He is better than a plug like Pulkinnen, or a handful of guys who are already on the team. I guess him carrying an entire AHL team on his back wasn't enough to convince them to use him.
WC: 2016 Team Finland Pt. II
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He is better than a plug like Pulkinnen, or a handful of guys who are already on the team. I guess him carrying an entire AHL team on his back wasn't enough to convince them to use him.
The problem is that Pulkkinen scored 4 goals in 3 prep games. I got a feeling Rantanen would be ahead in the hierarchy otherwise. That Pyörälä guy shouldn't be there though instead of Rantanen. The coach might be afraid of the average age and not enough veterans in the team or something like that.
In 2 days those NHL game sevens are are decided and something is going to happen then. Either Rantanen gets tournament pass stamped or some NHL guys come. Still another question if that coach thinks Rantanen has a slot in the top-12 as those other lines have built chemistry now...
HockeyHistorian
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People really underestimate Pulkkinen for some reason. He has played just fine considering his role and the fact that he hasn't been getting almost any good passes on the PP. I'd like Rantanen in the lineup as well, but not on Pulu's expense.
There should be room for both. Not surprised if the couch chooses
to add Lajunen to the rooster instead.
He's underestimated because he's over 20 and hasn't turned into an NHL star yet. There's no media hype machine behind him, while a certain couple of players have gotten a rather generous serving of attention for the past 5 months or so. These things are bound to sway opinion in the fanbase, and I'd say that on this site too there are those who have bought into the narrative a little too much.
Regarding the possible lineup shuffle, they could scratch Sallinen in favour of Rantanen and try one of Aho or Pyörälä as a center in the bottom-6. There are a few "easy" matches coming up, so there isn't too much risk in doing some experimentation(although I don't think the coaches would try something that outlandish). In any case, I think the USA match shows that some adjustments are certainly needed.
Nope, there was a PP against Germany when he kept getting pass after pass and now nobody passes to him anymore since they lost faith in him after he passed on 3 shooting opportunities.
Just a small undersized forward that runs around doing nothing while losing every single board battle. Useless.
HockeyHistorian
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Sure. Whatever you say. I sense it from your tone that it would be useless to have an adult conversation with you, but maybe you'll provide me a link to a video where Pulkkinen passes on three good successive shooting opportunities; would be a first.
Did you even watch the game? It was literally every time Pulkkinen was on PP he passed on amazing shooting opportunities only for the D that can't shoot have a go later on from an exponentially worse position.
Pulkkinen fanboys like yourself should try watching a game sometime. Or visit an ophthalmologist
Today I learned that Lindell and Hietanen can't shoot. I am very surprised to discover this, considering they have both scored a rather decent amount of goals.
Not up to this point in this tournament. Have you seen D's shots so far lmao? Every time Jaakola and Salmela wind up for yet another shot that can't even get past the first D....I don't even wanna say anymore......
There is actually a very good reason why Hietanen and Lindell's quality of shots has been so abysmal on PP. It's all about the positioning of other players.
Our PP formation is not ideal for trying shots in the blueline - there is no player to draw the defensive diamond's point man away from the blueliner, the player in the middle is not ready to look for deflections, etc. That's because the formation has been modified to be optimal for the shots taken by the point shooter on the left.
If the Laine/Pulkkinen are meant to take the shots instead of the blueliner, why do Hietanen/Lindell so often take that shot anyway? They must have talked about it and rehearsed it, right? Well, let's keep in mind that hockey is an extremely fast game where players often have to make split-second decisions. More often than not, the game is played on pure insticts.
And if the blueliner's insticts tell him to take the shot, he often ends up taking the shot, no matter what the plan is - simply because they've done it so many times before in a similar situation. It's human behavior.
And what comes to Pulkkinen missing shooting opportunities yesterday, I did not see any either. For what it's worth, "Pulkkinen has the puck on the left side" is NOT a "shooting opportunity" in and of itself. In most cases, he was either at a bad angle or the defensive player was too close. Not to mention the "shooting opportunities" are often built as one-timers, and if Pulkkinen for some reason or another just had to take possession instead of unleashing a shot, that's more the passer's than shooter's fault.
Our PP formation is not ideal for trying shots in the blueline - there is no player to draw the defensive diamond's point man away from the blueliner, the player in the middle is not ready to look for deflections, etc. That's because the formation has been modified to be optimal for the shots taken by the point shooter on the left.
If the Laine/Pulkkinen are meant to take the shots instead of the blueliner, why do Hietanen/Lindell so often take that shot anyway? They must have talked about it and rehearsed it, right? Well, let's keep in mind that hockey is an extremely fast game where players often have to make split-second decisions. More often than not, the game is played on pure insticts.
And if the blueliner's insticts tell him to take the shot, he often ends up taking the shot, no matter what the plan is - simply because they've done it so many times before in a similar situation. It's human behavior.
And what comes to Pulkkinen missing shooting opportunities yesterday, I did not see any either. For what it's worth, "Pulkkinen has the puck on the left side" is NOT a "shooting opportunity" in and of itself. In most cases, he was either at a bad angle or the defensive player was too close. Not to mention the "shooting opportunities" are often built as one-timers, and if Pulkkinen for some reason or another just had to take possession instead of unleashing a shot, that's more the passer's than shooter's fault.
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Against Germany/Belarus bro. By USA game nobody in their right mind passed to him anymore and good on them for that
I did not see any missed opportunities there either. In fact, Pulkkinen hardly received any passes in those games either, most likely because Lindell apparently isn't used to playing in a formation that relies so heavily in a point shooter.
And like I said, if you have time to catch Pulkkinen taking possession, that's more on the passer than Pulkkinen.
Ultimately, those of us wishing to defend Pulkkinen are actually not trying to make him look better than he is. The fact is that Pulkkinen is awfully one-dimensional player. What *is* baffling however, is how grossly that single dimension is misutilized. That kid's on the team in the first place because he has that one world-class ability. And yet, for some odd reason, nobody seems interested in setting up conditions where that ability can be used to the max.
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Agreed. Give him someone to work with on ES (and then bench him and replace him with a more defensive player if you need to hold onto a lead) or put him in the pressbox. There is no use for him on the 4th line and thanks to mostly Lindell, he's had very few opportunities to do anything on PP.
HockeyHistorian
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He has looked very solid, but hasn't shown anything really spectacular. He has been ready for NHL for a while already IMO.
TKS, That is consistent with what I have read. Is Avg Off, has Med size, is only So/so Skater but is solid in his Decision making. Projects kind of 5/7 type of D man that will not really hurt you but probably not get allot of Goals or 1st A.
Probably one of Finland's best defenders which isn't to say much, but at least him and Lindell are even moderately aware how play against real teams like US
He needs a real measuring stick on this team though like Ristolainen etc, not this rubbish that we have on our team that would get eaten alive in the NHL
No, seriously, Pulkkinen is the most disappointing player on the team. His hockey IQ is zero and there is no other player on the team who I've watched this tournament who makes me say what the f-k are you doing you idiot than him. There was actually a chunk of 4 shifts in a row where I just said every shift what the hell is wrong with that guy's head as he kept making horrible decisions one after another.
Like in theory I think he has the physical potential to not be the worst forward on the team but his decision-making has been complete garbage and it makes me think he's just got the hockey IQ of a monkey. Maybe I'm just more disappointed in him than guys like Sallinen and Pyorala because I don't expect jack all from them anyways but still - Pulkkinen should not be playing so badly as to be compared to those plugs.
Aho is wiping Pulkkinen 1000 - 0 and it's not even close.
Like in theory I think he has the physical potential to not be the worst forward on the team but his decision-making has been complete garbage and it makes me think he's just got the hockey IQ of a monkey. Maybe I'm just more disappointed in him than guys like Sallinen and Pyorala because I don't expect jack all from them anyways but still - Pulkkinen should not be playing so badly as to be compared to those plugs.
Aho is wiping Pulkkinen 1000 - 0 and it's not even close.
I'd like to see Rantanen take Pulkkinen's place for tomorrow's game against Hungary.
I agree with this. Rantanen in for any of the space wasting small useless forwards we have on our team. I love how Rantanen can protect the puck along the boards - we don't have enough of those guys on our team
Yeah, we get it. You don't like him, and you're not going to be convinced otherwise. From my point of view he hasn't been amazing, but then again he's not a fourth liner by nature, nor the type to generate his own chances reliably. He's a fairly one-dimensional sniper and needs a playmaker on his line to utilize his skill-set properly(which he doesn't have now). The pre-tournament matches showed that he can be very effective when he gets to do his thing, but unfortunately right now that's not happening.
We need size and grit for the game against Canada. Assuming that Jalonen will adjust the team's strategy to that of a more defensive oriented one, I would take Rantanen in over Pulkkinen without a doubt.
I understand Pulkkinen can be a beast on the PP, but we have good enough players to make our PP click without Teemu.
BB88
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5on5 game needs to get going, Canada is going to destroy us if this continues.
And for that the start has to be Barkov line turns into
Laine-Barkov-Jokinen for 1 game and they need minutes, skill players need minutes to get their game going, it's different for 4th line grinders, and if that doesn't work Jokinen should be taken out and replaced, he seems to fit NHL rink much better.
2nd thing is defense somehow needs to learn to move the puck faster, Vatanen/Ristolainen would have been so great.
Honka could help that, but is there a chance?
And for that the start has to be Barkov line turns into
Laine-Barkov-Jokinen for 1 game and they need minutes, skill players need minutes to get their game going, it's different for 4th line grinders, and if that doesn't work Jokinen should be taken out and replaced, he seems to fit NHL rink much better.
2nd thing is defense somehow needs to learn to move the puck faster, Vatanen/Ristolainen would have been so great.
Honka could help that, but is there a chance?
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