With Dave Cameron behind the Team Canada bench, how boring will this WJC be for Canada?

By JEFF BLAY
In the O Blogger

Okay people, here is my next stab at the coaching strategies of Dave Cameron. In my last blog on the subject I explained why it was so hard for me to like him as a coach because of how often I get to his the Mississauga Majors play the most boring hockey in the OHL.

Team Canada World Junior Coach Dave Cameron.

Now, my hatred for that style of hockey may have to carry over to one of my favourite hockey events of the year - the World Juniors. With Cameron as Head Coach, I can only assume he will be taking a similar approach to the playing style as he does with is own team.

As we have seen from the Team Canada selection roster, a lot of high-scoring, high-offensive players have been left out although on paper they may have expected to get the call. Names such as Tyler Toffoli, Taylor Beck, Christian Thomas were on many analyst's lists as surprises for not being named to the selection camp.

#4 Riley Sheahan of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (Detroit Rewings Draftee)

Detroit Redwings prospect Riley Sheahan did not attend development camp over the summer, but was named to the roster after recording just 5 assists with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this season. However, Notre Dame plays a similar defensive system as the Mississauga Majors... Seeing any patterns yet? Granted Sheahan is a great player who I do believe can serve a vital role as a penalty killing, big-bodies centre for Canada, but we still lack those big name scoring leaders.

Brayden Schenn coming back is a great early Christmas present for Team Canada on the offensive side of things, but unless we get Tyler Seguin back as well, I think were going to be looking at 2-3 lines of defensive forwards.

Don't get me wrong, Cameron's systems have done his OHL team well thus far placing them first in the league, and these defensive-minded tactics using some big bodies could do well against the offensive powerhouses in the Russians and Americans, but we might not be seeing the high-caliber scoring that we have seen in years past.

Cameron has made it clear that this team is going to be a blue-collar team, and if you don't know what that means in hockey, I think what is trying to say is hard-working, defensive, and not as many flashy players as Canadians are usually accustom to.

Since most of my in-depth player knowledge is based in the OHL, I can only hope some of the WHL and Quebec players will bring an offensive edge to the team. As far as the OHL players are concerned, Joey Hishon and Garret Wilson could make for a great pairing for a go-to scoring line if they both should make the team.

Hopefully my worries of a boring Team Canada World Junior team will just remain as worries, but with Dave Cameron behind the bench, who knows what will happen.

*Vote for the biggest surprise to be left off the Team Canada Selection Camp roster on the right side of the main page of our blog.