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WC: 2016 Team Finland Pt. II

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jonlin said:
What could have been:

Laine-Barkov-Kuusela
Jokinen-Koivu-Granlund
Komarov-Ramstedt-Aho
Granlund-Koskiranta-Rantanen

Instead we have Pihlström" was good at skating in 2006", Pyörälä"I played for Jalonen so I fit", Pulkkinen"good shot but nothing else".

Our defenders on PP suck MOD. Hietanen, Lindell and Salmela are really bad. lindell looses puck all the time, Hietanen shoots straight at the forward when he has 2 own open. 3 ****ing times today. They are all positionally bad. I`m starting to hope we play 5 attackers at PP.
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MOD if you think Kuusela would have any significant impact to the team. And Ramstedt? Give me a break.

I'd also want to see Rantanen on the roster instead of Pyörälä. Pihlström is fine in the fourth line, although he shouldn't play as much in the upcoming matches as he did today. And please, Pihlström is still the fastest skater on the team which always causes trouble for oppositios even if he was awful otherwise.
 
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aahola said:
And please, Pihlström is still the fastest skater on the team which always causes trouble for oppositios even if he was awful otherwise.
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Well, I think our pk was clearly worse when he was in the penalty box - Pihlström is an excellent penalty killer. A niche player, yes, but he really does perform in that niche...
 
Suggesting Ramstedt for this team is indeed :facepalm: worthy. He's useless outside top-six, and even as a top-six player he'd be a question mark. So he doesn't feature for a reason.

---

I'd like to see Aho replaced with Rantanen. Straight up on Koivu's line and as the box player on PP. Not because Aho has been bad - he's certainly trying all he can - but he just isn't currently in a slot that's the best fit for him. We have more than enough playmakers even without him, but we still lack both finishers and solid offensive power forwards.

What's more likely of course is that we'll see Pulkkinen replaced with Rantanen - despite him vanishing from the picture is not at all his fault. First KJ misutilizes him on 5on5 by putting him in a line where he does not get to use his strengths at all, and then Hietanen cockblocks him on PP by taking all those shots himself... that mostly end up getting blocked or to the boards.

And I wouldn't call Pyörälä and Pihlström useless at all, since mostly thanks to them, our PK has been very, very good. And despite what happened around New Year, I'd still prefer our Adult Lions winning games by some other way than potting one-ups in a scoring race.
 
Trying to think like KJ, I think Rantanen would play tomorrow if it wasn't for saving the tournament pass slots and Pulkkinen would indeed be the one replaced in KJ's mind probably based on his little ice time and role.

I mean I liked Pulkkinen in the prep games etc and playing on limited minutes is not easy but even with those little minutes on even strength he's surfing around doing nothing most of the time and Rantanen would be more useful there I feel and we already got a PP weapon god in Laine and we really don't need a second one, we can increase Laine's PP minutes by using him in the 2nd unit as well. This way we get our 4th line working.

I am open to the idea of putting Rantanen straight to 2nd line as well and moving Aho back with Koskiranta-Komarov. Pyörälä to 4th then or Pyörälä out and Pulkkinen and Rantanen both stay in. Actually Pihlström out and Pyörälä to 4th in the scenario of having both Pulu & Rantsu in top-12.
 
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Pulkkinen is useless on the 4th line role, he and Pihlström are nightmare wingers to each other, and Jalonen comments on wanting to test Laine with Koivu too could suggest Pulu sits on the press box and Laine plays 1.30min-2min poweplays, that bottom6 needs better chemistry.

Hietanen is also awfull on the powerplay, 5-6 bad decisions with the puck in these 2 games, killing the powerplays flow.
 
BB88 said:
Pulkkinen is useless on the 4th line role, he and Pihlström are nightmare wingers to each other, and Jalonen comments on wanting to test Laine with Koivu too could suggest Pulu sits on the press box and Laine plays 1.30min-2min poweplays, that bottom6 needs better chemistry.
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This brings to mind a scenario where they use the 13th forward (either Rantanen or Pulkkinen) to take some of Laine's ES shifts whenever he spends a ton of time on PP. It's potentially not that bad news for Pulkkinen either, since they can and should use him for the first minute or so if Laine has just been on ice when the penalty is drawn.

Although, KJ's words may not mean that intends to have Laine playing the entire PP - simply that he intends to send him there with whatever unit goes out first.
 
MMANumminen said:
If Rantanen needs to be dressed, Pulu should be dropped. Pyörälä, Pihlström and Aho have been ok
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They've been all ok, but the reason I singled out Aho was not because he's been bad, but because we don't really need another player of his type. We have Koivu, Granlund, Barkov and Jokinen after all.

But if Pulkkinen is dropped, all that will be left of his type is Laine.


When I put it like this, it feels even more insane that KJ picked Aho to complete the top-six. There truly is no need for another playmaker/utility player up there.
 
Just switch Aho and Komarov. Too much passing with the Koivu line. Pyörälä-Koskiranta-Aho worked fine in the previous games.
 
I must say, the USA game comes at a perfect moment. It's not a do-or-die game by far, but early enough in the tournament that our coaches can still make even radical adjustments if things blow to their face - and yet there's been a couple of games already, so "jet lag" is no excuse and "players still finding their sea legs" does not cover it all either.

In other words, a very opportune midterm exam to see if things really are as good as the current results indicate.
 
Not surprised the Koivu line has been the best line 5vs5 and the most productive.
 
BusQuets said:
Not surprised the Koivu line has been the best line 5vs5 and the most productive.
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I'd say the Barkov line works the best but so far they haven't played that much together, today again draw what 3 penalties and made some nice plays.
But I have no problems seeing Koivu line go against top lines.
 
BB88 said:
I'd say the Barkov line works the best but so far they haven't played that much together, today again draw what 3 penalties and made some nice plays.
But I have no problems seeing Koivu line go against top lines.
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I don't know. Barkov's line 5on5 play has been a bit disappointing and they are often forced to defend their whole shift. Barkov's inability to win faceoffs is a big part of that.
 
BusQuets said:
I don't know. Barkov's line 5on5 play has been a bit disappointing and they are often forced to defend their whole shift. Barkov's inability to win faceoffs is a big part of that.
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Yeah, I mean he's below 50% in faceoffs in the NHL but still it's been bad. Otherwise, I think their play has been okay, a bit up and down though and quite disoriented at times. Laine should definitely be on the left wing. A couple of times today he was in a one-on-one situation on the right side and he's just not as effective there.

I did wonder though if its intentional that that he's placed on the right and they've agreed with the coaches that Laine and Jokinen change sides on the fly just to mess with the opposition players. THe more I think of it, the more it seems to make sense but who knows.
 
Just realized that Finland has 9 players that played in Kärpät, most of them "raised" by them.

cool
 
BusQuets said:
I don't know. Barkov's line 5on5 play has been a bit disappointing and they are often forced to defend their whole shift. Barkov's inability to win faceoffs is a big part of that.
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I wouldn't say any line has been great 5on5 so far but they have done the most damage so far.

But Jalonen needs to start playing that line more and get the game going better.
 
Jussi said:
Ridiculous how Pulkkinen seems to be getting the exact same treatment as in Detroit... :shakehead
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He has had time to show, but his level has dropped even with those 4 line minutes he should be more effective. If you don't believe it, check this video where they analyze his stats (right in the beginning of the video):

http://www.urheilulehti.fi/jaakiekk...n-lavassa-tamanko-takia-he-eivat-mahdu-nhlaan

So bring Rantanen in soon if Pulkkinen doesn't step up. Tonight 2 NHL playoff series are on the line so we might get some clarity on the situation.
 
Give Aho time. When they get used to each other we will see lot of Aho-Granlund magic. First line needs also someone who can shoot. Koivu hits the logo most of the time and Granlund doesn't shoot at all.

2 dominant victories so far, today is the first real test for our lines.
 
MMANumminen said:
Give Aho time. When they get used to each other we will see lot of Aho-Granlund magic. First line needs also someone who can shoot. Koivu hits the logo most of the time and Granlund doesn't shoot at all.
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You're saying that Aho should be kept together with Granlund but then say that line could use someone who shoots... isn't that a bit of a conflicting statement? Well, unless you're suggesting that Koivu should be booted from the line. Which obviously isn't going to happen.

Like I said, Aho needs to be replaced on that line. Not at all because Aho has been bad, but because he's simply the wrong kind of player to complement Koivu and Granlund. Right now, there are three highly effective individuals, but they don't exactly play as a highly effective line.

Oh well, I'm sure we'll see tonight if that's going to be enough.
 
FiLe said:
You're saying that Aho should be kept together with Granlund but then say that line could use someone who shoots... isn't that a bit of a conflicting statement? Well, unless you're suggesting that Koivu should be booted from the line. Which obviously isn't going to happen.
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Unless he was suggesting that it's Aho himself who can shoot? Well, he can, but on ES he hasn't really been doing it so far.
 
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