WC: Team Finland 2022 roster talk

[FiLe]

Regarding Laine: Right now anything anyone has about him joining or not are pure gut feelings and wishful thinking. And unless we get some positive signals from the man himself, it would be prudent to err on the side of caution.

---

Pakarinen declining the invite may actually make things easier for Jalonen, as he belongs to that cohort of power forwards we have no shortage of. As I was mulling the lineups in my head, I particularly wondered the question about what he's going to do with all his familiars after Armia expressed interest to join.

Anyway, here's what I've got right now, using only players who are already in, have expressed interest, or look otherwise likely:

Olkinuora (Tuohimaa)

Lehtonen - Jokiharju
Pokka - Ristolainen
Friman - Vatanen
Ohtamaa - Hietanen

MaG - Manninen - Hartikainen
Ruotsalainen - Aaltonen - Ojamäki
Pesonen - Filppula - Armia
Mäenalanen - Björninen - Anttila

So, sort of a "worst case" scenario - which isn't really that bad to begin with. And we'll see if it gets even better if we get more positive signals from overseas.

 

[Mestaruus]

Vegas lost and both Dallas and Nashville won. It looks like things are almost locked regarding the 16 playoff teams. Vegas was the only threat to Dallas and Nashville but the gap is starting to be too big now. We can still get some star caliber players after the first round of playoffs I hope.

Lehtonen - Jokiharju
Pokka - Ristolainen
Friman - Vatanen
Ohtamaa - Hietanen

MaG - Manninen - Hartikainen
Ruotsalainen - Aaltonen - Ojamäki
Pesonen - Filppula - Armia
Mäenalanen - Björninen - Anttila

So, sort of a "worst case" scenario - which isn't really that bad to begin with. And we'll see if it gets even better if we get more positive signals from overseas.

Defenders look pretty solid already.

Ojamäki hasn't convinced me yet but there are a lot of games to be played still before the tournament. If size wasn't the issue for the second line then Ojamäki could easily be replaced by someone like Innala, Petrus Palmu or Rajala on the second line.

I'm hoping we get something more for our forwards because this looks like 1-0 hockey games again at best against top countries. Wins matter so I shouldn't complain, but hopefully Jalonen & Lehtinen will keep 2 forwards slots open. It could be two of TT+Aho, Barkov, Rantanen, Granny, Hintz, Lundell. Haula is on fire as well.

 

[schmiedi]

Nashville could go out soon

Saros (starter in every Team you can have)
Granlund (top 10 nhl Player)
Tolvanen (Upgrade for soon)

 

[karhukissa]

Of course Jalonen makes bad decisions, just like every other coach. He has some ridiculous favoritism with player selections year after year, for one - and that goes beyond Marko Anttila, though he's the clearest example.

That also isn't really the point of "meidän peli" at all. For example, he had Finland use it in u-20 WJC and it wasn't similar at all. It's just a framework, some of you really overromanticize these things. Jalonen has had success but I think he'd have even more success if he fixed some of his stubbornness.

Well he's a human, so obviously there are mistakes. But how can you blame him for having favoritism if those players has bring him Olympic gold, World Championship gold and silver? I mean how can you do better from that? What do you mean by more success if he is like the most succesful coach ever. Quite silly.

He doesn't select some players just because they are good sauna friends or are funny guys. He just wants to win and will select players that will help him to achieve that, and so far he's done it. So why question his decisions?

 

[Mestaruus]

Nashville could go out soon

Saros (starter in every Team you can have)
Granlund (top 10 nhl Player)
Tolvanen (Upgrade for soon)

Sadly it took a turn for the worse last night when Nashville won their game and Vegas lost. I'm afraid that the gap is too big now for Nashville to go out before the playoffs.

Vegas has a chance to knock out Los Angeles from the playoffs though and that could give us Kupari and Määttä. Määttä would be a big upgrade and for Kupari it would be trickier to fit in Jalonen's line up, but he could.

Vegas is trailing 3 points behind LA. Vegas has played 1 game less. So we could say that Vegas is 1 point behind. If they tie then Vegas goes ahead because Vegas has more regular time wins. This is completely up in the air. Our best shot for more improvements before the regular season ends is for LA to go out.

One more thing. Colorado will play against Nashville or Dallas in the first round of playoffs. So if Jalonen & Lehtinen got some patience, that guarantees us some big time players no matter which team in the Colorado match up will be eliminated.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Nashville could go out soon

Saros (starter in every Team you can have)
Granlund (top 10 nhl Player)
Tolvanen (Upgrade for soon)

How is Granlund top 10 in entire NHL?

 

[schmiedi]

How is Granlund top 10 in entire NHL?

Top 10 for Team Finland or not?

 

[IceHockeyDude]

Granlund is not a top 10 forward in NHL by any measures but a top 5 forward in his team at least.

 

[AB13]

He means that Granlund is a top 10 Finnish player I'm sure. Which he obviously is.

 

[jfc64]

Team Finland may be the team to beat in the Worlds. First round losers arrive in good time. And if Dallas loses out to, say Colorado the following players may form the core:

Roope Hintz - Mikael Granlund - Eeli Tolvanen
Sakari Manninen - Teemu Hartikainen - Joonas Donskoi
Joel Kiviranta - Henrik Borgström - Rasmus Kupari
Markus Granlund - Erik Haula - Janne Kuokkanen

Esa Lindell - Miro Heiskanen
Mikko Lehtonen - Rasmus Ristolainen
Olli Juolevi - Jani Hakanpää
Henri Jokiharju

Juuse Saros
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Harri Säteri

 

[FiLe]

First round losers arrive in good time.

No, they won't - making that lineup of yours completely unrealistic. The NHL regular season ends on May 1st, with the playoffs scheduled to begin a couple of days later. Finland begins its tournament on May 13th. 10 days or so is far too short a time for any first round dropouts to make the opening game - unless the series ends in a clean 4-0 sweep or something, and even then it'd be a close shave.

Even if we ignore the fact that some of those players have iffy contract situations, are you proposing that Finland plays its first couple of games with, like, six forwards and three d-men or so? If the IIHF regs actually allowed that, that is. (The minimum that must be dressed for a game is 15 skaters + 2 goalies.)

The maximum amount of late additions after the 1st round is likely 4 - and not just for Finland but most of the teams involved - as they'll likely dress at least 12+6+2 for the tournament opener.

 

[Mestaruus]

Team Finland may be the team to beat in the Worlds. First round losers arrive in good time. And if Dallas loses out to, say Colorado the following proud NATO-boys may form the core:

Eeli Tolvanen - Mikael Granlund - Kasperi Kapanen (UFA)
Roope Hintz - Henrik Borgström - Joonas Donskoi
Joel Kiviranta - Erik Haula - Janne Kuokkanen
1 Euro - Rasmus Kupari – 2 Euro

Esa Lindell - Miro Heiskanen
Olli Mätää (UFA) - Rasmus Ristolainen
Juuso Riikola - Jani Hakanpää
Olli Juolevi - Henri Jokiharju

Juuse Saros
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Harri Säteri / Kevin Lankinen (UFA:s)

You haven't really followed what Jalonen is saying publicly, have you? After the Denmark games he said that "many of the current players on the camp will be in the final team". Of your forwards listed I don't see any players from that camp. As if our Olympic winning core is some kind of poison to you. Sorry but I don't think that Jalonen sees it that way. He's going to trust on many of his soldiers from the Olympic team.

 

[IceHockeyDude]

Jalonen has said they'll wait for the first round drop-outs if the players say yes before the play-offs.

 

[FiLe]

Jalonen has said they'll wait for the first round drop-outs if the players say yes before the play-offs.

And they might add 2-4 players that way, if the stars get properly aligned. The problem with the lineup above is that it features 13(!!!) players who are presently playoffs bound.

 

[IceHockeyDude]

And they might add 2-4 players that way, if the stars get properly aligned. The problem with the lineup above is that it features 13(!!!) players who are presently playoffs bound.

True. Granlund, Hintz, Heiskanen and Lindell could be available and they don't have contract issues if I'm not mistaken.

 

[mattihp]

And they might add 2-4 players that way, if the stars get properly aligned. The problem with the lineup above is that it features 13(!!!) players who are presently playoffs bound.

It also features at least 5 forwards who have no business to be there above MaG-Manninen-Härski or even Björninen..

 

[schmiedi]

If Nashville and/or Dallas make the po they will go out in 4-6 i think.

So they would be ready for the last 2-3 games before the qf.

3-4 Spots can be Open for them.
And a goalie spot for Saros if he comes after more than 70 games in Nashville.

 

[Mestaruus]

"INJURY UPDATE: #CBJ forward Patrik Laine will miss tonight’s game in Anaheim with an upper body injury (day-to-day)."

We can probably forget to get him for the tournament. Any kind of injury with that contract situation might be too many factors against him joining the team. Let's see however if he returns playing for Columbus in these remaining games.

 

[Mestaruus]

And a goalie spot for Saros if he comes after more than 70 games in Nashville.

I'd love to get Saros or Raanta to be our #1 goalie. There is Säteri too but it didn't go so well for him in the NHL so far. Though it's understandable because Arizona Coyotes is a mess, but maybe that mess is infectious and we would get a messed up Säteri so I'm not so sure about him anymore.

Olkinuora to me looked worse than Tuohimaa so far, but Olkinuora will probably improve as the games go so we'll see. It's a little bit worrying though.

So I guess invite Säteri to the camp and see which one is better between Olkinuora and Säteri and keep a goalie slot open in case Raanta or Saros would become available.

One more interesting thing. Nashville lost a game so Vegas has a chance to make that gap smaller, but it's still 4 point difference between those teams with the same amount of games played. Nashville would really have to screw this one up.

Big games later tonight:
New Jersey @Vegas
Dallas @Vancouver

 

[jfc64]

You haven't really followed what Jalonen is saying publicly, have you? After the Denmark games he said that "many of the current players on the camp will be in the final team". Of your forwards listed I don't see any players from that camp. As if our Olympic winning core is some kind of poison to you. Sorry but I don't think that Jalonen sees it that way. He's going to trust on many of his soldiers from the Olympic team.

You certainly have some good players to chose from should they by any chance have their arm twisted going home to play in front of a home crowd. Tried to list possible NHL players. Not RFA or UFA:s. I'm sure your olympic team has many good team players. But not many can put the puck in the net in international games on a higher level.

Worlds is a whole different ballgame than the olympics. Team Sweden may have a defense with Dahlin, Karlsson, OEL and Adam Larsson, Tömmernes and Hampus Lindholm or Mattias Ekholm.
That scenario must be adressed for a finnish victory. It's Team Finland or Team Sweden.

 

[Eye of Ra]

You certainly have some good players to chose from should they by any chance have their arm twisted going home to play in front of a home crowd. Tried to list possible NHL players. Not RFA or UFA:s. I'm sure your olympic team has many good team players. But not many can put the puck in the net in international games on a higher level.

Worlds is a whole different ballgame than the olympics. Team Sweden may have a defense with Dahlin, Karlsson, OEL and Adam Larsson, Tömmernes and Hampus Lindholm or Mattias Ekholm.
That scenario must be adressed for a finnish victory. It's Team Finland or Team Sweden.

Tömmernäs on best on best team? Hahahahahahahahahahahah.

 

[Mestaruus]

You certainly have some good players to chose from should they by any chance have their arm twisted going home to play in front of a home crowd. Tried to list possible NHL players. Not RFA or UFA:s. I'm sure your olympic team has many good team players. But not many can put the puck in the net in international games on a higher level.

Worlds is a whole different ballgame than the olympics. Team Sweden may have a defense with Dahlin, Karlsson, OEL and Adam Larsson, Tömmernes and Hampus Lindholm or Mattias Ekholm.
That scenario must be adressed for a finnish victory. It's Team Finland or Team Sweden.

Well most of us Finns don't think NHL players is everything with the memory of 2019 WHC in mind where Finland had that miraculous run to gold with inferior team on paper compared to Sweden, Russia and Canada. Yet Finland beat them all. The head coach Jalonen and some other coaches are still the same so it would be possible to get a good result with a similar team once again. Being realistic, about it though that isn't always going to happen with such roster that Finland had, so personally I want a mix of the Olympic team mixed with a good amount of NHL players, but it's still up in the air how many NHL players will actually come. The number of NHLers might be very small in the end, because it's not Jalonen's style to wait for long.

I'm most worried about how the the power play will look. With NHL stars it's much easier to make killer PP units, which very often decide games.

 

[mattihp]

You certainly have some good players to chose from should they by any chance have their arm twisted going home to play in front of a home crowd. Tried to list possible NHL players. Not RFA or UFA:s. I'm sure your olympic team has many good team players. But not many can put the puck in the net in international games on a higher level.

Worlds is a whole different ballgame than the olympics. Team Sweden may have a defense with Dahlin, Karlsson, OEL and Adam Larsson, Tömmernes and Hampus Lindholm or Mattias Ekholm.
That scenario must be adressed for a finnish victory. It's Team Finland or Team Sweden.

Not one of those forwards not named Hintz or Granlund is decidedly better than Manninen. And the boost he gets from playing with two guys he has amazing chemistry with makes it just odd choosing those guys ahead of him.

 

[FiLe]

The whole debate over whether having a plenty of NHLers is better than a bunch of trusted quality euros is such a pointless endeavor in this case - as the simple reason Finland (or any country, really) can't get a dozen NHLers from the teams that are eliminated after the first round is that it is logistically impossible.

Once more: Most of those series won't be over before the tournament begins, and even if there was a coach barmy (or desperate) enough to try and dress like two and a half lines and two D pairs for the first couple of games, there are IIHF regs against it.

 

[jfc64]

The whole debate over whether having a plenty of NHLers is better than a bunch of trusted quality euros is such a pointless endeavor in this case - as the simple reason Finland (or any country, really) can't get a dozen NHLers from the teams that are eliminated after the first round is that it is logistically impossible.

Once more: Most of those series won't be over before the tournament begins, and even if there was a coach barmy (or desperate) enough to try and dress like two and a half lines and two D pairs for the first couple of games, there are IIHF regs against it.

There's no way around the fact that you might have a defense/goalie like this:


Bold arrives early may.

Lehtonen - Heiskanen
Juolevi - Ristolainen
Lindell - Jokiharju
Hakanpää

Saros


First or second line (depending on your top olympic guys):

Roope Hintz - Mikael Granlund - Eeli Tolvanen