Does Finland have the best 23-under forward line by any country?

[Hokinaittii]

I’m pretty sure he will be a better player than Kapanen was. At least definitely a better goal scorer, but most probably a better player in general too. Kapanen didn’t have even close to the class of the shot that Tolvanen has, and also I dare to say that Tolvanen has clearly better hockey IQ than Kapanen had. Kapanen was a better skater, but even in that area Tolvanen does not lose by much.

I think it's bold to claim Tolvanen having clearly higher hockey IQ when Kapanen was known for his versatile style where he could play center or even defender in the NHL. Also, saying Tolvanen doesn't lose much to Kapanen in skating is like saying Kapanen doesn't lose much to Tolvanen in shooting.

Yeah, I also believe Tolvanen will become the better player than Kapanen was but let's respect both players for what they are good at.

 

[Ippenator]

I think it's bold to claim Tolvanen having clearly higher hockey IQ when Kapanen was known for his versatile style where he could play center or even defender in the NHL. Also, saying Tolvanen doesn't lose much to Kapanen in skating is like saying Kapanen doesn't lose much to Tolvanen in shooting.

Yeah, I also believe Tolvanen will become the better player than Kapanen was but let's respect both players for what they are good at.

Ok, sure you can disagree with these things. Still didn’t change my mind on them. I never said that Kapanen was bad with his hockey IQ, just that Tolvanen is still clearly better. Tolvanen has excellent hockey IQ and in my opinion Kapanen was more like pretty good with it. Versatility in playing different positions doesn’t still mean that you have excellent hockey IQ. You can exactly play well different positions with fairly good IQ and the kind of great skating that Kapanen had.

Offensively Kapanen had pretty decent IQ but just borderline good in my opion. Defensively he was a bit better than that, so that and his skating made the versatility with different positions possible. But lets not claim also that he was by any means a very good defenceman when he played that position. He was ok, but not much more than that, as his small size caused also some problems at his own end.

And once again, I admit that Kapanen was a better skater than Tolvanen. There’s no doubt in that. But I just have to remind that Tolvanen is a very underrated skater so far. He is in fact already a very good skater, but not excellent like Kapanen was. But the difference between being a very good skater and an execellent skater is not really very big in my opinion. This is anyway a thing that is in the eye of the beholder. I believe also that Tolvanen will even further develop his skating in 2 or 3 years.

 

[PatrikBerglund]

Can Finland please stop producing high-end talent.

Sincerely / Swedistan

 

[AmericanDream]

Kyle Connor - Auston Matthews - Clayton Keller
Alex DeBrincat - Jack Eichel - Brock Boeser
Matthew Tkachuk - Nick Schmaltz - Ryan Donato
Jake Guentzel - Dylan Larkin - Christian Dvorak
Casey Mittelstadt - (for power plays) or Kevin LaBanc

Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Noah Hanifin - Charlie McAvoy
Jaccob Slavin - Brandon Carlo
Will Butcher

John Gibson/Connor Hellebuyck - both just turned 24, along with Johnny Gaudreau, Shayne Gostisbehere, etc, etc..

Good luck beating this group folks - wow that is some firepower all 23 and under.

Gillies/Demko in net

 

[Erikfromfin]

Finland 23 and under squad could be this.

Patrik Laine - Aleksander Barkov - Mikko Rantanen
Teuvo Teräväinen - Sebastian Aho - Eeli Tolvanen
Artturi Lehkonen - Henrik Borgström - Jesse Puljujärvi
Kristian Vesalainen - Roope Hintz - Kasperi Kapanen
Janne Kuokkanen

Olli Määttä - Rasmus Ristolainen
Esa Lindell - Julius Honka
Markus Nutivaara - Miro Heiskanen
Sami Niku

Juuse Saros
Joonas Korpisalo

 

[Rene Saari]

The Finns? Lol no.

Ever heard of Canada and the US? Sweden?

Lol.
Give us one swedish line u23- line that would be considered better than Laine-Barkov-Rantanen.
They don’t have a single player that would bypass one of those three.

 

[Rene Saari]

Sweden, Canada and US could ice a better depth teams. Finland has higher end talent then some--but in talking about total roster?

At the moment Finland has better players (in offense) for the first three lines. After that Sweden has the edge.

 

[Critical13]

USA 5 some

DeBrincat-Matthews-Boeser
Werenski-McAvoy

That above would kill anyone with tons of speed,hockey IQ and pure 5 on 5 goal scoring,
also would be really hard to score against.

All 3 forwards can be snipers + DeBrincat&Matthews can make the play as well as snipe,McAvoy can do it all.

Eichel - Matthews - Boeser
Werenski - Jones

That would be better IMO

 

[Critical13]

Kyle Connor - Auston Matthews - Clayton Keller
Alex DeBrincat - Jack Eichel - Brock Boeser
Matthew Tkachuk - Nick Schmaltz - Ryan Donato
Jake Guentzel - Dylan Larkin - Christian Dvorak
Casey Mittelstadt - (for power plays) or Kevin LaBanc

Zach Werenski - Seth Jones
Noah Hanifin - Charlie McAvoy
Jaccob Slavin - Brandon Carlo
Will Butcher

John Gibson/Connor Hellebuyck - both just turned 24, along with Johnny Gaudreau, Shayne Gostisbehere, etc, etc..

Good luck beating this group folks - wow that is some firepower all 23 and under.

Gillies/Demko in net

I definitely would have Mittelstadt over Donato, Schmaltz, Guentzel and Dvorak.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Lol.
Give us one swedish line u23- line that would be considered better than Laine-Barkov-Rantanen.
They don’t have a single player that would bypass one of those three.

Victor Olofsson - William Nylander - Elias Pettersson

 

[Rene Saari]

Victor Olofsson - William Nylander - Elias Pettersson

Would be 3rd line for Finland.
Our second:
Vesalainen-Aho-Tolvanen,
Or
Aho-Borgström-Tolvanen.

Edit: and there’s also Kasperi Kapanen, Jesse Puljujärvi and Aleksi Heponiemi in the mix.
All the six players have higher ceilings than Olofsson (not to mention our first line).
And between Aho and Nylander it is a matter of taste. But I like Aho’s style more.

But none of the swedes are better in their position than Laine, Barkov or Rantanen.

[Mod]

 

[Boxscore]

There's no Swedish forward under 23 that can touch Laine, Barkov or Rantanen. W. Nylander is the only one that even comes close to matching Rantanen, but Rantanen is currently better.

 

[Ducks76]

There's no Swedish forward under 23 that can touch Laine, Barkov or Rantanen. W. Nylander is the only one that even comes close to matching Rantanen, but Rantanen is currently better.

But what does Finland have on it? When Laine,Barkov,Rantanen etc. don t want to play for Finland? !

 

[FinPanda]

But what does Finland have on it? When Laine,Barkov,Rantanen etc. don t want to play for Finland? !

This year is the last, hopefully. I think they have good memories with J. Jalonen.

 

[Ducks76]

This year is the last, hopefully. I think they have good memories with J. Jalonen.

Yes okay! But I m angry that this WC give away. It is nt good for the image!. The most people especially in central Europe hasn t so much clue about hockey. They think the Finns aren t so good as in past( But we all know the opposite).

 

[teravaineSAROS]

But what does Finland have on it? When Laine,Barkov,Rantanen etc. don t want to play for Finland? !

It's just the ####ing WHCs get over it.

Rantanen and Laine were huge in winning gold in the WJCs and you just whine about them? Barkov also helped get Olympic bronze.

 

[Ducks76]

It's just the ####ing WHCs get over it.

Rantanen and Laine were huge in winning gold in the WJCs and you just whine about them? Barkov also helped get Olympic bronze.

I m not whining!In my last post i smiling . Yes right! But it s pity to see so much top NHLers and i can t see nobody on WHC. Maybe a bad WHC isn t good for image.

 

[jj cale]

I m not whining!In my last post i smiling . Yes right! But it s pity to see so much top NHLers and i can t see nobody on WHC. Maybe a bad WHC isn t good for image.

Any fan that is into international hockey and is well versed on who the best players in the game are is fully aware that Finland will be missing most of it's top players, their image isn't affected at all, they all know what is going on. Casual/non serious fans don't really matter as they don't know anything anyway.

 

[Ducks76]

Any fan that is into international hockey and is well versed on who the best players in the game are is fully aware that Finland will be missing most of it's top players, their image isn't affected at all, they all know what is going on. Casual/non serious fans don't really matter as they don't know anything anyway.

Yes right! But tell this the german media(Im a German/Finn). The commentators and newspapers(90%) make no different,if the finns or others(Not only the finns ) with strong squat with some NHL-Stars or not.Especially if they beat them . A weird situation!

 

[Brock Radunske]

I'd much rather have Mac - MacDavid - Barzal/Marner