The Quarterfinals get underway this afternoon and all three Blue Jackets prospects will be playing. Gabriel Carlsson and Team Sweden will take on Slovakia at 3:30, Calvin Thurkauf and Switzerland will be take on Team USA at 5:30 and Pierre-Luc Dubois and the Canadians will play the Czech Republic in the late game at 8:00.
Carlsson played in three of four Sweden’s preliminary games, sitting out the finale against the Czechs as he was banged up. I tracked two games of Carlsson and he had a 72.5% Corsi (+37/-14) at 5 on 5. He had nine successful exits, with just one dump out and one failed. He was targeted on entries 12 times. Eight by carry-ins and four dump-ins. He prevented shot attempts on four of the carry-ins and three of the dump-ins. His skating was good which allowed him to get back and retrieve dump-ins before the fore-checker could get to the puck. His first pass is good enough for him to get by. With how strong Sweden is all Carlsson had to do was get the puck to a forward or his d-partner and they could make a play with it.
Sweden was stingiest team in the preliminary round, allowing just six goals in four games. Of those six goals just two were scored at even strength. Carlsson played on the top defensive pair so he was a key contributor to this strong defensive effort. Offensively Carlsson had one assist in three games, with two shots on goal.
Thurkauf was only able to play in three of Switzerland’s game, missing the Denmark game due to a suspension. Thurkauf was given a one game suspension for slew footing a player in the game against the Czech Republic. Switzerland won the game against Denmark without their captain, before losing to Finland to close out the tournament. Switzerland had plenty of issues creating offense. They had 107 shots in four games which was fourth worst ahead of just Latvia, Slovakia and Denmark. Thurkauf in eight periods that I was able to track had a 40.9% Corsi at 5 on 5.
Switzerland as a team had its issues, for Thurkauf though his issues arose from getting the puck through the neutral zone. He attempted to enter the zone 18 times. He got the puck into the zone successfully with possession just seven times or 38.9%. He dumped the puck in four times and had seven failed entries. That really hurt the team as they didn’t have the puck very often and when they did, Thurkauf was just giving it right back. He was better against Finland as he played alongside Nico Hischier who is great at getting controlled entries. That made it easier for Thurkauf who didn’t need to carry the puck as often and could get in on the fore-check where he is most effective.
Thurkauf was at his best on the power play. He scored all of his points on the power play including two goals. He lined up in the same spot as Nick Foligno would on the Blue Jackets power play. He was very good in that role, using his size and strength to get to the front of the net to be a screen and collect rebounds and missed shots.
If Switzerland is to hang around the USA and have any hope for an upset they are going to need to score on their power play and protect the puck at 5 on 5. Thurkauf is going to play a lot of minutes against some very good players. He needs to have his best game of the tournament for the Swiss to have a chance.
Dubois played in all four games. He had four assists and at 5 on 5 a 73.1% Corsi. Despite those numbers he didn’t have the impact he was expected too at all. His game against the United States in particular was poor. He had difficulties gaining the offensive blue line and struggled defensively in his own zone. He completely lost his man on one shift, leading to a USA goal.
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— GIF Grand Maester (@myregularface) December 31, 2016
He was demoted from the top line down to the third line. To make matters worse he took just a terrible unsportsmanlike penalty late in the third, shooting the puck into the USA net after the whistle, all but killing a chance at a Canadian comeback.
Dubois has had a very disappointing tournament. Players picked third overall should be stars at this event. It’s a small sample but the concerning part is his struggles from the QMJHL have continued. The hope when this tournament started that Dubois would be playing with superstars, which he did, and that would help spark his offensive game, which hasn’t happened. It would be really good to see him have a strong playoff round and become that go to player for Canada he was expected to be.
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