Team Finland 2018?

[Pominville Knows]

I got to create this thread becouse of a comment in a thread concerning your team next year in Sochi, how it would be virtually impossible for you guys to win the gold there. In 2018 however many of your recent draftpicks will have turned at least 20 years of age, and i would like to see if you can present a team for 2018 here.

I have some players that have come to mind, no goalies since that probably wont be a problem:

Forwards:

M Koivu
Filppula
Leino
J Jokinen
Bergenheim
Petrell
T Ruutu
Korpikoski
Komarov
Barkov (C)
Lehkonen
Terävainen (C/LW)
Armia (RW)
Mikael Granlund (C)
Markus Granlund (C/LW)
Rajala (LW)
Antonen
J Ikonen
K Kapanen
Kiviranta

Any more?

Defensemen:

Pitkänen
Vatanen
Ristolainen
Määttä
Pokka
Rissanen
Järvinen

For sure there must be more defensemen, maybe european based, although your group do seem to become very young.

I have too little knowledge about your young guys to have a try at a lineup right now, maybe if it goes slow i'll publish one.

Click to read more...

 

[Fin9*]

I got to create this thread becouse of a comment in a thread concerning your team next year in Sochi, how it would be virtually impossible for you guys to win the gold there. In 2018 however many of your recent draftpicks will have turned at least 20 years of age, and i would like to see if you can present a team for 2018 here.

I have some players that have come to mind, no goalies since that probably wont be a problem:

Forwards:

M Koivu
Filppula
Leino
J Jokinen
Bergenheim
Petrell
T Ruutu
Korpikoski
Komarov
Barkov (C)
Lehkonen
Terävainen (C/LW)
Armia (RW)
Mikael Granlund (C)
Markus Granlund (C/LW)
Rajala (LW)
Antonen
J Ikonen
K Kapanen
Kiviranta

Any more?

Defensemen:

Pitkänen
Vatanen
Ristolainen
Määttä
Pokka
Rissanen
Järvinen

For sure there must be more defensemen, maybe european based, although your group do seem to become very young.

I have too little knowledge about your young guys to have a try at a lineup right now, maybe if it goes slow i'll publish one.

If a guy like Antonen will be playing in our olympic team in 2018 i have lost my final faith for humanity. Otherwise its a good list.

 

[FiLe]

Any more?

Not on your list: Teemu Hartikainen, Erik Haula, Teemu Pulkkinen, Miikka Salomäki and Jani Hakanpää.

On (currently) European side, Teemu Eronen and Jori Lehterä come to mind.


Here's one plausible way a lineup could pan out...


Rask (Aittokallio)

Pitkänen - Vatanen
Määttä - Ristolainen
Järvinen - Hakanpää
Jalasvaara

Korpikoski - Granlund - Armia
Teräväinen - Barkov - Kapanen
Filppula - Koivu - Ruutu
Komarov - Haula - Hartikainen
Jokinen


There are bound to be quite a bunch of newcomers born in the mid to late 80s in this year's WHC squad. Some of 'em might be making enough ripples to become NT staples.

Janne Jalasvaara is one of them. A two-time KHL champion. I basically threw him there because I wanted to take a stab at someone from the elder guard rather than go into the years yet unknown.


And there are probably more plausibles on D, but they're the kind who are yet to emerge - and not necessarily prospects only. For example, if someone had thrown Järvinen's name out there a year and a half ago, most of us would have just laughed at it.

 

[QnebO]

Kasper Kapanen is a possibility, as well as Erik Haula who just signed a deal with minnesota wild. Pulkkinen is plausible, it depends on next years alot.. But time will show who will pop up to elite players.

I feel pretty confident on Barkov, Armia, Granlund Mikael and Vatanen popping out good or very good players.. *knocking wood*

On young goalies, right now it seems Aittokallio, Ortio and Olkinuora will have a shot to become world elite goalies, Aittokallio already had decent first game in NHL. Hope at least some of them does it! *knocks wood* These goalies might pop up every now and then like they have this far *knocks wood*.

 

[Gaps]

Especially when it comes to D and goalies, there's a chance late bloomers emerge so they're IMO harder to predict than the forward corps.

Kapanen is probably the youngest we can even think of taking along in 2018, although I'd like to leave the door ajar for Aleksi Saarela. His physical development looks very good so far, which could mean that he might be able to play on a high level at a younger age than many other prospects.

My list of possible candidates, some of them are long shots and some will spend most of their careers in Europe rather than in the NHL. I also added in their ages based on birth year, so some of them will in reality be younger than what I'm listing here:

Goalies:

Rask (31)
Rämö (32)
Aittokallio (26)
Ortio (27)
Lehtonen? (35)

We also have guys like Korpisalo, Saros and Kähkönen, but I think they're all going to be too young.

Defense:

Pitkänen (35)
Vatanen (27)
Määttä (24)
Ristolainen (24)
Hakanpää (26)
Pokka (24)
Järvinen (29)
Jokipakka (27)

Forwards:

M. Koivu (35)
T. Ruutu* (35)
Filppula (34)
Korpikoski (32)
Komarov (31)
Bergenheim (34)
Mi. Granlund (26)
Teräväinen (24)
Barkov (23)
Armia (25)
Lehkonen (23)
Pulkkinen (26)
Kapanen (22)
Saarela (21)
Ma. Granlund (25)
Salomäki (25)
Hartikainen (28)
Haula (27)
Aaltonen (not Juhamatti) (25)
Rajala (27)
J. Ikonen (23)

* Tuomo's so injury-riddled that I have serious doubts about him still being able to play at the age of 35.

 

[Ihmeilja]

Forwards/experienced:

Mikko Koivu
Valtteri Filppula
Tuomo Ruutu
Lauri Korpikoski
Petri Kontiola
Jesse Joensuu
Sean Bergenheim
Leonid Komarov


Forwards/NHL-young stars:

Teemu Hartikainen
Mikael Granlund
Teemu Pulkkinen
Joel Armia
Aleksander Barkov
Artturi Lehkonen
Juuso Ikonen
Teuvo Teräväinen
Kasperi Kapanen
Aleksi Saarela
Erik Haula
Markus Granlund
Miro Aaltonen
Kalle Kossila


Forwards/Europe-young stars:

Miikka Salomäki
Toni Rajala
Joonas Rask
Henri Ikonen
Joose Antonen
Jonatan Tanus
Henrik Haapala
Eero Elo
Julius Junttila
Jere Sallinen
Robert Leino
Sakari Salminen


Forwards/I have doupts on:

Lennart Petrell
Jarkko Immonen
Jussi Jokinen
Ville Leino
Juhamatti Aaltonen
Jori Lehterä
Janne Pesonen
Antti Pihlström
Joonas Donskoi
Iiro Pakarinen
Antti Miettinen
Oskar Osala
Mikko Lehtonen
Juuso Puustinen
Harri Pesonen


Defenders:

Rasmus Ristolainen
Joni Pitkänen
Olli Määttä
Sami Vatanen
Joonas Järvinen
Ville Pokka
Janne Jalasvaara
Juuso Hietanen
Ilari Melart
Jani Hakanpää

 

[IceHockeyDude]

I'm pretty sure the team Finland will look very much better on paper in 2018 than 2014. There are so many young players coming Granlund, Armia, Vatanen and Barkov leading the new generation. I'm sure not all of them will reach their potential, but some definetly will. We can only wait to see what the future holds.

 

[Gaps]

I'm pretty sure the team Finland will look very much better on paper in 2018 than 2014. There are so many young players coming Granlund, Armia, Vatanen and Barkov leading the new generation. I'm sure not all of them will reach their potential, but some definetly will. We can only wait to see what the future holds.

Also, not reaching their potential (= not make it big in the NHL) doesn't mean they won't be useful for the NT. We don't need to have the best roster on paper (not necessarily even top 3) to succeed internationally, not even when it's a best-on-best tournament. Torino and the 2004 World Cup are good examples. Team play will always be Finland's strength. The key is to produce a bunch of players that aren't too far from the absolute best. If the gap is small enough, nothing's impossible. For example, I think Miro Aaltonen's more likely to become a KHL star than a big time NHLer, but he has qualities that I'm sure the Finnish NT can use in the future.

 

[IceHockeyDude]

Also, not reaching their potential (= not make it big in the NHL) doesn't mean they won't be useful for the NT. We don't need to have the best roster on paper (not necessarily even top 3) to succeed internationally, not even when it's a best-on-best tournament. Torino and the 2004 World Cup are good examples. Team play will always be Finland's strength. The key is to produce a bunch of players that aren't too far from the absolute best. If the gap is small enough, nothing's impossible. For example, I think Miro Aaltonen's more likely to become a KHL star than a big time NHLer, but he has qualities that I'm sure the Finnish NT can use in the future.

Finland has always been known for well-organized team play and that's something to be proud of

Still I would really like to see Finland competitive also on paper. Then we would not have to be the underdogs. In that kind of situation, losing would not hurt that much because the skill would still be there, even if the result came up weak.