WC: Team Finland 2022 roster talk

[FinPanda]

I've actually liked Seppälä in these games. Actually i think Ohtamaa's been worse than either Seppälä or Friman, but they won't bench him.

Suprised it was another D but Lindell is good and a familiar partner for Miro so that makes sense. In emergency Friman could play wing, like he did earlier in his career.

I've liked Seppälä a lot as well so was kind of sad thinking he probably will lose his spot on the playing roster.

 

[mattihp]

Let Friman try some forward. Seppälä's been solid.

 

[mattihp]

Granlund - Manninen - Härski
Pesonen - Filppula - Armia
Innala/Sallinen - Lammikko - Friman
Mäenalanen - Björninen - Mörkö

Lindell - Heiskanen
Lehtonen - Hietanen
Ohtamaa - Vatanen
Seppälä - Pokka

Jukka doesn't really split pairings up though..

 

[FinPanda]

Lindell - Heiskanen
Lehtonen - Hietanen
Pokka - Vatanen
Seppälä - Ohtamaa

 

[FiLe]

Granlund - Manninen - Härski
Pesonen - Filppula - Armia
Innala/Sallinen - Lammikko - Friman
Mäenalanen - Björninen - Mörkö

Friman is an emergency option for wing - not one for the regular lineup. Without injuries, we have enough forwards as is.

And if things get so bad that they need to plug the forward lines with Friman, then Seppälä will also have room in defense.

Lindell - Heiskanen
Lehtonen - Hietanen
Pokka - Vatanen
Seppälä - Ohtamaa

If Friman is benched instead of Seppälä, then Seppälä will likely end up paired with Vatanen. No need to mess with handednesses.

 

[SantosHalper]

Correct move by Jalonen, we got plenty of forwards and they know their role and the game system. No need to bring more chefs to the kitchen, but defense in the otherhand needed more size.

Lindell - Heiskanen
Lehtonen - Hietanen
Seppälä/Friman - Vatanen
Ohtamaa - Pokka

 

[IceHockeyDude]

Vatanen is dumb, Lehtonen is unreliable. I hope both will be used very carefully.

 

[SoundAndFury]

That's an interesting take.

 

[FinPanda]

Vatanen is dumb, Lehtonen is unreliable. I hope both will be used very carefully.

Wait what? I don't agree with you.

 

[AKQJ]

Wait what? I don't agree with you.

Me neither...

But that defence will be totally rebuilt. Bringing Lindell means the minutes played structure will be totally rebuilt. Heiskanen - Lindell will have huge minutes in key games.

 

[FinPanda]

Me neither...

But that defence will be totally rebuilt. Bringing Lindell means the minutes played structure will be totally rebuilt. Heiskanen - Lindell will have huge minutes in key games.

Also the powerplay will change

 

[AKQJ]

There are Austria and GB games to get into shape and try things... After that it will be every game more important than the previous one.

 

[Mestaruus]

Esa Lindell to join the team....https://www.iltalehti.fi/jaakiekon-mm-2022/a/a1556291-d547-4f8a-8d64-62690b8852cf

OMG. Yes! If we compare player to player without position and if we won't consider what the team needs, then this is the best guy that we could get in this situation for sure. Better than Haula, but I personally did want another forward but I'm happy with Lindell.

 

[Mestaruus]

2 massive adds for the Finns. That gold looking like theirs.

Finland has never medaled in their home tournament. Not even a bronze.

2016 U20 home tournament gold is quite similar though. Same coach.

 

[canswetoxic]

Granlund - Manninen - Härski
Pesonen - Filppula - Armia
Innala/Sallinen - Lammikko - Friman
Mäenalanen - Björninen - Mörkö

Lindell - Heiskanen
Lehtonen - Hietanen
Ohtamaa - Vatanen
Seppälä - Pokka

Jukka doesn't really split pairings up though..

very impressive roster, seem likely the Gold candidate.

 

[Mestaruus]

Well I'm little worried about our offence

PP works well. Innala was the missing piece over Rajala. Mäenalanen has to stop trying to get himself suspended or injured though. Rajala isn't a horrible back up option if one forward would be gone.

The biggest need for improvement are the even strength goals. We'll see if Finland is able to do those against top teams soon.

I'd go with Olkinuora tomorrow against Sweden, but I'm not surprised if it's Säteri.

as there is a player amongst the defense who can also play forward: Friman. So they don't need that 14th forward if injury trouble strikes.

I didn't know that. Has he been a forward turned into a D-man? I remember Dustin Byfuglien and Brent Burns becoming quite good that route.

 

[Mestaruus]

very impressive roster, seem likely the Gold candidate.

It's a good one but we did get quite unlucky with which teams made it to playoffs and which didn't. We don't have many of our big gun forwards other than Granlund. Hopefully it will be better next year if Finland gets to be the host again (shared with Latvia).

Laine-Barkov-Rantanen
Teräväinen-Aho-Hintz
Kapanen-Haula-Puljujärvi
Lehkonen-Lundell-Kakko

Kiviranta-Kotkaniemi-Donskoi
Tolvanen-Luostarinen-Kuokkanen

All of those players are missing and that's not even all of them. Few of them could've been in if they had been on the player camp before the tournament.

 

[IceHockeyDude]

Wait what? I don't agree with you.

Because neither are good really?

 

[SoundAndFury]

Because neither are good really?

Calling Vatanen dumb wasn't good, really. Whatever the point you are trying to make is you aren't making it any clearer.

 

[Lambo]

It's a good one but we did get quite unlucky with which teams made it to playoffs and which didn't. We don't have many of our big gun forwards other than Granlund. Hopefully it will be better next year if Finland gets to be the host again (shared with Latvia).

Laine-Barkov-Rantanen
Teräväinen-Aho-Hintz
Kapanen-Haula-Puljujärvi
Lehkonen-Lundell-Kakko

Kiviranta-Kotkaniemi-Donskoi
Tolvanen-Luostarinen-Kuokkanen

All of those players are missing and that's not even all of them. Few of them could've been in if they had been on the player camp before the tournament.

A wet dream!

 

[FiLe]

I didn't know that. Has he been a forward turned into a D-man?

He was exclusively a forward 'til the age of 20, and even debuted in (then SM-)Liiga as one. But then Juuso Nieminen, the TPS U20 coach at the time, was running a bit thin on d-men and converted him into one. (Fun fact: Partially because the big club decided to hog a bunch of them, amongst them such names as Mikko Lehtonen and Rasmus Ristolainen... So if his fellow Lion Lehtonen had been less talented, Friman could still be a forward.)

 

[EK47]

It's a good one but we did get quite unlucky with which teams made it to playoffs and which didn't. We don't have many of our big gun forwards other than Granlund. Hopefully it will be better next year if Finland gets to be the host again (shared with Latvia).

Laine-Barkov-Rantanen
Teräväinen-Aho-Hintz
Kapanen-Haula-Puljujärvi
Lehkonen-Lundell-Kakko

Kiviranta-Kotkaniemi-Donskoi
Tolvanen-Luostarinen-Kuokkanen

All of those players are missing and that's not even all of them. Few of them could've been in if they had been on the player camp before the tournament.

I mean the worlds aren’t going to be a best on best.

You have to see it as sometimes you get extremely lucky instead. And you atleast got reasonably lucky with the players you did get. I mean you have your two best defensemen and Granlund.

 

[FinPanda]

Because neither are good really?

Both have been fine imo

 

[FinPanda]

Mäenalanen got suspended for 1 game. No surprise there

 

[FiLe]

In retrospect, registering 7 d-men at the start of the tournament was a mistake. Not one that destroys Finland's chances, but one that prevented our team from having the best possible lineup.

Of course, hindsight's 20/20, and we've no way of telling if the games so far would have brought the same results with a different lineup.