WC: 2021 Finland Roster Talk

[Eye of Ra]

My favourite misspelling of a name, probably very popular with the swedes too

When swedes think of filppula we think of Ilari Fillpula, who did good with Malmö and MoDo.

 

[mattihp]

When swedes think of filppula we think of Ilari Fillpula, who did good with Malmö and MoDo.

Fil-pulla then?

 

[Mestaruus]

Fil-pulla then?

Give the guy mercy .

 

[Mestaruus]

Turunen-Ruohomaa-Pakarinen
Ruotsalainen-Kontiola-Savinainen
Sallinen-Lundell-Suomi
Mäenalanen-Björninen-Anttila

Määttä-Pokka
Ohtamaa-Kaski
Lindbohm-Rindell
Kivistö-Eronen

Lankinen
Olkinuora

I'm going with this now. A big part of it is based on Jalonen's recent selections & lines.

 

[David OSullivan]

Turunen-Ruohomaa-Pakarinen
Ruotsalainen-Kontiola-Savinainen
Sallinen-Lundell-Suomi
Mäenalanen-Björninen-Anttila

Määttä-Pokka
Ohtamaa-Kaski
Lindbohm-Rindell
Kivistö-Eronen

Lankinen
Olkinuora

I'm going with this now. A big part of it is based on Jalonen's recent selections & lines.

Yep. I think probably karjalainen gets in one of the lines but this looks about right to me also.

Are we favourites with this lineup?
Will any team find it easy to play against this lineup?

Answer to both is no. This team has a chance.

 

[GusevNik]

I was surprised he was asked. I am also surprised he hasn't made an effort to play for the US yet.

Are you only interested in the correct spelling of surnames? Is there anything else you're interested in besides this? Maybe hockey?

 

[mattihp]

Are you only interested in the correct spelling of surnames? Is there anything else you're interested in besides this? Maybe hockey?

Well, when the incorrect spelling is genitals with a smearing of sour milk.. It will entertain me for a minute or two. If you look through my posts only half of them are about that!

 

[Mestaruus]

Yep. I think probably karjalainen gets in one of the lines but this looks about right to me also.

Are we favourites with this lineup?
Will any team find it easy to play against this lineup?

Answer to both is no. This team has a chance.

Karjalainen played good but his last season's KHL stats weren't amazing. Not good but not bad stats, so I don't think he's any better than few other players. I won't base it all on 2 games and one of the goals was empty netter as well. In my books he's competing for the last spot with Suomi and maybe Hännikäinen.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Karjalainen played good but his last season's KHL stats weren't amazing. Not good but not bad stats, so I don't think he's any better than few other players. I won't base it all on 2 games and one of the goals was empty netter as well. In my books he's competing for the last spot with Suomi and maybe Hännikäinen.

Well, he is the kind of player who doesn't really drive the scoring on his own and he played on the team completely starved of any offensive creativity. If given the chance he will score, just like he did in Liiga and just like he did yesterday but in general, his value shouldn't be measured in points.

 

[David OSullivan]

Well, when the incorrect spelling is genitals with a smearing of sour milk.. It will entertain me for a minute or two. If you look through my posts only half of them are about that!

Ha ha. That's hilarious. I'm going to call him filpulla forever now.

 

[Mestaruus]

Well, he is the kind of player who doesn't really drive the scoring on his own and he played the team completely starved of any offensive creativity. If given the chance he will score, just like he did in Liiga and just like he did yesterday but in general, his value shouldn't be measured in points.

That's good to know and I believe you when you say that. I was just basing it on stats and stats don't always tell the whole truth about someone.

 

[JabbaJabba]

There were definititely multiple times when Määttä was in the playoffs when Pittsburgh got eliminated round 1 or round 2 and we had slots open in the WHC team and he said he's tired or that he had injuries or they didn't report anything regarding Määttä. I just remember the disappointment I had towards him multiple times.

I give him the benefit of the doubt about his reasoning being true and it being the team's benefit that he didn't join WHC some of those times if he didn't have motivation or energy to play anymore during those seasons, but the fact that it happened each time made me think that he's just another light version of "Captain America Ristolainen" as some have put it. A lot will be forgiven if he steps up now.

Määttä has now played 8 seasons in the NHL. Here I have listed his situation every Spring:

2014 Määttä was prevented by his team from participating in WHC, even though he wanted to attend (source).
2015 Määttä’s season was ended by an injury (source).
2016 Penguins won the Stanley Cup, thus he was unable to attend.
2017 Penguins won the Stanley Cup, thus he was unable to attend.
2018 Määttä said no to the invitation (source). He did play 94 NHL games, so I think it wasn't surprising.
2019 Jalonen finalized the team early. They didn’t wait for any possible upgrades from NHL, thus no chance to join.
2020 No WHC was played.
2021 Määttä is rumoured to play.

So that is one time Määttä has said no to an invitation. 5/8 times he didn’t have a chance to participate and once his team prevented him from joining. And this year he’s expected to play. Sorry but you are misremembering or mixing him up with someone else.

 

[Mestaruus]

So that is one time Määttä has said no to an invitation. 5/8 times he didn’t have a chance to participate and once his team prevented him from joining. And this year he’s expected to play. Sorry but you are misremembering or mixing him up with someone else.

Okay he's nothing close to Ristolainen then and you are right . I must give you credit for saving that info each season. Do you do that with each player or are you just a big Määttä fan? I'd imagine it would be hard to google all that season by season now/afterwards.

Artturi Lehkonen is king Ristolainen's prince though, right ? This year he obviously can't join (super small chance that he can I guess with a fast playoff exit) but he's another case that feels like he declines WHC invitations nearly every chance that he can.

 

[king89]

When swedes think of filppula we think of Ilari Fillpula, who did good with Malmö and MoDo.

Will always be thankful to Ilari Filppula as a MoDo fan, 14 points in 7 games in the regulation seriens against Leksand. He was absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately it wasn't enough as one of the biggest upsets in sports took place..

 

[Eye of Ra]

so this finland lost to czech and sweden. and yet you guys say this team is gonna challenge for gold in wc?

there is 17 players missing from 2019 team.

 

[BigBadBoar]

so this finland lost to czech and sweden. and yet you guys say this team is gonna challenge for gold in wc?

there is 17 players missing from 2019 team.

Pre-tournament games never tell you so much. They are about testing different lines, making the last few cuts from the roster and so on.

 

[FiLe]

Final squad:

Janne Juvonen, Leksands IF
Jussi Olkinuora, Metallurg Magnitogorsk
Harri Säteri, Sibir Novosibirsk

Oliwer Kaski, Avangard Omsk
Miika Koivisto, Växjo Lakers
Petteri Lindbohm, EHC Biel
Olli Määttä, Los Angeles Kings
Kim Nousiainen, KalPa
Atte Ohtamaa, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Ville Pokka, Avangard Omsk
Axel Rindell, Jukurit
Mikael Seppälä, KalPa
Tony Sund, HC Davos

Marko Anttila, Jokerit
Hannes Björninen, Pelicans
Jere Innala, HPK
Jere Karjalainen, HK Sochi
Petri Kontiola, HPK
Anton Lundell, HIFK
Saku Mäenalanen, Jokerit
Niko Ojamäki, HC Linköping
Iiro Pakarinen, Jokerit
Valtteri Puustinen, HPK
Mikael Ruohomaa, Sibir Novosibirsk
Arttu Ruotsalainen, Buffalo Sabres
Jere Sallinen, HIFK
Peter Tiivola, Ässät
Teemu Turunen, HC Davos

 

[BertCorbeau]

Does Rindell get into the line up for Finland? Or he more of an extra body for depth?

 

[David OSullivan]

Final squad:

Janne Juvonen, Leksands IF
Jussi Olkinuora, Metallurg Magnitogorsk
Harri Säteri, Sibir Novosibirsk

Oliwer Kaski, Avangard Omsk
Miika Koivisto, Växjo Lakers
Petteri Lindbohm, EHC Biel
Olli Määttä, Los Angeles Kings
Kim Nousiainen, KalPa
Atte Ohtamaa, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Ville Pokka, Avangard Omsk
Axel Rindell, Jukurit
Mikael Seppälä, KalPa
Tony Sund, HC Davos

Marko Anttila, Jokerit
Hannes Björninen, Pelicans
Jere Innala, HPK
Jere Karjalainen, HK Sochi
Petri Kontiola, HPK
Anton Lundell, HIFK
Saku Mäenalanen, Jokerit
Niko Ojamäki, HC Linköping
Iiro Pakarinen, Jokerit
Valtteri Puustinen, HPK
Mikael Ruohomaa, Sibir Novosibirsk
Arttu Ruotsalainen, Buffalo Sabres
Jere Sallinen, HIFK
Peter Tiivola, Ässät
Teemu Turunen, HC Davos

Is saivinainen injured? Really surprised he is not in.

 

[FiLe]

Does Rindell get into the line up for Finland? Or he more of an extra body for depth?

Finland will likely play with eight d-men in regular rotation, and Rindell definitely used his chance in the preliminary games. When an offensive d-man posts 2+0, he'll likely feature regularly in the final lineup as well.

The most probable extra bodies can be found between Nousiainen, Seppälä and Sund - although even they will likely get a game or two.

 

[FiLe]

Is saivinainen injured? Really surprised he is not in.

No idea. I was a bit surprised as well for Claywoman getting cut.

e: It was just stated that he got injured.

 

[Poiquets]

Is saivinainen injured? Really surprised he is not in.

Yep, it was stated that he would have been in the squad if he was not injured.

 

[BigBadBoar]

Final squad:

Janne Juvonen, Leksands IF
Jussi Olkinuora, Metallurg Magnitogorsk
Harri Säteri, Sibir Novosibirsk

Oliwer Kaski, Avangard Omsk
Miika Koivisto, Växjo Lakers
Petteri Lindbohm, EHC Biel
Olli Määttä, Los Angeles Kings
Kim Nousiainen, KalPa
Atte Ohtamaa, Lokomotiv Yaroslavl
Ville Pokka, Avangard Omsk
Axel Rindell, Jukurit
Mikael Seppälä, KalPa
Tony Sund, HC Davos

Marko Anttila, Jokerit
Hannes Björninen, Pelicans
Jere Innala, HPK
Jere Karjalainen, HK Sochi
Petri Kontiola, HPK
Anton Lundell, HIFK
Saku Mäenalanen, Jokerit
Niko Ojamäki, HC Linköping
Iiro Pakarinen, Jokerit
Valtteri Puustinen, HPK
Mikael Ruohomaa, Sibir Novosibirsk
Arttu Ruotsalainen, Buffalo Sabres
Jere Sallinen, HIFK
Peter Tiivola, Ässät
Teemu Turunen, HC Davos

Doesn't look exactly great on paper but when I remember the 2019 squad which eventually won gold, I would never underestimate those Finns.

 

[FiLe]

Doesn't look exactly great on paper but when I remember the 2019 squad which eventually won gold, I would never underestimate those Finns.

I'd say this is actually a better squad on paper than the 2019 edition. But the 2019 squad was really underwhelming on paper.

 

[Kaako Kappo]

Roster looks fun.