Finnish National Team 2014-2015 season.

[JJTT]

Thought I'd make a thread for next year's national team, as there is plenty of discussion in many threads.

Confirmed games (more will be added later):

Finnish EHT
6.11. Finland-Czech
8.11. Finland-Russia
9.11. Finland-Russia

Russian EHT:
18.12. Russia-Finland
20.12. Finland-Czech
21.12. Finland-Sweden

5.–8.2. Sweden-Finland 2 games
1.–5.4. Switzerland-Finland 2 games
8.–12.4. Germany-Finland 2 games
15.–19.4. Russia Finland 2 games
22.–26.4. Czech-Finland 2 games

1.–17.5. WC, Czech Rebublic

Coaching staff:

Team Leader: Kari Savolainen
GM Jere Lehtinen
Head Coach: Kari Jalonen
Assistant Coach: Lauri Marjamäki
Assistant Coach: Ville Peltonen

Players:

Goalies:

We still have great depth in Europe. Saros, Kolppanen Koskinen and Engren seem to be the top guys at this point. Still the best goalie depth in Europe so no worries here.

Defence:

Only loss to North America is at this point is Pokka, who wasn't even regular with the national team. Järvinen and Melart come back to KHL, which is a good thing for the national team. Honka is the other possible guy who could play in Europe next year. New guys who could become regulars with the national team are Lindell, Kivistö, Taimi, Ohtamaa and Eronen

Centers:

With Teräväinen,Lehterä and Kontiola leaving to NHL we only have Kapanen, Koskiranta, T.Sallinen, Wirtanen and Immonen who have been part of the national teams core for few years. Emerge of new centers in Europe is needed. Possible new guys are M.Aaltonen, Kemppainen, Järvinen, Saarela and J.Mustonen

Wingers:

With Aaltonen, Palola, Puustinen, Rajala, Salminen, Jormakka, Donskoi, Lehkonen and Junttila likely staying in Europe scoring winger depth is good. We are covered in grinder department also, despite losing Komarov. Hartikainen, Osala and Pihlström are good players for 4th line.

Future:

Our national team needs to give more changes for young players now which is a great thing. AHL/NHL/NCAA/CHL needs to be improved a ton, which Lehtinen promised to focus on.

Click to read more...

 

[Erikfromfin]

Really good opening. Helpful that dont need to bounce in various threads.

Guy that im waiting to see more next season is Janne Niskala. Struggled with injuries in KHL and could be big bounceback season in Lukko.

 

[FiLe]

With Teräväinen,Lehterä and Kontiola leaving to NHL we only have Kapanen, Koskiranta, T.Sallinen, Wirtanen and Immonen who have been part of the national teams core for few years. Emerge of new centers in Europe is needed. Possible new guys are M.Aaltonen, Kemppainen, Järvinen, Saarela and J.Mustonen

Out of the old guard, Kapanen has openly stated he's done with the NT, leaving one less name to contend with.

We should see some interesting picks wear the Lion jersey this season, which is not a bad thing. When this happens, at least one or two will usually step up and establish themselves. That's a good starting list of contenders, except Saarela might be teeny bit optimistic. A 17-year-old in the men's NT? I think trying to establish himself on the U20 level will be a hefty enough challenge for him for this season.

 

[UsernameWasTaken]

Hope all is well in Finland.

Do any of you have up-to-date stats on Teravainen's height/weight - I think his oft-quoted weight is actually his draft weight and I don't believe he hasn't grown since then.

I just looked at hockeyDB and they had him at 5'10 and 185 lb. Does that sound correct?

 

[Lapa]

185 sounds about right.

 

[edd1e]

Hope all is well in Finland.

Do any of you have up-to-date stats on Teravainen's height/weight - I think his oft-quoted weight is actually his draft weight and I don't believe he hasn't grown since then.

I just looked at hockeyDB and they had him at 5'10 and 185 lb. Does that sound correct?

He's 5'11 180cm

 

[m4tt145]

Do you see T.Sallinen as an established player for the Finnish NT? Im really excited to see him in Sweden. It would be nice to see him playing international games too.

 

[FiLe]

He's 5'11 180cm

Can we be absolutely sure, though? They do have the tendency to embellish when they do the first conversion from cm to inches, adding an extra one or at least rounding up.

The extra ones then tend to stick when they adopt the NA standard and convert that back to cm.

 

[FiLe]

Do you see T.Sallinen as an established player for the Finnish NT? Im really excited to see him in Sweden. It would be nice to see him playing international games too.

He's one candidate for bottom-six C, along with J-P Hytönen, Petteri Wirtanen and who else - too many to list. Pretty high among the type now most likely, but probably not a guy the coach would have on his speed dial.

Regardless, there is a fairly good chance that the WHC was no the last we saw of him in blue-and-white. Exhibition games, maybe another WHC here or there. Not best-on-best, though.

 

[mattihp]

National team Ohtamaa was well better than the Liiga-Ohtamaa we saw. I fully expect him to make it all the way to the World champs provided he plays well.

 

[FiLe]

I fully expect him to make it all the way to the World champs provided he plays well.

Given how he already did and certainly earned his sea legs, this is far from a reaching expectation. While we're getting better year by year, our d-man pool still isn't embarassingly deep. So he's actually one of the more likely candidates.


But like I said, it's getting better. There's a lot to like in our Europe-based d-man depth going into this season.

OD-L:
Lepistö
Salmela
Mäntylä
Mäenpää
Kivistö

OD-R:
Hietanen
Lajunen
Karalahti
Honka(?)

DD:
Väänänen
Kukkonen
Jaakola
Ohtamaa
Järvinen
Laakso

 

[JJTT]

http://www.suomikiekko.com/2014/08/yli-600-nhl-ottelun-ex-pelaajasta-leijonien-uusi-huoltaja/

lol

 

[FiLe]

Wonder if he's in a position to do more or less damage than Juti.

 

[Periwinkle]

For what it's worth, I haven't heard anything negative about his job performance in TPS.

 

[JJTT]

http://www.urheilulehti.fi/jaakiekk...asta-suunnasta-ei-saa-missaan-nimessa-unohtaa (Jalonen talks about AHL scouting and some more)

Lehtinen doing a really good job so far.

 

[master4071]

Can someone translate key points from your new coach?

 

[FiLe]

(Jalonen talks about AHL scouting and some more)

Between the lines, you could almost hear him accusing his predecessors of laziness.

No way he'll ever say it out loud of course. Still, I remember I had a plenty of critique for Erkka and Kurri for their lackluster AHL scouting. Looks like the Nose (and especially Lehtinen) agree with that. Perhaps now someone else than Salomäki will end up on some "good reports" too. (I still can't quite comprehend how that single player Erkka managed to scout and haul in was of the type the team already had in droves.)

Can someone translate key points from your new coach?

He says that he seeks to tighten the amount of communication between Finnish players in the KHL and especially the AHL. He's also seeking to utilize the players' agents as ground-to-earth channel.

He also commented on the retooled NT calendar in regards of the now-buried EHT, said that he doesn't view it as a big change since the amount of games stays practically the same.

 

[Gaps]

http://www.leijonat.fi/uutiset/tuoreimmat/item/11252-he-ovat-uudet-jaakiekkoleijonat.html

Sami Kapanen, Peltonen and Niinimaa will be inducted into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame this fall, along with Sari Marjamäki and Anne Haanpää.

I wonder if Kipper will ever be inducted or if they're just making him wait. Honestly, if they're letting Niinimaa in, they should definitely show the same respect to Kipper.

 

[mattihp]

I can't ever remember Niinimaa saying no to the NT. In fact it seems there were times he whined himself to play more on the NT

Niinimaa was always willing and Kipper was a worse whiner IMO.

 

[FiLe]

I wonder if Kipper will ever be inducted or if they're just making him wait.

To be fair, Kipper's pedigree of listable achievements does not turn out very long. It might be enough as is, but could be they want to add his post-career record to the list, starting from his current U20 gig. Some might also view it as "redemption" after his long bout of declinations.

Or could be they want to even out the list a bit, so that they won't have a ton one year and one to two names the next. They do have a pair of big ones coming up though as Saku and Teemu will no doubt get inducted next year. Let's see if he can get in with that batch. Or the one following that.

It's worth noting that Pasi Nurminen had to wait a bit too, being a 2012 inductee. Looks like a similar case - too little achievements in the Lion jersey (at least in part due to premature career closure, of course), and they decided to hand it to him after those NT coaching gigs. But you could still argue that his achievements as a player ought to have been enough too, since he was practically the pathfinder for the invasion of the Finnish goalies into the NHL. So yeah, I don't really see them giving the short shaft to Kipper - yet.

 

[rduck1]

http://yle.fi/urheilu/leijona-luots...hl-kiertueella__tanne_on_tultu_toihin/7524641

Article about NT staff's NHL scouting trip. Seems like NA scouting is being taking much more seriously now, as expected.

 

[FiLe]

Article about NT staff's NHL scouting trip. Seems like NA scouting is being taking much more seriously now, as expected.

Jalonen needs to meet'n'greet every Finnish player possibly falling into his realm and it's a good thing he's not dallying about that, but as long as it's confined to those NHL regulars, it's hardly "scouting". This could technically be no different to the trips by the previous reign, only reported in a more detailed manner. I'll give it a proper fist pump when I hear them touring the AHL.

Of course, both Jalonen and Lehtinen are known of their extremely pedant work ethics so I wouldn't really be surprised when those news come to pass. But before that I still have to say that while the tingles a good, we haven't really seen anything concrete yet.

 

[Needles]

It seems like Finnish AHL players are stuck in a limbo. When they play in Finland, they are EHT calibre players. But when they make the jump to AHL, it's like they suddenly don't exist. At least, to our national team coaches they don't. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen any reports on Jalonen/Kurri/Lehtinen scouting in Grand Rapids, Rochester or Rockford. Ever.

It's funny how in 2008's World Championships Shedden & Kurri were raving about Pihlström. "He's a good young player, he scored 27 goals in AHL this year." Well, last year Markus Granlund scored 25 and Pulkkinen scored 30. And both were left out even from preliminary camp rosters. No one seemed to care.

I'm not saying that AHL is better than KHL. But if you ask me, we are settling for lesser talent just because we are neglecting an entire league. (Teemu Pulkkinen > Sakari Salminen, Markus Granlund > Janne Pesonen etc).

Jalonen on rapakon takana yhdessä Leijonien general manager Jere Lehtisen kanssa. Matka alkoi sunnuntaina räväkästi New Yorkissa, kun Leo Komarov oli Rangersia vastaan Toronton avainpelaajia kahdella syötöllään.

...

Kaksikko suuntaa New Yorkista seuraavaksi Floridan lämpöön, kun maanantai-illan ohjelmana on Aleksander Barkovin, Jussi Jokisen ja Sean Bergenheimin vireen katsastaminen. Florida Panthers isännöi kotijäällään Ottawa Senatorsia.

Yeah, you really need to evaluate how Komarov and Jokinen are playing......in October. It's not like you've seen already, maybe once or twice, what these players bring to the table. And of course, you really have to see Barkov playing live before you can make any decisions. It's not like he's automatically in the team, if's he's available and healthy.

To call these things "scouting trips" is laughable.

 

[rduck1]

Yeah, you really need to evaluate how Komarov and Jokinen are playing......in October. It's not like you've seen already, maybe once or twice, what these players bring to the table. And of course, you really have to see Barkov playing live before you can make any decisions. It's not like he's automatically in the team, if's he's available and healthy.

To call these things "scouting trips" is laughable.

They do need to meet with them to find out what their goals are and if they're interested in playing for the national team this season. This is also a new group of people in charge of the NT, so it's important to establish relations with the top players and get familiar with them as players as well as people. It's also an opportunity to convince the organizations that it's in their interest to send players to the WHC and such.

Now I certainly want them to look more in the AHL, and I would've much preferred guys like Ristolainen, Ma.Granlund and Pulkkinen over the types of Huhtala or Lajunen. This trip doesn't quite prove that this is what's going to happen of course, but I think it's sort of an indication that Lehtinen, KJ and co. are interested in looking more actively in that direction.

 

[FiLe]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen any reports on Jalonen/Kurri/Lehtinen scouting in Grand Rapids, Rochester or Rockford. Ever.

Actually, there was a story a while back that mentioned Lehtinen touring the AHL. Back then, he wasn't GM however but merely a part-time scout, so perhaps his reports did not bear that much weight.

And which Jalonen are you referring to? I don't recall the old one ever touring the AHL, but let's keep in mind that the new one has only been on the job since June. Kinda hard for him to scout a league which hasn't even properly started.

Kurri... no comment. As far as I'm aware, his "scouting trips" consisted of a flight to sunny Florida, and from there another flight to sunny California to get drunk at Casa de Selänne. Possible stopover at St. Paul.

Generally I agree with your comments concerning the AHL. I think most ridiculous case of there existing nothing under the NHL is case Tommi Kivistö. A season ago, he was playing in the ECHL. ECHL. Then he comes back to Liiga. And next spring, he's at the WHC. Okay, it might be an unfair example since you certainly don't expect to find WHC-caliber players in the ECHL. Regardless, there is room for huge improvement on having eyes on the AHL at least. Anybody's guess at the moment if KJ & Lehtinen are up to the task, but here's hoping.

They do need to meet with them to find out what their goals are and if they're interested in playing for the national team this season. This is also a new group of people in charge of the NT, so it's important to establish relations with the top players and get familiar with them as players as well as people. It's also an opportunity to convince the organizations that it's in their interest to send players to the WHC and such.

This. Let's keep in mind that KJ is new to the job so it's kinda understandable that he's going through these motions. For now. And like I said, it's also understandable if his early EHT rosters are full of familiar faces. He needs to establish himself over them too. However, it remains to be seen what happens after that. Hopefully we'll see a coach willing to veer out of the immediate comfort zone.