Your SM-Liiga All-Star team?

[Bhrangerfan0809]

If you crafted an SM-Liiga all-star team based on talent alone (not taking into consideration line chemistry or defensive partner chemistry), what would it look like? I'm very new to SM-Liiga, so I'm trying to get a grasp of the league as I am interested in following it. Thank you!

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[rduck1]

There're a lot of changes every year, with new players coming in from abroad and from juniors while at the same time top players leave to seek fame and fortune elsewhere. For that reason it's kinda hard to pin down an all-star lineup. There is an official all-star line named after each season, you can see a list of them here. However many of those players no longer play in the league, so you might just want to browse through the top-scorers list instead.

 

[JJTT]

Overall, not just this year:

Finnish guys(center depth in this league is just awful, wingers are decent):

Forwards:

Ville Vahalahti-Joonas Kemppainen-Olli Palola
Pekka Jormakka-Jukka Voutilainen-Juha-Pekka Haataja
Julius Junttila-Ville Koho-Juuso Puustinen
Jani Tuppurainen-Miika Lahti-Kai Kantola

HM:Kasperi Kapanen,Aleksi Mustonen, Joonas Donskoi

Defense:

Lasse Kukkonen-Mikko Mäenpää
Janne Niskala-Tommi Kivistö
Esa Lindell-Mikko Kousa
Tuukka Mäntylä-Jyri Marttinen

HM: Joonas Lyytinen, Valtteri Kemiläinen

Goalies:

Teemu Lassila
Juha Metsola
Juuse Saros


Foreigners:

Forwards:

Ivan Huml-Aaron Gagnon-Ryan Lasch
Tomas Zaborsky-David McIntyre-Tomas Kubalik
Zach Hamill-Josh Green-Dave Spina
Radek Smolenak-Eric Perrin-Patrik Davis

Defense:

Brian Salcido-Craig Schira
Garrett Stafford-Simon Gysbers
Sam Löfqvist-Adam Masuhr

Goalies:

Ryan Zapolski (only non-finnish goalie, who is a regular)

 

[bebl]

text

Add Ramstedt and Elkins then its pretty much ok

 

[rduck1]

Add Ramstedt and Elkins then its pretty much ok

I would say add Söderholm before anyone else, otherwise it's a solid list. Ramstedt, Hirschovits and Elkins are all good candidates at center, but not necessarily "must pick" ones.

 

[mattihp]

I'd rather see two teams. NORTH VS SOUTH

 

[rduck1]

I'd rather see two teams. NORTH VS SOUTH

We'd need to get some teams in the North first, the ones we have stop about halfway .

 

[FiLe]

We'd need to get some teams in the North first, the ones we have stop about halfway .

I think mattihp's suggestion - Kärpät vs. Eastern Finland All-Stars - possesses plenty of curiosity value.

Puttonen, I know you're reading this.

 

[bebl]

I would say add Söderholm before anyone else, otherwise it's a solid list. Ramstedt, Hirschovits and Elkins are all good candidates at center, but not necessarily "must pick" ones.

Ramstedt is must pick. He can score and play defense now days. Most dominant center in Liiga.

 

[rduck1]

Ramstedt is must pick. He can score and play defense now days. Most dominant center in Liiga.

This season I'd agree, but JJTT said it was more of a long-term lineup. In that ranking I'd put Hirschovits ahead of Ramstedt. I'd also rank both ahead of Lahti and maybe Voutilainen as well, but there's room for argument there. Söderholm against Kousa not so much. However we must keep in mind that we both have a certain bias, and that there's room for more than one opinion in these ranking-type scenarios. Also as much as I like Ramstedt's current form, Perrin is the top center in this league in my opinion, long-term and currently.

 

[Gaps]

I would say add Söderholm before anyone else, otherwise it's a solid list. Ramstedt, Hirschovits and Elkins are all good candidates at center, but not necessarily "must pick" ones.

Speaking of Söderholm, what's happened to him? I'm aware he was injured right before the season started but thought it wasn't that serious.

 

[rduck1]

Speaking of Söderholm, what's happened to him? I'm aware he was injured right before the season started but thought it wasn't that serious.

It's some mysterious day to day issue. He described it himself as a "whole body injury". By all indications they expect him back sooner rather than later, but it certainly has already taken a surprisingly long time.