I watched the first 2 periods of the Sweden 3-0 game and frankly I was pissed at how the Slovak coach handled Chromiak! Here was a kid that scored twice the game before against the USA and then barely sees the ice for 40 minutes? Never watched the third but had the audio on. If I coached Chromiak he'd be playing 30-35 minutes a game in the World Juniors...something screwy in St Louie
Although Slovak coaching has sucked this tournament in regards to various player usage, Chromiak was terrible last night. He barely helped the Slovak defenders break the puck out and would instead just sit at the blue line waiting for our defenders to get him the puck (half of whom are playing in their first ever WJC and 16 or 17). When he would get the puck on those occasions and get a partial break, he failed to convert on any of his chances. Myklukha has to constantly do the heavy lifting on transitions because Martin is waiting for a breakaway. He’s supposed to be the best player on this team and yet for long stretches he looks like the 5th or 6th best player as he waits for the chance to score instead of going to create a chance for himself.
In the third period he showed why he didn’t get a letter over Faith or Nemec. Slovakia gets a 5 minute powerplay and for 3 minutes he demands the puck for a shot and consistently whiffs or just holds the puck and skates around than begrudgingly passes the puck around the perimeter more. He than sulks around the ice for the rest of the game, setting a terrible example for a team that has 9 players who are 17 or younger. He genuinely seemed like he didn’t care. Compare that to Slafkovsky or Dvorsky, a 17 and 16 year old, who are going all out defensively and also skating their hearts out to the end of the game.
I know he’s not a first rounder but he just signed an NHL contract and has AHL experience. He should be the best player and he certainly can be for Slovakia because he is the most skilled and physically mature player on the team. He should be setting an example for this team, not creating more distractions.