So Boston vs Tampa is live now. Might be that Boston is out after tonight. I would give Rask a day to get his shít together mentally and ask him right away and not wait or care about if Nashville would lose. The sooner we get one of Rask/Rinne/Saros the better, so there's no jet lag or anyting like that during the QF.
Later there is also Vegas at San Jose and Vegas is leading 3-2. Kind of hoping San Jose would tie it if Donskoi has a small injury.
If there's one player I'd like to get, it'd be Haula. In fact, I was hoping for him since the start of the tournament, but for a bit different reasons. Initially, I thought he'd make a nice centre piece for the Carolina duo, but the way Xavi has been playing with them, there's no way that unit's getting broken up any time soon. In fact, we're closer to coming up with a catchy nickname for them. Tehonainen? Eh, I digress. I'd still like to get Haula, but now I think he'd make a nice complementary piece for MiG and Rants. Granlund-Haula-Rantanen.
Not that I'll be awfully worried even if we don't get anyone, since I know both Granny and Rants will be money when the opposition toughens. Those guys are like diamonds - they will only get better under pressure. And even if they do need to switch Kapanen out to really jumpstart them, we might actually have all the necessary pieces already. Has anyone else noticed how good Pesonen has been, at least so far? Definitely looks like a great pickup from Marjamäki. So if push comes to shove and we do need a round of musical chairs in the lineup, all they have to do is add Niemi to do the 4C duty. Then they can shuffle the forwards accordingly...
Pesonen - Granlund - Rantanen
Savinainen - Aho - Teräväinen
Jormakka/Manninen - Suomela - Kapanen
Mäenalanen - Niemi - Anttila
Both Jormakka and Manninen have been kinda underwhelming, so I've no opinion on which one I'd rather see out of the lineup. Though no forwards coming would need playtime for Palola too, in which case both could be ousted, and they could try a third line of Kapanen-Suomela-Palola.
But yeah, it's early days, and obviously they won't be doing anything at least yet, given how it's still possible some NHLers could come - and how well we seem to be doing against weaker opponents.
As one last notion, I do like our odds of getting someone from overseas, if we still believe the old adage of talent drawing talent. I bet the guys still stuck in their day jobs are also watching how this squad if faring. So, if we there's a healthy player - any position - who gets eliminated, and the club won't stand in his way, I'd be willing to bet he will come. This team appears to have a special thing going for it, and he's going to want a piece of it. Heck, I could see even Laine joining if he just is healthy and the earlier news of him skipping practices was him simply feeling slightly gassed.
Good game and he didn't see that one goal at all. Problem is that the other goalie Säteri is pretty much just as good. Säteri didn't stop a breakaway goal yesterday though. I would give slight edge to Husso but I think coaches have Säteri #1 still.
Well, our goalie plan going forward sure looks simple: give Säteri the game vs. Norway, Husso the game vs. Denmark - and then decide between Rask and Rinne vs. Canada.
