Olympics: 2014 — Finland Roster Discussion (Part III) (Released, post #1)

[Snowsii]

Those stats will change. Ive seen Barkov loose 10 or so out of 11 Faceoffs against Backes, Stamkos and co in NHL. Even Barkov said himself when he played against winnipeg and olli Jokinen he lost every faceoff. To call it superloss loosing best faceoff guy against austria and norway is long way from superloss relax man Mikko Koivu , Filppula and co are far more shocking losses. Barkov is future but need to relax now and have faith in the remaining squad.

Well yeah, nothing to worry about but Kontiola were only one with 50% FO @ Norway game, Everyone else lost more thant won.. So what do you think will happen us against those you mentioned?

 

[Erikfromfin]

Well yeah, nothing to worry about but Kontiola were only one with 50% FO @ Norway game, Everyone else lost more thant won.. So what do you think will happen us against those you mentioned?

I expect them to improve in that area.

 

[Snowsii]

I expect them to improve in that area.

Im hoping that also..

Im not saying losing Barkov is death blow to Finland, but were going to miss him. (Protecting puck in corners, faceoffs and takeaways)

Well, maybe we see immonen @ first line then.

 

[rduck1]

So we're now missing 4 top centermen... Great.

I think Immonen would fit best on the first line. He's a smart player and good finisher, plus he has familiarity with Granlund as well. I'd say OJ line would take the 1st line designation as far as minutes go in that case though. Another option is MG at center with someone else coming in at LW, but that would affect more lines and I don't like that idea now that they all seem to be clicking.

 

[QnebO]

Granlund - Immonen - Selänne
Korpikoski - Olli Jokinen- Ruutu
Aaltonen - J. Jokinen - Komarov
Pihlström - Kontiola - Lehterä

Putting worst players that we must include in 4th line makes the offensive teamlook pretty good. And even 4th line ain't that bad.

 

[Erikfromfin]

Jussi Jokinen - Mikael Granlund - Teemu Selänne
Lauri Korpikoski - Olli Jokinen - Tuomo Ruutu
Jori Lehterä - Petri Kontiola - Juhamatti Aaltonen
Leo Komarov - Jarkko Immonen - Antti Pihlström
Sakari Salminen

 

[Gaps]

I expect them to improve in that area.

OJ isn't a good faceoff guy, never has been. Lehterä and Kontiola are likely not able to win a lot of faceoffs against tough teams. Immonen is probably our most reliable faceoff center and that's scary. This truly looks like a typical WC team where Mikko has been replaced with OJ and that's a bad tradeoff.

 

[Depch]

Jussi Jokinen - Mikael Granlund - Teemu Selänne
Lauri Korpikoski - Olli Jokinen - Tuomo Ruutu
Jori Lehterä - Petri Kontiola - Juhamatti Aaltonen
Leo Komarov - Jarkko Immonen - Antti Pihlström
Sakari Salminen

It has to be this one. Granlund is ok in defensive game as well, he needs to move to C and I'm not comfortable having 3/4 centers from Europe in vs best the nhl can offer.

+ would prolly change the bottom 2 a bit

 

[Gh24]

Scandinavia is cursed

Pitkänen
Koivu
Koivu
Franzén
Sedin
Filppula
Zetterberg
Barkov

Btw, swedish or finish team hurt the most?

Even thought those swedes are individually more talented, their impact on the team overall ain't quite the same as these injuries are for us finns.

 

[QnebO]

Jussi Jokinen - Mikael Granlund - Teemu Selänne
Lauri Korpikoski - Olli Jokinen - Tuomo Ruutu
Jori Lehterä - Petri Kontiola - Juhamatti Aaltonen
Leo Komarov - Jarkko Immonen - Antti Pihlström
Sakari Salminen

3rd line is horrible, would be completely useless line.. But MG to the center isn't a move outside of consideration in this case.

 

[Kulleroinen*]

Jussi Jokinen - Mikael Granlund - Teemu Selänne
Lauri Korpikoski - Olli Jokinen - Tuomo Ruutu
Jori Lehterä - Petri Kontiola - Juhamatti Aaltonen
Leo Komarov - Jarkko Immonen - Antti Pihlström
Sakari Salminen

Well... that is not totally horrible, considering we are missing 4 centers.

 

[ilezia]

Barkov is in Magnetic Pictures (at least finns get what I mean) to see the condition of hes knee.

e. ignore that had some old tab open

 

[Kibe]

At this point I think it's kind off a no brainer to move Granlund to middle.
I'd roll the lines like this:

J.Jokinen - Granlund - Selänne
Korpikoski - O.Jokinen - Ruutu
Pihlström - Kontiola - Aaltonen
Komarov - Immonen - Lehterä

If Konna-JMA Magic doesnt work at this level then in quarter's
(or what ever game is after Canada game) It would be fun to see

Pihlström - Kontiola - Salminen

Think about the speed of that line.

 

[TaLoN]

Granlund is solid in the faceoff circle and plays well defensively too. He's a much better Center than Winger, so at least the Finns would be utilizing his skill better with him in the middle imo.

 

[VictorLustig]

Zuccarello said he was more impressed by Finland than Canada.

 

[Gaps]

Zuccarello said he was more impressed by Finland than Canada.

Canada had no idea how to play big ice hockey for most of that game. It may have proved difficult for them to beat a team like Switzerland with the way they played in that game. It was funny seeing them not using the extra space at all. I wouldn't put any weight on what Zuccarello said.

 

[Mestaruus]

Jussi Jokinen - Mikael Granlund - Teemu Selänne
Lauri Korpikoski - Olli Jokinen - Tuomo Ruutu
Jori Lehterä - Petri Kontiola - Juhamatti Aaltonen
Leo Komarov - Jarkko Immonen - Antti Pihlström
Sakari Salminen

You forgot to include source: Jortikka. Admit .

 

[FiLe]

This truly looks like a typical WC team where Mikko has been replaced with OJ and that's a bad tradeoff.

At least defense and goalies are still miles better.

I believe Erkka and co. will want to go with as little changes as possible. So from the last game, they'll simply put one of Immonen - Lehterä in Barkov's stead, other one at 4C, replace Salminen with Aaltonen and call it a lineup.

 

[Lennu32]

Pretty much this

 

[iDangleDangle]

This truly looks like a typical WC team where Mikko has been replaced with OJ and that's a bad tradeoff.

Quoted for truth.

People are really downplaying Barkov's importance here. He was an essential part not only because of his excellent 2-way play but his creativity, vision, board play and transition game in the neutral zone. Without him Finland lost a great deal of their puck possession game. Immonen possesses none of the aforementioned attributes (aside from decent 2-way game), and putting him or Lehterä in the 1st line would be a huge liability. I can already see the Crosby's and Datsyuk's mandhandling our euro stars shift after shift Looking good on limited minutes with the easiest match ups against such hockey giants like Austria and Norway doesn't suddenly make them Barkov's equals.

This is how I would roll with current, sad situation of our roster:

Korpedo - MG - Selänne
JJ - OJ - Lehterä
Komarov - Kontiola - Ruutu (the shutdown line, albeit not a good one but the best we can afford without risking the offense of the top 6)
Pihlström - Immonen - Salminen (the leftovers playing as limited minutes as possible)

We don't have enough quality players for three scoring lines anymore, hence putting all of our best talent in the top 6 and assembling a some sort of shutdown line around Konna.

Worst olympic lineup since...?

 

[rduck1]

At least defense and goalies are still miles better.

I believe Erkka and co. will want to go with as little changes as possible. So from the last game, they'll simply put one of Immonen - Lehterä in Barkov's stead, other one at 4C, replace Salminen with Aaltonen and call it a lineup.

This seems like the most sensible solution to me as well. 2nd line was working well against Norway, while the 3rd had some good looks against Austria. Komarov-Lehterä-Pihlström was a good unit in the Norway game as well. I don't like the idea of breaking those up just to stack the top line when you can just plug a player into Barkov's spot.

 

[Snowsii]

Quoted for truth.

People are really downplaying Barkov's importance here. He was an essential part not only because of his excellent 2-way play but his creativity, vision, board play and transition game in the neutral zone. Without him Finland lost a great deal of their puck possession game. Immonen possesses none of the aforementioned attributes (aside from decent 2-way game), and putting him or Lehterä in the 1st line would be a huge liability. I can already see the Crosby's and Datsyuk's mandhandling our euro stars shift after shift Looking good on limited minutes with the easiest match ups against such hockey giants like Austria and Norway doesn't suddenly make them Barkov's equals.

This is how I would roll with current, sad situation of our roster:

Korpedo - MG - Selänne
JJ - OJ - Lehterä
Komarov - Kontiola - Ruutu (the shutdown line, albeit not a good one but the best we can afford without risking the offense of the top 6)
Pihlström - Immonen - Salminen (the leftovers playing as limited minutes as possible)

We don't have enough quality players for three scoring lines anymore, hence putting all of our best talent in the top 6 and assembling a some sort of shutdown line around Konna.

Worst olympic lineup since...?

IMO Immonen is better than lehterä, So either;

MG - Immonen - Selänne

JJ - OJ - Korpikoski

or

JJ - MG - Selänne

Korpikoski - OJ - Ruutu

dont go to 3rd and 4th lines, but either way: Salminen is eating popcorns.

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

I think Jortikka's lines are it. Second line seems to work, so we must gamble that its set. Jussi Jokinen is wasted on a non- working 3rd line, so give him more time, 1st line duty and mig to center.

This way hopefully our first line doesnt weaken much, if we get more from JJ in return, if 2nd line is set then we have our top 6 and goalies that we gamble on..

 

[Erikfromfin]

You forgot to include source: Jortikka. Admit .

shh

 

[King 88]