WC: Team Finland 2022 roster talk
- Thread starter Eye of Ra
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I'm little bit surprised too, but it's not surprising in the end because his offensive production got worse the longer this camp lasted and in the Olympics it was a similar trend. He started the Olympic tournament so well and then he kind of disappeared from the picture. He was solid defensively though.
Leaving Jokiharju out because of Covid was the right call. Jukka Jalonen made two good decisions here that I like and I don't think some other coach would've had enough guts to first drop out an important NHL defender and another guy who was pretty good in the Olympics.
"– Mikke on itse asiasta innoissaan ja hänen pitäisi saapua paikalle perjantaina."
Okay so based on the above comment by Lehtinen, Granlund is part of the first 12 registered forwards. "Bonus slot" saved for more NHL players because Granny is part of the first 12 registered forwards. That's great. Too bad that Eeli Tolvanen didn't come because he could've arrived with the same plane on Friday.
If Granlund misses the first game, then he'll surely play on the Latvia game on Saturday. No big deal to play against Norway with 11 forwards if it comes to that. I'd suggest a double duty for Armia or at least a lot more minutes than normally if we go with 11 forwards.
Jussi
Registered User
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.
It happens
. It was another one of those coinflips whether they would wait for him or not. Right and very ballsy call by Jalonen though. I like it very much. I've been saying it for a while, that it may be a different gambler Jalonen this time. I expect Lepistö to be in, especially if Lepistö's team loses the G7 of SHL finals, because then he will spend less time with the championship celebration procedure.I think what mattered here was that Jokiharju didn't look amazing in the only practice game that he played. If he had looked like an NHL all-star player in that game, then they maybe could've thought about it harder.
In my opinion it will be Lepistö replacing him, but they might keep him unregistered and see if they can get something better from the NHL, but it sounds like Lepistö has been really good in SHL, so it could be hard to leave him out of the team in that fashion.
Bit too hasty a conclusion. Him arriving in Tampere on Friday doesn't necessarily mean he'll play on Friday. Let's wait 'til tomorrow at least when the first players are officially registered. If the number is 11, then there's little reason to question who the 12th will be.
I won't question cutting Aaltonen, but time will tell how smart it was to cut Jokiharju altogether. With the way things stand, it seems likely that only 6 d-men will be added tomorrow - and then they'll play the waiting game with the Dallas guys. And *if* they become available, this will have proven a good move - as I'd take any two of those three over Jokiharju.
On the other hand, well, if we end up getting no one from overseas, then I'd certainly feel a lot more comfortable knowing there would still be a way for Jokiharju to join the team. Although, hmm, I wonder if a certain veteran from SHL might play into this picture...
The thing about Jalonen I've noticed in these tournaments is this. Sometimes in the beginning of these tournaments he does something surprising with lines. He breaks something that has been effective and working well. In this case it's Pesonen+Manninen+Hartikainen. Then he puts the memory of this line in his back pocket to use it later in case he doesn't like what he is seeing. He prepares plan A and plan B and then there's already chemistry built if he does need to make this change in a critical situation during a game or before a game that would be important for Finland. So we might see this Pesonen+Manninen+Hartikainen reunited at some point of the tournament if Jalonen isn't happy with the lines.
I'd also really want to see Mikael Granlund as a center, but it does smell like Granny Apples takes Innala's spot in that first line and in that PP unit. I hoped that Innala > Rajala in their hierarchy, but it doesn't seem to be that way. Filppula would be the one going to the wing out of the way of Granlund or Filppula to #3 center and Lammikko to a wing of a bottom-6 unit would do fine as well. Lammikko was good as a #4 center this season in the NHL though I must say.
Granny in the first line and as a winger very is understandable if Jalonen really wants to put him on same PP unit with Manninen+Hartikainen. It seems like he wants to make a totally killer PP unit. PP has been a problem for Finland in these practice games and in the Olympics.
Jalonen will build a new line around some NHL superstar forward that will join the team later. It could be Barkov, Hintz or Aho+TT. At that point one of Lammikko or Filppula will surely go to the wing.
Sallinen being on one of the PP units is interesting. Is he there to help with the face off? I think that his place should be in front of net if he's on a PP unit.
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I'm glad of two things: that we don't have a team full of MiGs, and that Ukraine is not in this tournament. The latest confirmed number of jets they've downed is... 22. Creepy. (Well, most of those have actually been Sukhois, but anyway.)
So regarding NHL tomorrow morning (Finnish time) could only give us Kakko if he wants to come, but it seems like if Tolvanen was left out like this, then they won't be getting Kakko either. They will save the slots for some bigger fish or they can just ask Kakko later if those big fish aren't biting. So that was Thursday morning Finnish time.
On Friday Morning (Finnish time):
-Haula and Puljujärvi could be free. I think that they might ask Haula to join but not Puljujärvi. Again I base this guess on the fact that Tolvanen wasn't probably asked even when they had a chance to include Tolvanen as a part of top-12 first forwards registered = not consuming a "bonus slot". I actually don't know if Tolvanen declined it himself if he had an injury or something.
Saturday morning (Finnish time) - game 6 round - if these series go the way we'd like, then Florida would be out 4-2 and same for Dallas:
-Barkov, Lundell, Lindbohm, Hintz, Heiskanen, Lindell, Hakanpää. I don't see them them asking Kiviranta nor Luostarinen. Same could be with Lundell and Lindbohm that they wouldn't ask them.
So conclusion = On next Sunday we could hear a lot of news about "Barkov is coming" or "Heiskanen and Hintz is coming". At that point they would've given the players about a day to overcome their disappointment, in the same way that they did with Granlund. There's a good chance that all of these "bonus slots" have been used on Sunday. If some of those series with Finnish superstars go to G7 then that could of course delay it by few more days more.
On Friday Morning (Finnish time):
-Haula and Puljujärvi could be free. I think that they might ask Haula to join but not Puljujärvi. Again I base this guess on the fact that Tolvanen wasn't probably asked even when they had a chance to include Tolvanen as a part of top-12 first forwards registered = not consuming a "bonus slot". I actually don't know if Tolvanen declined it himself if he had an injury or something.
Saturday morning (Finnish time) - game 6 round - if these series go the way we'd like, then Florida would be out 4-2 and same for Dallas:
-Barkov, Lundell, Lindbohm, Hintz, Heiskanen, Lindell, Hakanpää. I don't see them them asking Kiviranta nor Luostarinen. Same could be with Lundell and Lindbohm that they wouldn't ask them.
So conclusion = On next Sunday we could hear a lot of news about "Barkov is coming" or "Heiskanen and Hintz is coming". At that point they would've given the players about a day to overcome their disappointment, in the same way that they did with Granlund. There's a good chance that all of these "bonus slots" have been used on Sunday. If some of those series with Finnish superstars go to G7 then that could of course delay it by few more days more.
... and right about now it's not exactly the perfect time to call Mikael Granlund - MiG.
karhukissa
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- Apr 2, 2019
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Great post! Indeed, it's a home tournament and approach to this could be bit different than previously. Jalonen used to lock up the team pretty early, so selected players could feel good and focus 100% without fearing that they'll lose spot in the team.
But since it's home tournament, we want to get those big names. Tickets would sell anyways, but it would give some extra boost if we have household names and stars in this team. And he probably wants to give chance to this big NHL names to play at the home tournament.
Thanks. You should read this Sihvonen thing I linked earlier if you haven't. I agree so much with what he said here:
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.
Call him a F-35 then and MaG is a Hornet, because he's not as good as Granny, but still they are related just like those American planes are.
This Jalonen interview is older, about 26 hours old thing, but I only read about it now. It sounds to me based on this as if Eeli Tolvanen was asked to join:
"– Vahvistusten tilanne selviää sitten aikanaan, kun tiedetään. Vielä ei tiedetä. Nashvillen pelaajilta loppuivat pelit, heiltä pitää saada nopeasti vastaukset, jos heidät halutaan."
He's talking about Nashville "players", so that's plural. So either Tolvanen declined, he has an injury or his exit interview took too long for him to be included in the top-12 first registered forwards. I'm pretty sure that he's not referring to injured Saros there.
Why it mattes if Tolvanen was asked or not? Because this could mean that maybe there's a small chance that Kakko would be asked as well if the Rangers will be out tonight if Tolvanen is their threshold of a player they would ask. It's an interesting question if they should ask Kakko or not and use a slot for him that could potentially be used on a superstar. Got to keep in mind that he was a part of Jalonen's 2019 WHC gold team, so only J.Jalonen knows how much J.Jalonen likes him.
"– Vahvistusten tilanne selviää sitten aikanaan, kun tiedetään. Vielä ei tiedetä. Nashvillen pelaajilta loppuivat pelit, heiltä pitää saada nopeasti vastaukset, jos heidät halutaan."
He's talking about Nashville "players", so that's plural. So either Tolvanen declined, he has an injury or his exit interview took too long for him to be included in the top-12 first registered forwards. I'm pretty sure that he's not referring to injured Saros there.
Why it mattes if Tolvanen was asked or not? Because this could mean that maybe there's a small chance that Kakko would be asked as well if the Rangers will be out tonight if Tolvanen is their threshold of a player they would ask. It's an interesting question if they should ask Kakko or not and use a slot for him that could potentially be used on a superstar. Got to keep in mind that he was a part of Jalonen's 2019 WHC gold team, so only J.Jalonen knows how much J.Jalonen likes him.
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Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
FinPanda
Barkov Stanley cup champ!
JabbaJabba
Registered User
Hakanpää as well. This defense needs physicality and Hakanpää is a tremendous defensive player overall.
Yes with this defense and saros it would be a great chance to win at home.
Terrible that Saros is not ready
Terrible that Saros is not ready
We will be wiser in few hours when the passport control and Directorate of the Worlds is over and the players are confirmed. There we can see how many spots Finland (and other teams) will leave open. Personally I would be (positively) surprised if the number is bigger than 2...
If Dallas and Boston drop in game 6 I'd like to see something like this:
Granlund-Manninen-Hartikainen
Haula-Filppula-Hintz
Pesonen-Lammikko-Armia
Mäenalanen-Björninen-Anttila
Sallinen
Lehtonen-Heiskanen
Hakanpää-Lindell
Vatanen-Friman
Pokka-Ohtamaa
Säteri
Olkinuora
Tuohimaa
Granlund-Manninen-Hartikainen
Haula-Filppula-Hintz
Pesonen-Lammikko-Armia
Mäenalanen-Björninen-Anttila
Sallinen
Lehtonen-Heiskanen
Hakanpää-Lindell
Vatanen-Friman
Pokka-Ohtamaa
Säteri
Olkinuora
Tuohimaa
Some of Aho, TT or Barkov after a game 7 would be welcome as well if Dallas ends up winning the next game. They would still get some WHC games under their belt before the WHC playoffs will start.
20:00 today we will hear about the first tournament player registerations. That will be very interesting. How many defenders does Jalonen dress against Norway? My guess is 6.
Jalonen said that Granlund most likely won't make it to the Norway game, but he should be playing on Saturday as Granlund will arrive on Friday. So the interesting thing and a thing I assume and hope is that Jalonen will dress 11 forwards for Norway game. I hope for Armia to carry most of that extra load of playing in couple of lines.
11F+1(Granlund)+6D = 18 non goalies registered. 22 will be allowed. We would have 4 slots left for 4 of Barkov, Aho, TT, Hintz, Haula, Hakanpää, Lindell and Heiskanen.
Oh and Petrus Palmu was removed from the player camp in case someone here missed that piece of information.
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4 is possible, but I say 3 because it sounds more realistic considering it's J.Jalonen. 2/3 of those 3 slots go to NHL players and one goes to Lepistö. Unless they take Lepistö to be around team but not register him right away as he will most likely skip the Norway game anyways. Then they could check if they can get a Dallas defender over Lepistö and never register Lepistö, but I got a feeling that Lepistö will be playing in this tournament.
12+1(Granlund)+6 = 19. 19/22. Jalonen will most likely dress 12 forwards instead of my preferred 11 for the first game without Granlund.
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