WC: Team Finland 2022 roster talk

[Mestaruus]

I didn't expect Sihvonen to make this kind of approach on the subject few days ago, but I agree with him. It's time to see some better players in the home tournament. It's been too long since that. Before I expected Sihvonen to be more like "Jalonen has done it like this before, time to lock up the team early. We will go to the gold because of meidän peli".

I'll just quote some parts of that interview (i'll put a google translation link below it to stay within the forum rules of English language). I think it's a really good interview and I agree with most of the things he said:

---------------------

"
MTV Urheilun asiantuntija Petteri Sihvonen toivoo Jukka Jalosen ja Leijonien odottavan jättipottia NHL:stä niin pitkään kuin suinkin mahdollista.

Sihvosen mielestä vahvistuksia pitäisi odottaa maltillisesti aina pudotuspelikierroksen päättymiseen asti mahdollisten jättipottien varalta.

Kotikisojen otteluohjelma mahdollistaa osaltaan mahdollisten NHL-vahvistusten odottamisen.
– Ei ne helppoja tule olemaan, tosi kovia pelejä, mutta MM-kisasysteemi mahdollistaa sen, ettei yksittäisen ottelun häviöstä menetä mitään määräänsä enempää. Pitäisin nyt tosi kauan sitä ovea auki, Sihvonen viittaa mahdollisiin vahvistuksiin.

Kaksissa edellisissä MM-kisoissa Suomi on lyönyt kisajoukkueensa lukkoon hyvissä ajoin ja joukkueen yhtenäisyys siivitti Leijonat maailmanmestaruuteen (2019) ja MM-hopeaan (2021). Sihvonen ei näe nykyisen tilanteen luovan uhkaa Leijonien joukkuedynamiikalle. Pikemminkin päinvastoin.
– Suomalaiset osaavat niin hyvin tämän jutun. Se tie on ehkä kuljettu äkkiä loppuun, että sillä joukkueen yhtenäisyydellä varmistettiin (menestys). Joku niissä harjoituspeleissä alkoi näyttää, että siihen on mahdollisesti vähän leipiinnytty. Pitkä leiritys ja samat jätkät ja sitten on suurin piirtein siinä. Nyt ehkä voisi inspiroida sitä prosessia tämmöisellä, Sihvonen pohtii.
– Siksi en näe sitä uhkana. Se on ihan varma – tuli huippujätkistä kuka tahansa – se on yksi palaveri ja he ovat samalla sivulla muiden kanssa. Ei ole mahdollista, että vielä kotikisatkin valloitettaisiin sillä samalla systeemillä, että joukkue on ajoissa kiinni ja nimetön. Inspiroimiseen mahtava konsti tässä kohtaa tehdäkin se vähän eri tavalla. Se olisi vastaus siihen, kun vastustajat pelaa hyvin, niin nyt olisi tällainen kortti tuoda siihen.
"

Leijonat kyttää NHL-apuja – tämän takia Petteri Sihvonen toivoo Jukka Jaloselta malttia: "Sehän muuttaisi tuon aivan eri joukkueeksi"

MTV Urheilun asiantuntija Petteri Sihvonen toivoo Jukka Jalosen ja Leijonien odottavan jättipottia NHL:stä niin pitkään kuin suinkin mahdollista.

www.mtvuutiset.fi

Google translate link - in English:

Leijonat kyttää NHL-apuja – tämän takia Petteri Sihvonen toivoo Jukka Jaloselta malttia: "Sehän muuttaisi tuon aivan eri joukkueeksi"

MTV Urheilun asiantuntija Petteri Sihvonen toivoo Jukka Jalosen ja Leijonien odottavan jättipottia NHL:stä niin pitkään kuin suinkin mahdollista.

www-mtvuutiset-fi.translate.goog

 

[THE JAM]

If he can join, Granny's importance (MiG) can not be overstated ... exactly what the doctor ordered.

 

[FinPanda]

So the game 7's may be on Saturday. So if they wait until Friday, might as well wait until the series are over. Like I don't see a point for anything else. Game 3 for us is on Monday so they coule be able to play in game 4 or 5.

 

[niilo22]

There is couple of good PP defenders. What do you think who will take place on 1st pp unit? I quess Mikko Lehtonen.

 

[Mestaruus]

So the game 7's may be on Saturday. So if they wait until Friday, might as well wait until the series are over. Like I don't see a point for anything else. Game 3 for us is on Monday so they coule be able to play in game 4 or 5.

I agree with that but it might depend of who we are talking about. Barkov yes, but if you can get both TT+Aho earlier and if that would close the door for Barkov, as in no more player registration slots left, then that would be a difficult question but I think that they would just ask Aho+TT first in that case if they would be available a day or two before Barkov.

For some reason I didn't even consider that maybe Jokiharju's tournament is over now. It would be a big loss but the positive side is that he may not consume one of the players slots of these 22 slots. So if we get lucky enough to get Dallas eliminated, then that can be fixed sort of.

Jokiharju wouldn't get anymore training time with the team than Lindell, Määttä, Heiskanen, Hakanpää or Mikkola would get at this point because he has to stay away of the team so he doesn't infect other players. Jokiharju has been with the team for a while though but I doubt that his defensive pairing is/was locked and so on. I think that they should just replace him with an NHL player if they can. Jokiharju could be somewhere nearby in isolation though in case we can't get a good NHL defender to sort of replace him and if he would get rid of the covid quite fast. I mean his covid could last who knows how long? If they would replace him, I don't think that this is one of those situations where the management would hurt his feelings to the point where he wouldn't join the national team ever again. It's same thing as getting injured. Just bad luck.

This could bring someone like Lepistö back into the conversation regardless of his game 7 of SHL finals being played on Thursday night, which means that he would most likely miss the Norway game. I guess that he could just hop on a boat on Friday and arrive quickly or by a plane will do just fine as well . The Norway game starts at around 20:00 I think. Also what if they win the championship, then he would need time for celebrating and so on. It could mean that him being on the tournament wouldn't really work then. I'm kind of doubtful that the exit interviews if such even exit in SHL and that kind of stuff would take too long for Lepistö compared to how they do it in NHL?

 

[BigBadBoar]

I agree with that but it might depend of who we are talking about. Barkov yes, but if you can get both TT+Aho earlier and if that would close the door for Barkov, as in no more player registration slots left, then that would be a difficult question but I think that they would just ask Aho+TT first in that case if they would be available a day or two before Barkov.

For some reason I didn't even consider that maybe Jokiharju's tournament is over now. It would be a big loss but the positive side is that he may not consume one of the players slots of these 22 slots. So if we get lucky enough to get Dallas eliminated, then that can be fixed sort of.

Jokiharju wouldn't get anymore training time with the team than Lindell, Määttä, Heiskanen, Hakanpää or Mikkola would get at this point because he has to stay away of the team so he doesn't infect other players. Jokiharju has been with the team for a while though but I doubt that his defensive pairing is/was locked and so on. I think that they should just replace him with an NHL player if they can. Jokiharju could be somewhere nearby in isolation though in case we can't get a good NHL defender to sort of replace him and if he would get rid of the covid quite fast. I mean his covid could last who knows how long? If they would replace him, I don't think that this is one of those situations where the management would hurt his feelings to the point where he wouldn't join the national team ever again. It's same thing as getting injured. Just bad luck.

This could bring someone like Lepistö back into the conversation regardless of his game 7 of SHL finals being played on Thursday night, which means that he would most likely miss the Norway game. I guess that he could just hop on a boat on Friday and arrive quickly though or a plane will do just fine as well . The Norway game starts at around 20:00 I think. Also what if they win the championship, then he would need time for celebrating and so on. It could mean that him being on the tournament wouldn't really work then. I'm kind of doubtful that the exit interviews if such even exit there and that kind of stuff would take too long for Lepistö compared to how they do it in NHL?

If Jokiharju isn't extra unlucky he should be OK in a couple of days.

 

[Mestaruus]

If Jokiharju isn't extra unlucky he should be OK in a couple of days.

True but luckily they don't need to register him before he is healthy. So they can keep the options open for a while and see what the situation will be.

 

[BigBadBoar]

True but luckily they don't need to register him before he is healthy. So they can keep the options open for a while and see what the situation will be.

I hope he is going to be OK soon. COVID these days isn't the COVID from 2020. They are all vaccinated, the prevailing variants are much milder than the initial ones.

 

[Mestaruus]

I hope he is going to be OK soon. COVID these days isn't the COVID from 2020. They are all vaccinated, the prevailing variants are much milder than the initial ones.

Yeah let's hope so and it's true what you said. The guy isn't very old so he will be fine, but if its like 7-10 days before he is fine, then the team management of Finland will have to think if they can get a replacing player from the NHL.

 

[IceHockeyDude]

– Pelaajia voi vapautua, kun olemme pelanneet MM-kisoissa kolme tai neljä peliä. Odotammeko sitten niitä pelaajia. Vielä joudumme pähkäilemään (Iltasanomat).

- Some players can be available untill we have played three or four games in World Championships. Will we wait those players then. We still have to think about this.

This is a very exceptional year for Jalonen because normally the team is what it is well before the tournament starts but now he wants reinforments from NHL.

 

[FiLe]

They already said that Jokiharju is completely symptomless and they expect him to be back in the fold by Saturday. He is not missing the entire tournament because of this.

 

[Jussi]

Yalonen understands that Dallas has little chance, their series will end quickly.

This post hasn't aged well...

 

[FiLe]

Mikael Granlund saapuu kotikisoihin â koronasta kärsivä Henri Jokiharju jätetään pois joukkueesta

Granlundin saapumisen myötä hyökkääjä Miro Aaltonen jättää joukkueen. Leijonien lääkärin mukaan Henri Jokiharju jätetään pois joukkueesta koko joukkueen terveystilanteen suojelemiseksi.

yle.fi

MiG is in. Aaltonen to make room for him.

Also, Jokiharju drops out due to COVID. Have to call it out: my post from this morning aged like milk.

 

[FinPanda]

Welcome Mikke! So happy to see him come to play.

 

[FiLe]

Lines in practice:

Lehtonen-Hietanen
Friman-Vatanen
Ohtamaa-Pokka

Innala-Manninen-Hartikainen
Pesonen-Filppula-Armia
Rajala-Lammikko-Sallinen
Mäenalanen-Björninen-Anttila

More surprises - in a way: they moved Pesonen away from the Ufa duo, despite him looking relatively effective there. Hmm, maybe the masterplan here is to use MiG as a rich man's MaG, so Innala will ultimately make room for him?

Also, I kinda wonder what's up with the Jokiharju decision. I mean, I get that they want to hold some spots open for some possible NHL additions, but right now they've got seven d-men on the roster - and it's not like getting the eighth one from overseas is a guarantee. Sure, I'm sure they can find a suitable euro body at a moment's notice, but couldn't they just have left a back door open for Jokiharju and see if he tests negative in time?

 

[BB88]

Coupled with his injury history this season it might well be. Another strike against that could really ruin the raise he's looking at. And it's not a small one, since it's his ELC that's running out.

Right now to be honest I highly doubt he’s getting that many millions on his next contract.

Max 2 year deal likely with 2-3M aav

 

[FiLe]

Max 2 year deal likely with 2-3M aav

Which could be even less if he joins and gets injured again. So he does have a fair amount to lose here - as everything's relative. Shaving off 0.5-1M from such a contract is a far bigger chunk than similar amount shaved off of a premium multi-million contract.

 

[BB88]

Which could be even less if he joins and gets injured again. So he does have a fair amount to lose here - as everything's relative. Shaving off 0.5-1M from such a contract is a far bigger chunk than similar amount shaved off of a premium multi-million contract.

I don’t agree.

Laine for example has 50/50+ million on the line, this is his time to get paid.

Kakko is 21y just finishing his elc after nothing stats. For him the most important thing is to develop and work towards his next contract/contracts.
To get where he wants to get

A contract for Kakko now will be just about having the chance to play and keep working

 

[Artorius Horus T]

1st line should be built around Mikael Granlund
it would idiotic to push him to winger positions.

He has been playing best hockey of his career
this season, as a center.

Was Preds #1 face-off guy at these play-offs,
face-offs won and w%.

He won about 600 face-offs in the regular season.

From current players

Filppula-Granlund-Armia
- Fillpula and Granlund could
switch at face-off duties, Armia
wins corner and behind the net battles

Palmu-Manninen-Hartikainen
- that line needs speed, Palmu
would be grerat addition

Pesonen-Lammikko-Sallinen
- very good line, with skill,
speed and strength

Mäenalanen-Björninen-Anttila


Nurmi

 

[FiLe]

Laine for example has 50/50+ million on the line, this is his time to get paid.

Laine's worst case scenario would have been getting one year, 7.5M - the same he makes now. (The stipulation rules guarantee him that.) After that free agency - and almost a guaranteed multi-year contract. So basically all he would have risked is kicking the can down the road another year. And any multi-year contract would have naturally come with a raise, injury or not. And I doubt Laine can get more than 9M flat even when negotiating healthy.

Kakko's biggest payday is naturally not upon him yet - but like I said, even 2M is a 100% increase to the 1M he makes now.

 

[Eye of Ra]

still no word on markus granlund?

 

[FiLe]

still no word on markus granlund?

They haven't said anything explicit about him in weeks, but if he was able to participate, he'd almost assuredly be in the present roster list. So I think that's all the word we need.

 

[Eye of Ra]

1st line should be built around Mikael Granlund
it would idiotic to push him to winger positions.

He has been playing best hockey of his career
this season, as a center.

Was Preds #1 face-off guy at these play-offs,
face-offs won and w%.

He won about 600 face-offs in the regular season.

From current players

Filppula-Granlund-Armia
- Fillpula and Granlund could
switch at face-off duties, Armia
wins corner and behind the net battles

Palmu-Manninen-Hartikainen
- that line needs speed, Palmu
would be grerat addition

Pesonen-Lammikko-Sallinen
- very good line, with skill,
speed and strength

Mäenalanen-Björninen-Anttila


Nurmi

Good lines but i think Innala before Palmu

 

[Husqvarna]

Mikael Granlund saapuu kotikisoihin â koronasta kärsivä Henri Jokiharju jätetään pois joukkueesta

Granlundin saapumisen myötä hyökkääjä Miro Aaltonen jättää joukkueen. Leijonien lääkärin mukaan Henri Jokiharju jätetään pois joukkueesta koko joukkueen terveystilanteen suojelemiseksi.

yle.fi

MiG is in. Aaltonen to make room for him.

Also, Jokiharju drops out due to COVID. Have to call it out: my post from this morning aged like milk.

Damn that Covid-19.

But with Mikael Antero Granlund in the line up Finland will fly as high as a ... MiG-jet (!).

 

[FinPanda]

Jokiharju is a loss but I can live with it. Lets hope for Heiskanen or Lindell I guess.