Olympics: Team Finland 2022

[FiLe]

A bit surprisingly, goaltending might be our weak spot in the upcoming Olympics.

All you need is one elite goalie. And we've got one in Saros. Sure, it's a step back from having a ton of options (and a far wider safety padding for injuries), but as long as we have that one hot hand between the pipes, it's not exactly a "weakness". Also, the olympics is a much shorter tournament than the WHC (six or seven games for the top-four teams instead of 10), so it's entirely possible to ride just one goalie through the entire ordeal.

And even a lesser goalie might do if they happen to get hot at just the right time. (Antero Niittymäki says hello.)

 

[Backcheckmonster3]

At the moment If fully healthy:

Teräväinen-Barkov-Rantanen
Laine-Aho-Puljujärvi
Granlund-Hintz-Kapanen
Luostarinen-Lundell-Kakko

Heiskanen-Ristolainen
Lindell-Niku
Mikkola-Hakanpää

Saros
Koskinen

 

[illone84]

anyone still doubting Lundell to make the olympic team - just watch the %#@ing highlights from the game that just ended. Kid is an absolute beast.

 

[JabbaJabba]

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.

I agree with you on Ohtamaa. Also, he has played so many times for team Finland and faced some of the best players in the World in tournaments, so I wouldn't worry about him not playing in the NHL. Jalonen is very familiar with him and knows how tu utilize him. Ideally, he isn't on the roster and even if he's on it, his role will be on the 3rd or 4h pair.

Mikkola however, isn't a back-up bench warmer. He plays about 15 minutes per game on Blues team and just started the last game with Parayko on the first pair. He missed some time in the beginning of the season due to covid I believe. Otherwise he has been solid. He's like younger version of Ohtamaa really, except he's playing in teh NHL. Jalonen is familiar with him as well. I think he has a good chance of making the team.

 

[jonlin]

I really like our C-depth atm. Barkov - Aho - Granlund - Hintz - Luostarinen - Lundell - Kotkaniemi - Haula. We have never had C:s this good and for the first time there will be a good problem to have. Also, 3 of our C:s are PPG and most are 2-way players.

Puljujärvi - Barkov - Rantanen
Teräväinen - Aho - Laine
Hintz - Granlund - Kakko
Kapanen - Lundell - Donskoi

xtras: Luostarinen, Kotkaniemi, Lehkonen, Armia, Tolvanen

I really cant see any forwards outside NHL on the team. Our D doesnt look good. I only have 3 locks and all from Dallas:

Heiskanen - Lindell
Hakanpäää

I`m not sold on having Ristolainen. Also Jokiharju, Niku, Välimäki are so and so. Nutivaara and Määttä I`m dropping out. I`m actually thinking Lehtonen, Kemiläinen etc. from KHL and maybe Ohtamaa.

Goalies are fine. I`d have Saros as No1:

Saros
Koskinen
Raanta

If Rask makes a comeback and do ok, he drops Koskinen to 3rd.

 

[FiLe]

Ideally, he isn't on the roster and even if he's on it, his role will be on the 3rd or 4h pair.

Jalonen & Lehtinen have been quite explicit about the intention to run a full four-pair rotation, so every d-man who gets selected can expect to see regular minutes. Of course, the top pairs will still likely get somewhat more than the bottom ones, but saying that there's no need to worry about Ohtamaa because he probably won't be that exposed to the best players in the world in their natural small ice environment is hardly an argument.

Although, this is not saying he can't handle himself amongst them - though I'm not saying either that he can. But I admit, I'd rather have guys who are somewhat less of question marks in this regard - if we just have enough at hand.

anyone still doubting Lundell to make the olympic team - just watch the %#@ing highlights from the game that just ended. Kid is an absolute beast.

Lundell is undoubtedly earning his place in this team. And while I'm not saying you've done so, I might in the same vein implore people to watch the highlights of Carolina's last game, and figure why it's sheer inanity to split TT and Aho in favor of some PuLa-Aho nostalgies. I swear, those two are reading each other's thoughts at this stage.

 

[Jaska]

At the moment If fully healthy:

Teräväinen-Barkov-Rantanen
Laine-Aho-Puljujärvi
Granlund-Hintz-Kapanen
Luostarinen-Lundell-Kakko

Heiskanen-Ristolainen
Lindell-Niku
Mikkola-Hakanpää

Saros
Koskinen

Why put Teräväinen and Aho on separate lines? They obviously have huge chemistry together.

 

[Mestaruus]

anyone still doubting Lundell to make the olympic team - just watch the %#@ing highlights from the game that just ended. Kid is an absolute beast.

Man it worked well for Lundell to be a bit longer in SM-Liiga and he came just at the perfect time to NHL as NHL ready player. It looks like it's a lock at 4 center spot with him, but that's what I said about Donskoi and he isn't a lock anymore so who knows.

 

[Mestaruus]

Based on what has been going on recently I'd rank our D-men regarding the Olympic selections for NA sized rink something like this regardless of their type/playstyle/strengths:

#1 Heiskanen
#2 Lindell
#3 Hakanpää
#4 Vatanen (this was Ristolainen's spot few games ago but I have no idea what is going on with him now, he can still climb back I guess if he returns to his season start form)
#5 Määttä (people complain about his slow skating, but I like his experience and I don't remember him being bad in the national team ever)
#6 Lehtonen
#7 Mikkola
#8 Jokiharju
------------------
#9 Ristolainen (i place him this low because I think that he will continue to leak in the defensive end, while not producing that much in the offensive end)
#10 Riikola
#11 Välimäki
#12 Niku
#13 Heinola
#14 Lindbom/Ohtamaa (it would be a different story if the tournament was in Euro sized rink. I don't trust their absence from NA rink enough to put them higher)
#15 THE REST

Numbers 5-9 are an even bunch. Even Riikola and Välimäki are interesting but Riikola gets quite low minutes and amount of games and Välimäki has played even less than Riikola recently, although Välimäki has higher average TOI this season.

Nutivaara has been out for some time now so I'm not going to put him on that list, but I like him.

 

[Stubu]

At the moment If fully healthy:

Teräväinen-Barkov-Rantanen
Laine-Aho-Puljujärvi
Granlund-Hintz-Kapanen
Luostarinen-Lundell-Kakko

Heiskanen-Ristolainen
Lindell-Niku
Mikkola-Hakanpää

Saros
Koskinen

Note that the Olympic format requires 4 defenseman pairs.

And like someone said, why separate Aho and Teravainen with their mad chemistry? The old LAP line from 2016 WJC is bygones.

I'm still pondering Donskoi, Haula, Armia and Kotkaniemi over Luostarinen. The other 11 forwards seem like a no-brainer at this point. (Kakko especially is delightful to watch, even if the scoring isn't there yet.)

I'd love to see a Haula - Hintz - Kapanen line just for the sheer speed. (And we'll need something more than a boring trap to contain McDavid in the gold medal game...)

 

[illone84]

Jalonen & Lehtinen have been quite explicit about the intention to run a full four-pair rotation, so every d-man who gets selected can expect to see regular minutes. Of course, the top pairs will still likely get somewhat more than the bottom ones, but saying that there's no need to worry about Ohtamaa because he probably won't be that exposed to the best players in the world in their natural small ice environment is hardly an argument.

Although, this is not saying he can't handle himself amongst them - though I'm not saying either that he can. But I admit, I'd rather have guys who are somewhat less of question marks in this regard - if we just have enough at hand.

Lundell is undoubtedly earning his place in this team. And while I'm not saying you've done so, I might in the same vein implore people to watch the highlights of Carolina's last game, and figure why it's sheer inanity to split TT and Aho in favor of some PuLa-Aho nostalgies. I swear, those two are reading each other's thoughts at this stage.

TT and Aho are unreal. No way in hell I would break them up!

 

[Sanf]

Need to make my prediction too in coming days. Feel we have decent sample size already. To be honest it won´t be much different than it would have been at the early season. Some like Haula may have dropped his stocks and Lundell raised etc.

So what about Filppula? I´m going to make a guess that he is higher in Jalonens books than he is in ours (or atleast most of us). And to be honest the reason why he isn´t in the NHL is that he has no future in there (salary cap, future planning etc.) Those spots in NHL rosters are filled with players who may have future in NHL. But it does not necessary mean that is worse selection today than them. I still see him as candidate.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

A lot of people are leaving Armia out of the lineup. Wouldn't he be perfect for the 4th line and the PK?

 

[SantosHalper]

Mikkola however, isn't a back-up bench warmer. He plays about 15 minutes per game on Blues team and just started the last game with Parayko on the first pair. He missed some time in the beginning of the season due to covid I believe. Otherwise he has been solid. He's like younger version of Ohtamaa really, except he's playing in teh NHL. Jalonen is familiar with him as well. I think he has a good chance of making the team.

Yeah.. i made a mistake here, i got him mixed up with someone else. But yes Mikkola has a very strong chance, i like him and i think he's underrated in Finland. Very familiar player to Jalonen from the 2016 WJC team and from the 2019 Worlds. Excelent choice for the shut-down and PK role, Mikkola is a front runner from the remaining d-men in North America.

 

[FiLe]

A lot of people are leaving Armia out of the lineup. Wouldn't he be perfect for the 4th line and the PK?

I had him in my both projections, but I think he's not exactly a lock. We have other options for 4th line wing, some who might even be slightly outplaying Armia right now - his teammate Lehkonen, for example.

Things also depend a little on where we slot Kapanen, who could be either top-9 or fourth line, but is likely to make it in any case. We have four players who are essentially locks for top-9 wings: Rantanen, Laine, Teräväinen and Granlund - with Puljujärvi looking likely as well, despite having slowed down a bit. That remaining top-9 winger could be Kapanen, but it could also be Kakko (whom I have here in my present projection), or maybe even Donskoi, even though he's not doing too well right now either.

Long story short, we have some pieces to cycle even for the 4th line. Kapanen-X-Armia is one possibility, as is Lehkonen-X-Armia (if Kapanen is slotted higher) but it could as easily be Lehkonen-X-Kapanen. And names like Kiviranta, Haula, even Filppula could be in contention.

So what about Filppula?

See above. Honestly, though, I think it's not easy to justify him other than wanting some veteran presence who's seen it all. At least he should have no room in our top-9.

#14 Lindbom/Ohtamaa (it would be a different story if the tournament was in Euro sized rink. I don't trust their absence from NA rink enough to put them higher)

I have Carl Lindbom's chances for making this team somewhat lower than that. Petteri Lindbohm, however, has three seasons' worth of small ice experience on his belt, and while most of it is from the AHL, he's still got twice the games in the NHL than Lehtonen. It's not overly impressive, of course, as he obviously failed to stick in the league, but his small ice play is not a complete question mark. I'd have him between Niku and Heinola on that list.

 

[jonlin]

A lot of people are leaving Armia out of the lineup. Wouldn't he be perfect for the 4th line and the PK?

Well, who of theese players is Armia or Lehkonen gonna replace. I also have Luostarinen atleast in before them and maybe Tolvanen/Kotka?

And PK/PP is the least of our worries. We have Aho, TT, Barkov, Hintz, Granlund, Lundell who all are very good at that.

Puljujärvi - Barkov - Rantanen
Teräväinen - Aho - Laine
Hintz - Granlund - Kakko
Kapanen - Lundell - Donskoi

 

[Mestaruus]

Ristolainen with another heroic -3 in his +/- record. Tampa Bay is pretty good but still...

Let's see about Philly's other defenders in last 4 games:
Ristolainen -11
Braun -6
Sanheim -6
Yandle -4
Provorov -5

He's having a bad moment for sure. The worst in that team and all this after Jalonen met him is a funny coincidence.

I have Carl Lindbom's chances for making this team somewhat lower than that. Petteri Lindbohm, however, has three seasons' worth of small ice experience on his belt, and while most of it is from the AHL, he's still got twice the games in the NHL than Lehtonen. It's not overly impressive, of course, as he obviously failed to stick in the league, but his small ice play is not a complete question mark. I'd have him between Niku and Heinola on that list.

You actually know the exact reason I didn't get Petteri's name right. I watch basketball too. Who can get their names right. So many variations to those Lindblums .

 

[Hogan20]

Sorry if this isn't the place for this but I thought it was worthwhile. Not sure exactly how close Rask is but the fact he's back skating with the team (in an EBUG situation none-the-less) at least bodes well for his chances I'd guess.

 

[Mestaruus]

Sorry if this isn't the place for this but I thought it was worthwhile. Not sure exactly how close Rask is but the fact he's back skating with the team (in an EBUG situation none-the-less) at least bodes well for his chances I'd guess.

It would be amazing if he signs soon and gets some games before the Olympics so we'll see his current form.

 

[BusQuets]

Kakko is playing dominant hockey right now. Easy lock for team.

 

[karhukissa]

Puljujärvi - Barkov - Rantanen
Teräväinen - Aho - Laine
Hintz - Granlund - Kakko
Kapanen - Lundell - Donskoi

Very good line combos. I'd maybe swap Puljujärvi and Laine though.

TT and Aho could play with the puck, and use that out of this world chemistry to create chances for each other. Puljujärvi would bring that big body and grinding, and he'd create space for this duo.

Barkov feeding Laine and Rantanen, both are massive one-timer threats.

Granlund as a hockey professor (not avgard) and Hintz with those wheels would be a perfect match. Kakko is strong with the puck, this line would have it all.

4th line is very well balanced too. Very tough line to play against, defensively good and also capabable of scoring. Kapanen will bring that breakaway x-factor and threat. I'm not sure whether i'd have Donskoi, Luostarinen or Armia as the 3rd player on that line though.

 

[IceHockeyDude]

I have said this before, but I can't help myself but to repeat it. That offense is hot, it is almost erotic. Wouldn't switch it with any other country except Can and USA.

 

[Mestaruus]

EHT Russia tournament selections have been announced and Komarov is among them. Komarov has said weeks ago that his dream is to play in the upcoming Olympics so it will be interesting to see what happens. My guess is that he will be selected but may not play. Selection to that team as a forward would be a big deal already. Komarov can say bye to his Olympic dreams if he looks bad in that tournament, which I doubt that he would.

The next closest guys to make the Olympic team from that EHT squad are probably Hartikainen, Manninen and Markus Granlund in that order, but I guess probably none of them will be selected as we have so many NHL options. There are Pokka and Kaski too. I guess that everyone of them except Komarov are more realistically competing for home WHC spots instead.

Leo Komarov mukana! Tässä ovat Jukka Jalosen Leijonat-valinnat

 

[SoundAndFury]

Komarov has as good of a chance to play in these Olympics as I do. The guy plays in the KHL and still sucks there. Can't afford to waste a roster spot for a player like that no matter how much you like him on a personal level.

 

[Sanf]

I have to say these two EHT teams have been stronger in participation than some of ours recent WHC teams. Almost everyone who is someone in Finnish hockey at the moment have been in. Only one who I can name is Juha Metsola and Jori Lehterä who haven´t been in the teams (Sallinen has been injured).