NHL 2016 - 2017 Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Scott Merryfield]

The first round of the NHL Draft was last night. It was a down year for the U.S. National Team Development Program (NTDP), which is based in my hometown of Plymouth, MI. After having a record nine players selected in the 1st round last year (including #1 overall pick Auston Matthews), the program only had two players taken in the first round - center Josh Norris (19th to San Jose) and goalie Jake Oettinger (26th to Dallas). Oettinger is only the 2nd goaltender to be taken in the first round in the past five drafts, and he was the goalie on this year's Team USA U20 Junior World Championship gold medal team.

The NTDP moved to Plymouth from Ann Arbor two seasons ago when the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League relocated to Flint, MI. We were long-time Whalers season ticket holders, and have been the same with the NTDP since USA Hockey bought the arena from former Whalers owner Pete Karmanos.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Isn't it an amazing coincidence that 38 year old Marian Hossa, who's been playing hockey his entire life, comes down with an "allergy to his hockey equipment" at the exact same time his heavily front-loaded contract drops to $1M per year, allowing the salary cap challenged Blackhawks to easily hide him on long term injured reserve for the remaining four years of his contract?

Astonishing!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

The World Junior Summer Showcase is going on this week at my hometown's USA Hockey Arena. This tourney features the U20 teams from USA, Canada, Finland and Sweden as they prepare for the IIHF World Junior Championship, which is held over the Christmas - New Year's holiday season each year. Team USA won the gold medal in 2017, but will probably have a much weaker team this year. This is the second consecutive year USA Hockey Arena has hosted the event.

I will be going to the games on Friday (Canada vs. Sweden and USA vs. Finland) and Saturday (Sweden vs. Finland and USA vs. Canada). There are several Montreal Canadiens prospects playing in the event. This year's first round pick, Ryan Poehling, plays for Team USA, 2017 2nd round pick Joni Ikonen plays for Team Finland, and 2016 draft picks Victor Mete and Will Bitten play for Team Canada.

Four hockey games in two days during the summer? It's like Christmas in August!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I had a lot of fun at last week's World Junior Summer Showcase, seeing four games in two days. I was really impressed with Montreal's 2017 first round pick, Ryan Poehling. He was the youngest player playing NCAA hockey last year at 17 (he finished high school a year early). He did not look out of place against older players, played an NHL-style type of game, and was one of the best players in the tournament. It was the first time I ever saw him play, and came away very pleased with what I saw for someone taken #25 overall in the 1st round. If Poehling had gone another route instead of playing in the NCAA at such a young age, I doubt he would have been available when the Habs pick at #25 -- he probably would have been a top 10 pick if he'd played for the US National Team Development Program.

Montreal's 2nd round pick, Joni Ikonen from Finland, also had some impressive moments, including a hat trick in the final game versus Sweden. Ikonen is a little small, though, so will need to bulk up if he wants to make it in the NHL.

Attendance for most of the games was not very good (probably under 500 people, including scouts). However, the final game on Saturday between Team USA and Team Canada was one of the best crowds we've had at the arena since USA Hockey purchased the facility. There had to be around 3,000 people in the stands. There were a lot of Canadian fans in attendance, which is not surprising since we are only about 30 minutes from the Canadian border. The USA - Canada game drew well last year, too, but not as well as this year.