Olympics: Team Finland 2022

[karhukissa]

Olympics are getting closer and closer. Lot of injuries, some surprises and some disappointments. But here are some tops and flops so far:

Barkov - Played like top-5 center in the league should before his injury.

Aho - The best player of the #1 team in the league, enough said.

Granlund- PPG and the best Preds forward. Granny is back.

Rantanen-One of the best wingers in the league and now apparently one of the best centers too. Absolute unit.

Hintz - Extremely unfortunate with points but is now on a hot streak. Clear #1 center of Dallas.

Heiskanen - Superb

"Flops"

Donskoi - Zero goals in 21 games, plays for Kraken but still trash.

Tolvanen - He hasn't been bad but i expected more production wise after last season. Should take steps forward not sideways at this point.

Kakko - Not good enough. Is slowly improving production wise but still needs to show more.

Kapanen - Inconsistent. Has that one x-factor which makes him useful 3rd-4th liner in national team.

Risto - I didn't expect much though.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Kapanen - Inconsistent. Has that one x-factor which makes him useful 3rd-4th liner in national team.

Kapanen is on pace for ~55 points, despite playing with scrubs on Pittsburgh’s second line all year as Malkin hasn’t played one game yet. He has been solid this year and last year too.

Kapanen has put up first line offensive numbers since being traded to Pittsburgh.

 

[IceHockeyDude]

That second pair would have two righties together, which would be quite unorthodox. L-L pairings are nothing unusual, but righties usually stick to the right side.

Of course, if we consider Ristolainen, Heiskanen and Hakanpää certain to make it, and add Vatanen into the mix, it would mean either splitting up the Dallas pair or sticking two righties together. Can't quite say which would be the lesser evil. But if Vatanen doesn't make it and five lefties do (Heiskanen, Lindell, Määttä, Lehtonen?, Välimäki?), then a Jokiharju-Ristolainen pair likely won't happen.

Yeah perhaps Jokiharju and Risto would be seperated. I usually happen to ignore the L/R among the dmen, which I should pay closer attention to. Lehtonen on the other hand I would not like to see on the team. Same with Vatanen. If we take addittions from Europe Ohtamaa would be my first choise.

 

[illone84]

Olympics are getting closer and closer. Lot of injuries, some surprises and some disappointments. But here are some tops and flops so far:

Barkov - Played like top-5 center in the league should before his injury.

Aho - The best player of the #1 team in the league, enough said.

Granlund- PPG and the best Preds forward. Granny is back.

Rantanen-One of the best wingers in the league and now apparently one of the best centers too. Absolute unit.

Hintz - Extremely unfortunate with points but is now on a hot streak. Clear #1 center of Dallas.

Heiskanen - Superb

"Flops"

Donskoi - Zero goals in 21 games, plays for Kraken but still trash.

Tolvanen - He hasn't been bad but i expected more production wise after last season. Should take steps forward not sideways at this point.

Kakko - Not good enough. Is slowly improving production wise but still needs to show more.

Kapanen - Inconsistent. Has that one x-factor which makes him useful 3rd-4th liner in national team.

Risto - I didn't expect much though.

Donskoi is not making the team IMHO. Kapanen is perfect for the 3rd line or 4th, agreed. At the moment I'd put the forwards like this.

Laine-Barkov-Rantanen
Teräväinen-Aho-Puljujärvi
Granlund-Hintz-Kapanen
Lehkonen Lundell Kakko
extras: Armia, Luostarinen

Lehkonen is a warrior. Definitely a guy that will take a puck to the face and lose some teeth if need be. If Kakko struggles in the olympics replace him with Armia.

*Happy to see Granny doing well!

 

[FiLe]

Hintz - Extremely unfortunate with points but is now on a hot streak. Clear #1 center of Dallas.

---

Kakko - Not good enough. Is slowly improving production wise but still needs to show more.

If one is willing to give Hintz a pass, then one should also give Kakko a pass. Both have been snakebitten regarding points, but even during the dry spell there's been nothing majorly wrong with Kakko's 200ft game. The Rangers' bench bosses haven't been giving him all that rope for nothing.

If we take addittions from Europe Ohtamaa would be my first choise.

Ohtamaa's issue is zero small ice experience. I still say that since many of our nominal NHLers suffer from chronic lack of TOI, Vatanen and Lehtonen (if healthy) are the top-two selections from Europe, and quite likely to make it. However, if one needs a bottom-pair utility D from our side of the pond, the main pick in that case would be Lindbohm.

 

[IceHockeyDude]

Well if I had to choose between one of the mickey mouses (Vatanen or Lehtonen) then i'd take Vatanen who has at least made a carreer for himself in NHL.

Heiskanen
Ristolainen
Lindell
Jokiharju
Määttä
Hakanpää
Välimäki
Vatanen

 

[pelderhostiga]

If one is willing to give Hintz a pass, then one should also give Kakko a pass. Both have been snakebitten regarding points, but even during the dry spell there's been nothing majorly wrong with Kakko's 200ft game. The Rangers' bench bosses haven't been giving him all that rope for nothing.

I can see where this is coming from but the problem with this thinking is that Kakko has been snakebitten for his whole NHL career so far whereas Hintz has already established himself as a PPG player and a dominant force in the playoffs. Thus, the dry spells of these two this season are a bit uncomparable.

 

[SantosHalper]

Heiskanen - Ristolainen
Lindell - Jokiharju
Määttä - Vatanen
LHD* - Hakanpää

LHD*=Ohtamaa, Lindbohm, Mikkola

There. Balanced defensive corps, 4 lefties and 4 righties just like Canada builds their D.

 

[Mestaruus]

Olympics are getting closer and closer. Lot of injuries, some surprises and some disappointments. But here are some tops and flops so far:

Barkov - Played like top-5 center in the league should before his injury.

Aho - The best player of the #1 team in the league, enough said.

Granlund- PPG and the best Preds forward. Granny is back.

Rantanen-One of the best wingers in the league and now apparently one of the best centers too. Absolute unit.

Hintz - Extremely unfortunate with points but is now on a hot streak. Clear #1 center of Dallas.

Heiskanen - Superb

"Flops"

Donskoi - Zero goals in 21 games, plays for Kraken but still trash.

Tolvanen - He hasn't been bad but i expected more production wise after last season. Should take steps forward not sideways at this point.

Kakko - Not good enough. Is slowly improving production wise but still needs to show more.

Kapanen - Inconsistent. Has that one x-factor which makes him useful 3rd-4th liner in national team.

Risto - I didn't expect much though.

I agree with other parts, but for Kapanen I'd give a more positive review.

 

[Mestaruus]

Ohtamaa's issue is zero small ice experience. I still say that since many of our nominal NHLers suffer from chronic lack of TOI, Vatanen and Lehtonen (if healthy) are the top-two selections from Europe, and quite likely to make it. However, if one needs a bottom-pair utility D from our side of the pond, the main pick in that case would be Lindbohm.

I'd rather take some inexperienced NHL young gun than Ohtamaa just for the reason which you mentioned, that he is not a fit for small ice play. Ohtamaa would look bad out there and I don't want to see it. Every goal costs in that short span of games. No need for that risk to be there.

 

[SantosHalper]

Ohtamaa went to Chicago's training camp back in 2010.
Kärppien Ohtamaa lähti Chicagoon

And he has played in KHL, most of them use 28 metres wide hybrid rinks. Ohtamaa is experienced veteran, and i find very hard to believe that he could not adapt to NHL sized rinks. And if Jalonen picks him, Ohtamaa will be only player in the team without NA experience. But he will have 22 teammates with NA experience to give him pointers.

And since Välimäki and Mikkola are back-up bench warmers right now, and according to Russians Lehtonen is out for a long time. Ohtamaa has a very strong chance to be picked, coaching staff knows him and Ohtamaa knows what kind of hockey Jalonen wants to play. National team experience, TOI leader in Liiga, confidence factor 20 points in 25 games, these things trumps what inexperienced Riikola, Thomson or Niku brings to table. I don't believe that they are even an options. It's Ohtamaa or Lindbohm, my guess is that Jalonen goes with Ohtamaa.

 

[FiLe]

One thing to consider regarding d-men is that it's been essentially confirmed that they'll be running a four-pair rotation - but it's somewhat unlikely the TOIs will be exactly even. If all of our no-brainer picks are healthy (fingers crossed), we're mostly debating about one or two bottom-pairing guys - and they don't necessarily have to be conditioned for more than 10-15 minutes a game. This could be the saving grace for someone like Välimäki, Mikkola or Nutivaara (if he gets healthy in time) - as they've already proven their mettle somewhat and are not presently sitting on the sidelines simply because they aren't considered good enough for the league.

 

[Pataatti]

One name I haven't seen in this thread almost at all is Niku. Statwise seems like he is having a decent season and seems like he is getting regular minutes atm. I have to admit that I haven't seen any Nikus games personally so I am purely stat watching but what do you guys think about his chances?

 

[Mestaruus]

Rasmus Ristolainen Stats and News

Ristolainen had 2x disaster games back to back. +/- minus 6 in 2 games. Overall 18 games totall and +/- is -5 now. Jokiharju had +/- minus 3 last game as well.

 

[illone84]

Nice to see Hintz and Granny heating up lately......Looking fwd to seeing the final roster in early January.

 

[Mestaruus]

Nice to see Hintz and Granny heating up lately......Looking fwd to seeing the final roster in early January.

Rantanen as well. What a world class offense we are getting when it comes to forwards. Barkov has returned to practice ice I read, so that's good news.

 

[Mestaruus]

In 3 games Risto went -8. First of those games was when Jalonen was watching at the arena. What happened to the guy lol. If he keeps that up he'll be a liability in our Olympic team.

 

[karhukissa]

In 3 games Risto went -8. First of those games was when Jalonen was watching at the arena. What happened to the guy lol. If he keeps that up he'll be a liability in our Olympic team.

I'd go as far as saying that leave him out. What does he bring to the team that, say Ohtamaa doesn't? Sure, he plays hard and does highlight tackles here and there but he just makes way too many mistakes.

 

[IceHockeyDude]

I think Risto could be used as a goon. When ever there is a player being harrased, he could jump in.

 

[FiLe]

Here's what the defense situation looks right now, IMO:

We've got five no-brainer picks: Heiskanen, Lindell, Hakanpää, Jokiharju and Määttä. Need three more.

Who those three should be largely depends on whether we'll view Lindell and Heiskanen as a package deal or not. If we do, then we need just one more RD. Which means Ristolainen isn't a necessity, since Vatanen can be picked instead. But then we need two LDs.

One guy whose star appears to be on the rise is Mikkola. If he keeps up what he's been doing in the last few games, he's starting to look likely. Being a Jalonen familiar from 2019 certainly won't hurt.

The main candidates for that remaining spot: Lehtonen (if he makes it back in time), Ohtamaa (lacks small ice experience), Lindbohm (kinda eh, but has at least some small ice experience), Niku (probably deserves another look simply because he's actually getting some TOI and beggars can't be choosers), Nutivaara (suffers from a mystery injury, but could even be likely if he somehow makes it back in time).

The other scenario is that Heiskanen and Lindell get split up, and Risto gets picked, in which case all we need is Mikkola and Vatanen on top of the no-brainer five. This all is of course with all possible fingers crossed for no injuries.

 

[Mestaruus]

Okay one thing to defend Ristolainen a bit is that most of his teammates aren't shining in that +/- category either, but his way seems to be down. That is the concern. What if that -8 would happen to him in the first 3 games of the Olympics. it would mean that we can most likely bury our hopes for any kind of medal because of having a liability like that in the team.

Here are his team's stats sorted by +/-:
NHL Stats

 

[David OSullivan]

Think I'd have Hakanpaa higher up the line up than many are putting him. He is clearly third best D on form right now. To split ouf 2 top D, i D put Hakanpaa on first line with Heiskinen. Free up Heiskanen a little bit too. Risto s form is worrisome and it's been going on for sometime. Jokiharju has not been fairing much better. I like players that have history together. And Lindell just makes his partners look better. So I think second line reconnecting Lindell and Ristolainen is way to go. Hopefully he can come up with a big tournament. Maata punched his ticket at the last world's. Thinking he partners with jokiharju. Hopefully the latter can pick up his form. Of course he s only recently return from injury. I think Mikkola gets in and that would probably mean vatanen over lehtonen.

Heiskenen Hakanpaa
Lindell Ristolainen
Maata Jokiharju
Mikkola Vatanen

It's not massively pretty compared to the other big teams but they will be helped massively by the 2 way nature of the forward group and Jalonens system and hopefully god mode Saros.

 

[David OSullivan]

The battle for 4th center is red hot right now. Lundell vs Luostarainen. Its a good spot either way. I think Luostarainen might be starting to get on top. He s taking massive steps forward. Lundell of course got his scoring back on last night. For me both have to go but who gets the start. Too early to call it. Just going to enjoy the battle.

 

[illone84]

The battle for 4th center is red hot right now. Lundell vs Luostarainen. Its a good spot either way. I think Luostarainen might be starting to get on top. He s taking massive steps forward. Lundell of course got his scoring back on last night. For me both have to go but who gets the start. Too early to call it. Just going to enjoy the battle.

True. Luostarinen is very solid defensively but I have to point out that he has been pretty darn week at face-offs this season. That's why I think Lundell gets the job (not to mention Lundell is much better offensively as we all know). As mentioned above, I would take Luostarinen as an extra forward with Armia.

 

[RorschachWJK]

A bit surprisingly, goaltending might be our weak spot in the upcoming Olympics. Also defense is weaker than Canada, Russia, Sweden or USA. Forwards, however, look pretty damn good. As always, our limited depth does mean that we can ill afford injuries. Hopefully Laine will be up to speed in time and Barkov makes a full recovery. If those happen, we'll have very strong lines.