WC: 2017 Team Finland

[FiLe]

Heh, that lineup is sort of huge proof that the old adage "make it out of the group stage and the tournament starts anew" is true. Or at least Late seems to buy it.

I'm kinda mixed about this, to be honest. A shuffle like this tells us that things are definitely not where the management would like them to be at this stage of the event. However, at the same time, I feel like I have to applaud them for realizing and accepting the fact. After this, people at least shouldn't be able to say that Marjamäki is someone who sticks to his ways no matter what.

 

[illone84]

Heh, that lineup is sort of huge proof that the old adage "make it out of the group stage and the tournament starts anew" is true. Or at least Late seems to buy it.

I'm kinda mixed about this, to be honest. A shuffle like this tells us that things are definitely not where the management would like them to be at this stage of the event. However, at the same time, I feel like I have to applaud them for realizing and accepting the fact. After this, people at least shouldn't be able to say that Marjamäki is someone who sticks to his ways no matter what.

I'm happy to see that Marjamäki has the balls to make these changes. I have a hunch that Pulju is going to come up big.

 

[Loffer]

Heh, that lineup is sort of huge proof that the old adage "make it out of the group stage and the tournament starts anew" is true. Or at least Late seems to buy it.

I'm kinda mixed about this, to be honest. A shuffle like this tells us that things are definitely not where the management would like them to be at this stage of the event. However, at the same time, I feel like I have to applaud them for realizing and accepting the fact. After this, people at least shouldn't be able to say that Marjamäki is someone who sticks to his ways no matter what.

I have mixed feelings too since this lineup shuffle seems to show some sort of adaptability in the dude and moreover looks like a reasonable change.

Yet, I still think it is too late a change to have any significant effect and even if it did this team has no real chances against the fine brave boys of Thomas Jefferson and the Co.

But I cannot be too sorry about it. Mixed feelings indeed.

 

[Dahli]

While philosophy is interesting, let's take a step back to the real world.

Our Lions had practice today in Cologne, and wow - looks like Marjamäki shuffled the deck big time:

Savinainen - Filppula - Rantanen
Pyörälä - Aho - Puljujärvi
Pihlström - Kemppainen - JMA
Hännikäinen - Lajunen - Osala

While in some way this new lineup makes way more sense than those we used in group stage, it's still a pretty radical shift. Almost feels like a hail mary.

At last, a good decision is taken: trying to build a 2nd line that jas the possibility to produce offensively. Filpulla and Aho were too similar and were not playing properly together.

I also completely agree with a previous post suggesting to give more TOI to the 4th libe: Osala & Hannikainen were interesting

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

Vaakanainen, Tolvanen and others have done nothing to earn place in national team. Best player should be selected always doesn't matter what age. It's world championships, not some prospect showdown

Of course they haven't done they're still juniors goddammit.
But even you can't ignore that fact those guys including Hintz, Vesalainen,Heiskanen,Saarijärvi,Mikkola etc will be the future of Finland's men's national team in 5 yrs period.

Those old farts like Pyörälä, J-M Aaltonen,Pihlström etc won't play forever.
Finland's men's national teams generation change will come in any case near future and nothing won't stop it.

 

[WhoahNow]

How has Honka looked so far?

 

[Kardi]

How has Honka looked so far?

and Rantanen???

 

[Hockeyisl1fe]

^^ Honka has been the best dman for the team (given our d group, take that with a grain of salt) and Rantanen the best forward imo.

 

[illone84]

^^ Honka has been the best dman for the team (given our d group, take that with a grain of salt) and Rantanen the best forward imo.

Agreed, Honka and Rantanen have been our best players.

Honka has looked great.

 

[Minty Cowboy]

How has mire aaltonen looked so far??

 

[illone84]

How has mire aaltonen looked so far??

Not great. Doubt he makes the leafs line up. Will probably play for the marlies for a year and go back to europe/russia after.

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

Of course they haven't done they're still juniors goddammit.
But even you can't ignore that fact those guys including Hintz, Vesalainen,Heiskanen,Saarijärvi,Mikkola etc will be the future of Finland's men's national team in 5 yrs period.

Those old farts like Pyörälä, J-M Aaltonen,Pihlström etc won't play forever.
Finland's men's national teams generation change will come in any case near future and nothing won't stop it.

There is like 50% chance that half of those names never even sniff the NHL.

I know this is hockeys future, but seriously - look back the last 5-10 years and everyone has been hyped and most did not made it. It is not a fact that Hintz, Venalainen etc will be our future mainstay. Pihlström for example has been in MM-kisat team for 10 years or more- yet to be sidelined by a prospect.
At this point, we have no way of knowing if any of those will go beyond the Jesse Niinimäki, Perttu Lindgren, Teemu Pulkkinen level.

Hintz was not good enough in practice games, please understand that already. For MM-kisat we pick the best available team, not list of guys we have big dreams for.

 

[MMANumminen]

JMA and Pulju playing? Great news.

To Harry P, , Miro Aaltonen looks like pretty typical half-good finnish player; good skater, works hard, lot of effort and little results.

 

[llwyd]

^^ Honka has been the best dman for the team (given our d group, take that with a grain of salt) and Rantanen the best forward imo.

Well, Rantanen has made several serious defensive mistakes though - Aho too, but I think Aho has still been clearly better than Rantanen. Honka has been very impressive in attack and mostly done a good job in defence too. He probably suffers a bit from the lack of talent in our offence - but very fluid and creative movement that rarely seems to result in puck losses.

 

[QnebO]

How has mire aaltonen looked so far??

I wouldnt even invite him over the pond

JMA playing = winning culture. Love me some JMA. Jma is the best.

I remember when he started in NT, he had sick hands. He was twice as skilled as any other player we had that era. In terms of hands he left Selänne in the dust among other our NHLers.

He Just always kinda lacked the actual part where you put puck in the net.. but gotta love the JMA

 

[Loffer]

I wouldnt even invite him over the pond

JMA playing = winning culture. Love me some JMA. Jma is the best.

I remember when he started in NT, he had sick hands. He was twice as skilled as any other player we had that era. In terms of hands he left Selänne in the dust among other our NHLers.

He Just always kinda lacked the actual part where you put puck in the net.. but gotta love the JMA

To put it in a pithy way: JMA is like an accidental picasso of hockey - - without being a constant one. (Somehow he reminds me in that sense. Yikes!)

 

[QnebO]

To put it in a pithy way: JMA is like an accidental picasso of hockey - - without being a constant one. (Somehow he reminds me in that sense. Yikes!)

Yup. Kinda. I just like how he rolls. The attitude, the skills. Haters say he doesnt try to win but it aint true. Hes mady many important goals in finals, golden goal too. The guys without physical condition probably didint get his best year, bad luck. Hes got the same golden flow as Laine. When its on, its on and we can win any one.

I think Laines attitude is comparable to JMA. He works way harder than JMA though (and thas why he is in NHL, jma never got there). Still I bet 90 %of you would hate him too, if he had bad season last two season instead. And probably will start the hate if bad season comes.

 

[FiLe]

Hintz was not good enough in practice games, please understand that already. For MM-kisat we pick the best available team, not list of guys we have big dreams for.

Well, Pulju made it based on not much more than that...

Based on the fact that we have a serious lack of offensive centres - and even more so because they didn't for some odd reason even dare to try M.Aaltonen in the slot, there's definitely a case to be made for Hintz. I won't say it was a horrible injustice, but his case can be argued both ways.

Then again, if one kid makes it based on the potential alone, that doesn't actually mean all available ones should, for the reason I mentioned in an earlier post. If you take a flier on one, and that one is of no use after all, you can always bench him. Two can be fit too. But if you take three or more, you always have to have at least one in the lineup, no matter whether he's cut out for it or no.

But even despite this, dropping absolutely way too raw names like Luukkonen, Heiskanen, Vaakanainen, Vesalainen, etc... is either serious overestimation of these kids' current level of play and physicality, serious underestimation of the general level of play in the WHC, or both. Especially if one implies they all should make it.

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

Miro Aaltonen, the Pihlström experiment and Aho means there was 3 centers available more than the 4 chosen.
so it was Hintz vs JM Aaltonen or Puljujärvi.
Pulju has more potential so wins out there, Aaltonen is known quantity so the "safe choice" despite not being up to scratch in the last 3 months. Still, if he's good he's better than Hintz, so a gamble the coaching staff took

 

[ijuka]

Aaltonen being better than Hintz even "if he's good" is a stretch.

 

[QnebO]

Aaltonen being better than Hintz even "if he's good" is a stretch.

He is better than Hintz imo. Hintz is a good prospect, but I watched pre tournament games and yup.. Ei vaan riitä yet.

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

Aaltonen being better than Hintz even "if he's good" is a stretch.

Hintz personal highs:
38 points for Ilves U20
30 points for HIFK in Liiga

JM Aaltonen
50 points for Kärpät u20
49 points for Pelicans in Liiga

This season in playoffs Hintz was better, but the artist Aaltonen outscored him in same team in regular season (39 vs 30 points)

so yes, if you take a risk that Aaltonen stops surfing, then he is clearly the superior player.

 

[QnebO]

Hintz personal highs:
38 points for Ilves U20
30 points for HIFK in Liiga

JM Aaltonen
50 points for Kärpät u20
49 points for Pelicans in Liiga

This season in playoffs Hintz was better, but the artist Aaltonen outscored him in same team in regular season (39 vs 30 points)

so yes, if you take a risk that Aaltonen stops surfing, then he is clearly the superior player.

Exactly. De facto, aaltonen is better.


I think Aaltonen is not wuss, if he starts getting tons crap from fan groups, media and everywhere, I think he's not gonna give **** about the season anymore. Even while he tries to do his job as well as he can, it's hard for guy like him after you lose the true motivation that comes from your heart. In your heart you know you don't give a **** to please those critics. That's how I think his play went bad this season. Gotta be this mental side stuff. Every one that know about hockey call him the artist type player, and this is the thing that can happen with artist mentality people.

 

[FiLe]

JMA > Hintz is the correct equation in my opinion too.

However, the argument for Hintz should not be him vs. JMA or Pulju. The argument is that he maybe should have made it because we had pretty much nothing down the middle behind Filppula. I mean, slotting Pihlström for 2C was a goddamn dead giveaway.

Of course, part of this is hindsight on the critic's part, because Hintz wasn't particularly impressive on EHT and we all expected M.Aaltonen to be slotted there. However, the management knew by then they're not going to place Miro down the middle, so they very much chose to pick a team that had no effective 2C. I'm not counting Aho, because him being fitted there only now reeks of a desperation move. (The correct one, given the circumstances, let that be said.)

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

There is like 50% chance that half of those names never even sniff the NHL.

I know this is hockeys future, but seriously - look back the last 5-10 years and everyone has been hyped and most did not made it. It is not a fact that Hintz, Venalainen etc will be our future mainstay. Pihlström for example has been in MM-kisat team for 10 years or more- yet to be sidelined by a prospect.
At this point, we have no way of knowing if any of those will go beyond the Jesse Niinimäki, Perttu Lindgren, Teemu Pulkkinen level.

Hintz was not good enough in practice games, please understand that already. For MM-kisat we pick the best available team, not list of guys we have big dreams for.

Where i'm said Vaakanainen,Tolvanen,Hintz,Vesalainen,Saarijärvi and Heiskanen will all become NHL players?
Don't start to rewrite my comments.