TORONTO – In a competition between nations, you expect there’d be politics.
At the World Junior Championships the political struggles play out internally.
Before the WJC, the controversy around the U.S. team’s selection focused on Alex DeBrincat of the Erie Otters. DeBrincat has torn up the OHL this season. He’s on pace to score more than 60 goals this season. Barring injury he’ll hit that total because he’s missing no games this week and next at the WJC.
A hue and cry went up when the U.S. roster was set and DeBrincat was sent back to Erie. How could you explain it? After all, DeBrincat had played for the U.S. team that took home a bronze from the WJC last January in Finland.
You have to scramble to come up with plausible explanations based on merit.
Start with history. DeBrincat, a second-round draft pick of the Chicago Blackhawks last June, was in the lineup in Finland but in the view of many NHL scouts struggled to have any impact with a lot of talent around him—maybe it’s a high standard for a draft-eligible kid, but that just goes with the territory. You get it done or not. Matthew Tkachuk was in exactly the same position with the American team in Helsinki and he was a first-liner. DeBrincat, if you noticed him it was mostly because he was so much smaller than everyone else on the ice.
Then go with chemistry. The 2017 edition of the U.S. team isn’t big overall and has more than a few mites up front, five of 13 forwards listed at below six feet and five somewhat suspiciously listed at six-flat. Most notable among them 5-foot-10 Clayton Keller, the elusive left winger who was the Americans’ best player at the under-18s last spring. It could be that the U.S. management team might already be over-subscribed as far as players in DeBrincat’s profile go and could afford one more. Then again, are any as hot as DeBrincat? Why pick him?
One thing for sure: DeBrincat wasn’t going to get any ice time from Tage Thompson, the UConn right winger who scored the prettiest American goal of the tournament early in the second period in the U.S.’s 5-2 win over Slovakia Wednesday night. Kieffer Bellows found the 6-foot-5 Thompson skating the net, his back turned to Slovakian netminder Matej Tomek. Thompson niftily handled the puck in stride and pivoted sharply. Tomej didn’t know what hit him. Bottom line: Thompson is here on merit. He also happens to occupy the same place on the wall in the power play setup that DeBrincat likes.
Another matter you could go to the bank with: DeBrincat wouldn’t be skating on the Americans’ most skilled line, LW Clayton Keller, C Colin White and RW Joey Anderson. Keller and White play off each other so well that they need a complementary player. There’s only one puck, only so much oxygen in the arena and U.S. management likely didn’t want DeBrincat competing with Keller for it. This isn’t a matter of putting some size on the line, some crash with the skill. Anderson is barely bigger than DeBrincat but the Americans’ coaching staff has to be presuming Anderson can play away from the puck more comfortably. That’s not to say it is so, just that that’s the only way to explain it.
The Blackhawks have to be ticked by USA Hockey at this point in time. Not only was DeBrincat passed over but so was another Chicago draft choice who played on the American under-20 team the last time out, defenceman Chad Krys of Boston University.
Jeremy Bracco of the Kitchener Rangers is on the left side of U.S. captain Luke Kunin. Bracco, a second-round draft pick of the Maple Leafs in 2015, has looked like a good fit with Kunin and Jordan Greenway, a 6-foot-5, 230-pound left winger.
Said Kunin: “[Jeremy and I] have played together pretty much from the start of the selection camp and in the exhibitions and it’s worked out great." In the case of Bracco, you’d have to break something to try to fix it with DeBrincat.
Said one scout Wednesday night: "I don’t know what the thinking was with Krys but DeBrincat got caught in politics and that’s how it happens every year. USA Hockey likes its college kids over major junior kids, so they give Anderson [a University of Minnesota-Duluth] kid a spot over DeBrincat who scores a goal a game in the [OHL]. To me you got to find a way to get [DeBrincat] in the lineup. But he didn’t play in the [USA Hockey] under-17 or under-18 programs. He’s a kid on the outside. They took Bracco ahead of DeBrincat. Again, he’s not much bigger than DeBrincat but they’re similar as players—Bracco’s not as flashy, maybe, but he played in the U17 and U18 programs. You feel like it came down to a choice really between these two [Bracco and DeBrincat]. I wouldn’t agree on the decision but I can see how the coaches got there.”
Other factors likely were weighed when it came time to make a decision. DeBrincat would be one unhappy camper around the team if he were spotted as a 13th forward. He doesn’t fit the profile of a grinding fourth liner like Troy Terry does.
You can see it as a numbers game or politics or both.
