WC: 2015 — Team Finland

[mattihp]

We need a more cynical coach who doesn't play underperforming players in key situations.

 

[FiLe]

The best Dman in the team. Hands down.

*cough*Lindell*cough*

That being said, I think Jaakola was solid when it came to stopping the opponent, but had some serious trouble when it came to moving the play forward, which kind of made him a bad piece in the overall game plan.

Still, like I said, one can't really criticize picking him either way, because most of us would still have had him.

 

[hirawl]

That would be Lindell, IMO. By far.

He was turning the puck over way too much. Did good on getting on the scoresheet against the nobodies though.

 

[hirawl]

*cough*Lindell*cough*

That being said, I think Jaakola was solid when it came to stopping the opponent, but had some serious trouble when it came to moving the play forward, which kind of made him a bad piece in the overall game plan.

Still, like I said, one can't really criticize his choice either way, because most of us would still have had him.

We obviously see the game differently. Fair enough.

 

[Mestaruus]

So if World Cup was now and all players were healthy, who would you guys choose and how would you do the lines? For me:

Lehterä-Mi.Granlund-Pulkkinen Vatanen-Lindell
J.Jokinen-Barkov-Donskoi Määttä-Ristolainen
Korpikoski-Koivu-Filppula Jokipakka-Lindbohm/Pokka
Komarov-Kemppainen-Teräväinen Kukkonen-Väänänen

Extras: Hietanen, Ruutu, OJ, MaG

I guess I would keep that Barkov line as it was in this tournament... Kind of a head ache which forwards to use in the PP. Too many options. First line could stay as it is but don't know about the rest.

 

[rduck1]

So if World Cup was now and all players were healthy, who would you guys choose and how would you do the lines? .

Filppula - Koivu - Ruutu
Granlund - Barkov - Jokinen
Teräväinen - Lehterä - Pulkkinen
Korpikoski - Haula - Komarov
+Pakarinen

Määttä - Vatanen
Lepistö - Hietanen
Lindell - Ristolainen
Lindbohm - Jokipakka

Rinne
Rask
Saros

Something like that. Maybe Kemppainen instead of Haula. Maybe some more veteran defensemen in there.

 

[FiLe]

Rinne
Rask
Rämö

Määttä - Vatanen
Lindell - Ristolainen
Lepistö - Lindbohm
Jokipakka

MiG - Lehterä - Pulkkinen
Teräväinen - Barkov - J.Jokinen
Filppula - Koivu - Korpikoski
Bergenheim - MaG - Komarov
Haula

World Cup is on NHL-sized rink, so there'd be no need to bring more euros than there are slots that need filling after every capable NHLer has been fit in. Out of the guys who pulled his weight in this tournament, that leaves out Kemppainen because he lacks small ice merit yet (and we have a crapton of centres anyway if everyone's healthy - 8/13 in that lineup). Same with Donskoi. Besides, I believe his dangling playstyle would suffer some big setbacks on smaller ice.

With everyone healthy, we should also have enough capable d-men to go with three pairs.

 

[Gaps]

So if World Cup was now and all players were healthy, who would you guys choose

Nobody from Europe if at all possible, perhaps Lepistö to D if absolutely necessary. Absolutely no to Hietanen, Immonen, Kontiola, Pesonen, JMA etc. I wouldn't pick Kemppainen or Donskoi either. Ruutu will probably be there although his spot is highly questionable. If Ristolainen doesn't make it to this team, KJ needs to be sacked immediately.

 

[Johno]

Nobody from Europe if at all possible, perhaps Lepistö to D if absolutely necessary. Absolutely no to Hietanen, Immonen, Kontiola, Pesonen, JMA etc. I wouldn't pick Kemppainen or Donskoi either. Ruutu will probably be there although his spot is highly questionable. If Ristolainen doesn't make it to this team, KJ needs to be sacked immediately.

DO we really have to watch a team coached by KoJo play in the World Cup? Or does his contract end after the 2016 world championship?

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

Now that we are eliminated i guess it's fair to assess if leaving out Ristolainen did make a difference in a negative way.

And i say probably yes. But it wasn't Mantyla who he should've replaced. He actually played decent and did not make any big mistakes after that USA game. He was quite reliable overall.

But the guy who shouldn't had been on the team was Salmela IMO. Felt like the guy couldn't get a single shot through and didn't make any kind of positive impact. Even played on the #1 PP... I hope his days on the lions squad are over.

His spot would've been the perfect one to give to Risto. Maybe next year.

 

[JJTT]

DO we really have to watch a team coached by KoJo play in the World Cup? Or does his contract end after the 2016 world championship?

http://www.leijonat.fi/uutiset/tuor...losesta-leijonien-seuraava-paavalmentaja.html

It says two years so likely means that his contract will be over after the World Championship's.

Marjamäki seems like a logical choice to replace him as his contract with Kärpät ends next summer and he has been working for the national team for 2 years now.

 

[Mestaruus]

Good points about the rink size as Gaps and File said. Didn't really think about that. We have to have Kukkonen in the line up though, but maybe we can skip on Väänänen. Kukkonen is too big of a leader and solid defensive defender to miss out on IMO.

If we think about right this second then yeah can skip on Kemppainen & Donskoi. Perhaps in 1 year they have proven themselves in the NA sized rink I hope. Right this second Timonen would have a spot in there as well, but we know he'll retire this season so.

Now that we are eliminated i guess it's fair to assess if leaving out Ristolainen did make a difference in a negative way.

I like Ristolainen, but I think it was a 50/50 call to have him or not have him. He could have been a liability just as much helping us, but he's a player of big games and probably would have improved his play in the playoffs so who knows. Most likely in the future he will be there if he didn't get too pissed to Jalonen now. I just hope his +/- record in NHL is little bit better next season so he can't scare Jalonen away from picking him.

Marjamäki seems like a logical choice to replace him as his contract with Kärpät ends next summer and he has been working for the national team for 2 years now.

Yeah I'm sure it will be Marjamäki next. They are building it up like that now in the Finnish ice hockey federation it feels like.

 

[Jussi]

Rinne
Rask
Rämö

Määttä - Vatanen
Lindell - Ristolainen
Lepistö - Lindbohm
Jokipakka

MiG - Lehterä - Pulkkinen
Teräväinen - Barkov - J.Jokinen
Filppula - Koivu - Korpikoski
Bergenheim - MaG - Komarov
Haula

World Cup is on NHL-sized rink, so there'd be no need to bring more euros than there are slots that need filling after every capable NHLer has been fit in. Out of the guys who pulled his weight in this tournament, that leaves out Kemppainen because he lacks small ice merit yet (and we have a crapton of centres anyway if everyone's healthy - 8/13 in that lineup). Same with Donskoi. Besides, I believe his dangling playstyle would suffer some big setbacks on smaller ice.

With everyone healthy, we should also have enough capable d-men to go with three pairs.

Considering he's pretty much certain to have played a season in the NHL by then (Göran Stubb said 4 NHL teams have inquired about Donskoi's readyness to play in the NHL next season, he answered yes to all of them) and adapted his play, that wouldn't be a problem. Besides, we really shouldn't waste too much time thinking about this all-star game exhibition tournament that goes by the name of World Cup.

 

[FiLe]

Considering he's pretty much certain to have played a season in the NHL by then (Göran Stubb said 4 NHL teams have inquired about Donskoi's readyness to play in the NHL next season, he answered yes to all of them) and adapted his play, that wouldn't be a problem. Besides, we really shouldn't waste too much time thinking about this all-star game exhibition tournament that goes by the name og World Cup.

+1 especially to the latter point, but you missed this little bit in the original question...

So if World Cup was now and all players were healthy, who would you guys choose and how would you do the lines? For me:

 

[Erikfromfin]

So if World Cup was now and all players were healthy, who would you guys choose and how would you do the lines? For me:

Mikael Granlund - Aleksander Barkov - Teemu Pulkkinen
Jussi Jokinen - Mikko Koivu - Valtteri Filppula
Teuvo Teräväinen - Jori Lehterä - Joonas Donskoi
Leo Komarov - Joonas Kemppainen - Tuomo Ruutu
Lauri Korpikoski

Olli Määttä - Sami Vatanen
Esa Lindell - Rasmus Ristolainen
Jyrki Jokipakka - Lasse Kukkonen
Juuso Hietanen

Pekka Rinne
Tuukka Rask
Mikko Koskinen

 

[Ajaton Azer]

I think this was very nice WC-tournament for our Finnish lions! Losing to a better team in playoffs after good battle is not too bad. Had everything gone the right way, we could be celebrating golden medals soon, but that was not reality this time. Shutout record and nice young players makes it easier for coach Kari "Kojo" "Nose" Jalonen to bring home more success next spring!

 

[Mestaruus]

I think this was very nice WC-tournament for our Finnish lions! Losing to a better team in playoffs after good battle is not too bad.

Better and better team... Czech was the 6th best while Sweden and Finland were 4th and 5th best. Don't care what it says officially after that mess.

 

[FiLe]

Better and better team... Czech was the 6th best while Sweden and Finland were 4th and 5th best. Don't care what it says officially after that mess.

Maybe overall, but in the decisive game the Czechs were the better team - and not only because they got some questionable help from the zebras.

And the nature of this tournament is such that said game ends up deciding quite a bit. Has been since 1991.

And our Lions can't put the blame fully on the refs in said game. They looked shy and overly careful even before a single penalty was handed. Maybe because their confidence had taken some blows towards reffing, but that's no thing to hide behind. Had they played like we know they can and yet ended up losing due to some debatable whistles, then we'd have a case.

 

[Acetylene]

I like what I saw from Finland this tournament, I think your national team will be a force to be reckon with coming tournaments. Barkov is a beauty!

 

[rduck1]

I think this was very nice WC-tournament for our Finnish lions! Losing to a better team in playoffs after good battle is not too bad. Had everything gone the right way, we could be celebrating golden medals soon, but that was not reality this time. Shutout record and nice young players makes it easier for coach Kari "Kojo" "Nose" Jalonen to bring home more success next spring!

I know it's unfair to emphasize it like that, but I think this is a funny kind of mentality some Finns have. I don't think it's necessarily wrong, and in some sense I kind of agree, but it's almost inconceivable to hear anything remotely close from Canadian or Russian fans for example. If everyone had this approach, we would at least have far fewer arguments here .

Strange thing.

 

[Hull Fan]

Anyone care to share their thoughts on Lindell and Jokipakka for us Dallas fans? Jokipakka surprised a lot of people this season and there's been nothing but praise for Lindell. How did they look in this tournament? Thanks.

 

[SMJK]

Anyone care to share their thoughts on Lindell and Jokipakka for us Dallas fans? Jokipakka surprised a lot of people this season and there's been nothing but praise for Lindell. How did they look in this tournament? Thanks.

Pretty much the best of the Finland lot the two of 'em - and I ain't even lyin'!

Esa Lindell - The Man on Finlands power play even he's only barely in his 20s.
Big and bad, and that in a good way, in both zones.
Esa Lindells future is so brigth so you have to wear shades - even in Dallas!

Jyrki Jokipakka - Solid as a rock. And two goals from a stay-at-home defensman; can't even be bad. Somehow the backbone of the Finland defence this time around. A World Cup guy for sure for Finland. Is that enough for you Dallas?

 

[FiLe]

Anyone care to share their thoughts on Lindell and Jokipakka for us Dallas fans? Jokipakka surprised a lot of people this season and there's been nothing but praise for Lindell. How did they look in this tournament?

The acclaim for Lindell is all worth it. A true breakout tournament for him. We can be fairly confident he'll be a career NHL d-man. Whether that'll happen next season already or if it's going to take him some time to adjust could still be debated though. On big ice at least he can compete with the best of them.

I wouldn't get as high on Jokipakka as the guy above me, who was clearly wearing some blue-tinted glasses. Jyrki certainly didn't look out of place though and pretty much did what was asked of him, but not much more. He was also getting slightly sheltered minutes at times, which indicates that he's still a work in progress. His goals were both pretty simple shots from the blueline any d-man worth his salt knows how to take. With some well-timed screen added to the mix they happened to go in.

To sum it up , a true breakthrough tournament for Lindell and no major complaints about Jokipakka either. Both should certainly be useful to Dallas down the road.