Olympics: Team Finland 2022

[FiLe]

I guess it's finally the time to give Finland a thread dedicated to the Beijing Olympic team, since the first three players were already submitted. These players, picked on the request by the NHL and the IOC so that their faces could be used to market the tournament, are Aleksander Barkov (Florida Panthers), Sebastian Aho (Carolina Hurricanes) and Mikko Rantanen (Colorado Avalanche).

On top of that, the Finnish management gathered 44 NHL players to a pre-tournament meeting in August, out of whom the core of the team will be picked. It is still possible, however, that players who weren't invited to this meet will make the final team. Along with the other countries, Finland will submit the long list of about 100 players by October 15th, but the contents of that list will not be made public.

The final team will be picked by mid-January.


And to start things off, here's my present roster projection:

Juuse Saros
Kevin Lankinen
Tuukka Rask

Miro Heiskanen - Rasmus Ristolainen
Esa Lindell - Henri Jokiharju
Mikko Lehtonen - Jani Hakanpää
Olli Määttä - Markus Nutivaara

Patrik Laine - Aleksander Barkov - Mikko Rantanen
Teuvo Teräväinen - Sebastian Aho - Jesse Puljujärvi
Mikael Granlund - Roope Hintz - Kaapo Kakko
Kasperi Kapanen - Erik Haula - Joel Armia
+ Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Joonas Donskoi

Click to read more...

 

[Nate070]

I guess it's finally the time to give Finland a thread dedicated to the Beijing Olympic team, since the first three players were already submitted. These players, picked on the request by the NHL and the IOC so that their faces could be used to market the tournament, are Aleksander Barkov (Florida Panthers), Sebastian Aho (Carolina Hurricanes) and Mikko Rantanen (Colorado Avalanche).

On top of that, the Finnish management gathered 44 NHL players to a pre-tournament meeting in August, out of whom the core of the team will be picked. It is still possible, however, that players who weren't invited to this meet will make the final team. Along with the other countries, Finland will submit the long list of about 100 players by October 15th, but the contents of that list will not be made public.

The final team will be picked by mid-January.


And to start things off, here's my present roster projection:

Juuse Saros
Kevin Lankinen
Tuukka Rask

Miro Heiskanen - Rasmus Ristolainen
Esa Lindell - Henri Jokiharju
Mikko Lehtonen - Jani Hakanpää
Olli Määttä - Markus Nutivaara

Patrik Laine - Aleksander Barkov - Mikko Rantanen
Teuvo Teräväinen - Sebastian Aho - Jesse Puljujärvi
Mikael Granlund - Roope Hintz - Kaapo Kakko
Kasperi Kapanen - Erik Haula - Joel Armia
+ Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Joonas Donskoi

Mr, very well put together!

 

[illone84]

Was chatting with my brothers over whatsapp and had almost the exact same line up, save for haula and donskoi (I had lehkonen and lundell in instead). My top 6 fwd group was exactly the same. I prefer the chemistry Laine has with Barkov, and TT + Aho are self explanatory. Everyone knows the history between Aho and Pulju.

 

[Backcheckmonster3]

Very good line-up, OP. Only maybe Kähkönen>Rask depending on health and season ahead. Rask today might just be the 3rd stringer and i´m not sure he is a better fit than Kaapo for that. Also Lundell/Kiviranta/Kuokkanen>Donskoi/Kotkaniemi/Haula maybe? Let´s see. Välimäki and an outside chance of Mikkola and Vaakanainen too.

 

[Husqvarna]

Just eat your heart out Canada - Finland people have what it seems applied for more than 1,6 millions tickets (!) to their "shitty" Worldchampionships held in the new large arena in Tampere; that to a tournament you seem to rate for nothing.
I hate you Canada for that and you fückin' know it. You dead NHL-boneheads.

Finland can play all the tournaments there is in the hockeyworld and give Cnada a real go go (a hard time) - no probs whatever Finland side. Finland kick to kill.
Always. IIHF - More than 1.6 million tickets applied for in draw

 

[Husqvarna]

That's a hockeynation (Finland) that easy rock'n'roll over you Canada.

 

[Husqvarna]

And that to your too ever so ever boring rants about "Best-on-best -on -best tournaments" that so seldom happens in World hockey.

Give it a real go Canada at the Worldchampionships Canada - and do be proud of it. What are you afraid of?! - Finland

 

[FiLe]

Was chatting with my brothers over whatsapp and had almost the exact same line up, save for haula and donskoi (I had lehkonen and lundell in instead).

Haula is the best "4th line center" archetype we have - a solid two-way guy who's also good on PP. He's also very versatile - can also play wing; you can insert him just about anywhere in the lineup if there's a hole that needs to be plugged. While our forward depth is historically good, I expect that Jalonen will still pick a typical 4th line role player or two. So barring injuries, I have Lundell challenging Kotkaniemi for that extra center slot at most - he's obviously not displacing Barkov, Aho or Hintz.

All in all, though, it's almost a bizarre situation from a Finnish hockey fan's perspective - we actually have some depth, especially in forwards. We have guys like Tolvanen, Kuokkanen, Ruotsalainen, Lehkonen, Kiviranta and who else who didn't make my projection (but who might well make it into the team Jalonen picks) - a few years ago, players like them would have been shoo-ins to our best-on-best team.

And while we may not boast a defense as impressive as the other contenders, it is in fact kinda "deep" too, at least by Finnish standards. For the last fifteen years or so, we had around 4-6 NHL quality defensemen in all. And now we can draw a full 8-man unit from the league, and there are still at least a couple of spares. Välimäki and Mikkola could well make this team, and we'll have to see if some of the youngsters like Vaakanainen and Heinola can establish themselves as regulars. And then we have Vatanen too - he might not nominally be an NHLer anymore, but it's not like the flight overseas suddenly made him a worse player than he is.

It's almost funny that we've perhaps taken the biggest backward steps in goalies. Luckily, we have a bunch of serviceable netminders in the league who still have time to establish themselves, so there's a reason to hope that the situation is only temporary. But right now we're a far cry from the days of Vancouver or Sochi, when even our 3rd string was a bona fide NHL starter in his prime.

 

[Husqvarna]

I guess it's finally the time to give Finland a thread dedicated to the Beijing Olympic team, since the first three players were already submitted. These players, picked on the request by the NHL and the IOC so that their faces could be used to market the tournament, are Aleksander Barkov (Florida Panthers), Sebastian Aho (Carolina Hurricanes) and Mikko Rantanen (Colorado Avalanche).

On top of that, the Finnish management gathered 44 NHL players to a pre-tournament meeting in August, out of whom the core of the team will be picked. It is still possible, however, that players who weren't invited to this meet will make the final team. Along with the other countries, Finland will submit the long list of about 100 players by October 15th, but the contents of that list will not be made public.

The final team will be picked by mid-January.


And to start things off, here's my present roster projection:

Juuse Saros
Kevin Lankinen
Tuukka Rask

Miro Heiskanen - Rasmus Ristolainen
Esa Lindell - Henri Jokiharju
Mikko Lehtonen - Jani Hakanpää
Olli Määttä - Markus Nutivaara

Patrik Laine - Aleksander Barkov - Mikko Rantanen
Teuvo Teräväinen - Sebastian Aho - Jesse Puljujärvi
Mikael Granlund - Roope Hintz - Kaapo Kakko
Kasperi Kapanen - Erik Haula - Joel Armia
+ Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Joonas Donskoi

Me like hell that you have both Mikko Lehtonen and Rasmus Ristolainen listed there in your Finland line-up. Mikko Lehtonen is smooth like a hound dog with the puck and Rasmus Ristolainen is a ... solid bona fide Finland rock.

 

[Husqvarna]

Haula is the best "4th line center" archetype we have - a solid two-way guy who's also good on PP. He's also very versatile - can also play wing; you can insert him just about anywhere in the lineup if there's a hole that needs to be plugged. While our forward depth is historically good, I expect that Jalonen will still pick a typical 4th line role player or two. So barring injuries, I have Lundell challenging Kotkaniemi for that extra center slot at most - he's obviously not displacing Barkov, Aho or Hintz.

All in all, though, it's almost a bizarre situation from a Finnish hockey fan's perspective - we actually have some depth, especially in forwards. We have guys like Tolvanen, Kuokkanen, Ruotsalainen, Lehkonen, Kiviranta and who else who didn't make my projection (but who might well make it into the team Jalonen picks) - a few years ago, players like them would have been shoo-ins to our best-on-best team.

And while we may not boast a defense as impressive as the other contenders, it is in fact kinda "deep" too, at least by Finnish standards. For the last fifteen years or so, we had around 4-6 NHL quality defensemen in all. And now we can draw a full 8-man unit from the league, and there are still at least a couple of spares. Välimäki and Mikkola could well make this team, and we'll have to see if some of the youngsters like Vaakanainen and Heinola can establish themselves as regulars. And then we have Vatanen too - he might not nominally be an NHLer anymore, but it's not like the flight overseas suddenly made him a worse player than he is.

It's almost funny that we've perhaps taken the biggest backward steps in goalies. Luckily, we have a bunch of serviceable netminders in the league who still have time to establish themselves, so there's a reason to hope that the situation is only temporary. But right now we're a far cry from the days of Vancouver or Sochi, when even our 3rd string was a bona fide NHL starter in his prime.

Sweden looks like almost a joke in comparison to Finland ... even they do have a zillion NHL:rs round about now. As always. But almost the total bunch second rate stuff me thinx.

 

[Husqvarna]

I guess it's finally the time to give Finland a thread dedicated to the Beijing Olympic team, since the first three players were already submitted. These players, picked on the request by the NHL and the IOC so that their faces could be used to market the tournament, are Aleksander Barkov (Florida Panthers), Sebastian Aho (Carolina Hurricanes) and Mikko Rantanen (Colorado Avalanche).

On top of that, the Finnish management gathered 44 NHL players to a pre-tournament meeting in August, out of whom the core of the team will be picked. It is still possible, however, that players who weren't invited to this meet will make the final team. Along with the other countries, Finland will submit the long list of about 100 players by October 15th, but the contents of that list will not be made public.

The final team will be picked by mid-January.


And to start things off, here's my present roster projection:

Juuse Saros
Kevin Lankinen
Tuukka Rask

Miro Heiskanen - Rasmus Ristolainen
Esa Lindell - Henri Jokiharju
Mikko Lehtonen - Jani Hakanpää
Olli Määttä - Markus Nutivaara

Patrik Laine - Aleksander Barkov - Mikko Rantanen
Teuvo Teräväinen - Sebastian Aho - Jesse Puljujärvi
Mikael Granlund - Roope Hintz - Kaapo Kakko
Kasperi Kapanen - Erik Haula - Joel Armia
+ Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Joonas Donskoi

With that line-up we (Finland) are just not evil ... hey, Mr.
We are bad and that to the Finland bone ... just watch out for the Finland parties post-corona in Finland if they can make it you ... you sick Finland dogs.

 

[Husqvarna]

So in Finland we do it our own style - win or lose; we don't crash our cities but a fountain or two maybe on the way - not like in Canada when they flip the city all over because a loss: Vancouver shakedown. 27 years since Vancouver Canucks lost Stanley Cup to New York Rangers

 

[Husqvarna]

'ere is a song for you Vancouver:

 

[Husqvarna]

And do believe me or not anyway ... I like Canada a lot.

But not in hockey ...

 

[Dempsey]

And do believe me or not anyway ... I like Canada a lot.

But not in hockey ...

Well I think we will give you a good run for your money

 

[Husqvarna]

Well I think we will give you a good run for your money

Pay it in Euros then please, Canada ... the Canadian dollar seems to be a little flat nowadays.

 

[LeafChief]

And that to your too ever so ever boring rants about "Best-on-best -on -best tournaments" that so seldom happens in World hockey.

Give it a real go Canada at the Worldchampionships Canada - and do be proud of it. What are you afraid of?! - Finland

Canada sent their 'F' squad and won last year. What are you talking about?

 

[Hiukafen]

I would like see something like this:
Teräväinen - Barkov (A) - Rantanen
Laine - Aho (A) - Puljujärvi
Kapanen - Hintz - Kakko
Armia - Haula - Granlund (C)
+Donskoi/Kotkaniemi

Lindell - Heiskanen
Määttä - Ristolainen
Hakanpää - Jokiharju
+Mikkola/Lehtonen

Saros
Lankinen
Korpisalo/(Rask?)

 

[FiLe]

Patrik Laine interviewed by Tommi Seppälä, and he really doesn't leave it a secret whom he'd like to play with if he gets picked to the olympic team. (Spoiler: it's a certain fellow Tappara alum.)

And I honestly don't get whatever reasoning there might be to separate Teräväinen and Aho. Yes, we all have fond memories of a certain U20 tournament from five years ago, but ignoring everything that's been going on in Carolina since then because of "PuLa-Aho NevöForget!!" or whatever feels like sheer insanity. TT and Aho have been constant linemates in the best league in the world for the four last seasons, and they've both been PPG players practically the entire time they've stuck together. And we've already seen the men's NT enjoy that success too - they were both in the 2018 WHC squad, with Aho potting a humble 9+9 in eight games, and Turbo having 5+9 alongside him. I guess that tournament ending in a QF loss means it's not so easy to remember, but that result most assuredly wasn't because of these two.

The bottom line is that the Carolina dynamic duo is perhaps the closest answer Finland's ever got to the Sedins, despite not actually being related, and Jalonen would have to be an idiot to not take advantage of it. Yeah, yeah, it was a fun party in Helsinki, and yours truly was also in the thick of it, but it wasn't even a men's tournament - it was U20 hockey, which is entertaining as heck, but it's also a world apart from the level in the NHL or even our domestic Liiga.

 

[IceHockeyDude]

And to start things off, here's my present roster projection:


Patrik Laine (70) - Aleksander Barkov (90) - Mikko Rantanen (90)
Teuvo Teräväinen (70) - Sebastian Aho (80) - Jesse Puljujärvi (55)
Mikael Granlund (40) - Roope Hintz (70) - Kaapo Kakko (55)
Kasperi Kapanen (40) - Erik Haula (30) - Joel Armia (30)

This is exactly how I would like to see the offence in February. I also added my expectations for their points next season.

 

[BusQuets]

If Kakko and Puljujarvi have breakthrough seasons the Finnish team will be really, really deep on the offense.

 

[IceHockeyDude]

Seems pretty unlikely for Ristolainen to be in the team. He was not invited to the first camp and the Team staff have not been in contact with him since.

Yle interview: When asked Ristolainen about his thought on the Olympics:

- ''I have to say, I haven't thought about the Olympics at all. I got traded and a new season is about to begin, so I haven't have time to think about it further''.

This eventhough earlier he told he would be interested.

 

[FiLe]

Seems pretty unlikely for Ristolainen to be in the team.

It doesn't seem any less or more likely now than it was back when the news of Ristolainen being snubbed from the NHLers' summer meeting first hit the news - which was before it took even place. (Although, calling it a "camp" is a bit fancy, as all they did was drink some coffee and talk about the upcoming tournament, never even hitting the ice together.)

Risto's answer to Yle/Seppälä's inquiry about the matter is neither a yay or nay - it's exactly what Seppälä calls it: a non-answer. And it's also the smart answer. If RR decided to run his mouth here, it wouldn't bring the matter any closer to closure - all it would do is generate more needless headlines.

 

[IceHockeyDude]

It doesn't seem any less or more likely now than it was back when the news of Ristolainen being snubbed from the NHLers' summer meeting first hit the news - which was before it took even place. (Although, calling it a "camp" is a bit fancy, as all they did was drink some coffee and talk about the upcoming tournament, never even hitting the ice together.)

Risto's answer to Yle/Seppälä's inquiry about the matter is neither a yay or nay - it's exactly what Seppälä calls it: a non-answer. And it's also the smart answer. If RR decided to run his mouth here, it wouldn't bring the matter any closer to closure - all it would do is generate more needless headlines.

Yeah maybe you are right, nevertheless he would be interested joining the team.

 

[FiLe]

On closer thought, and naturally assuming that Ristolainen himself is interested in playing these games, I'd say that him being invited has, in fact, become a little more likely than a month and a half ago. Because now, with the training camps winding to a close, we find that we don't have as many d-men in the league as we were perhaps hoping and projecting when that infamous coffee klatch took place.

All the high-profile youngsters like Vaakanainen and Heinola who were hoping to take a spot through the camp appear AHL bound. As is Lehtonen, who has already cleared the waivers. Vatanen famously returned to Europe. Of course, these moves don't suddenly make the aforementioned players worse than they are, but snubbing a league regular when there aren't that many available would still be far from a good look. (Which isn't to say Jalonen couldn't do it anyway - but then he'd better be prepared to field a ton of difficult questions.)