World Cup: 4 Nations Tournament - Team Finland (2025)

[Hollowmoon]

Artturi Lehkonen - Aleksander Barkov - Mikko Rantanen
TT - Sebastian Aho - Laine (if healthy)
Eetu Luostarinen - Anton Lundell - Mikael Granlund
Roope Hintz - Erik Haula/Kotkaniemi - Jesse Puljujärvi


Esa Lindell - Miro Heiskanen
Niko Mikkola - Henri Jokiharju
Juuso Välimäki - Rasmus Ristolainen
Olli Määttä / Hakanpää (if healthy)

Juuse Saros
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Joel Blomqvist

 

[Eye of Ra]

Crazy to think that Finns are actually pretty huge, avg height has to be around 190cm and weight over 90kgs also. We are known to be small and fast, but this time we are big, physical and fast.

Physical? Who among the forwards will throw body checks? There is no Ruutu brothers. Komarov or Nieminen on this team. Being big and strong does not equal playing physical. Both Finland and Sweden are lacking forwards who will hit alot.

 

[jaa]

Artturi Lehkonen - Aleksander Barkov - Mikko Rantanen
TT - Sebastian Aho - Laine (if healthy)
Eetu Luostarinen - Anton Lundell - Mikael Granlund
Roope Hintz - Erik Haula/Kotkaniemi - Jesse Puljujärvi


Esa Lindell - Miro Heiskanen
Niko Mikkola - Henri Jokiharju
Juuso Välimäki - Rasmus Ristolainen
Olli Määttä / Hakanpää (if healthy)

Juuse Saros
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Joel Blomqvist

No kakko or maccelli? I'd take both before pulju or laine or maybe even kotkaniemi. Kakko is ok defensively, has been producing lately, he can manage himself in the corners. Great complimentary player in any of our lines. For depth, I'd even consider him with barkov. Would even out our firepower for other lines.

Maccelli is creative playmaker, who has been steady performer points per minute -wise for a while now. I think he would be great with hintz and rantanen, both who can score goals.

I'd do

Kakko - Barkov - Granlund
Maccelli - Hintz - Rantanen
TT - Aho - Haula
Lehkonen - Lundell - Luostarinen

2nd and 3rd line for the easiest faceoffs against opponents worse lines. 1st and 4th are the shut-off responsible lines with the capability to score. All in all, balanced roles and depth in every line I think.

On D, top4/5 is pretty much locked, maybe Ristolainen/hakanpää is the only debate at this point.

 

[Erikfromfin]

No kakko or maccelli? I'd take both before pulju or laine or maybe even kotkaniemi. Kakko is ok defensively, has been producing lately, he can manage himself in the corners. Great complimentary player in any of our lines. For depth, I'd even consider him with barkov. Would even out our firepower for other lines.

Maccelli is creative playmaker, who has been steady performer points per minute -wise for a while now. I think he would be great with hintz and rantanen, both who can score goals.

I'd do

Kakko - Barkov - Granlund
Maccelli - Hintz - Rantanen
TT - Aho - Haula
Lehkonen - Lundell - Luostarinen

2nd and 3rd line for the easiest faceoffs against opponents worse lines. 1st and 4th are the shut-off responsible lines with the capability to score. All in all, balanced roles and depth in every line I think.

On D, top4/5 is pretty much locked, maybe Ristolainen/hakanpää is the only debate at this point.

The petition not to have Maccelli is they already got Granlund and Teräväinen two similiar playmaking types do we need 3? maybe don't know.

 

[ManWithNoName]

Has Laine been ruled out? What does Finnish media say? I’d love to see him with Barkov.

Finland has a really good team even though the D is weak, outside of Heiskanen and maybe Mikkola. Don’t think they’ve had a better team ever. Barkov is a bloody mutant of S. Koivu and Lehtinen. Rantanen is no Selänne, but he is still a top player in the league. Aho is always fun to watch as well.

Good luck against Canada and the US. Not against us though

 

[SantosHalper]

Finland has a really good team even though the D is weak, outside of Heiskanen and maybe Mikkola.

Criminal-level underrating of Lindell continues but yeah D is weak, Mikkola has step up to be a legit top-4 D in NHL. Rest of them are 3rd pair material, it wouldn't change that much if rest of the D would come from Europe. Our player development needs drastic changes but luckily FIHA is on it.... building a 3-on-3 hockey league .

But answer to the question, no, i don't believe that Laine has been ruled out.

 

[MarkT]

Here's my roster

FORWARDS

Artturi Lehkonen - Aleksander Barkov - Mikko Rantanen
Lehkonen and Rantanen are used to playing together, and Barkov has to be the #1. I think this could be a pretty good shutdown and scoring line overall.

Teuvo Teräväinen - Sebastian Aho - Roope Hintz
The old Carolina connection returns. I think the speed of Hintz is a good fit with these two on the wing.

Eetu Luostarinen - Anton Lundell - Kaapo Kakko
Luostarinen and Lundell play together, so they're an easy fit, and with Kakko I think this could be a pretty good second shut-down line, which this team will need given their defense.

Matias Maccelli - Mikael Granlund - Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Not a traditional 4th line, but rather a secondary scoring line. These are the guys you start purely in the offensive zone while lines 1 and 3 get all the defensive zone starts.

Erik Haula
There were a few guys I could have put here, but I like Haula's experience and versatility.

DEFENCE

Miro Heiskanen - Henri Jokiharju
I expect Heiskanen will be playing about 30 minutes a game, so Jokiharju is mostly a placeholder, and I expect to see Ristolainen here as well. That being said, statistically, Jokiharju has been one of the better defensemen listed here, but that's not saying much.

Esa Lindell - Juuso Välimäki
This is the closest I could get to a shut-down pair. It's a shame Lindell hasn't been playing better.

Niko Mikkola - Rasmus Ristolainen
Big, bruising bottom pair, altought I'm not sure how much I trust them.

Olli Määttä
I considered Urho Vaakanainen from Anaheim here, but I decided to go with Määttä's experience instead.

GOAL

Juuse Saros
The obvious starter. How for Finland goes in the tournament will mostly be on Saros' shoulders.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
The clear #2. He's been up and down, but still good enough to be on the team.

Justus Annunen
He hasn't been consistently amazing this season, but when he's on his game he's nearly unbeatable. That plus he's a young guy who could be a mainstay on future national rosters.