Team Finland WC 2023

[Mestaruus]

They set little bit of the schedule for NHL playoffs round 2.

May 2 - Game 1 - Florida - Toronto
May 4 - Game 2 - Florida - Toronto

So the pace is every second day or so. The series could end as soon as May 8 if one team 4-0's it. WHC starts on May 12. So a lot of time, but of course there are some traveling delays and more days needed after some players' seasons would end.

Seattle - Dallas series is played on the same days as FLA-TOR, so we have the real possibility to get late arrivals sooner than later, but the question is that how many slots will Jalonen leave open. My guess is that not too many. I'll go by saying that we get 1-2 players from round 2 of playoffs, but these players are some of our superstars.

 

[Finnswiss]

What about Mikko Rantanen? Unfortunately for him his team was eliminated last night, but for the Finnish NT it's good. Theoretically he could come. Is he interested to play at the WHC and does want J. Jalonen add him to the roster?

 

[Mestaruus]

What about Mikko Rantanen? Unfortunately for him his team was eliminated last night, but for the Finnish NT it's good. Theoretically he could come. Is he interested and does want J. Jalonen add him to the squad for the WHC?

You only needed to read any latest post of this thread to get your answer. We are all of course hyped about Rantanen possibly joining.

We assume that he's interested, because he rarely gets the chance to go to WHC and represent Finland. He also looked healthy and I'd imagine his buddy Laine will probably give him a call to convince him if that is even needed.

 

[JabbaJabba]

Last night's results were probably the worst for team Finland. Don't get me wrong, I am happy that for example Florida advanced but it's quite hilarious considering that people were penciling Barkov, Lundell and Luostarinen in the lineup 'cos their team wasn't in a playoff spot. Then they were penciling them in the lineup 'cos they were playing against Boston in the first round. And now Florida was able to beat the Bruins against all odds.

I am sceptical that either Lehkonen or Rantanen join the team. I doubt Lehkonen is completely healthy from his finger injury so he probably wants to rest. With Rantanen I think he might be too tired to come. He put Colorado on his back when everyone was injured so he has played a lot of hockey in last year.

Tomorrow night is the last game of the first round: New Jersey-NY Rangers. I doubt Haula comes if his team is eliminated because he doesn't have a contract. Kakko is a possibility so I think everyone here is rooting for New Jersey.

I wouldn't count on anyone joining after the 2nd round.

 

[illone84]

Last night's results were probably the worst for team Finland. Don't get me wrong, I am happy that for example Florida advanced but it's quite hilarious considering that people were penciling Barkov, Lundell and Luostarinen in the lineup 'cos their team wasn't in a playoff spot. Then they were penciling them in the lineup 'cos they were playing against Boston in the first round. And now Florida was able to beat the Bruins against all odds.

I am sceptical that either Lehkonen or Rantanen join the team. I doubt Lehkonen is completely healthy from his finger injury so he probably wants to rest. With Rantanen I think he might be too tired to come. He put Colorado on his back when everyone was injured so he has played a lot of hockey in last year.

Tomorrow night is the last game of the first round: New Jersey-NY Rangers. I doubt Haula comes if his team is eliminated because he doesn't have a contract. Kakko is a possibility so I think everyone here is rooting for New Jersey.

I wouldn't count on anyone joining after the 2nd round.

That's why you gotta love the playoffs. I wonder how many nhl "expert analysts" picked Seattle and Florida to advance? To be honest, I agree with what you wrote above, however, I think the consensus was that Barkov wouldn't show up if available and rather only luostarinen and Lundell would join in the case Florida was out. Personally, I'd rather have rantanen over both Lundell and Luostarinen. Let's see what happens.

 

[David OSullivan]

If Rantanen does come I would play him as center. More of a need than wingers. Get lammiko/rouhomaa out of that third slot.

Rantanen
Suomela
Manninen
Bjorninen

That's quality center depth at WC level.

 

[mattihp]

Iiro the pagan and Laine won't play in the czech

 

[illone84]

Iiro the pagan and Laine won't play in the czech

Give Laine some more time to fully recover from his previous injury. All good.

 

[illone84]

Give Laine some more time to fully recover from his previous injury. All good.

Friggin Iltalehti and their headlines. Almost had a sydäri when I read "Patrik Laine jää pois Leijoinista! Lol

I hope Laine is not pulling an EP.

 

[FinPanda]

It sounds like Laine will not play. One week won't be enough. Sad news.

 

[FiLe]

I'm not gonna get all worried about Laine yet. After all, he had to clear the medical in Columbus before allowed to join. And if they let him go, it can't be anything too serious. But we'll see, as usual.

 

[Mestaruus]

Give Laine some more time to fully recover from his previous injury. All good.

It's little bit concerning news, but at least he won't reinjure himself in those EHT practice games or rather make his small injury worse. It would be good to build some line chemistry already unless Rantanen is his center, who also won't play in the EHT tournament. Our first game in the WHC tournament is vs USA, so a game vs a quality opponent comes quickly.

However I'm still doubtful about Jalonen making Rantanen a center and personally I think that we don't get 100% utilized out of Rantanen if he doesn't play on his natural position. We want this beast, who is probably the best Finnish ice hockey player at the moment if we don't count the recency bias (Hintz, Aho) at his full 100%. He's a winger though who is the play making type and because he's pretty much good at everything and a complete package, we don't loose that much of Rantanen in an improvised position.

Here's my idea. If both Laine and Rantanen join the WHC, first have Suomela in the middle. Try if this line works and if it doesn't, then plan B can be Rantanen as a center. With Suomela in the middle, offensively it's such a killer line and building a PP unit around it would be great as well. I would say that none of them leak to the defensive end either. So they aren't liabilities like that, but of course I'm not saying either that they are specialists when it comes to defense.

 

[David OSullivan]

My reason for putting Rantanen at center is not that Suomela and Manninen couldn't hang with nhl wingers. They both easily could.

It's the 3c. Lammikko is defensive. His offensive numbers are decent this year but at international level he s always been a 4th line grinder type. Even on the eye test the offensive skills are not there. Certainly not playmaking ability.

With how things are currently you could play him with Markus Granlund and Pesonen to have a good speed checking line with some offensive output.

If Rantanen were to join however you are playing some nhl talent with him. Armia could play a wing with similar grinder results but he is a good glue piece for the first line.

Kapanen would be a waste with him.

And if we get more nhl wing add, it's a no brainer to play Rantanen at center.

Rants is an excellent center and has played superbly there at times this season including a hatrick game. Good face offs too.

Laine Rantanen Armia
Pesonen Suomela Kapanen
Granlund Manninen Hartikainen

would be my top nine with Rants.

Any more nhl wing talent and Rants has to play center in my opinion.

I Much prefer Rants at center than MiG even if he joins.

 

[SantosHalper]

Jalonen is not going to put Rantanen in the middle. It's not correct role for him and im sure everyone knows how important the correct roles for every player is in Jukka's system.

 

[Elias40]

Rantanen played a total of 184 games over the last two seasons in the regular season with the playoffs. That is a huge portion of hockey, physical and mental fatigue of great proportions. In addition, this season it was only Mikko from the Avalanche stars who played everything in the regular season. And even though the tournament is at home in Finland, I can imagine that Jalonen will get a rejection from Rantanen.

Makar, MacKinnon or Nichuskin had some problems, they didn't play all 82 games but Rantanen did and often Colorado's results depended on how Rantanen played. If Rantnen says no, I think a lot of people in Finland would understand. And I don't think Rantanen will get a phone call from Laine and say yes.

 

[Mestaruus]

Rantanen played a total of 184 games over the last two seasons in the regular season with the playoffs. That is a huge portion of hockey, physical and mental fatigue of great proportions. In addition, this season it was only Mikko from the Avalanche stars who played everything in the regular season. And even though the tournament is at home in Finland, I can imagine that Jalonen will get a rejection from Rantanen.

Makar, MacKinnon or Nichuskin had some problems, they didn't play all 82 games but Rantanen did and often Colorado's results depended on how Rantanen played. If Rantnen says no, I think a lot of people in Finland would understand. And I don't think Rantanen will get a phone call from Laine and say yes.

He's nicknamed The Moose for a reason. Not only because of his size, but because he can take this physical abuse and the fatigue as well. He's a machine who doesn't get tired easily. One of his biggest strengths. His minutes are always high as well. This is a rare opportunity for Rantanen to join, so I think that he will join. He'll get about 10 days of rest now before the WHC, more than enough for The Moose.

My reason for putting Rantanen at center is not that Suomela and Manninen couldn't hang with nhl wingers. They both easily could.

It's the 3c. Lammikko is defensive. His offensive numbers are decent this year but at international level he s always been a 4th line grinder type. Even on the eye test the offensive skills are not there. Certainly not playmaking ability.

With how things are currently you could play him with Markus Granlund and Pesonen to have a good speed checking line with some offensive output.

If Rantanen were to join however you are playing some nhl talent with him. Armia could play a wing with similar grinder results but he is a good glue piece for the first line.

Kapanen would be a waste with him.

And if we get more nhl wing add, it's a no brainer to play Rantanen at center.

Rants is an excellent center and has played superbly there at times this season including a hatrick game. Good face offs too.

Laine Rantanen Armia
Pesonen Suomela Kapanen
Granlund Manninen Hartikainen

would be my top nine with Rants.

Any more nhl wing talent and Rants has to play center in my opinion.

I Much prefer Rants at center than MiG even if he joins.

May I ask, which centers do you put playing PK with these lines? Björninen and Suomela? Imagine if Björninen takes a penalty and we got just Suomela playing PK and I'm not even sure if he's very good at that. Possible solution to this is not using Rantanen as a center and adding Lammikko as a bottom-6 center or other solution would be to put either Lammikko or Sallinen playing as a winger with Björninen and Anttila or could add them both, but other one of them would be in the third line.

I'm quite sure that many people here are underrating Sallinen and how much Jalonen appreciates him. He'll most likely be in the top-12 when the tournament starts. Depends if many of Rantanen, Lehkonen, Kakko and MiG will come. Then Sallinen might be considered out of the line up and Armia would be a 4th line winger.

 

[illone84]

He's nicknamed The Moose for a reason. Not only because of his size, but because he can take this physical abuse and the fatigue as well. He's a machine who doesn't get tired easily. One of his biggest strengths. His minutes are always high as well. This is a rare opportunity for Rantanen to join, so I think that he will join. He'll get about 10 days of rest now before the WHC, more than enough for The Moose.



May I ask, which centers do you put playing PK with these lines? Björninen and Suomela? Imagine if Björninen takes a penalty and we got just Suomela playing PK and I'm not even sure if he's very good at that. Possible solution to this is not using Rantanen as a center and adding Lammikko as a bottom-6 center or other solution would be to put either Lammikko or Sallinen playing as a winger with Björninen and Anttila or could add them both, but other one of them would be in the third line.

I'm quite sure that many people here are underrating Sallinen and how much Jalonen appreciates him. He'll most likely be in the top-12 when the tournament starts. Depends if many of Rantanen, Lehkonen, Kakko and MiG will come. Then Sallinen might be considered out of the line up and Armia would be a 4th line winger.

Hopefully the moose gets loose!!!!!

 

[David OSullivan]

He's nicknamed The Moose for a reason. Not only because of his size, but because he can take this physical abuse and the fatigue as well. He's a machine who doesn't get tired easily. One of his biggest strengths. His minutes are always high as well. This is a rare opportunity for Rantanen to join, so I think that he will join. He'll get about 10 days of rest now before the WHC, more than enough for The Moose.



May I ask, which centers do you put playing PK with these lines? Björninen and Suomela? Imagine if Björninen takes a penalty and we got just Suomela playing PK and I'm not even sure if he's very good at that. Possible solutions to this is not using Rantanen as a center and adding Lammikko as a bottom-6 center or other solution would be to put put either Lammikko or Sallinen playing as a winger with Björninen and Anttila or could add them both, but other one of them would be in the third line.

That's actually a good very good point. I had Lammikko wing on fourth line alright but it's a problem if one takes a penalty.

Has Suomela played PK? He was fourth line center for a while in San Jose so I'm guessing he did.

Anyway, I' ll take the loss on this argument. I can't see how it covers all bases and Jalonen will and rightfully play a team that covers all bases.

Maybe if we get mi. Granlund I can refloat this idea because Rantanen is a very very good center. But not a PK one.

 

[Mestaruus]

That's actually a good very good point. I had Lammikko wing on fourth line alright but it's a problem if one takes a penalty.

Has Suomela played PK? He was fourth line center for a while in San Jose so I'm guessing he did.

Anyway, I' ll take the loss on this argument. I can't see how it covers all bases and Jalonen will and rightfully play a team that covers all bases.

Maybe if we get mi. Granlund I can refloat this idea because Rantanen is a very very good center. But not a PK one.

When Suomela played in the NHL in my opinion he was kind of known to be a well rounded player instead of a offensive powerhouse, so the ability to do PK should exist in his skill set. Now his offensive stats in the SHL were out of this world and I'd be very excited to see how much damage Suomela could do offensively if he is allowed to just focus on that role with as good line mates as possible. Correct me if I'm wrong people but I doubt that he played much PK in the SHL this season. So putting Suomela in as a top-6 center would be ideal and also I hope that he doesn't have to do both PK & PP. I also don't think that Jalonen prefers to do it that way. Usually Jalonen has one special teams role for each player and not double duties. We could get more out of Suomela by having Sallinen or Lammikko or both in the line up. These two are Jalonen's trusted soldiers from the past years as well. One of them or both will be in the top-12 is my prediction.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Too bad that even the NJ-NYR series had to go to game 7. I was hoping for some luck on getting Kakko. Lately we haven't been very lucky with the NHL results. Well maybe on the upcoming night we get at least one good result from the Florida series or Colorado series, but I got to say I'm not so sure about that, because of the way these NHL series have gone lately.

Few more players to mention who didn't get invited or didn't want to join: Savinainen & Lehterä. I'm more surprised about Savinainen, but maybe we had enough wingers as it is. The guy's so clutch though, but with him it's probably the age factor and international games have a different pace compared to Liiga.

On Mikael Granlund. I haven't 100% given up hope on getting him, but doesn't look promising that we havent heard anything about that. I would love to hear a "no" answer so we can stop speculating on that.

Would you really rather have Kakko than Haula? Or is the latter not likely to come if New Jersey loses?

 

[illone84]

Would you really rather have Kakko than Haula? Or is the latter not likely to come if New Jersey loses?

Haula's contract expires this year. Kakko good until end of next season

 

[Mestaruus]

Would you really rather have Kakko than Haula? Or is the latter not likely to come if New Jersey loses?

As illone84 said, contract. Mikkola from Rangers is another Finnish player, but we don't even talk about him because he also has contract negotions upcoming.

 

[FiLe]

So, Kakko's now available. Let's see what happens with him.

Gotta say, it sure would be grand getting at least one of Rantanen or Kakko. There's been enough setbacks lately. Could use some good news for change.

 

[Mestaruus]

So, Kakko's now available. Let's see what happens with him.

Gotta say, it sure would be grand getting at least one of Rantanen or Kakko. There's been enough setbacks lately. Could use some good news for change.

I'm happy with 2 of 3 of Lehkonen, Rantanen, Kakko. Just one of them coming would be disappointing.

It's starting to look like someone like Pesonen may be hard to fit in the line up soon and that sucks because he has been good and a trusted soldier on Jalonen's teams. If we would have to cut one of MaG or Pesonen, who would you guys cut? Pesonen has had more history with Jalonen but MaG has been better in the practice games in my opinion and he has chemistry with Manninen and Suomela. I would cut Pesonen over MaG, but man it will suck for Jalonen to make that decision if it comes to that.

 

[Mestaruus]

Line up without Laine & Lehkonen:

Rantanen-Suomela-Kapanen
MaG-Manninen-Hartikainen
Kakko-Lammikko-Armia
Sallinen-Björninen-Anttila

If Jalonen prefers Pesonen on the expense of Sallinen. Their roles are quite different, but could fit Pesonen in like this:

Rantanen-Suomela-Kakko
MaG-Manninen-Hartikainen
Pesonen-Lammikko-Kapanen
Armia-Björninen-Anttila

Other PK unit: Lammikko & Armia, because Kapanen as a rightie would join the PP unit with the #1 line as a 4th forward.

Kakko is some sort of poor man's MacKinnon here. Kakko's similarity to MacKinnon would be that he's good in protecting the puck and good in the corners, but the offensive production is quite different compared to Mäkinen. Suomela however would be the one compensating for that. This line could be good if those players join the team.