WJC: Finland 2020 Roster Talk

Mysteric1000

Registered User
Feb 13, 2019
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Why Nikkanen isn't playing in that U20 tournament? Is he injured again or did they really prefer some of those guys over him?

He belonged to the "challenger" roster for this WJSS, which was named already on June. So he was at the U19 camp roster that played against Swiss U20 and Finnish Hlinka-Gretzky camp roster. Only guys that actually made their way up to the last WJSS roster from that U19 team were Mikko Petman and Elias Laitamäki (originally replaced Mikko Kokkonen for first games vs USA).

But dont worry theres a lot hockey left to be played before WJC.
 

JJTT

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Jan 18, 2013
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Oulu
I think this team is actually starting to look pretty good if we get Kupari and Nordgren. Raipe seems to have taken a step forward as a coach and really liked the style they have played so far, very fast moving up the ice. Annunen looks like a completely different goalie than last year. Thomson, Heinola, Nousiainen and Utunen is a really strong d-core to build on. 4 good lines on offense, lots of young kids who can make it too.

Saarela-Lundell-Nordgren
Ranta-Kupari-Oden
Killinen-Kivenmäki-Erholtz
Puistola-Tanus-Salonen
Aaltonen

Nousiainen-Thomson
Heinola-Honka
Utunen-Kokkonen
Kukkonen/Airola

Annunen
Patrikainen

Game vs USA is starting at 23:00 today
 

Pavel Buchnevich

Drury and Laviolette Must Go
Dec 8, 2013
57,228
23,101
New York
Puistola-Kupari-Nordgren
Oden-Lundell-Kivenmaki
Aaltonen-Nikkanen-Maccelli
Ranta-Tanus-Killinen
Aa. Raty

Heinola-Thomson
Nousiainen-Honka
Utunen-Tuomisto
Kokkonen

Annunen
Blomqvist
 

Erikfromfin

Registered User
May 18, 2013
4,280
1,653
Patrik Puistola - Rasmus Kupari - Joonas Oden
Niklas Nordgren - Anton Lundell - Otto Kivenmäki
Aatu Räty - Henri Nikkanen - Brad Lambert
Lenni Killinen - Kristian Tanus - Sampo Ranta
Patrik Siikanen

Kim Nousiainen - Lassi Thomson
Ville Heinola - Anttoni Honka
Toni Utunen - Santeri Salmela
Mikko Kokkonen

Justus Annunen
Jasper Patrikainen
Joel Blomqvist
 

Conspiracy Theorist

Registered User
Jan 30, 2016
5,636
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Patrik Puistola - Rasmus Kupari - Joonas Oden
Niklas Nordgren - Anton Lundell - Otto Kivenmäki
Aatu Räty - Henri Nikkanen - Brad Lambert
Lenni Killinen - Kristian Tanus - Sampo Ranta
Patrik Siikanen

Kim Nousiainen - Lassi Thomson
Ville Heinola - Anttoni Honka
Toni Utunen - Santeri Salmela
Mikko Kokkonen

Justus Annunen
Jasper Patrikainen
Joel Blomqvist
Hell yes
 

ChicagoBullsFan

Registered User
Jun 6, 2015
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Finland
Patrik Puistola - Rasmus Kupari - Joonas Oden
Niklas Nordgren - Anton Lundell - Otto Kivenmäki
Aatu Räty - Henri Nikkanen - Brad Lambert
Lenni Killinen - Kristian Tanus - Sampo Ranta
Patrik Siikanen

Kim Nousiainen - Lassi Thomson
Ville Heinola - Anttoni Honka
Toni Utunen - Santeri Salmela
Mikko Kokkonen

Justus Annunen
Jasper Patrikainen
Joel Blomqvist

Looks great but i'm still very sorry to say this.
Lambert and Aatu Räty won't play in U20 WJC's this coming year ( 2020 ) but next year ( 2021 ) for sure.

Finland's team in upcoming U20 WJC's will be a mix of 2000 and 2001 born players-
So no room for Lambert and younger Räty. But older Räty might be in the team.
 

TheFinnishTrap

Registered User
Apr 10, 2012
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Looks great but i'm still very sorry to say this.
Lambert and Aatu Räty won't play in U20 WJC's this coming year ( 2020 ) but next year ( 2021 ) for sure.

Finland's team in upcoming U20 WJC's will be a mix of 2000 and 2001 born players-
So no room for Lambert and younger Räty. But older Räty might be in the team.
I think Räty has a decent chance to make it, Lundell made it last year and I think Räty is above him as a prospect.
 

Ippenator

Registered User
Jan 6, 2016
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Looks great but i'm still very sorry to say this.
Lambert and Aatu Räty won't play in U20 WJC's this coming year ( 2020 ) but next year ( 2021 ) for sure.

Finland's team in upcoming U20 WJC's will be a mix of 2000 and 2001 born players-
So no room for Lambert and younger Räty. But older Räty might be in the team.
You’re a bit arrogantly sure about this. I would still recommend to watch further to the forthcoming season before saying so strongly things like this. If you haven’t noticed so far, around 15-20 year old kids can have sometimes crazy development spurts in even very short periods. So I think that such sure comments like yours are really arrogant and kind of stupid at this point. You might even be right with what you are claiming, but I wouldn’t really be extremely surprised if you were after all even wrong with your (over)confident statement.
 
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Ippenator

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Jan 6, 2016
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Any chance Santeri Hatakka makes the team? I read that he looked good in a pre WJSS game.
I really hope so, as I’m an Ilves fan in Liiga, and he is their new acquisition. So far I have heard positive things about him, but it will be still a tough job for him to get to the final roster. But if he plays a really good autumn in Liiga, it might even be possible. Most probably in a 3rd pair role though. I wouldn’t really expect anything more than that, and I’m not really expecting even that. I would be in fact very happy, if he would make the final team in the 3rd pair.
 

Zub

Registered User
Nov 7, 2015
2,998
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Helsinki
I really hope so, as I’m an Ilves fan in Liiga, and he is their new acquisition. So far I have heard positive things about him, but it will be still a tough job for him to get to the final roster. But if he plays a really good autumn in Liiga, it might even be possible. Most probably in a 3rd pair role though. I wouldn’t really expect anything more than that, and I’m not really expecting even that. I would be in fact very happy, if he would make the final team in the 3rd pair.

Oh your'e an Ilves fan huh, you must be thrilled to get Thomson to play this upcoming season. I will definetally catch some games and see how he progresses because i like everything iv'e seen from him. To me he seems to have the X factor, just like Ylonen has shown imo.
 

themelkman

Always Delivers
Apr 26, 2015
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Calgary, Alberta
I really hope so, as I’m an Ilves fan in Liiga, and he is their new acquisition. So far I have heard positive things about him, but it will be still a tough job for him to get to the final roster. But if he plays a really good autumn in Liiga, it might even be possible. Most probably in a 3rd pair role though. I wouldn’t really expect anything more than that, and I’m not really expecting even that. I would be in fact very happy, if he would make the final team in the 3rd pair.
Im just hoping the sharks have a single prospect in the tourney this year as I love watching it and it lets me see some of our young guys in action.
 
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ChicagoBullsFan

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Jun 6, 2015
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Finland
You’re a bit arrogantly sure about this. I would still recommend to watch further to the forthcoming season before saying so strongly things like this. If you haven’t noticed so far, around 15-20 year old kids can have sometimes crazy development spurts in even very short periods. So I think that such sure comments like yours are really arrogant and kind of stupid at this point. You might even be right with what you are claiming, but I wouldn’t really be extremely surprised if you were after all even wrong with your (over)confident statement.

What a hurry you have to bring 15 yrs old teenager in U20 WJC's this early ?
Lambert has at least 2 yrs ( 2021 and 2022 ) time to play in U20 WJC's.

Yes he's talented and all.
But how he can or will do against players who are 3 to 5 yrs older and much stronger than him.

How he can handle the bigger and heavier players' tackles in U20 WJC's level?
This is quite important question and if Lambert isn't ready on this he shouldn't even play in this level yet.

The injury risk is present all the time when playing hard and physical games near the boards.
And if the player ( Lambert ) is in a bad position when tackling then it hurts and badly.

Badly received clean tackle can result in serious injury.
So now, brake on those speeches for bringing fifteen year old teenager in U20 WJC's this season.

PS
As a 15 yrs old Lambert is still raw of his physicality.
So let him mature, get stronger and develop without any hurry the kid ( Lambert ) is still 15 god sake.
 
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TheFinnishTrap

Registered User
Apr 10, 2012
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796
So you are predicting that Lundell isn't more than 3rd center if he makes in the team am i right ?
No, I am saying that Lundell being on the team last year shows that it isn't impossible to have someone a year away from being drafted on the team. And since I consider Räty a better prospect than Lundell, I think it's plausible that he'll get a spot. Obviously Lundell is more developed right now.
 

MaV

Registered User
Jun 23, 2002
533
51
It's interesting to see how they'll build the team. Isn't the roster 20 skaters, which means that every pick counts. Basically 13 forwards, 7 defenseman. You really need one center who can play on wing in case of a injury. Also because the roster is so small, there is a lot of competition and some good players will be left out again.

The summer camp was long, it's early and the players are young so it's no surprise that there was fluctuation in player performances. Overall the team did play well and I think those players who were on the roster have inside lane into the final roster. Also traditionally national team performance is important, so while there is time to show you belong in the team during league play, you also need to show something in the international games.

Goaltending seemed to be good, with Annunen being the more solid one. Chances are that these are the main two goalies for WJC.

Defense had depth and they can skate and play with the puck. As a group they might not be the best in the own end. Thomson was clearly number one early, but other did catch him by the end of the camp. Still his skating, puck handling, shot and physicality make him a very good player on this level. Needs to be more disciplined though, can't take extra penalties in WJC. Honka did improve during the camp and although he made mistakes, he was particularly calm with the puck in the offensive zone, making calculated decisions in the last games. That was good to see. Heinola had some injury problems, but he was very solid in the games he played. Nousiainen might have surprised some people, because he might have been previously under the radar a bit because of his late birthdate. He seemed to find a nice spot playing with Thomson. Utunen has developed nicely during the summer, he skated better and thus was able to contribute more to offense. and I still think Kokkonen would be the 6th guy when he is healthy. I don't even start guessing who might be one extra guy in WJC.

I think the weakness on forwards was the right side, with them going with Haatanen-Erholz-Räty-Petman at first in USA. Oden played on left side - like he did in Liiga and had good compete level and was able to contribute. Later they moved him and Puistola to RW. If Niklas Nordgren is healthy during the fall he should compete for a spot. Erholtz had good speed and scored early on, but the others couldn't contribute that much. On LW Ranta started to score also for the national team now, he seemed very confident with the puck. I liked Killinen better than before for Finland, previously he has been a little lackluster in my opinion, but now he was moving his legs nicely. Salonen and Siikanen were clearly the 4th line and PK grinders on this roster.

To win you need good C and this is the area were the coaching has to make decisions. Kupari will likely be in AHL, but the question is whether Kings will release him for WJC in Europe. Let's hope they will. Lundell wasn't on the score sheet, but his game was again very sound. Perhaps he didn't seem to have the best chemistry yet with Oden. The trio Kivenmäki-Saarela-Tanus is the most interesting part. All of them are mostly offensive players, and Tanus and Kivenmäki are also small. Will the coaching want to have a bigger 4th line or will they roll four lines that can score? Tanus started on the 4th line with Puistola, although they played PP from the first game. They just scored and scored, with Puistola being always dangerous in offensive zone and Tanus being able to run the PP. If Kupari-Lundell-Tanus are the first three centers, Kivenmäki and Saarela need to show more consistency, not just nice puck skills. Also Saarela had a couple of bad hits which resulted penalties. he could play on wing though, so he might get in that way as backup center. If they want a bigger center, Siikanen is the front runner for 4th line.

About the players mentioned in the thread. Nikkanen has a chance, probably as a 4th line center if he does better than the other options. Aatu Räty is the U18 guy who could make the team, I think he has a better chance than Simontaival.
 
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Pardus

Registered User
Sep 25, 2017
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Oulu, Finland
Nikkanen has a chance, probably as a 4th line center if he does better than the other options.
Nikkanen was injured a long period of last season. If he has had a good summer, he can rise to become even our 1st C in this tournament.

If Kupari can't come (not to mention Kotkaniemi) I'd go with these centers: Nikkanen - Lundell - Räty - Tanus
 

MaV

Registered User
Jun 23, 2002
533
51
Nikkanen was injured a long period of last season. If he has had a good summer, he can rise to become even our 1st C in this tournament.

If Kupari can't come (not to mention Kotkaniemi) I'd go with these centers: Nikkanen - Lundell - Räty - Tanus
Well yes, of course that is possible. What I'm thinking is that if Kupari is on the roster they might build some of the lines around established duos of Lundell-Nordgren and Puistola-Tanus, with Kupari maybe with someone like Ranta. Thus there would be one spot left on a "4th line". Of course if Kupari isn't available things change.

However, it's not easy to get into WJC when you have no games in U20 national team previously. The next tournament is late this month, and Nikkanen might very well feature in that one. They'll probably do some rotation and Jukurit doesn't have games that weekend of 23rd-25th (I think). The last tournament is in November btw.
 

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