An early look at Team Finland WHC 2024 (Prague & Ostrava) & Jukka Jalonen's last chance at Gold
Last year Finland didn't have much to write home about, and to make matters worse, they didn't even have to write home since they lost on native lands in Tampere (Nokia Arena).
But that was in 2023, and you can bet dollars to donuts that Finland will be hungry to get back to the top of the podium with the shiniest medals up for grabs.
Below, we will speculate on what Team Finland could shape up to look like in May-given the current NHL standings and what's transpiring in Europe. But first, let's have a quick look at last year's roster, and what coach Jukka Jalonen might do to fix last year's issues which ultimately cost Finland the tournament in the quarter-final against eventual gold medal winner-Canada.
Team Finland WHC 2023 QF lineup vs Canada
Teemu Hartikainen – Sakari Manninen – Mikko Rantanen
Mikko Lehtonen – Atte Ohtamaa
Kaapo Kakko – Antti Suomela – Kasperi Kapanen
Olli Määttä – Miika Koivisto
Harri Pesonen – Juho Lammikko – Joel Armia
Mikael Seppälä – Ville Pokka
Ahti Oksanen – Hannes Björninen – Marko Anttila
Niklas Friman – Nikolas Matinpalo
Goalies:
Emil Larmi
Jussi Olkinuora
In all fairness to Jalonen, last year's roster on paper was fairly decent given the teams that won gold in 2019 and silver in 2021 were much weaker in player material. Thus, the problem was not necessarily Jalonen's coaching, rather competition-which started to sift through Finland's game plan with a much finer comb after the blue and white machine found itself in the gold medal game 3 years in a row and winning two of them (2019, 2021, 2022).
Coach André Tourigny wins Gold for Canada
It wasn't a surprise to anybody that Jalonen's 2023 home-ice roster was going to be heavily scouted against by Canada, who's goal as usual was to win gold, and probably against Finland since the past 3 championships the two teams played each other for gold three times with Finland winning the rubber match in 2022.
Speed, speed, and more speed......
“We tried to play with speed on the forecheck to disrupt the Finns’ timing,” said Canadian head coach Andre Tourigny. “They are so strong on pucks, they are heavy and protect the puck well."
“We wanted to be really aggressive when they had the puck and take possession away from them as quickly as possible” (sportsnet.ca).
Speed issues....
It doesn't take a sleuthing detective to realise what Andre Tourigny was referring to. Matter of fact, it was the same thorn in Finland's side that cost Jalonen and his team their opening game against USA. The Americans came out flying and their speed highlighted glaring weaknesses on Team Finland. Put short, Finland's defense was outmatched and out-skated. To exacerbate the problem, the Finns couldn't score-which was what Jalonen alluded to after the QF loss vs Canada.
We tried to do everything possible for the goal floodgates to open....
"We tried to do everything possible for the goal floodgates to open," loosely translated into English from what Jalonen said to the media in Finnish. Unfortunately, for Suomi, the ketchup bottle never burst open until the last few minutes of the game when Teemu Hartikainen broke Team Canada's shutout.
Can Jukka Jalonen win one last gold and retire on top?
Last year, Finland lost because of slow skating defense, inability to score, somewhat shaky goaltending, and to be frank; an insane amount of pressure to win on home-ice after crowning double gold in 2022 (olympics + skoda). However, letting bygones be bygones, one might ask what are the chances that Jalonen can win gold for a last time before passing the torch to Antti Pennanen? The truth is, it is still very early to tell, but based on current NHL standings and who is playing well in Europe and finally taking into account who has stood out for Jalonen in the Karjala Cup and EHT games (leijonat ja lampaat-lions and sheep), we can start to speculate who will be there.
Early prediction for Team Finland WHC 2024 - Prague & Ostrava.
Forwards:
Maccelli - Granlund - Laine (*wild card)
Huuhtanen- Haula - Puljujärvi
Puistola - Manninen - Kemell
Lammikko - Björninen - Puustinen
extras: Innala, Armia
Defense:
Määttä - Vatanen
Lehtonen - Kemiläinen
Vittasmäki - Kaski
Reunanen- T. Niemelä
Goalies:
Saros
Husso (Larmi)
NHL standings, AHL, NHL contracts, and first round drop outs...
Now, some might call me crackers for the players who I have highlighted in bold, but truth be told Jalonen & Lehtinen are a sure bet to build a modern hockey team that can skate fast and hard, and above all, a roster that can keep up with the pace of the Canadians, Americans and Swedes.
Is Huuhtanen up for the challenge?
So far, Niko Huuhtanen has been the lion that has stood out the most during the Karjala Cup and EHT games. Not to mention the fact that he had a solid showing for Finland in the 2023 WJC. Otherwise, I know he is naturally a right winger but I figured Jalonen could assemble a solid two-way, fast skating and hard-forechecking line with Huuhtanen, Haula, and Pulju.
Valtteri Puustinen and Topi Niemelä.....
Two other youngsters whom I believe deserve some props are V. Puustinen and Topi Niemelä. Puustinen earned himself a roster spot on the Penguins before being replaced by Pulju and sent down to the AHL, but has played considerably well, not to mention he is a pretty fast skater and decent two-way player who can score.
Topi Niemelä on the other hand is having a great season for the Toronto Marlies and so far his team is not guaranteed to make the playoffs and neither are the Leafs for that matter. Topi is a great PP player and definitely a solid skater and not bad on the defensive end of things.
Goalies and the luck of the draw based on first round NHL dropouts...
The cool thing for Finnish fans is that the IIHF 2024 World Hockey Championships commence on May 10, which provides Jalonen and Lehtinen adequate time to bring in reinforcements from the other side of the pond (NHL playoffs start a few days after the end of the season-April 18). Just imagine how Team Finland could look if Florida, Colorado, Carolina, Dallas are all out the first round? One can only begin to dream!
Finally, Juuse Saros and Ville Husso are both locked with contracts and Emil Larmi should feel less shaky with the NHLers taking the spotlight.
Joakim Kemell and hungry Finns in the AHL....
The final point I want to stress is that if Jukka Jalonen wants to assemble a speedy and gritty team, he and Team Finland GM Jere Lehtinen should stop and take a serious look at Finnish talent in the AHL. While some might argue for one that Joakim Kemell is not exactly having a monster season for the Milwaukee Admirals, he is still the 5th highest Finnish point getter in the AHL this season and can provide, grit, speed and scoring. Brad Lambert, Samu Tuomaala and Aatu Räty should also be given some serious consideration.
Let the count down begin!
No matter what happens, there is only 88 days until the 2024 IIHF WHC commences in Prague & Ostrava. Let's see what transpires in the NHL, Europe, and the AHL and bit by bit we can trim down what Team Finland will resemble in their opening game against Team Czechia in Prague on May 10. Hopefully, I won't be made to look like a fool based on today's speculation and may Jukka Jalonen retire on top on May 26, 2024! Que viva Jukka!