World Cup: 2016 World Cup — Team Finland

[Nordic*]

I never considered Finland below 3rd but I think only Canada will be Finland's obstacle in the future.

Wow.

 

[Booster*]

Granlund-Koivu-Donskoi
Laine-Barkov-Filppula
Jokinen-Lehterä-Teräväinen
Korpikoski-Haula-Komarov
Aho

Määttä-Vatanen
Jokipakka-Ristolainen
Lepistö-Lindell
Pokka

Rinne
Rask
Koskinen

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Canada isn't noticeably weakened by the U24 team, so no excuses from us. This is so close to our A team as makes no never mind... Yanks on the other hand, will be significantly weakened, then further hamstrung by some glaring omissions from their roster.

As for Suomi? First let's see if u can beat NA's Young Gunz, which I seriously doubt...My guess is they'll be too fast and have too much firepower for ur A team to handle...

I expect anything to happen with this defense corps. I think we will all be amazed how Finland is in the finals again.

 

[Fables]

Korpikoski can defend pretty well and he was successful at Sochi. It makes far more sense to have him in the defensive 4th than Teräväinen.

Apart from that, Jokinen can't play right wing or he'd have been RW for this year's WCs. Makes little sense to have Aho as the first liner when he was a third liner in WCs and breaks up the Minnesota trio for no reason in my opinion.

Korpikoski was good in Sochi but seems to have been trending down ever since. He was bad last season. As a reflection to this getting rid of Korpikoski seems to be on top of nearly every Oilers fan's wish list.
And I have seen Teravainen play 4th line for the Hawks and besides the strengt in board battles TT is better at everything else. He is very good at stripping pucks, very sound positionally and has superior hockey IQ. So not only is he clearly better hockey player than Korpikoski but he is also a clearly better 4th liner. Korpikoski can play in short handed situations but TT can play in power play so special team wise comparing them is a wash.

I like Ahos' hockey IQ better in the first line than the full Minnesota connection. And a good offseason should bring more strength to his game which will help when playing with less space and time.

And I really like the transition game possibilites Haula and Teravainen playing with Lehtera would bring.

The point about Jokinen was fair. But Komarov can play on the both sides so I simply switched them.
Filppula and Jokinen have shown good chemistry in the past so I like them together and Komarov can play with anyone.

Donskoi will bring more speed and better match with Barkov to the second line than Jokinen did in the world championships. And we get to move Laine to his right (=left )wing. I trust that after a good off season Laine will be able play (even better) with the world's absolute best and we can't afford to sit him. Korpikoski is clearly the worst forward in this team.

In defence Maatta and Ristolainen should play together as they have most first pairing experience and skills. Plus Ristolainen is at his best when he is able to pinch and Maatta has the IQ to cover for him and as LHD-RHD they match very well.

Vatanen has experience in carrying a pair with a pylon (guy who can clean the crease but is average if not bad at everything else). So instead of playing with Clayton Stoner he should now play with Jokipakka who is comparable to Stoner. And their sides match as well.

So the team should look like this:

Forwards

Grandlund - Koivu - Aho
Laine - Barkov - Donskoi
Jokinen - Filppula - Komarov
Haula - Lehtera - Teravainen
Korpikoski

Defence

Maatta - Ristolainen
Jokipakka - Vatanen
Lindell/Lepistö - Pokka

 

[57special]

I would keep Haula at C. That position makes use of his exceptional skating/speed, and he has improved his FO% drastically(53%) over previous years.

Very good PK'er and defender who can score on the counterpunch due to his speed and finishing ability. A player like him will be necessary to aid your Dmen, though he will need some backup when it comes to physicality. No need to play him with the Minnesotan Finns. They never play together anyway.

 

[Lempo]

Canada isn't noticeably weakened by the U24 team, so no excuses from us. This is so close to our A team as makes no never mind... Yanks on the other hand, will be significantly weakened, then further hamstrung by some glaring omissions from their roster.

As for Suomi? First let's see if u can beat NA's Young Gunz, which I seriously doubt...My guess is they'll be too fast and have too much firepower for ur A team to handle...

There was a humor-with-harsh-truth element in my post, and the Yanks at least actually have a case to say it's not an even playing field in that eventuality.

Luckily, if we can take Swedes and Russians, we can allow to lose to Team NA I think. I don't know though how the points will go from the games. 3-2/1-0? Are ties allowed?

(the underdog is a go, fellow Finns )

 

[illone84]

There was a humor-with-harsh-truth element in my post, and the Yanks at least actually have a case to say it's not an even playing field in that eventuality.

Luckily, if we can take Swedes and Russians, we can allow to lose to Team NA I think. I don't know though how the points will go from the games. 3-2/1-0? Are ties allowed?

(the underdog is a go, fellow Finns )

U24 is a great idea on paper, but will a mix of Canadians and Americans have the heart to play against highly patriotic countries like Finland and Sweden and be able to compete? I doubt it. That being said, if it was a U24 team with only Canadian, or only American players, I think they could contend with any team. But when it's two nationalities, I can't see how they will care enough to battle against national teams that will put their heart and soul into every shift.

 

[ijuka]

If Korpikoski isn't in the 4th line, why was he brought in? Isn't that his entire purpose? Well, assuming he's not in any of the lines, How about this:

Granlund-Koivu-Filppula
Laine-Barkov-Donskoi
Jokinen-Lehterä-Aho
Komarov-Haula-Teräväinen
Korpikoski


Actually, perhaps Aho and Teräväinen should swap places.

 

[Nordic*]

I think that Sweden and Finland should join into one nation. Not only due to your politicians being 1000 times more sane than ours, but just imagine the team we would be able to ice!

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

I think that Sweden and Finland should join into one nation. Not only due to your politicians being 1000 times more sane than ours, but just imagine the team we would be able to ice!

I think Finland would win best-on-best tournaments just by having Sweden's defensemen on roster.

 

[Gsus]

I think that Sweden and Finland should join into one nation. Not only due to your politicians being 1000 times more sane than ours, but just imagine the team we would be able to ice!

Clearly you have no clue.

 

[Scotty B]

U24 is a great idea on paper, but will a mix of Canadians and Americans have the heart to play against highly patriotic countries like Finland and Sweden and be able to compete? I doubt it. That being said, if it was a U24 team with only Canadian, or only American players, I think they could contend with any team. But when it's two nationalities, I can't see how they will care enough to battle against national teams that will put their heart and soul into every shift.

If this was only a Canuck, or alternatively a Yank, U24 team it wouldn't be nearly as talented as it is. Just like Suomi, Yanks have a golden generation coming up now, Eichel, Larkin, Matthews , Gaudreau, Jones, hello...and Canada has kids like McD, Ekblad, MacK Drouin, just for starters. Somebody said this may be the fastest team ever assembled, and that doesn't seem like a stretch. I'm confident they will be both fast and furious--- giving those Euro A teams all they can handle and maybe a wee bit more...

Buckle Up Buttercup

 

[illone84]

If this was only a Canuck, or alternatively a Yank, U24 team it wouldn't be nearly as talented as it is. Just like Suomi, Yanks have a golden generation coming up now, Eichel, Larkin, Matthews , Gaudreau, Jones, hello...and Canada has kids like McD, Ekblad, MacK Drouin, just for starters. Somebody said this may be the fastest team ever assembled, and that doesn't seem like a stretch. I'm confident they will be both fast and furious--- giving those Euro A teams all they can handle and maybe a wee bit more...

Buckle Up Buttercup

I will gladly revisit this after Finland plays the U24 team. I'm looking forward to it sunshine.

 

[Jopo]

I think that Sweden and Finland should join into one nation. Not only due to your politicians being 1000 times more sane than ours, but just imagine the team we would be able to ice!

Haha. That would be unrealistic agenda for any politicians either in Sweden or Finland (regardless of long common history and big Swedish and Finnish minorities in either countries, political systems overall, etc.), and that "1000X sanity" is also relative matter, but if speculating with synergy-benefits, yeah, NT of Svenfinnians would probably be really hard bone to bite in a rink.

Further, adding Denmark and Norway to the NT Fennoscandia would form really competitive hockey superpower. But that's fairy tale.

 

[Nordic*]

Haha. That would be unrealistic agenda for any politicians either in Sweden or Finland (regardless of long common history and big Swedish and Finnish minorities in either countries, political systems overall, etc.), and that "1000X sanity" is also relative matter, but if speculating with synergy-benefits, yeah, NT of Svenfinnians would probably be really hard bone to bite in a rink.

Further, adding Denmark and Norway to the NT Fennoscandia would form really competitive hockey superpower. But that's fairy tale.

No players from Denmark and Norway would make that team anyway?

 

[snipes]

Alright Suomi, underdog is on. Sisu is needed in this.

Yes, I know this tournament is marketed towards a Canadian audience. Potentially pitting McDavid against Canada makes me want to puke. But, this is as close as we can get to best-on-best outside of the Olympics.

In your guys group you have: Sweden, Russia, and the Young Guns. Suomi must finish in the top 2 to advance. So look at those 3 opponents, you need to be better than 2 of them.

Sweden is the clear favourite. They are still ahead of you in best-on-best. Their D core is simply better, straight up. Your future looks bright and you will catch them, but for now you are still behind.

I'm cheering for the Young Guns. But, I don't want to see 97 play against his country. Somehow you guys need to finish with Tre Kronor in the top 2. Bring your underdog fighting spirit, you have some tough competition. Face it head on with toughness, fight with the Finnish spirit. I see a lot of the same qualities we love as Canadians in the Finnish people.

You guys are underdogs (exactly like you want it).

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Finland can win two of three in the group and fighting mode needs to be on against Canada in the semis. And finnish off the Swedes in the final.

 

[snipes]

Finland can win two of three in the group and fighting mode needs to be on against Canada in the semis. And finnish off the Swedes in the final.

It won't be easy. You'll be underdogs (exactly how you want it to be ).

 

[QnebO]

If all Fin games are played like 3am, this tournament will get "what, there is some tournament?" treatment. Last time it was true international tourney so it still counted, but now at least games need to be in watchable time.

If not, there is no prestige (gimmicks) and no entertaiment value of high level hockey (time, can't watch games barring saturday-sunday night).

 

[Nordic*]

I think Finland would win best-on-best tournaments just by having Sweden's defensemen on roster.

Canada would still have a better roster, but since Finland always cram 500% out of their players, who knows.

 

[illone84]

Alright Suomi, underdog is on. Sisu is needed in this.

Yes, I know this tournament is marketed towards a Canadian audience. Potentially pitting McDavid against Canada makes me want to puke. But, this is as close as we can get to best-on-best outside of the Olympics.

In your guys group you have: Sweden, Russia, and the Young Guns. Suomi must finish in the top 2 to advance. So look at those 3 opponents, you need to be better than 2 of them.

Sweden is the clear favourite. They are still ahead of you in best-on-best. Their D core is simply better, straight up. Your future looks bright and you will catch them, but for now you are still behind.

I'm cheering for the Young Guns. But, I don't want to see 97 play against his country. Somehow you guys need to finish with Tre Kronor in the top 2. Bring your underdog fighting spirit, you have some tough competition. Face it head on with toughness, fight with the Finnish spirit. I see a lot of the same qualities we love as Canadians in the Finnish people.

You guys are underdogs (exactly like you want it).

Swede's D core is unbelievable but good thing these tournaments aren't played on paper so their defense doesn't scare me, plus they lack the toughness that Canada's defense has.

In regards to their forwards, the Sedins and Zetterberg are out of their prime. They aren't as good as they were in 2014. If Finland is healthy (which it looks like they are) and not missing Filppula, Koivu, and Barkov from their forward list, they should be able to compete against Sweden. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if Finland lost against Sweden, but on the other hand wouldn't be shocked at all if they won-which would be sweet because the last time it happened best on best was in 1998!!!!!!!

 

[ijuka]

http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/m...phenom-who-made-joonas-donskoi-an-nhl-player/

They're hyping Marjamäki harder than I am!

 

[jfc64]

Canada would still have a better roster, but since Finland always cram 500% out of their players, who knows.

Finland lose 3-2 OT.

 

[jfc64]

Swede's D core is unbelievable but good thing these tournaments aren't played on paper so their defense doesn't scare me, plus they lack the toughness that Canada's defense has.

In regards to their forwards, the Sedins and Zetterberg are out of their prime. They aren't as good as they were in 2014. If Finland is healthy (which it looks like they are) and not missing Filppula, Koivu, and Barkov from their forward list, they should be able to compete against Sweden. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if Finland lost against Sweden, but on the other hand wouldn't be shocked at all if they won-which would be sweet because the last time it happened best on best was in 1998!!!!!!!

We bury the Sedins on a third or fourth line where the tempo is slower. Then we equip Zetterberg with speedsters on the wings.
Then we release the defense fire power as soon as possible.

Finally, swedish defense is better on ice than on paper! You guys will face Lundqvist and one of Karlsson, Ekman-Larsson and Hedman ALL OF THE TIME!

 

[jfc64]

I think that Sweden and Finland should join into one nation. Not only due to your politicians being 1000 times more sane than ours, but just imagine the team we would be able to ice!

When Bottnia freeze the Bottnians put on their skates and grab their sticks!

Bottnians:

Nicklas Bäckström (C) Washington Capitals 75 20 50 70 0.93 36 17
Aleksander Barkov (C) Florida Panthers 66 28 31 59 0.89 8 18
Loui Eriksson (RW/LW) Boston Bruins 80 30 33 63 0.79 12 13
Filip Forsberg (LW) Nashville Predators 82 33 31 64 0.78 47 1
Alexander Steen (LW) St. Louis Blues 67 17 35 52 0.78 48 3
Daniel Sedin (LW) Vancouver Canucks 82 28 33 61 0.74 36 7
Henrik Sedin (C) Vancouver Canucks 74 11 44 55 0.74 24 0
Jussi Jokinen (LW/RW) Florida Panthers 81 18 42 60 0.74 42 25
Gabriel Landeskog (LW) Colorado Avalanche 75 20 33 53 0.71 69 -5
Mikko Koivu (C) Minnesota Wild 82 17 39 56 0.68 40 6
Mika Zibanejad (C) Ottawa Senators 81 21 30 51 0.63 18 -2
Patric Hörnqvist (RW/LW) Pittsburgh Penguins 82 22 29 51 0.62 36 15
Carl Söderberg (C/LW) Colorado Avalanche 82 12 39 51 0.62 32 -7
Marcus Johansson (LW/C) Washington Capitals 74 17 29 46 0.62 16 12
Henrik Zetterberg (C/LW) Detroit Red Wings 82 13 37 50 0.61 24 -15
Victor Rask (C) Carolina Hurricanes 80 21 27 48 0.60 24 -6
Rickard Rakell (C/W) Anaheim Ducks 72 20 23 43 0.60 19 -1
William Nylander (C/W) Toronto Maple Leafs 22 6 7 13 0.59 4 1
Alexander Wennberg (C/W) Columbus Blue Jackets 69 8 32 40 0.58 2 -1
Mikael Backlund (C) Calgary Flames 82 21 26 47 0.57 28 10
Leo Komarov (LW/RW) Toronto Maple Leafs 67 19 17 36 0.54 40 -12
Mikael Granlund (C) Minnesota Wild 82 13 31 44 0.54 20 -12
Gustav Nyquist (RW/LW) Detroit Red Wings 82 17 26 43 0.52 34 -2
Carl Hagelin (LW) Pittsburgh Penguins 80 14 25 39 0.49 32 8
André Burakovsky (W/C) Washington Capitals 79 17 21 38 0.48 12 4
Jakob Silfverberg (RW/LW) Anaheim Ducks 82 20 19 39 0.48 32 8
Elias Lindholm (C/RW) Carolina Hurricanes 82 11 28 39 0.48 24 -23
Joonas Donskoi (RW/LW) San Jose Sharks 76 11 25 36 0.47 20 4
Erik Haula (C/W) Minnesota Wild 76 14 20 34 0.45 24 21
Teuvo Teräväinen (C/W) Chicago Blackhawks 78 13 22 35 0.45 20 -2
Jori Lehterä (C) St. Louis Blues 79 9 25 34 0.43 38 12
Valtteri Filppula (C/W) Tampa Bay Lightning 76 8 23 31 0.41 46 -6
Jesper Fast (RW/LW) New York Rangers 79 10 20 30 0.38 18 9
Patrik Berglund (C/W) St. Louis Blues 42 10 5 15 0.36 16 1
Marcus Krüger (C) Chicago Blackhawks 41 0 4 4 0.10 24 -5


Erik Karlsson (D) Ottawa Senators 82 16 66 82 1.00 50 -2
John Klingberg (D) Dallas Stars 76 10 48 58 0.76 30 22
Oliver Ekman Larsson (D) Arizona Coyotes 75 21 34 55 0.73 96 -6
Victor Hedman (D) Tampa Bay Lightning 78 10 37 47 0.60 46 21
Sami Vatanen (D) Anaheim Ducks 71 9 29 38 0.54 20 8
Rasmus Ristolainen (D) Buffalo Sabres 82 9 32 41 0.50 33 -21
Anton Strålman (D) Tampa Bay Lightning 73 9 25 34 0.47 20 16
Mattias Ekholm (D) Nashville Predators 82 8 27 35 0.43 44 14
Niklas Kronwall (D) Detroit Red Wings 64 3 23 26 0.41 30 -21
Oscar Klefbom (D) Edmonton Oilers 30 4 8 12 0.40 6 -4
Alexander Edler (D) Vancouver Canucks 52 6 14 20 0.38 46 -8
Hampus Lindholm (D) Anaheim Ducks 80 10 18 28 0.35 40 7
Niklas Hjalmarsson (D) Chicago Blackhawks 82 2 22 24 0.29 32 13
Olli Määttä (D) Pittsburgh Penguins 67 6 13 19 0.28 22 27
Johnny Oduya (D) Dallas Stars 82 4 17 21 0.26 26 8
Tobias Enström (D) Winnipeg Jets 72 2 14 16 0.22 44 8
Adam Larsson (D) New Jersey Devils 82 3 15 18 0.22 77 15
Jonathan Ericsson (D) Detroit Red Wings 71 3 12 15 0.21 56 2
Jyrki Jokipakka (D) Calgary Flames 58 2 10 12 0.21 14 4
Carl Gunnarsson (D) St. Louis Blues 72 3 6 9 0.13 31 7
Nicklas Grossmann (D) Arizona Coyotes 58 3 4 7 0.12 24 -3
Jonas Brodin (D) Minnesota Wild 68 2 5 7 0.10 18 -5
Esa Lindell (D) Dallas Stars 4 0 0 0 0.00 0 -3


Robin Lehner Buffalo Sabres 21 2.47 .924
Henrik Lundqvist New York Rangers 65 2.48 .920
Joonas Korpisalo Columbus 31 2.60 .920
Antti Raanta New York Rangers 25 2.24 .919
Jacob Markström Vancouver Canucks 33 2.73 .915
Tuukka Rask Boston Bruins 64 2.56 .915
Karri Rämö Calgary Flames 37 2.63 .909
Pekka Rinne Nashville Predators 66 2.48 .908
Kari Lehtonen Dallas Stars 43 2.76 .906
Antti Niemi Dallas Stars 48 2.67 .905



------------------------------------------------------------------------

Team Bottnia A:

Alexander Steen - Nicklas Bäckström - Filip Forsberg
Daniel Sedin - Aleksander Barkov - Patrik Laine
Mikael Granlund - Mikko Koivu - Gabriel Landeskog
Leo Komarov - Henrik Zetterberg - Teuvo Teräväinen
Carl Hagelin

Oliver Ekman Larsson - Erik Karlsson
Sami Vatanen - Rasmus Ristolainen
Victor Hedman - Olli Määttä
Niklas Hjalmarsson

Tuukka Rask
Henrik Lundqvist
Pekka Rinne


Team Bottnia B:

Valtteri Filppula - Henrik Sedin - Loui Eriksson
Joonas Donskoi - Carl Söderberg - Gustav Nyquist
Rickard Rakell - Jori Lehterä - Jussi Jokinen
Joonas Donskoi - Mikael Backlund - Jakob Silfverberg
Patric Hörnqvist


Hampus Lindholm - Anton Strålman
Mattias Ekholm - John Klingberg
Alexander Edler - Adam Larsson
Jonas Brodin


Kari Lehtonen
Mikko Koskinen
Antti Niemi