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WJC: 2017 Finland Roster Talk

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Phenomenon said:
Miro Heiskanen is playing 19 minutes per game in FEL. I am really surprised, if he is not in the team. My prediction for D is:
Juolevi
Saarijärvi
Välimäki
Niemeläinen
Salo
Vaakanainen
Heiskanen

Parikka has played well, but the competition for the spots in the U20 team is extremely tough for Dmen.
Click to expand...

Possibly best defence ever?
 
wings5 said:
Possibly best defence ever?
Click to expand...

I can't say for sure is Finland's defence in upcoming world juniors better than ever.
But it'll be much better than last year in Helsinki.

Offence should be balanced too but goalies are a bit question-mark.
But if Vehvilainen finally founds his mojo who knows how far Finland goes in Montreal.
 
Heres my list (as of today)

G

Veini Vehviläinen (JYP)
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (HPK/HPK U20)

D

Olli Juolevi (London Knights)
Vili Saarijärvi (Missisauga Steelheads)
Juuso Välimäki (Tri-City Americans)
Markus Niemeläinen (Saginaw Spirit)
Eemeli Räsänen (Kingston frontenacs)
Robin Salo (Sport)
Miro Heiskanen (HIFK)


F

Julius Nättinen (Windsor Spitfires)
Petrus Palmu (Owen Sound Attack)
Aleksi Saarela (Lukko)
Eeli Tolvanen (Sioux City Musketeers)
Aapeli Räsänen (Sioux City Musketeers)
Eetu Tuulola (Everett Silvertips)
Kristian Vesalainen (Frölunda Indians)
Janne Kuokkanen (London Knights)
Otto Koivula (Ilves)
Otto Somppi (Halifax Mooseheads)
Aleksi Heponiemi (Swift Current Broncos)
Henrik Borgström (University Of Denver)
Joona Koppanen (Ilves U20)
 
GeorgeLeafer12 said:
Heres my list (as of today)

G

Veini Vehviläinen (JYP)
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (HPK/HPK U20)

D

Olli Juolevi (London Knights)
Vili Saarijärvi (Missisauga Steelheads)
Juuso Välimäki (Tri-City Americans)
Markus Niemeläinen (Saginaw Spirit)
Eemeli Räsänen (Kingston frontenacs)
Robin Salo (Sport)
Miro Heiskanen (HIFK)


F

Julius Nättinen (Windsor Spitfires)
Petrus Palmu (Owen Sound Attack)
Aleksi Saarela (Lukko)
Eeli Tolvanen (Sioux City Musketeers)
Aapeli Räsänen (Sioux City Musketeers)
Eetu Tuulola (Everett Silvertips)
Kristian Vesalainen (Frölunda Indians)
Janne Kuokkanen (London Knights)
Otto Koivula (Ilves)
Otto Somppi (Halifax Mooseheads)
Aleksi Heponiemi (Swift Current Broncos)
Henrik Borgström (University Of Denver)
Joona Koppanen (Ilves U20)
Click to expand...

Good list but where's Kasper Björkqvist, Jonne Tammela and Urho Vaakanainen.
Also I do not believe that Aleksi Heponiemi and Eemeli Räsänen are in the team these upcoming world juniors.
 
This finnish defense is gonna be good, although quite young, but a top pairing of Juolevi-Saarijärvi sounds pretty amazing. Niemeläinen, Välimäki, Heiskanen and Salo/Vaakanainen should round out the bottom-four nicely.
 
FinnHockeyFan said:
Good list but where's Kasper Björkqvist, Jonne Tammela and Urho Vaakanainen.
Also I do not believe that Aleksi Heponiemi and Eemeli Räsänen are in the team these upcoming world juniors.
Click to expand...

I don't think none of the 3 will make the team
first 2 are obvious ones,but Vaakanainen is a bit tough one.

Clearly you haven't followed Heponiemi nor ERäsänen
as closely this season as i have.

Räsänen has been a huge surprise this season in the OHL
and he is going to surprise many Finns.

Kingston management knew his pro's when he was signed
which were; passing,size (200cm95KG),physical presense.

He wasn't expected to contribute offensively,contribute on PP.
He has already 8 PP points this season,he has a heavy booming
shot,although at the moment, not very accurate one,
his PP blueline passing has been tremendous this season,
he holds the line very well with his long stick too.

From Vaakanainen and Räsänen, i'd pick Räsänen
we have enough Vaakanainen type of players,but
not enough of Räsänen type and because Vaakanainen
has struggled this season,he might not be just yet
ready for the u20 WJC,i'd choose him though
for the u18 WJC instead.

Heponiemi has been superb in his rookie season for Broncos
a true PP specialist,a playmaker,very Sebastian Ahoesk player
even thou he has been great on PP,he leads his team
in +/-,his +6 in a avarage WHL team is great number,
fairly never makes mistakes.
 
GeorgeLeafer12 said:
I don't think none of the 3 will make the team
first 2 are obvious ones,but Vaakanainen is a bit tough one.

Clearly you haven't followed Heponiemi nor ERäsänen
as closely this season as i have.

Räsänen has been a huge surprise this season in the OHL
and he is going to surprise many Finns.

Kingston management knew his pro's when he was signed
which were; passing,size (200cm95KG),physical presense.

He wasn't expected to contribute offensively,contribute on PP.
He has already 8 PP points this season,he has a heavy booming
shot,although at the moment, not very accurate one,
his PP blueline passing has been tremendous this season,
he holds the line very well with his long stick too.

From Vaakanainen and Räsänen, i'd pick Räsänen
we have enough Vaakanainen type of players,but
not enough of Räsänen type and because Vaakanainen
has struggled this season,he might not be just yet
ready for the u20 WJC,i'd choose him though
for the u18 WJC instead.

Heponiemi has been superb in his rookie season for Broncos
a true PP specialist,a playmaker,very Sebastian Ahoesk player
even thou he has been great on PP,he leads his team
in +/-,his +6 in a avarage WHL team is great number,
fairly never makes mistakes.
Click to expand...

Of course it's possible Finland's team in world juniors consists for the most part of North-American players i don't denied that.
Finland has at the moment 16-18 players in North American leagues and the competition of roster spots will be really tough.

Yeah Eemeli Räsänen and Aleksi Heponiemi are a bit unknown players to me.
But i'm seen some youtube highlights of them but it's not the same watch them in TV or live.

That's true Vaakanainen has struggled in liiga weanwhile Miro Heiskanen has been best defenceman in HIFK's liiga team.
That's really impressive performance a player who just turned 17 in past summer.
 
wings5 said:
Possibly best defence ever?
Click to expand...

It has ton of potential but it's very young.
So they could be elite or just collapse :laugh:

I'm excited to follow our defense this year, what a change from last year.

Actually Center group with Borgstrom, Kuokkanen and Nattinen looks pretty interesting as well.
 
BB88 said:
Actually Center group with Borgstrom, Kuokkanen and Nattinen looks pretty interesting as well.
Click to expand...
+Saarela. This department is indeed something that's looking a bit stronger than last year.

There's a small quality drop in wingers, since Laine, Pulju (now it looks again like he won't be available after all), Rantanen and Kapanen aren't that easily replaceable. But overall, this team's skaters are easily on par with the previous one.

Goalies are still bit of a question mark. Although, they weren't anything special last year either.
 
Looks like we could put two good defences to these games:

-97
Saarijärvi(OHL,no games), Ilomäki (Liiga(FEL) 20 0+1=1 +1),Vainio (Liiga 7 0+1=1 -3), Rautanen (KHL 10 0+1=1 +1), Parikka(Liiga 20 0+3=3 -3), Leskinen(Liiga 15 1+5=6 +3), Mattila (NCAA 14 2+4=6 +6), Tiuraniemi (USHL 16 2+8=10 -6)

-98
Juolevi(OHL 16 2+10=12 +6), Välimäki(WHL, 23 4+19=23 +3), Niemeläinen(OHL 17 0+3=3 0), Salo (Liiga 17 1+6=7 +5), Almari (Liiga 9 1+2=3 +3), Kotkansalo(USHL 11 0+2=2 +6), Felixon (QMJHL, 21 0+5 +13), Reunanen (Mestis 16 0+5=6 +9),

-99
Vaakanainen(Liiga 13 1+0=1 -4), Heiskanen(Liiga 18 3+3=6 +5), Jokiharju(WHL 21 1+9=10 +3),Räsänen(OHL 21 2+7=9 -10), Vesterinen (QMJHL 19 3+5=8 +6)

Statistics are from Eliteprospects and from yesterday, so they are little bit out of date.
 
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For now my 7D would be: Saarijärvi, Mattila, Juolevi, Välimäki, Niemeläinen, Salo and Heiskanen

Bolder ones probably locked, we can debate about two other names but Salo is playing a lot better in Liiga than Vaakanainen and we need someone more experienced from NA, so I would go with Mattila.
 
master4071 said:
For now my 7D would be: Saarijärvi, Mattila, Juolevi, Välimäki, Niemeläinen, Salo and Heiskanen

Bolder ones probably locked, we can debate about two other names but Salo is playing a lot better in Liiga than Vaakanainen and we need someone more experienced from NA, so I would go with Mattila.
Click to expand...

But mattila is *****
 
FiLe said:
+Saarela. This department is indeed something that's looking a bit stronger than last year.

There's a small quality drop in wingers, since Laine, Pulju (now it looks again like he won't be available after all), Rantanen and Kapanen aren't that easily replaceable. But overall, this team's skaters are easily on par with the previous one.

Goalies are still bit of a question mark. Although, they weren't anything special last year either.
Click to expand...

I considered Saarela on the wing to give it more talent.

The wings are weaker but I don't mind building around a (potentially) strong C group+ strong defense. That's how you build a winner in the NHL so let's see.

Has anyone seen Niemelainen play this year, after the pre season?
Seems like he's not putting up points at all. He looked so good in the pre season.
 
I'd go with something like this at the moment, no idea about the lines but:

Centers:

Nättinen
Saarela
Räsänen
Borgsröm/Koppanen/Mattila

Wingers:

Vesalainen
Tolvanen
Kuokkanen
Björkqvist
Koivula
Ruotsalainen
Turkulainen/Tammela/Palmu/Tuulola

Defense:

Juolevi
Saarijärvi
Heiskanen
Välimäki
Niemeläinen
Jokiharju
Salo/Vaakanainen/Parikka

Goalies:

Vehviläinen
Ruusu/Heljanko/Kaarlehto
 
BB88 said:
The wings are weaker but I don't mind building around a (potentially) strong C group+ strong defense. That's how you build a winner in the NHL so let's see.
Click to expand...
One of the things to note is that the wings are weaker when compared to something (like the centres or defense, or last year's wingers), but they're not weak overall.

In fact, even that department is still exceptionally talented, when you take the big picture into consideration.


Of course, between Saarela, Nättinen, Borgström, Kuokkanen and potentially Räsänen and Ruotsalainen, some centers may end up slotted at wings anyway.

But I personally wouldn't be starting with Saarela.
 
Wingers of this team are definitely NOT weak. They are strong. Just compare them to WJC winning team in 2014.
 
Nice to see that we are again getting a strong team - the lean years are over... Definitely a contender this year too.
 
llwyd said:
Nice to see that we are again getting a strong team - the lean years are over... Definitely a contender this year too.
Click to expand...

Crazy to think that we could have Pulju, Aho, and Laine again! lol

Of course other teams are missing top guys but still, pretty nuts!
 
My line up as of now would be something like:

1. Kuokkanen-Nättinen-Palmu
2. Tolvanen-ARäsänen-Tuulola
3. Vesalainen-Saarela-Koivula
4. Koppanen-Somppi-Heponiemi
13. Borgström

1. Juolevi-Saarijärvi
2. Heiskanen-Välimäki
3. Niemeläinen-ERäsänen
7. Salo

like that other winning team,this team has
everything size,talent,speed,...

Heres the 180cm+ players:

200cm/ 93kg Eemeli Räsänen
197cm/ 93kg Markus Niemeläinen
195cm/ 87kg Joona Koppanen
191cm/ 83kg Olli Juolevi
191cm/ 81kg Henrik Borgström
190cm/ 92kg Kristian Vesalainen
190cm/100kg Otto Koivula
190cm/102kg Eetu Tuulola
189cm/ 88kg Julius Nättinen
188cm/ 91kg Juuso Välimäki
186cm/ 86kg Janne Kuokkanen
184cm/ 84kg Robin Salo
184cm/ 80kg Miro Heiskanen
183cm/ 90kg Aapeli Räsänen
183cm/ 82kg Otto Somppi
180cm/ 91kg Aleksi Saarela

Heres the u 180cm players:

171cm/81kg Petrus Palmu
176cm/65kg Aleksi Heponiemi
178cm/75kg Vili Saarijärvi
178cm/81kg Eeli Tolvanen
 
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