When you’re the fourth-best team in an event that has “Four” right there in the title, you’re obviously facing an uphill path to victory.
Then again, who’s a better underdog than the Finns?
The always-likable Lions absolutely have a chance to win the Four Nations Faceoff next February because when you have stud players at key positions in a short event, you always have a shot.
So, while the names you see in the form of a projected Finnish roster below won’t win a pre-tournament power ranking with Canada, the U.S. or Sweden, don’t sleep on what the always plucky — and now more skilled than ever — Finns can do.
FORWARDS
Sebastian Aho —Aleksander Barkov—Mikko Rantanen
Matias Maccelli—Roope Hintz—Teuvo Teravainen
Artturi Lehkonen—Anton Lundell—Mikael Granlund
Erik Haula—Eetu Luostarinen—Joel Armia
Patrik Laine
Eeli Tolvanen
Jesperi Kotkaniemi
Jesse Puljujarvi
The wild card here is obviously Patrik Laine, who is presently enrolled in the NHLPA’s player assistance program. For any number of reasons, we’d love to see the 25-year-old back filling the net next year in the NHL. In the context of Team Finland, an additional gunner on the flank would make a huge difference because you’d have someone on the second line to throw out after Mikko Rantanen on the top unit.
You could probably have some conversation about whether it’s Roope Hintz or Sebastian Aho who swaps out to wing, but we like the idea of having both of them on the top two lines as opposed to running all three down the middle.
The bottom six has some nice versatility as Mikael Granlund and Erik Haula can both swap in and play centre if a change is required. Artturi Lehkonen’s big-game pedigree will be a very valued addition.
It would be a massive development for Finland if Anton Lundell had a nice bounce-back next season in Florida. That way you could keep Aho and Hintz in the top six and still feel pretty great about your 3C.
You could easily make a case for throwing a goal-getter like Eeli Tolvanen on the roster ahead of Joel Armia, but the latter — when engaged — does all kinds of small things to help a team maintain control of the puck and has the kind of shot that makes him more than a zero on offence.
DEFENCE
Miro Heiskanen—Rasmus Ristolainen
Esa Lindell—Jani Hakanpaa
Niko Mikkola—Henri Jokiharju
Juuso Valimaki
Olli Maatta
Half the defence could conceivably be made up of Dallas Stars and it likely just makes sense to keep Esa Lindell and Jani Hakanpaa together as a pair.
Future Norris Trophy winner Miro Heiskanen will obviously anchor the unit and while some may quibble with Rasmus Ristolainen on the top pair, he’s still a huge guy who’s played monster minutes in the NHL. He’s also a right-shot player, which would allow for Heiskanen — who can play both sides of the ice — to exist on his natural left flank. Ristolainen’s job would be to go back, absorb a hit and chip the puck over to Heiskanen.
Again, if Finland looks for guys who can drive the offence a bit more, maybe there’s a home for Juuso Valimaki in the top six.
GOALIES
Juuse Saros
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Antti Raanta
Meet the five-foot-11 equalizer. Juuse Saros — who sometimes singlehandedly seems like he’s disproving the notion smaller guys can’t succeed in the crease — can help Finland close whatever overall talent gap exists between them and the other three teams in a hurry.
At the other end of the size spectrum, six-foot-five Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is playing the best hockey of his NHL career right now and actually possesses the best save percentage (.910) of any Finn in the league. If his upward trend continues, he’ll surely be the backup and may even be able to step in for Saros if the latter isn’t on top of his game early.
from Sportsnet.ca
via i9bet
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