That's rather unfortunate for whoever would have gotten them. It looks like they would have gone to FRA, then EST, then CAN. Slovakia & Korea haven't used all their spots either so I guess they also waited until after the reallocatine deadline. There's probably not much reason for countries to give up spots even if they're not going to use them knowing they could go to athletes from other countries that might beat their skaters. It seems like there should be a better way to assign JGP spots but I'm not sure what that would be.
Agreed. Georgia also has not used all of their JGP spots on the Women's side and their fed surely knew they only had 2 women so they would have no need for all 6 spots they earned. I understand some countries want to be strategic in not necessarily relinquishing their earned spots so they have some flexibility should injuries arise, but it's unfortunate that the spots aren't able to be reallocated once they've determined they won't be using those spots.
Looking at the Allocated Spots v. Used Spots by discipline:
Men -
2 per JGP - KOR, JPN & SVK
KOR - 14 spots - 10 used for 5 skaters (2 each)
JGP #1 - 2
JGP #2 - 1
JGP #3 - 1
JGP #4 - 2
JGP #5 - 1
JGP #6 - 1
JGP #7 - 2
JPN - 14 spots - 10 spots used for 6 skaters (4 with 2; 2 with 1)
JGP #1 - 2
JGP #2 - 2
JGP #3 - 2
JGP #4 - 1
JGP #5 - 1
JGP #6 - 1
JGP #7 - 1
SVK - 14 spots - 6 spots used for 3 skaters (2 each)
JGP #1 - 1
JGP #2 - 2
JGP #3* - 0
JGP #4 - 1
JGP #5 - 1
JGP #6 - 1
JGP #7* - 0
* JGP #3 & #7 are Thailand & China - it was a no-brainer that a small, European fed with not many Jr men to begin with was not going to utilize their spots at these two JGPs, but it's pretty clear they were not relinquished prior to the reallocation deadline, otherwise Canada would have picked up a 2nd spot in Thailand which it did not.
FRA - 7 spots - 6 spots used for 3 skaters (2 each); no additional spots picked up at any JGPs - they were 1st on the priority list, so it is clear they passed on accepting any additional spots made available for reallocation.
JGP #1 - 1
JGP #2 - 1
JGP #3 - 1
JGP #4 - 1
JGP #5 - 0
JGP #6 - 1
JGP #7 - 1
EST - 7 spots + 1 picked up during reallocation for 7 total - 4 spots used for 2 skaters (2 each); - they were 2nd on the priority list, so, again, they passed on accepting any additional spots after JGP #1, but they also did not relinquish any of their spots despite it being pretty obvious they weren't going to send skaters to Thailand or China.
JGP #1 - 1+1 unused (initially there were 2 entries)
JGP #2 - 0
JGP #3 - 0
JGP #4 - 1
JGP #5 - 1
JGP #6 - 1
JGP #7 - 0
CAN - 7 spots initially - 3 picked up during reallocation for 10 spots used for 6 skaters (4 with 2; 2 with 1)
JGP #1 - 1
JGP #2 - 1
JGP #3 - 1
JGP #4 - 2
JGP #5 - 2
JGP #6 - 1
JGP #7 - 2
Now, onto the 4 countries that had 6 spots - these countries can relinquish spots and those are made available for reallocation (this is not done for countries that have less than 6 spots earned)...
GBR - 6 spots - 6 spots used for 4 skaters (2 with 2; 2 with 1)
JGP #1 - 1
JGP #3 - 1
JGP #4 - 1
JGP #5 - 1
JGP #6 - 1
JGP #7 - 1
USA - 6 spots - 6 spots used for 4 skaters (2 with 2; 2 with 1)
JGP #1 - 1
JGP #2 - 1
JGP #3 - 1
JGP #4 - 1
JGP #6 - 1
JGP #7 - 1
POL - 6 spots + 2 as host for 8 spots - 7 spots used for 4 skaters (3 with 2; 1 with 1); uncertain if Poland relinquished their last spot at China before the reallocation deadline, what is clear is that it was unused.
JGP #1 - 1
JGP #2 - 1
JGP #4 - 1
JGP #5 - 3
JGP #6 - 1
JGP #7 - 0
NZL - 6 spots - 2 spots used for 1 skater (1 with 2)
JGP #1 - relinquished
JGP #3 - 1
JGP #4 - relinquished
JGP #5 - relinquished
JGP #6 - relinquished
JGP #7 - 1
Estonia's 2nd spot at JGP #1 came from New Zealand - and they initially intended to use it as they had 2 men on the initial entries list. That could be the reason why they did not relinquish all 7 of their spots before the reallocation deadline - they had 3 men listed as entries/substitutes through the first 5 JGPs (Martsenko, Levandi & Churakov) and perhaps thought all 3 would wind up with 2 and only changed their mind about sending Churakov out after their test skates in August.
We know that Canada's additional spots picked up at JGP #4 & 5 came from New Zealand's relinquished spots as NZL announced in May that they would only have 1 spot each at JGP #3 & 7 (and they were earmarked for Yanhao Li). What we don't know is which country relinquished their JGP #7 China spot which Canada then picked up - could have been Slovakia, Estonia or Poland. It definitely wasn't Japan as they originally had 2 men assigned to JGP #7 but WD one after poor results at his first JGP. So, we know why Canada didn't get a 2nd spot at JGP #1 (it went to Estonia); what's less clear is why Canada didn't pick up a 2nd one at JGP #2, 3 or 6 - especially #3 because there's no way that Slovakia or Estonia were going to use those spots and they should have been up front and relinquished them for reallocation.
I give both Japan and Korea a little bit of slack on not relinquishing their spots - Japan has plenty of skaters, so it really seems like a punishment to their junior guys that they aren't using all of those spots. Korea doesn't pay for the entire cost of the JGP for their 3-5 ranked men, so they basically allowed them to pick which events they wanted to attend (after their #1 & 2 men selected their events) and I can see the rationale in holding onto all 14 spots to give those men as much flexibility as possible in choosing their events to save airfare costs, etc.
I'll come back to analyze the Women's & Ice Dance reallocations in separate posts.