob Fowler here because what's the worst that could happen?
What probably, hopefully, if America advances far enough, he will get if
he gets half the starts and the advance get something out of that. So
I'll take Jacob Fowler as my goalie selection and the real winner here is me
because I got I took a goalie that isn't split time. We'll be watching
that. To that USA situation there, Victor, I agree with you on
those guys. I think Augustine has even said that he feels he has a
lot of trust from the USA coaching staff and they've been through a lot together,
and I definitely think it's gonna lean Augustine. But this is the World
Juniors, is a short tournament, and I think Fowler could come in,
have a great game and be the starter. That'll be an interesting decision to
watch, especially now since you guys are battling on that decision. For my
last picks here, I got a D and I got a forward. I
gotta fill. The forward is easy, the D is less. Although I
think I might have him and says it doesn't really matter what order I pick
in I'm going to go with my D. It's a bit of an off
the board pick, certainly, And I'm interested in your thoughts on this,
Victor, because I heard you talking about him earlier today on the DPR show.
I'm going to go with rodwind Diancio from the Switzerland team. I think
he's a really talented player. Obviously, he's one of those offensive guys.
He's a Swiss and American national, but playing for Switzerland. Born in Newark,
New Jersey, he's a big fellow, six foot two, two hundred
and fourteen pounds, and he played in Switzerland until his D minus one season,
where he went to the Ohl and played for the Ice Dogs. Has
been traded a bunch ever since, playing now with Saginaw, but he's over
a point per game in his D plus one season. He's very exciting.
I think we probably you know me. I love these kind of offensive guys
with some upside and in a short tournament, even though he won't have much
to work with, I think he will be able to make a difference on
that team. So my D will be Rodwin Dnicho. And then when it
comes to the forward, I have a decision here between Canada and Sweden.
I think I'm going to put my money where my mouth is. I'm going
to pick who I picked in our Fahl World Junior Draft. I'm going to
go with Braden Yeager. I just love the thought of him screaming down the
right wing and peppering a shot on goal and having it go in. I
don't think a lot of the Canadian players have that skill set. Certainly there's
a lot of players with the possession skill set transition skill set, but I
think so few of them have a shot like Braden Yeger. So give me
Braden Yeager for the goal potential. Yeah. I like those picks. There's
so many options left for forwards, so it's hard to go wrong. I
definitely would do what you did and load up on either an American or Canadian
there. I like that. In terms of the d Yeah, Rodwin du
Nichio is severely underrated and go listen to that discussion I had on the DPR
show if you haven't already. But he his metrics are insane and they're much
better than a lot of players that are drafted well ahead of him. My
only concern in this tournament I thought about him with this. I was considering
taking him with my last pick. I don't know that I would have,
But my concern is that how much does he have to work with. We've
seen Lea and Bixl, We've seen other guys be a star. Marco Rossi
in a different capacity on a much weaker Austrian team really struggle to do anything.
I think that Switzerland is a better they have They're going to have a
better roster, they're going to be a bit more competitive. But I still
wonder like how much he's going to be able to do with with the talent
that's him. But I think in terms of his long term projection, the
Ducks know other draft defenders and they plucked him was it the fifth round,
like insane, and he looks like he's going to be He's tracking to be
one of the best defensemen in this draft, like already. So you should
definitely go grab Rodwind you needs you if you haven't already, if he's available
in your pool, Jesse, who are you taking with your last pick?
Here? All right, Victor, here's where I was concerned about your spoiling
And apparently this was such a non spoil to you that he's not even on
your radar. And I'm going to take the other Havallead Mattiasavaliad. And how
many Swedish defensemen do we really need in this draft? I don't know,
but according to witnesses of the game, he's actually the guy who was on
the first power play for Sweden the other day, not sending Pelica so let's
hedge our bets. Let's take some havlead. What's the worst that could happen.
It's a depth defenceman. Is there really an explosive depth defenseman otherwise that
we're going to get here? So I'm going to take Mattias hi and it
just hedge my bets and I'm Trey Kroner man. I am so tray that
it's unbelievable. I got those little blue things coming out of my eyes right
now. Those of you that don't know, that's what they that's what the
Sweden team call themselves. Yeah, I think that I remember correctly the last
time that Sweden won gold at not this term. I think it was the
UA teens. But the Havelid Brothers starred Hugo, Annette and Mattias on the
back end, so it's very possible that they could have a huge tournament.
And yeah, I think he's a bit underrated, and I think it's a
bit unusual for a young player like sending Pelika to get that top role.
I still think he will, or at least he'll get it for part of
the time he may have. Lid may not get as much time on the
power play, but if he gets some, that's that's still pretty worth it.
I think that's a very reasonable pick. I'm forced now with my last
D pick to take someone who's obviously not going to run the top power play.
But the question here is maybe someone who gets points by osmosis, maybe
one of the top defensemen, and I can just spoil things here because that's
the last pick, someone like an Oliver Bonk maybe, or a Tanner Mullendyke
who might be playing with some of those top offensive d or one of the
options too is Tom Villander, who is definitely more of like a two way
defenseman, but he's probably going to play with Sending Pelika or Pavolid, so
those are options. Also. I think that it's one of the really fun
options would be just to go all in with the Lane Hudson pair, who
I believe is playing with Ryan Chesley, and Chesley's definitely more of a stay
at home defenseman, but he's going to be tapping the puck to Hudson who's
gonna do things, so that may be an option too. So mainly I'm
just talking about all these guys just to say some more names and think about
who I want to pick it depends on if you want I want to diversify
my team a little bit more, because right now I have one check.
You're saying that star spangled banner, right now I have Yeah. Yeah,
I think everyone knows I have a lot of Americans, but I have two
Canadians and then yeah, the rest are all Americans. So if I win
Chesley, I would go super heavy on on the Americans. I don't know
that there's a real Oh, I guess I could mention there's some other there's
some other countries like you went, Danio. I don't know that there's a
whole lot of other Jesse probably took the most interesting finish defenseman there. There
are some other ones, but I don't know that that. The Finns always
play really tough, but don't tend to score a lot of points, So
that's also one reason to maybe not go there. But Maxim Stirback for the
Slovaks is one who could be interesting that there's draft eligible. What's his name,
I'm looking at the wrong country. He's not Slovaki's check, you're a
check. Adam iyercheck is another one that is interesting, but I don't the
list. Yeah, I looked at him, yeah, I don't know that
they're going to give say, seventeen year old Adam yere Check the top power
play though. That's the only thing. So he apparently doesn't score for squat
either. Good defenseman, but not much for the points. He's playing against
thirty year old men, so it's a little a little tough for him.
But yeah, all right, I think I've I think I've still long enough,
and I think i wanna just just load up and I'm just gonna go
Ryan Chesley. I'm just gonna go all red, white and blue and pray
and for those secondary assists, but they could happen. Yeah, I see
a situation unfolding where Cheslie just taps it to Hudson, and Hudson skates all
the way and then passes it off to someone for an easy tap, and
so you could get points certainly that way. That's nice, all right.
So now we were done with our draft, so let's let's maybe make some
comments on what we think just in general. Two, in terms of the
tournament, I think it looks like USA, Canada, Sweden are the top
three. I think I'd be shocked if the three of them, or two
of those three aren't playing for the gold medal. We'll have to see which
way it breaks out, But do you think anyone other than Techia has a
pretty decent chance of being the other semi finalist? What about you, Jesse,
I couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell you which of those other contenders
would pull in ahead of them, But you can always see a surprise coming
at that second level. Could be Finland playing a defensive game. Who knows
who else could sneak into that conversation. I definitely think Slovakia has got a
chance. They've been a pretty strong international team for a couple of years now
from the junior ranks, and of course you have guys like Slavkovski going up
into the NHL not available for this tournament obviously, But I think there's a
lot of skill that on that Slovakia team. Guys like Philip mayshar and Dalliboard,
Divorski our first round picks and mayshard lighting it up in Kitchener right now,
and Devorski is a great player, and they've got some guys who can
move it on the back end. You mentioned Stirback, who's a good sturdy
defenseman. Adam Sikora is another guy who's got that kind of Zach Hyman like
bite to his game. He can really he can really bring the physicality even
though he's just a smaller fella. So I think Slovakia could play a hard
game and maybe get to the quarterfinals. But who are we kidding? It's
it's Canada, Sweden and US that's going to be the top three. It
remains to be seen how they will all line up. I personally think it'll
probably be Sweden. They're just so deep. But what do you think,
Victor, if you had to put those three teams on the podium, how
do you put them up there? Yeah? I think it's going to be
US and Sweden in the final. I don't think it's going to be Canada.
We'll see. They seem like they have a tougher road too, just
in their group. I think the groups are interesting. I check you in
Slovakia are tougher middle of the road outs, but Canada and Sweden playing each
other in the preliminary round might be a little bit tricky. I do think
that the US is I think deeper. All throughout people keep talking about their
their one weakness is maybe the undersizedness of their defense. But they're they're really
good and mobile, and even though they're maybe not the biggest, William Has
got good sides, but the rest of them don't. Really They're so mobile,
and I think they're going to play so fast that it probably won't unless
some of the teams can really slow them down. I think that they could
really struggle against Finland. Finland is another one that I think I could see
them pulling an upset. They are just always a tough out. They're just
a really tough team to just get anything against it. They slow things down
and they make your life miserable. So I could see that happening. I
think if Finland is the Carolina Hurricanes of the international game. They all play
the exact same way and they're all just really tough to play against. Yeah.
If only the Carolina Hurricanes could get goalies like the Finland team normally does.
Yeah. So I think it's going to be I think it's gonna be
US, Sweden, and then probably Canada. That's my prediction. I wouldn't
be surprised at all if Sweden won. I think that they don't really have
any holes, but I don't think that they have the offensive firepower up front
that the the US does one of those things where if it does come down
to a tight, defensive, checking game, then Sweden probably has the advantage.
I think the goalies are probably even, but the defense is probably a
little bit better. How do we recap these teams all started out? I've
drafted second, but I've got maclin Cella Breni, Rutger McGroarty, Connor Geeky,
Philip Bishtadt, Jonathan lcarry Maki as my forwards, Axel Sandin Pelica,
r Two Kharki and Matias Havlid as my defenseman, and Jacob Fowler and Gold.
I think you talk about a stack, it turns out I've got the
Swedish stack. I think I've got four of the five Swedish skaters that were
drafted in our draft, all playing for me. So I guess if Sweden
really does roll, although it might be more spread out than just the guys
I was able to acquire. But then Ryan's got two, You got the
goalie and one other there. But and then a little smattering for a little
US, little Canada, a little something. We'll see how it all comes
out. How about you, Ryan, what do you think of the team
that you pulled together. Can you recap that for folks? Now that the
draft is over. I feel like I could probably say this without it sounding
like an excuse, but I was told this would be a three four ward
one D draft, and it's lucky I've prepared some other players because I would
have been up somewhere with out of paddle Otherwise, my guys, I did
the thing that Victor said you shouldn't do in this kind of draft, and
that is to go with many different teams. I've got Cutter Gotier, Jimmy
Snogerud, Carson ray Kopf, Noah Ustland, Branden Jaeger, Ziev Buyam,
Tristan Luno, Rodwin, Dianicho and Hugo Halid. So I've got a bit
of a smattering from Canada, Sweden, US, and then one little Swiss
player there who I hope will be a dark horse in this. I'm pretty
happy with my team. I think there's a lot of skill. There's a
lot of things that have to go right for my team to win. I
think in terms of Carson Raykopp moving up the line up, maybe getting some
extra scoring from Buiam and Luno. But I'm pretty happy with this team as
an all around team, especially drafting, where I did you talk about the
format? Victor calls that gamesmanship. That's what Victor does. He tells you
one thing and then you show up to the draft as something completely different.
Admits this for years. It's my initiation to being a regular podcast last year
is that is coming in with the incorrect information. But yeah, he told
me the accurate format. He just didn't tell you. Ryan, That's how
it went. You guys are ridiculous. You just didn't read the notes.
When do I ever read the show notes? Victor are sorry? Man,
everything I said about Victor just now was a lot. Let's just get that
on record anyway. Now, I like Ryan, basically you have good representation
on the three best teams, which is good, and then Danichio, which
if that goes really well for you, that could be a boon. Otherwise
it might be a little a little tough if if ray Coff, like you
said, didn't doesn't work out. But I think overall that that's a little
bit. Sometimes balance can be good, especially in this tournament where really you
just want you want representation on the teams that go to the Semis. That's
key. If you have that you're going to be okay, and I think
Jesse has that too. We'll see about Karky. I think that's a that's
an unknown that could be really good or that could he could just not do
much. In terms of my as a review, I went Hudson with Tachuk
and then ended with Chesley. So those are my three d two Americans and
Canadian. I like that I have two power play quarterbacks on the two best
teams I think. And then I went Smith, Perot, Coolick, Platra,
and Leonard. So obviously went heavy with those Americans and those BC boys
playing together. I think, you know, in a short tournament, chemistry
is huge, and those guys have been playing together forever, so I like
that. I think that they're gonna probably get out there in a lot of
situations and probably score a lot because that's what they've always done. So I
like that. I like Coolick. I think that Chechia could be and it's
probably gonna be Czech or Finland, maybe Slovakia. It's one of those three
that's probably going to be the other semi finalists. And so if it's Chechia,
that'll be good for me. You know, we'll see otherwise. And
then Platra, I think is a big unknown because you know, he didn't
practice and a lot of those pre tournament things because I he was, you
know, playing in the NHL. I just think it's hard for me to
imagine him not being leaned on in every situation because he's been playing against the
best in the world and doing quite well at it. Maybe he won't get
all the power play time, maybe they'll be using him more PK and even
strength. But I have a feeling he will get out there, and I
have a feeling he will earn a bunch of points because he's just better than
pretty much everyone at this tournament based on his skill level. So I feel
pretty good about that. But and then yeah, the goalies, I like
what Ryan did. I think Havlt was probably the best goalie pick, and
I was thinking about taking him soon because he's the only for sure. I
mean, unless you know, knock on wood there's some injury, but I
think he's the only for sure probably going to play all the meaningful games for
one of the best teams. And so as you could probably tell and heard,
no one picked a Canadian goalie. I think there's I think that's the
biggest question marks for them. One of them is probably going to emerge and
be the next Steven Levi. We just don't know which one of those is
going to be, but that all they need is someone to be average and
he'll get wins. What do you think on that victor, because I think
you could go in a number of different directions and make a number of different
arguments for each of those guys. I think it'll be Santilaire, but it
could be any of the three. Do you lean any one way? Yeah?
I think ratslaf is the most talented, but that doesn't usually mean that
he's going to play the most. So he's also the youngest, and that
typically is not who they go with. But I do think it'll be one
of the nineteen year olds, which would be Rousseau or Saint Hilaire. I
didn't watch those pre tournament games. We didn't have access to watch those down
here in the States against h Sports, So I'm not sure it's just gonna
I'm sure it's gonna be a feeling. They're gonna play the pre tournament games
and they're probably gonna give the first game to whoever does the best, and
so I really have no idea, but I just think it probably won't be
Ratslav, even though I think he's probably the best, and it would be
fun. I would love to see him get the most games and run away
with it. I think that would be fun to see. If only Canada
had the same goalie depth is the USA and has. They've had the better
goalies for maybe ten years now twelve years. You look in the NHL,
you've got a wealth of guys you can pick from for Olympic for instance,
Olympic participation. But Canada not so good and we haven't been good and who
knows if we'll ever be good again. In goal it's really strange, but
yeah, so good at developing skaters, and there certainly are Hall of fame
Canadian goaltenders, but in the last decade or two has not come to fruition.
I really do think there's something to so many of them playing in the
CHL, where you're playing against shooters who aren't as good. I think there's
a lot to that, and Byron has done those case studies on finished Swedish
and Russian goalies facing professional shooters from an early age. It has to make
you better. I think they're at a bit of a disadvantage. I think
a lot of them catch up eventually, obviously, as we've seen. But
yeah, I think that's going to continue to be a weak spot unless something
happens with that CHL agreement. Yeah, and Ran, I think y'all are
doing our right all right. Maybe maybe you're not, again to Hanard is
doing all right in international competitions. I'm not. I'm not listening to too
many of those tiers. Jesse. You have no idea what will happen when
they lose their first two games here. It will be a referendum in parliament
about we can't play hockey anymore. So I'm joking, but I'm also not.
No, I know you're not. You know you're not. Meanwhile,
down here in the States, if things go poorly, no one will notice
or say anything. Yeah, if the Americans lose too early, the response
from the public will be there was a tournament going on. What's that?
So disappointed in our countryman, Jesse. We're getting it together, Victor,
we're spreading the good word. Any last minute thoughts on this, gentleman,
that's going to be fun. Got root of interest now, Ryan, But
you got two different teams, how are you going to deal with that.
I think I'm going to try and repeat as champion in the FHL team.
But I will say I do have a couple of picks that overlap here,
so I'll be cheering for a lot of the same guys. I guess maybe
I'll have to ratchet down my enthusiasm for my number one pick from the FHL
draft to Philip beash Dead. But I can't have you gain too much ground
on me as we both vive for second place. Here. There you go,
that's what I like to hear. Oh shoot, all right, this
sounds good. This is really fun. I hope people enjoy the tournament follow
along, and we'll certainly be having more discussions about this, especially on the
podcast with Pete Harling. Definitely check that out. We're going to be doing
some more tracking of the tournaments as we go through, so enjoy and listen
along. And yeah, when Jesse and I talk again, we'll be shifting
our attention back to NHL stuff. Yep, Brian, you're awesome, Thanks
so much for doing this with us, and we'll be right back after them.
A couple of things to mention before we get out of here today.
One here here before I even see the things I've got to mention. Here's
a little tip. Stick around to the end of the theme song today.
There might just be a little extra nugget for you. Listen all the way.
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