THW Daily - 2024 World Junior Championships Guide & Inconsistency is Status Quo for the St. Louis Blues
Also, Oilers' first round failures since 2016, a new opportunity for Samsonov in Toronto & more
Welcome to The Hockey Writers Daily
In today’s edition, we have a guide to the 2024 World Junior Championships, inconsistency being the status quo in St. Louis, the Oilers’ first-round failures since drafting Connor McDavid, and much more.
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Now, here’s the good stuff…
Yesterday’s NHL Scores…
Bruins Poitras Needs Late-Game Role Expansion
December 10, 2023 by Brandon Share-Cohen
The Boston Bruins are putting a lot of faith in Matthew Poitras in the 19-year-old’s rookie campaign. After a breakout training camp and preseason, Poitras earned a spot on the team’s opening night roster and hasn’t looked back as he’s contributed to winning hockey games on one of the NHL’s best teams. Still, while head coach Jim Montgomery has praised Poitras throughout the season and given him a plethora of opportunities, one area where he hasn’t seen much action has been late in games when the Bruins are ahead.
This was most notable Saturday when the Bruins took on the Arizona Coyotes in a matinee game. The Bruins held a lead for the vast majority of this contest despite losing Pavel Zacha to an upper-body injury early in the game. Despite being down a top center option, the Bruins would lean on just about everybody other than Poitras to pick up the slack and get the job done. This included Charlie Coyle finishing the game with 20:17 of ice time, Morgan Geekie with 17:31 of ice time and Trent Frederic with 15:13. Poitras, however, would play just 8:26 and would be sat for the entirety of the third period as the Bruins protected their lead.
2024 Guide to the World Junior Championship
December 9, 2023 by Logan Horn
With December well underway, it’s time to look ahead to the next big event on the hockey calendar, the 2024 World Junior Championship. Last year we got the first sense of normalcy for this tournament in quite some time, with plenty of fans in attendance and a raucous atmosphere in both Halifax and Moncton.
The tournament has become a holiday tradition for many hockey fans around the world, beginning on Boxing Day (December 26) each year and ending during the first week of the new year. The WJC has grown remarkably since the inaugural (official) tournament was held in 1977 and has a massive amount of international support.
Oilers’ First Round Failures Since McDavid Was Drafted
December 9, 2023 by Rob Couch
It hasn’t been the easiest task for general managers in Edmonton to build a team around the best player in the world, Connor McDavid, although it shouldn’t be as hard as it has been. It’s a good thing that some of the first round picks chosen before McDavid (Leon Draisaitl, Darnell Nurse, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) are contributing to the Edmonton Oilers this season because after the generational talent was selected first overall, it has been a rough go in the first round since.
Now let’s dive into each draft year since McDavid was selected that the Oilers have had a pick in the first round and look at the mistake and why it didn’t work out/isn’t working out to this point.
Sabres’ Center Dylan Cozens Snakebitten Once Again
December 10, 2023 by Jacob D. Strozyk
When just about everything is going wrong for a team, blame is going to be thrown around in almost every direction. Right now, the Buffalo Sabres have a lot of blame to be thrown on their coach Don Granato, some additional blame to be thrown on general manager Kevyn Adams, and the most blame on the roster as a whole. Besides a select few players in Rasmus Dahlin, Jeff Skinner, JJ Peterka, and Casey Mittelstadt, several high-end players have not been good enough in Buffalo this season, and one of the most noticeable has been Dylan Cozens.
In his first few seasons in the NHL, Cozens had a bit of a problem where he appeared “snakebitten” and could not finish some easy chances, or he made simple plays look difficult. Last season it looked like he had shed that issue, and was able to have a massive breakout. He was one of the Sabres’ leading scorers and was a clutch performer in very big moments, but this season is the exact opposite.
For Blues, Inconsistency is Status Quo
December 10, 2023 by Stephen Ground
The St. Louis Blues have finally found their groove in the 2023-24 season, but it appears that the groove is inconsistency. While a gritty overtime win on Dec. 4 against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights showed what this team is capable of at its best, the stretch following that victory has been one of the worst of the team’s season. They allowed the Golden Knights to come from behind dramatically on Dec. 6, before dropping back-to-back games against two of the worst teams in the league: the Columbus Blue Jackets and Chicago Blackhawks.
Those kinds of results have become the hallmarks of a team in sixth place in their division, with a 13-13-1 record and 27 points. That puts the Blues on an 82-point pace — a very slight improvement over last season’s 81-point finish, but not a playoff result. Sure, there have been some improvements over last season, but inconsistency remains at the forefront of the Blues’ identity. So, what’s behind the team’s mixed results? Let’s take a closer look at some key factors.
Maple Leafs’ Woll Injury Gives Samsonov Chance to Prove Himself
December 10, 2023 by Spencer Lazary
After last season, I truly never thought that Ilya Samsonov would be anything but the Toronto Maple Leafs’ starting goalie this season. However, things change fast. Samsonov just hasn’t been the same goalie that he was last season, and his counterpart, Joseph Woll, has simply been better. The two have been a tandem so far this season, but Woll essentially took over the role as the starting goalie for the Maple Leafs and left Samsonov as the backup with a $3.55 million cap hit.
A week ago, I was preparing to ask the question of whether the Maple Leafs should trade Samsonov and allocate his cap hit elsewhere to improve the team and use Martin Jones as the backup. While that still could happen if Woll plays well when he returns, his injury could also force Samsonov to play better or end in him being traded.
More stuff from THW and around the NHL:
Detroit Red Wings - Dear Santa: Detroit Red Wings’ 2023-24 Wish List
Edmonton Oilers - Bad Rumored Trades Oilers Could Make to Derail New Momentum
World Junior Championships - Team USA Players to Watch at 2024 WJC
NHL News & Rumors - Canucks, Kraken, Penguins, Red Wings
From TSN - Kraken place G Grubauer on IR, recall G Driedger
From Sportsnet - Canucks finding form with consistency, composure and a Pettersson resurgence
From ESPN - NHL offers in-person hearing for Red Wings' David Perron after hit
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