World Cup: 2016 World Cup — Team Finland

[ijuka]

I really don't understand the Jokinen bashing..?! People don't see how much work he does defensively. He does the most work on that line to keep it alive. The problem is that Jokinen needs to do almost double the work defensively than normally because of Laine who is always at the wrong place or just surfing. You guys should thank the lord that JJ is on ur team. Although I do agree that offensively barkov-jokinen doesn't work. But barkov-laine doesn't work in any situation. So I hope they switch Laine to someone else on that line. He is just dragging them down.

So my stats say that the entire game, in 5v5 Jokinen only was involved in 3 contested pucks which is the least in the entire team. Barkov was involved in 16 and Laine in 8. Of course, Jokinen did win all 3 of those but how can you be involved in so few contested pucks if you are playing oh so well defensively?

I also wonder what you look at but here's Laine being a defensive disaster:

https://streamable.com/aro9

Here it's not Jokinen nor Barkov who takes the role of the AFKing defenseman.

 

[Whileee]

Laine is a deterrent, just by being on the ice.
Even when he gets a bad pass on the PP, the whole Swedish box turned to minimize his shot and pressurise him. Someone else is now free, that someone must step up, get open and hopefully Laine sees him, the booming shot, evolving into a sharp assist.
Being off the practice Games is good, hopefully he doesnt get looked at too closely and gets room to rifle in a few goals for us this tournament.

Good observation. So far, Laine has been very crisp and sharp in his passing. He hasn't been given a lot of space or time, but he's made good decisions with the puck and his passes are almost always right on the tape.

 

[ijuka]

Laine is a deterrent, just by being on the ice.
Even when he gets a bad pass on the PP, the whole Swedish box turned to minimize his shot and pressurise him. Someone else is now free, that someone must step up, get open and hopefully Laine sees him, the booming shot, evolving into a sharp assist.
Being off the practice Games is good, hopefully he doesnt get looked at too closely and gets room to rifle in a few goals for us this tournament.

So we look at this here:

First, Ristolainen had a brilliant opportunity to pass to Laine who had just about no one who could even block a shot, Ristolainen also had easily enough time to give a good pass.

After that, we look at Koivu and his "pass" to Laine.

https://streamable.com/5cj4

There was the PP earlier where Vatanen could only give Laine one good pass when Vatanen wasn't pressured at all(Laine shot but missed, hit the side of the net). His other passes to Laine were terrible. On the other hand, Laine's passes when he wasn't pressured were for the most part really really hard and right on the tape. And heh, Laine did have at least 2 passes that were bad and got interrupted but they were so hard the puck flew really high in the air and around 30 feet forward and when it landed, a Finnish player got the puck both times anyway.

As for shots, the entire game in 5v5 Ristolainen had 6 shots all of which were bad, and Vatanen had 5 shots all of which were bad. Add power play and they likely were around 0-20 total for good vs bad shots. Why do they shoot?

 

[DaJackal]

As for the stats I posted earlier, did anyone find them useful or did they just end up being wall of text spam? I could post the ones for the defensemen too.

I like them, keep those coming!

By the way, do you have a job? You seem to have so much time to do all this analysis and posting, I'm just curious. Major kudos anyway!

 

[ijuka]

I like them, keep those coming!

By the way, do you have a job? You seem to have so much time to do all this analysis and posting, I'm just curious. Major kudos anyway!

What do you mean? It just took 3 hours and it was on the weekend. I did it while waiting for the USA-Canada match to start.

Ds are going to be a lot shorter as there are so few of them, luckily. Note the passes will be inflated due to D-D passes being so common. Remember these are only for 5v5.

Quick version:

%s in order:

79.5% Määttä
78.9% Ristolainen
77.4% Jokipakka
75.8% Lindell
69.0% Pokka
62.7% Vatanen


Full detail:


Määttä:

contested puck

7-1=6

received pass

7-1=6

pass

18-2=16

dangle

1-0=1

shot

1-3=2

dump1

0-0=0

dump2

1-2=-1

total

44 actions in total, 35-9=26

79.5%


Ristolainen:


contested puck

3-2=1

received pass

19-0=19

pass

22-3=18

dangle

1-0=1

shot

0-6=-6

dump1

0-1=-1

dump2

0-0=0

total

57 actions in total, 45-12=33

78.9%


Jokipakka:


contested puck

7-3=4

received pass

17-0=17

pass

23-4=19

dangle

0-1=-1

shot

0-3=-3

dump1

0-3=-3

dump2

1-0=1

total

62 actions in total, 48-14=34

77.4%


Vatanen:


contested puck

4-3=1

received pass

16-1=15

pass

17-10=7

dangle

0-2=-2

shot

0-5=-5

dump1

0-1=-1

dump2

0-1=-1

total

59 actions in total, 37-22=15

62.7%


Lindell:


contested puck

3-2=1

received pass

7-1=6

pass

15-4=11

dangle

0-0=0

shot

0-1=-1

dump1

0-0=0

dump2

0-0=0

total

33 actions in total, 25-8=17

75.8%


Pokka:


contested puck

8-3=5

received pass

6-2=4

pass

15-3=12

dangle

0-0=0

shot

0-4=-4

dump1

2-1=1

dump2

0-0=0

total

42 actions in total, 29-13=16

69.0%

 

[Mattpilf]

1 PP unit F: Laine,Aho,Barkov,Jokinen D: Pokka
(Jokinen with Barkov&Laine 5 on 5 might not work,
but like last worlds showed,it works on PP,Pokka
is gret blue liner on PP,great passer,keeps the blue
line)

2 PP F: Granlund,Koivu,Donskoi D: Määttä,Ristolainen
(this forward trio is obvious,Määttä showed with the OT
winner he can score,so i think he should play PP,he has always
been able to pass the puck too,so i think he would fit perfectly,
its insane that Olli doesn't get PP time anymore in Pittsburgh)

Määttä got unlucky in that department. His sophomore year he had very little games and a messed up shoulder so I don't think they wanted him focusing on slappers and writers from the blue line. Then this year Daley and Schultz bumped him off and Pouliot is in the running too. maybe in time he'll develop that side of his game, but I think it's gonna be a while before he starts QBing PP.

I'd certainly be interested in Määttä on the PP. Finland has struggled there, and might be worth shaking things up, keep the blue line solid and allow for more rotation with 2 D.

 

[hirawl]

I really don't understand the Jokinen bashing..?! People don't see how much work he does defensively. He does the most work on that line to keep it alive. The problem is that Jokinen needs to do almost double the work defensively than normally because of Laine who is always at the wrong place or just surfing. You guys should thank the lord that JJ is on ur team. Although I do agree that offensively barkov-jokinen doesn't work. But barkov-laine doesn't work in any situation. So I hope they switch Laine to someone else on that line. He is just dragging them down.

This exactly. Joking is the smartest player on the team. He's basically your adaptive scale weight par excellence. Where ever you play him he immediately balances out that line.

He's with Barkov because Laine is with Barkov.

 

[Snowsii]

This exactly. Joking is the smartest player on the team. He's basically your adaptive scale weight par excellence. Where ever you play him he immediately balances out that line.

He's with Barkov because Laine is with Barkov.

IMO not true.. personally i have atleast Barkov and Koivu ahead of him.. And also Aho, but he hasnt played yet so didnt include him. And if he's so smart, why did he have worst stats in game two?

 

[MMANumminen]

Yes too much Jokinen bashing. They could try to replace slow Laine with someone who has energy. Maybe Komarov

 

[Loffer]

Yes too much Jokinen bashing. They could try to replace slow Laine with someone who has energy. Maybe Komarov

So, Laine's off season training regime has been a big disappointment resultwise. The guy is even slower than he used to be last spring?? Hannu Rautanen and his "magical touch".

 

[ijuka]

So, Laine's off season training regime has been a big disappointment resultwise. The guy is even slower than he used to be last spring?? Hannu Rautanen and his "magical touch".

I don't think he's been slow. Actually, I'd say that he's been rather fast. I don't really get why people bring that up as the issue, it's something else.

 

[Crocoduck]

I really wanted to catch the Fin games but haven't been able to get any feeds. Can anyone tell me how Lindell has looked?

 

[BB88]

My problem with Jokinen is how oftern he has seemed to kill the play and how little he has shown offensively in these 2 games, he's done pretty much nothing offensively.

 

[ijuka]

I really wanted to catch the Fin games but haven't been able to get any feeds. Can anyone tell me how Lindell has looked?

Not terrible, not the best.

Involved in very few puck battles, not winning them at a good rate. Okay basic play but nothing extraordinary. I do think that he hasn't been among Finland's worst and I also think that he's outplayed his defensive pairing in Ville Pokka. However, they had several sequences where they got pinned in their own zone for an extended period of time and I don't think that Lindell possesses the battling strength necessary to properly get out of that. Which is a little strange as he has the frame for it...

He's certainly been much better than at WHCs where I thought that he was horrendous.

 

[ijuka]

My problem with Jokinen is how oftern he has seemed to kill the play and how little he has shown offensively in these 2 games, he's done pretty much nothing offensively.

He had one good pass to Barkov who then failed a pass to Laine. That was literally the only thing I saw of him offensively last game.

He had the worst puck action % on the team and by far the fewest actions on his line, and look at the 5v5 corsi% for the past 2 games:

Laine 57.14%
Barkov 53.33%
Jokinen 46.15%


And relative:

Laine +9.67% 5v5 Corsi% RelTM
Barkov +5.86% 5v5 Corsi% RelTM
Jokinen -1.32% 5v5 Corsi% RelTM

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

2nd and 4th line are good but something could be done about the 1st and 3rd line.

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

Jokinen-Barkov-X
Granlund-Koivu-Donskoi
Laine-Filppula-X
Korpikoski-Haula-X/Komarov

I'd try these.

 

[ijuka]

2nd and 4th line are good but something could be done about the 1st and 3rd line.

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

Jokinen-Barkov-X
Granlund-Koivu-Donskoi
Laine-Filppula-X
Korpikoski-Haula-X/Komarov

I'd try these.

Lehterä? He's not been good.

I'd easily swap Filppula and Lehterä here, otherwise it might be worth a try.

 

[jukkaeemeli]

I hope Aho take Donskois place and Donki takes Laines place for Yankees game.

 

[Snowsii]

I hope Aho take Donskois place and Donki takes Laines place for Yankees game.

That doesnt make any sense.. that would put three playmakers in "1st" line (koivus line has most toi) and no real shooters in Barkovs or Koivus line.

 

[57special]

Haula is a very smart player. That guy clearly knows nothing about him. You don't become a shutdown C in the NHL without being clever. Haula is very sneaky and combines that with his speed and a great stick. Watch him get 45+ as he switches from an extremely conservative cooach who hated him to a players coach like Boudreau.

As someone who has virtually every game he has played with the Wild and Gophers, I agree with most of this. I think he will have a hard time getting 45 points, though, considering he probably won't get any PP time, will be doing a lot of PK/DZ starts, and will probably have the "leftovers" when it comes to linemates( after Koivu and Staal).

It's funny how I find the Finnish team to be the most interesting of them all. I'm kind of a "plucky underdog " lover, I guess. Though that doesn't exactly describe Newcastle.

 

[MMANumminen]

I don't mean slow skating wise, but decicion making. It will take time to adjust to small rink. Reason why people criticise so much is the overhype

 

[ijuka]

That doesnt make any sense.. that would put three playmakers in "1st" line (koivus line has most toi) and no real shooters in Barkovs or Koivus line.

Based on?


Barkov 17:59
Laine 15:00
Jokinen 15:42

Total: 48:41

Koivu 18:54
Granlund 13:48
Donskoi 15:31

Total: 48:13

 

[FamilyGuy716]

I missed both games so far. How has Ristolainen looked?

 

[ijuka]

I missed both games so far. How has Ristolainen looked?

He's a pretty good, physical presence. One of the leading defensemen but he's been in very few contested puck situations(in 5v5 he was involved in only 5 of them in total when Jokipakka, Pokka etc. have been in 10+) so it looks like he has some difficulties reading where the play is heading or something. He scored a goal but overall he's had a lot of bad shots too. On the other hand, he's very consistent at both passing as well as receiving passes.

I don't think that he was one of the worst defensemen but I'd expect more. Only being in 5 puck battles with around 14min of 5v5 ice time is a really low amount.

 

[MNRube]

2nd and 4th line are good but something could be done about the 1st and 3rd line.

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

Jokinen-Barkov-X
Granlund-Koivu-Donskoi
Laine-Filppula-X
Korpikoski-Haula-X/Komarov

I'd try these.

Glad to hear this as a Wild fan. Hoping the Finns make a run...