Finnish Wing

NHL would be nothing without European players. Period.

Hey, just blame the wife. Carter is a free man, he's not the one cheating.

Crosby is also good defensively.

Eaves and Bertuzzi. Williams was better than either of these during the time before the injury though. Miller has been decent as well. I really didn't expect anything that special from May. I think it would be nice to see someone more younger enforcer next season.

Well those are the lines I've been posting in every thread for a while now. With the exception of Miller and Leino competing for that spot (though looks like Miller has won) and switching Rafalski and Kronwall to get more balanced pairings.

Maybe wants to finish his career with a cup win? source

I noticed that there were threads about the other teams as well so decided to start one about Team Finland too. Strenghts: + goalkeeping + coaching + team spirit and chemistry Weaknesses: - not enough good d-men - winning the big matches - no guys who can win the matches by themselves My opinion of the team and the lineup: Olli Jokinen - Saku Koivu - Teemu Selanne Tuomo Ruutu - Mikko Koivu - Antti Miettinen Jussi Jokinen - Valtteri Filppula - Jere Lehtinen Sean Bergenheim - Petteri Nokelainen - Mika Pyorala (Jarkko Ruutu) Kimmo Timonen - Sami Salo Joni Pitkanen - Toni Lydman Sami Lepisto - Ossi Vaananen (Lasse Kukkonen) Niklas Backstrom Miikka Kiprusoff (Pekka Rinne) Basically there would be two solid scoring lines, one line with great two-way forwards and this energy line. Defensive pairings all have one guy offensive and the other guy defensive. There would definitely be a great chemistry between the guys in the top lines but as said: no big star players. I would rank Finland 4th. Losing to the Swedes in the Bronze game (again).

Let's hope we don't get shutout by Niemi again...

Just because he's had one injury doesn't mean he's injury prone. He was on pace for almost 40 goal season.

Maybe the ref who was next to goal saw the puck went in but accidentaly waved no goal.

I was under the rink and I could see through the floor and ice (with my goggles) that it was a good goal.

You can see that the puck went over the line so it's clearly a good goal. Nice win for Dallas.

Just put May on the 1st line and things will start to work.

Well, if you look only the past 5 years Kiprusoff still has big edge over Rask, Niittymaki and Rinne. Backstrom would be the number one then, as he's been the best statistically in that time.

Ehh... no Pitkanen in the team? The guy plays most minutes per game in the whole NHL and is definitely better than Hedman for example. Also Kiprusoff is better than Lundqvist.

Don't know about that. Jokinen, Hagman, Ruutu, Koivu, Koivu, Selänne(?), Miettinen(?). If he was a right-shooter it would be more likely, but we'll see.

I think you're just stupid to let something like that ruin the image of the guy. He wasn't himself in Sharks, he's a Duck and one of the most liked guys in the league.

Kiprusoff is the starter and probably clear number one as well. Jalonen already named him as the starter. Backstrom hasn't been that good this season and Kiprusoff has been one of the best in the league. Dunno if Niittymaki will play any games.

3 weeks = before the olympics? Also, I'm realistic and I'm not expecting them to win gold or get to the finals. I expect them having a good bronze medal match with Sweden. Canada and Russia are clearly the two finalists, you can't even compare Sweden to them.

Hagman wears 10. Interesting. He has used 14 before, but I think that's retired now (Helminen).

Finnish sources say he might be out only 3 weeks.

I see no point making a 2nd team for USA as their 1st team will probably struggle already.

I think sounds more like a name of a hit song.

Leino's Skates

I got Kovalchuk for my Wings team in NHL 10. He was great with Datsyuk, but Zetterberg started to suck like hell. Too many big stars? That will probably be the case in the real world as well.