One thing that has been noticeably absent from this tournament is Sami Salo's cannon shot from the point. Outside of Al MacInnis he's got one of the most powerful and feared cannon shots I've ever seen. Not sure why that's not being utilized.
Olympics: 2014 — Finland Roster Discussion Part IV
- Thread starter Frederick Stanley
- Start date
QnebO
Wheel, snipe, celly
- Feb 11, 2010
- 9,763
- 644
Today he had one of those blast slap shots, but it went wide and out of the zone from the boards. Hasn't been that great all around in this tournament, but wouldn't mind seeing him more on the PP.
mattihp
Registered User
He has never been all that willing to release it; and the older he gets the less shots he takes.
Salo hasn't been very good in this tournament in general. You can see he's aged a lot, and slowed down. He also doesn't shoot very often, which isn't new though.
How is that line first line only in paper if they have played a most ? All of the finnish players only Vatanen has played more than Granlund and Selänne is up there too..
RobertR
Registered User
- Jul 5, 2012
- 1,704
- 2
How KHL'ers looked overall?
I just saw the game today. D-mens looked solid. Offensivly whole team didn't show a lot. But Philstroms speed was still recognized even at this level.
Konti and JML had some good passing in one attack, when the last pass to Korpikoski was a little bit off, but overall that was a good play.
Was Immonen at least good at Faceoffs as he always is?
I just saw the game today. D-mens looked solid. Offensivly whole team didn't show a lot. But Philstroms speed was still recognized even at this level.
Konti and JML had some good passing in one attack, when the last pass to Korpikoski was a little bit off, but overall that was a good play.
Was Immonen at least good at Faceoffs as he always is?
FLYguy3911
Sanheim Lover
- Oct 19, 2006
- 55,635
- 92,227
I don't know how well liked he is in Finnish circles, but I really like Pihlstrom as a role player. I think he would give Grabner a run for fastest guy in the tournament. He's really tough on the forecheck and he's not afraid to throw his weight around. Not sure I would want him in a scoring role, but in a checking role I think he's pretty effective.
Pihlström might just not one of the fastest, but THE fastest player of the currently active ones.
The guy's record for a round in the rink is 13.5 secs. And the rink was international-sized.
For comparison, the fastest skaters in the NHL all-star game usually loop the NA rink in about 13.5-14.5 seconds.
FLYguy3911
Sanheim Lover
- Oct 19, 2006
- 55,635
- 92,227
Yeah I believe it. He can fly. Reminds me of a guy we had in Philly, Eric Wellwood- too fast for his own good sometimes. Pihlstrom plays with more grit and has actually produced some at the lower levels however.
I think that Pihlström is one of the most underappreciated players on the Finnish roster. He has awesome speed, likes to play physically, I have heard that he is a beast in the gym too, and he has always been good in his 4th line role in the national team. The downside is then that he isn`t that big and he isn`t an A-class scoring threat.
When some Finns whined about Pihlström being selected to this team, I was actually pretty happy about that selection, and I think Pihlström more than proved his usefulness even at this level in the Canada game.
Last edited:
Honour Over Glory
#firesully
- Jan 30, 2012
- 82,274
- 46,620
I absolutely despise the bigger ice surface and I hope the people that constantly whine about wanting it are taking notice as well...but yeah, Pihlstrom is tailor made for that kind of ice surface, he can just blow past people without getting crushed on a smaller ice surface, but the guy is a wrecking ball as well.
I wonder if teams are taking notice of some of these guys and we'll see some invites in camp.
Hey guys! Habs fan coming in peace. Long time Koivu fan and all.
That being said... and with all due respect... ******* you guys are impossible! You played a perfect game against Canada and I sort of expect the same against Russia... please pretty pleasy thank you!
That being said... and with all due respect... ******* you guys are impossible! You played a perfect game against Canada and I sort of expect the same against Russia... please pretty pleasy thank you!
How KHL'ers looked overall?
Was Immonen at least good at Faceoffs as he always is?
Not really. Nobody did very well in those, we lost over 60% of them.
To my mind Immonen seemed slow in attack, but his back checking was good, a solid defensive game. But that's supposed to be the 1st line, so I don't know if that is good enough. We are so ridiculously depleted that yesterday was quite ok, even excellent (though at times very nervous and uncertain). Anyway, we can bring the battle to any team in this tournament and I doubt that Russia will be able to be so dominant as Canada was - actually we should be more positive and aggressive against them: I suspect they would love that amount of puck possession against us.
I'd like to see us playing mainly with 7d vs Russia(or Norway.) Hietanen is really struggling and he gets absoletely destroyed with hits in every game. Kukkonen and Väänänen have been a positive surpise so i wouldn't mind them getting some more ice time. Vatanen can handle the remaining minutes with Lepistö.
Actually if we go into details, if you are talking about the shot that was not done during the OT, Salo shot it on the boards on purpose, because there was too much traffic in front of the net. So he turned it into a pass or hoped to get a lucky bounce in front of the net. Smart player. I remember that moment very well.
When Pihlström was waking up the team, it instantly reminded me during the game how Korpikoski had been rather invisible. That line switch Korpikoski-Kontiola-Aaltonen didn't seem to work at all, but I guess we have to make some sacrifices and not mess up all the lines OR should we just break that Kontiola line completely and consider breaking Kontiola-Aaltonen duo or drop one of them outside of the lineup? That #3 line should be broken maybe, because right now it feels like whoever is the third link there is sacrificed and I don't think we need to do that.
Idea #1 - Korpikoski to #1 and Aaltonen out, #3 completely redone:
Selänne-Granlund-Korpikoski
-Inserted Korpikoski here. Either him or Salminen. I'd like to keep the NHL guys together.
Ruutu-O.Jokinen-J.Jokinen
-I'd like to keep this line together instead of going back and putting Korpedo into J.Jokinen's slot. Seems to work well when we have 2 faceoff guys here, because refs don't like OJ in the facoffs. Also have some history between Ruutu & J.Jokinen here.
Kontiola-Immonen-Salminen
-A completely new line. All from KHL should help with the chemistry. Rather have Kontiola in the wing instead of Aaltonen. Aaltonen is out of the lineup.
Komarov-Lehterä-Pihlström
Idea #2:
Selänne-Kontiola-Granlund
-This could work, but it could also leak in the defensive end when one of these offensive players has to play little bit more defensive we don't get all their offensive potential in use and again would sacrifice something...
Ruutu-O.Jokinen-J.Jokinen
Salminen-Immonen-Korpikoski
Komarov-Lehterä-Pihlström
Idea #3:
-Keep the lines as they were. Russia and Canada play little bit different, so all of our lines might just 'magically' start to work during that game.
Idea #1 - Korpikoski to #1 and Aaltonen out, #3 completely redone:
Selänne-Granlund-Korpikoski
-Inserted Korpikoski here. Either him or Salminen. I'd like to keep the NHL guys together.
Ruutu-O.Jokinen-J.Jokinen
-I'd like to keep this line together instead of going back and putting Korpedo into J.Jokinen's slot. Seems to work well when we have 2 faceoff guys here, because refs don't like OJ in the facoffs. Also have some history between Ruutu & J.Jokinen here.
Kontiola-Immonen-Salminen
-A completely new line. All from KHL should help with the chemistry. Rather have Kontiola in the wing instead of Aaltonen. Aaltonen is out of the lineup.
Komarov-Lehterä-Pihlström
Idea #2:
Selänne-Kontiola-Granlund
-This could work, but it could also leak in the defensive end when one of these offensive players has to play little bit more defensive we don't get all their offensive potential in use and again would sacrifice something...
Ruutu-O.Jokinen-J.Jokinen
Salminen-Immonen-Korpikoski
Komarov-Lehterä-Pihlström
Idea #3:
-Keep the lines as they were. Russia and Canada play little bit different, so all of our lines might just 'magically' start to work during that game.
Last edited:
starduckets
Registered User
- Jul 4, 2011
- 47
- 0
I don't claim to be a hockey expert but I thought Kontiola has played really well. Would moving him to the first line as center be out of the question?
There's a couple of reasons. Probably first of all, from our management's point of view, is that they're going to keep Kontiola and Aaltonen in the same line, and you can't put them both in to the 1st line. Secondly, with Selänne and Granlund being wingers, 1st line needs defensively responsible center, something that Kontiola isn't enough. I think it's pretty safe to say that Kontiola is going to play in 3rd line with Aaltonen and somebody in QF.
At first I thought that Granlund tried to take as much space as possible in the first period and then as the game continued he would be able to take advantage to it but it was just a very bad game for Granlund.
We need him to be our top offensive player if we want to success here.
Now that being said I expect him to be our best player against Russia/Norway
We need him to be our top offensive player if we want to success here.
Now that being said I expect him to be our best player against Russia/Norway
toewsintangibles
Leadership analyst
- Dec 23, 2012
- 1,541
- 123
I felt that line had a spark all game, even with Korpikoski messing it up nearly every time. Drop Korpedo out of that line and it works with nearly anyone (except Salminen)
Ad
Upcoming events
-
Props Alex Ovechkin to Record 895th Career Goal During 2024/25 Regular SeasonWagers: 13Staked: $22,383.00Event closes- Updated:
-
-