Olympics: Team Finland 2022

[TomppaKoo]

Pretty good overall, but with the D-men I'd prob have Määttä and Hakanpää over Niku in hierarchy of top-6. I'd bulldoze them in the top-6 over Niku probably. The Nutivaara suggestion I sort of like but the guy hasn't played any games this season so I wonder how realistic that is. Is he injured now or just a healthy scratch I wonder?

Nutivaara has been injured for the beginning of the season and there is no information of what type of injury it is. He is an obvious question mark because that, but if healthy I think he absolutely should make the team.

 

[Mestaruus]

Nutivaara has been injured for the beginning of the season and there is no information of what type of injury it is. He is an obvious question mark because that, but if healthy I think he absolutely should make the team.

In my opinion he's close to making the team and lineup if healthy and if he gets some games and looks to be good. I think that he's a bit underrated in NHL and also amongst Finnish fans. Healthy Nutivaara I see a bit similar to Vatanen and Jokiharju as players and their chances of making the playing/active line up. Jokiharju might lose to both of them in that battle.

 

[Kezaster]

Like just a week tor two ago I I looked up the list of our dmen in nhl and now it has doubled. This is probably and hopefully the only list where our dcore comes from.

 

[FiLe]

This is probably and hopefully the only list where our dcore comes from.

In order for that to happen, the "games played" column would have to feature more than five names hitting double-digit figures. Having this many d-men does little good if most of them are bubble creatures who don't dress for nearly every game.

 

[Kezaster]

In order for that to happen, the "games played" column would have to feature more than five names hitting double-digit figures. Having this many d-men does little good if most of them are bubble creatures who don't dress for nearly every game.

I think your analysis before, where you mention Vatanen&Lehtonen is a good one. But there's still quite a few games to be played from here till february.
What I'm basically saying here is that I wouldn't mind seeing a potential young guy off that list but that's only if he gets seriouss ice time before the games or as you put it hitting double digits in games. What-have-you-done-for-me-lately applies.

I think it's a horrible call if they leave a righthanded d-man who plays 20 minutes a night home because of some petty bushleague bullshit. So Heiskanen, Lindell, Hakanpää, Määttä, Ristolainen are probably locks.
I reeeeaaaally hope we won't get any injuries because if that's the case your Vatanen and Lehtonen will be a reality.

Do you feel particularly safe, them going up against the actual very best in the world? Sheeeesh...

 

[heksagon]

I think your analysis before, where you mention Vatanen&Lehtonen is a good one. But there's still quite a few games to be played from here till february.
What I'm basically saying here is that I wouldn't mind seeing a potential young guy off that list but that's only if he gets seriouss ice time before the games or as you put it hitting double digits in games. What-have-you-done-for-me-lately applies.

I think it's a horrible call if they leave a righthanded d-man who plays 20 minutes a night home because of some petty bushleague bullshit. So Heiskanen, Lindell, Hakanpää, Määttä, Ristolainen are probably locks.
I reeeeaaaally hope we won't get any injuries because if that's the case your Vatanen and Lehtonen will be a reality.

Do you feel particularly safe, them going up against the actual very best in the world? Sheeeesh...

I do at least. It's not optimal, but more optimal than having the Lassi Thomsons of the world do it. Vatanen did it for half a thousand games, and Lehtonen has faced some pretty good players during his career.

 

[illone84]

I do at least. It's not optimal, but more optimal than having the Lassi Thomsons of the world do it. Vatanen did it for half a thousand games, and Lehtonen has faced some pretty good players during his career.

So zero chance at Ville Heinola? He has a decent amount of small ice experience. Sure, an AHLer more so than NHLer, but doing fairly well this season.

 

[FiLe]

I think it's a horrible call if they leave a righthanded d-man who plays 20 minutes a night home because of some petty bushleague bullshit. So Heiskanen, Lindell, Hakanpää, Määttä, Ristolainen are probably locks.

I've said a number of times that I don't think Jalonen can afford to overlook Ristolainen. But he may do so regardless, and he does have the fig leaf for it. Also, like I said, we technically have six names in the double-digits category, as Jokiharju would be there without his injury. If he makes it back in time, he's more or less a lock as well. And I'm definitely not opposed to the idea that more people off that list would start seeing the minutes that enables them to prove their mettle.

Do you feel particularly safe, them going up against the actual very best in the world? Sheeeesh...

I would feel no less or more safe than I would seeing the NHL bubble guys. Ask yourself - if Lehtonen and Vatanen were still overseas, even as extra creatures dressing for every second or third game, how would that affect your opinion of them? Or how would you perceive Riikola, Mikkola, Niku, etc, if they had figured they're better off playing big minutes in Europe?

Eight d-men are going to make this squad, and beyond the five or six who actually see steady minutes in the league, the remaining selection off that list is no worse than our top d-men closer to home. If you think that stepping aboard a plane that took them across the big water suddenly made them worse players than they were, then you'll have to excuse me while I extricate myself from further conversation.

 

[David OSullivan]

A lot of Canadians and Americans don't seem to get it. I was reading an article in the Toronto Star about the NHL participating in the 2022 Olympics, and the writer came out with this:

"Canada will go in as the favourite, with the U.S., Sweden and Russia following in some order. It's possible the plucky Finns will knock off one of the big boys."

You would think that they might have figured it out by now.

I think when you look at nhl points totals for potential teams and other nhl stats you can understand this view.

The excitement about this team is right coach, goal tending and exciting set of forwards. Defence will be better than other nations will give credit for.

Long story short, are we favourites no. But this team can compete with the very best. And if you can compete, you can win the whole damn thing.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

Barkov injured.
Here's the clip

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Knee isn't supposed to move like that...fingers crossed it looks worse then it ends up being.

 

[Peeri]

This is awful news to Barkov, will likely miss Olympic games when he is at his absolute peak. Next olympics are far in the future who knows what happens, will NHL players even be there? Fingers crossed, but looks really bad.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

This is awful news to Barkov, will likely miss Olympic games when he is at his absolute peak. Next olympics are far in the future who knows what happens, will NHL players even be there? Fingers crossed, but looks really bad.

Finland has produced more forwards than defenseman's in NHL last years.
So what comes to 2026 Team Finland in Olympics the options for Center roles are next.

Aleksander Barkov
Samuel Helenius
Rasmus Kupari
Anton Lundell
Roope Hintz
Sebastian Aho
Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Brad Lambert
Aatu Räty (
Roni Hirvonen
Juuso Pärssinen
Samu Salminen

Doesn't look bad in my opinion.
But of course anything can happen so lets see.

If i'm not mistaken NHL decided to participate 2022 and 2026 Olympics.
Upcoming Olympics in Beijing are of course a questionmark because of Covid19 pandemic
but 2026 participation should be clear already or am i missed something?

 

[Boonk]

Awful seeing Barkov taken out by that bum. Can't imagine any of you Finnish fans are happy. That sucks

 

[Lambo]

Some worst case scenarios! Built a Team witout Barkov, Rantanen, Laine, TT, Heiskanen, Lindell, Saros for example.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

Awful seeing Barkov taken out by that bum. Can't imagine any of you Finnish fans are happy. That sucks

Why we should be happy for our likely 1st C and captains injury?
There's nothing positive in that injury expect that Lundell gets now more ice-time.

Think about that if this would've happen for McDavid or Crosby or MacKinnon
yeah no impact etc problem because you guys ( Canada ) have elite centers ( Stamkos etc )
for 2 team needs but we ( Finland ) don't have.

 

[FiLe]

Let's hold our horses, guys. It's still 12 weeks before the olympic puck drop. I know knee injuries can take significantly longer than that to heal, but let's wait 'til we hear more about Barkov's situation before we start saying he'll miss the olympics. If he's walking around by himself, that's definitely a good sign. Had this happened in mid-January instead of mid-November, then we'd all likely be cussing our hearts out.

 

[karhukissa]

Why we should be happy for our likely 1st C and captains injury?
There's nothing positive in that injury expect that Lundell gets now more ice-time.

Think about that if this would've happen for McDavid or Crosby or MacKinnon
yeah no impact etc problem because you guys ( Canada ) have elite centers ( Stamkos etc )
for 2 team needs but we ( Finland ) don't have.

Jheez mate, you are way too aggressive.

 

[karhukissa]

Let's hold our horses, guys. It's still 12 weeks before the olympic puck drop. I know knee injuries can take significantly longer than that to heal, but let's wait 'til we hear more about Barkov's situation before we start saying he'll miss the olympics. If he's walking around by himself, that's definitely a good sign. Had this happened in mid-January instead of mid-November, then we'd all likely be cussing our hearts out.

Yeah and as for now it's all speculation, it could look bad but end up being nothing vs doesn't look bad but in reality it ends a season. Let's hope for the best, if he was walking after the game it's not the worst case scenario.

 

[illone84]

Seems like the Bark-dog won't need surgery. Mikä helpotus! Valmentaja kertoi lupaavia tietoja Aleksander Barkovin vammasta
Week to week. Let's see how she goes.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]

Kommentti: Kauhuskenaario uhkaa Pekingin olympiakiekkoa – NHL-pelaajat saattavat sittenkin jättää kisat väliin

 

[Svedu]

Looks like Kakko has been reading this thread... If he keeps this up he will earn his spot.

 

[IceHockeyDude]

Looks like Kakko has been reading this thread... If he keeps this up he will earn his spot.

If this happens and everyone's healthy, Finland will have three lines of NHL first-liners. 15 years ago it was only Selänne, Lehtinen, O.Jokinen and S.Koivu.

 

[Puck Dogg]

Ristolainen's situation is not clear to me. I understood he wasn't on the 44- player list from which the Olympic team will be selected from. Lehtinen said that why he wasn't invited to meeting at the end of July was due his reluctance to represent Finland in the Worlds.

Many NHL players decline the offer to play in the Worlds and to be honest it shouldn't be much of a big deal. I'm aware that the Worlds are a thing for casual Finnish fans but it shouldn't affect who gets selected to play in best-on-best tournament.