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Team Finland One Year Later |
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Our Olympics One Year Later roster selection for HockeyBuzz's upcoming fantasy tournament continues today with Team Finland. Once again, I enlisted HockeyBuzz/NHL.com/Versus.com/IIHF.com writer Bill Meltzer to pick the roster for the Euro entry, limiting him to selecting only current NHL players.
Here are the picks and his commentary:
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By limiting the selection of Finnish players to current NHLers, the Olympics One Year later roster only has drama at one position – the selection of just three goaltenders. It also creates a severe shortage on the blueline. I'll get to that in a minute.
First, here’s a look at the actual Olympic roster chosen to represent Finland in Vancouver.
Goalies
Niklas Backstrom
Miikka Kiprusoff
Antero Niittymaki
Defensemen
Lasse Kukkonen (Avangard, KHL)
Sami Lepisto
Toni Lydman
Janne Niskala (Frölunda, Elitserien)
Joni Pitkanen
Sami Salo
Kimmo Timonen
Forwards
Valtteri Filppula
Niklas Hagman
Jarkko Immonen (Ak Bars, KHL)
Olli Jokinen
Niko Kapanen (Ak Bars, KHL)
Mikko Koivu
Saku Koivu
Jere Lehtinen
Antti Miettinen
Ville Peltonen (Dinamo Minsk, KHL)
Jarkko Ruutu
Tuomo Ruutu
Teemu Selanne
There are only 19 Finnish position players – 14 forwards and 5 defensemen - who have skated a shift in the NHL this season. Excluding the players suiting up in Europe creates two open defense spots (I’d have taken Kukkonen as my sixth or seventh defenseman if he were eligible) and three open forward spots. With Jere Lehtinen having not played this year, that creates a fourth forward spot. Sami Salo has not played this year due to a torn Achilles tendon. However, his roster spot will be held by default, as he clearly would be a national team pick if able to play, even if players in Europe were part of this process.
Selecting Ville Leino for a roster spot would have been a no-brainer anyway, even if he had to bump someone else from the team. Jussi Jokinen would also have been in no matter what. The third and fourth spots go to Sean Bergenheim and Lauri Korpikoski. On defense, there are still two open spots, so I will take Teemu Laakso. With no other defensemen having suited up in the NHL this year, I will use the empty roster spot on another forward, adding Jesse Joensuu. Too bad Sami Kapanen (who played defense very well in a playoff emergency for Philadelphia six years ago) is retired now, so I’d at least have a sixth defenseman to use if Salo isn’t miraculously back for the fantasy tournament.
Now comes the tough part: selecting three goalies and omitting four qualified candidates. Any of former Vezina Trophy winner Kiprusoff, former Vezina finalist and Jennings Trophy winner Backstrom, 2006 Olympic MVP Niittymaki, highly underrated Pekka Rinne, a finally healthy Kari Lehtonen, potential franchise goaltender Tuukka Rask or Stanley Cup winning goalie Antti Niemi are worthy of consideration not only to make the roster but also to be the starting goalie.
Apart from his rough night against Philadelphia earlier this week, Backstrom has been outstanding all season. He’s my number one goalie right now.
I will rule out Niemi because of his mediocre start this season. Next, I’ll take out Lehtonen, because he has yet to live up to his pre-NHL hype or prove he can stay healthy for the long term. Now it starts to get really hard. I’ll eliminate Rask, because he’s at least temporarily lost the number one job in Boston back to Tim Thomas.
Based on NHL track record alone, I’d keep in Kiprusoff and take out Niittymaki without thinking much about it. However, I have a very hard time taking out a former Olympic MVP and silver medalist who also has a Calder Cup, AHL playoff MVP, and three Finnish championships on his resume – in other words, he’s been a winner whenever the right pieces have been around him. Very reluctantly, I’m going to drop Niittymaki, keep Kiprusoff and add Rinne as my third goaltender because I think he’s a more consistently reliable goalie than Antsu.
My three goalies: Backstrom, Kiprusoff and Rinne.
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