WC: Finland 2024 roster talk

[FiLe]

Lineup at first practice:

Määttä - Lehtonen
Rissanen - Kaski
Riikola - Saarijärvi
Vittasmäki - Mattila

Jääskä - Granlund - Puustinen
Innala - Kapanen - Puljujärvi
Puistola - Hyry - Jormakka
Mäenalanen - Björninen - Pakarinen

So it seems like the wunderkind's scratched. Also Jääskä on the 1st line was kind of unexpected, but... Jalonen often does these things few see coming.

 

[Mestaruus]

Lineup at first practice:

Määttä - Lehtonen
Rissanen - Kaski
Riikola - Saarijärvi
Vittasmäki - Mattila

Jääskä - Granlund - Puustinen
Innala - Kapanen - Puljujärvi
Puistola - Hyry - Jormakka
Mäenalanen - Björninen - Pakarinen

So it seems like the wunderkind's scratched. Also Jääskä on the 1st line was kind of unexpected, but... Jalonen often does these things few see coming.

Indeed, Jalonen often likes to experiment in the beginning of the tournament, to find more chemistry between some unexpected pairs/trios to later reunite them or to reunite some pairs/trios he used in the practice games. Granny+Puustinen was what many of us expected, so the unexpected pair here would of course be Granny & Jääskä, but as a player type it makes sense that Jääskä is the third one in that line. It'll be interesting to see how it goes with Jääskä.

Oh I did get that 4th line right in my prediction. Mäenalanen - Björninen - Pakarinen. Oksanen out is what I suggested as well, but I'm sure he'll get his chance later.

 

[FiLe]

Oh I did get that 4th line right in my prediction. Mäenalanen - Björninen - Pakarinen. Oksanen out is what I suggested as well, but I'm sure he'll get his chance later.

And I told you this:

Is Oksanen indispensable? No, you can safely boot him. But you won't be making room for Helenius - you'll be making room for Jääskä.

So, I pretty much nailed the centers and that they're not just going to thrust Helenius into the deep end, plus worked out how many grinders Jalonen wants in his lineup. Of course, we're not having any kind of competition here, and truth be told... it's one of those occasions when I'd gladly been wrong.

 

[FinPanda]

Shame. Hopefully Helenius will see some play time though later on the "easier" games.



There is powerplay lines as well.

 

[Svedu]

Shame. Hopefully Helenius will see some play time though later on the "easier" games.



There is powerplay lines as well.

Don't know why but I'm very excited because there are so many new players to watch and follow on this stage. Not only Helenius if he gets to play but Pulju, Hyry, and Puustinen more than anything else.

Other players I do believe can be good for us besides Mikke and Määttä is the always dependable Björninen but I also have a feeling Saarijärvi can take the next step in the NT.

But yeah, on paper we do look really weak and not like a contender.

 

[Mestaruus]

Shame. Hopefully Helenius will see some play time though later on the "easier" games.



There is powerplay lines as well.

Oh god, it looks pretty bad on paper, but it's close to the best we got right now with the current players. Helenius on the second unit would've been nice and we'll most likely see that in some other game. It's not impossible that Helenius won't get his tournament passport stamped at all if NYR takes 3-0 lead in that series vs CAR. That would be a shame, but of course we'll take Aho + one of Heiskanen/Hintz/Rantanen/Lehkonen over him. Seabass needs to come save us. TT looks unlikely with his contract situation. Jalonen won't even consider Kotkaniemi this late. Add one of Heiskanen/Hintz/Rantanen/Lehkonen from Dallas+Colorado series and our PP looks so much better. Hopefully two slots will remain open for a while.

 

[JJTT]

Shame. Hopefully Helenius will see some play time though later on the "easier" games.



There is powerplay lines as well.

Wowza that looks awful

 

[FinPanda]

Wowza that looks awful

Not very keen on having Jääskä on our top line, I feel like Helenius even as a winger could've been a better option. The team is alright considering the material we had, it'll be interesting to follow how they do.

 

[abax44]

Hey guys, dumb question because I can see the line rushes were posted... but obviously no Laine? Any updates from Finland on his status? Big fan from Winnipeg.

Edit - his status in general, not necessarily related to hockey. Just hope to hear he's doing well.

 

[JJTT]

Hey guys, dumb question because I can see the line rushes were posted... but obviously no Laine? Any updates from Finland on his status? Big fan from Winnipeg.

Edit - his status in general, not necessarily related to hockey. Just hope to hear he's doing well.

Nothing at all. Seems like journalists want to respect his privacy.

 

[abax44]

Nothing at all. Seems like journalists want to respect his privacy.

That's good. Hopefully it's a "no news is good news" situation.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Canes is down 0-2. If Aho, Teuvo and Kotka comes;

Teuvo - Aho - Puustinen
Kotkaniemi - Granlund - Puljujärvi
Innala - Kapanen - Hyry
Mäenalanen - Björninen - Pakarinen

 

[FinPanda]

Canes is down 0-2. If Aho, Teuvo and Kotka comes;

Teuvo - Aho - Puustinen
Kotkaniemi - Granlund - Puljujärvi
Innala - Kapanen - Hyry
Mäenalanen - Björninen - Pakarinen

From Carolina I think it would only be Aho and Teräväinen if not even them. I wouldn't blame Jalonen if he won't wait at all though.

 

[illone84]

From Carolina I think it would only be Aho and Teräväinen if not even them. I wouldn't blame Jalonen if he won't wait at all though.

Hopefully Juuso Pärssinen is available after tonight's game. I am fully aware that he doesn't have a contract, but I could see him risking it like Puustinen.

 

[JJTT]

Canes is down 0-2. If Aho, Teuvo and Kotka comes;

Teuvo - Aho - Puustinen
Kotkaniemi - Granlund - Puljujärvi
Innala - Kapanen - Hyry
Mäenalanen - Björninen - Pakarinen

They won't start the tournament with 11 forwards. I think Jalonen maybe leaves one spot for possible Nhl help

 

[FiLe]

Nothing at all. Seems like journalists want to respect his privacy.

It takes a pretty scummy hack of a reporter to inquire about mental health, unless the subject him- or herself wishes to open up about it. After all, unlike physical injuries, there is no solid way to measure progress. What are you even going to ask? "Are you feeling slightly less nutty today?"

---

Regarding any potential NHL additions, Jalonen's stance in the previous years has been that any late-stage ones must be top shelf, the established kind who can add tons of value to the team. Aho, Hintz, Heiskanen and the like match that description - Pärssinen does not, IMO, and I also doubt Kotkaniemi fitting the bill with all the difficulties he's had.

---

The PP units look kinda iffy, but on the other hand, it's difficult to see what else one can build given this selection. Well, apart from the inclusion of Helenius, of course.

But even if Helenius starts in the pressbox, he's still making this team better, because his simple presence provides Jalonen with options in case something doesn't click. I'm sure we were all pretty frustrated last year when it seemed evident to everyone save Jalonen that Rantanen simply had no chemistry with Manninen and Hartikainen. But when you bring no top-six talent besides the ones you initially field and a have a guy like Jere Sallinen as your extra center, your hands are kinda tied when you want to make changes - especially since the 2nd line of Kapanen-Suomela-Kakko did click pretty fast, which made Jalonen understandably iffy about breaking it up. And when Suomela was sidelined for a couple of games and Jalonen was forced to sub Sallinen into his slot, it probably became evident even for him how boneheaded it was to trust your grinder familiars instead of digging deeper for additional offensive talent - an outcome that might have influenced the decision to bring Helenius this time around.

Bottom line, whether Helenius is in the lineup or not, he's providing Jalonen with flexibility that was simply not there a year ago. (And it was mostly Jalonen's own gosh darn fault, unlike the stone-handed defense corps, which was largely a result of injuries and other kinds of bad luck.)

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

As a sidenote if Finland would metal would Pasi and Patrik Puistola be actually the first father-son to medal in WHC for Finland in adults? Or am I missing someone.

Kalevi Numminen had European championhip silver in 1962 and Teppo several olympic medals, but that is the only similar that comes to my mind.

The Kapanens are probably the closest other, Hannu didn’t get a medal in his career but got into the Finnish hall of fame and WJC Gold medal Coach. His son Sami Kapanen got enough medals to share with others, and his son, Hannus grandson, Kasperi has WJC gold and two quarter final exits with the men’s team. If Puistola doesn’t do it, then odds would probably favour the Kapanens to officially take that statistic.
Nevertheless they are a son, father, grandfather combo at playing in world championships which might be the worlds only one (assuming, didn’t check). Hannu and Oliver Kapanen are also a grandfather-grandson combo so the fun facts around them never cease

 

[Mestaruus]

Hopefully Juuso Pärssinen is available after tonight's game. I am fully aware that he doesn't have a contract, but I could see him risking it like Puustinen.

Jalonen won't wait for him anyways. It's a guy that needed to be playing some EHT games to impress Jalonen, as was the case with Pizzajarvi.

 

[FinPanda]

All players will be registered so no more additions will come from the NHL. I assumed Jalonen would do this and yeah he did. No surprise.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Oliver Kapanen signed by Timrå, Why is he not going to NA?

 

[Artorius Horus T]

Oliver Kapanen signed by Timrå, Why is he not going to NA?

Takes the Lehkonen route, not bad route to take, look how good he is today

 

[Eye of Ra]

Takes the Lehkonen route, not bad route to take, look how good he is today

I guess yeah. There are 7 players from SHL on this roster, 9 if we count in recent signings by Kapanen and Pustiola.

 

[FiLe]

Letters:

C - Granlund
A - Määttä
A - Lehtonen

No surprises here.

 

[Mestaruus]

All players will be registered so no more additions will come from the NHL. I assumed Jalonen would do this and yeah he did. No surprise.

I don't like it, but Jalonen probably has a plan so that after the 3rd game is done, all skaters have played at least one game. So he wants to cycle them early. Second and third game happen on back to back days, so I think that's the latest when all players, excluding goalies have played at least one game.

Hopefully before they made that decision, they had some inside information on Aho, Heiskanen and Hintz, that they probably wouldn't come if their teams would get eliminated and that was the main reason, because I don't understand not waiting for a beast like Aho or Heiskanen. Even one of these players would affect our game and our PP, even jetlagged. Jormakka over Aho says it all.

Well, let's hope that Jalonen's crazy method produces another gold medal, but hopefully Pennanen is bit more patient next year, although thats the season with the 4 nation tournament, so maybe that means that our very best NHL players, don't want to play another tournament inside the same season.

 

[FinPanda]

I don't like it, but Jalonen probably has a plan so that after the 3rd game is done, all skaters have played at least one game. So he wants to cycle them early. Second and third game happen on back to back days, so I think that's the latest when all players, excluding goalies have played at least one game.

Hopefully before they made that decision, they had some inside information on Aho, Heiskanen and Hintz, that they probably wouldn't come if their teams would get eliminated and that was the main reason, because I don't understand not waiting for a beast like Aho or Heiskanen. Even one of these players would affect our game and our PP, even jetlagged. Jormakka over Aho says it all.

Well, let's hope that Jalonen's crazy method produces another gold medal, but hopefully Pennanen is bit more patient next year, although thats the season with the 4 nation tournament, so maybe that means that our very best NHL players, don't want to play another tournament inside the same season.

I mean I don't like it either but to me it does make sense. Mostly it was what I expected and tbf, now we can actually see Helenius play because Jalonen said he will get time on the lineup.