The Finnish talking point of the week was found in the transfer market. Namely, on Monday, a two-time Stanley Cup winner and represented Detroit for more than two seasons Olli Määtä30, was traded from Auto City to Utah.
The biggest reason behind the trade is probably the latter’s rapidly worsening defender shortage Sean Durzin and John Marino due to injuries.
Durzi and Marino would be around twenty minute players on the team when healthy. Durzi will be sidelined for 4-6 months due to shoulder surgery and Marino 3-4 months due to back surgery.
Ylen’s hockey expert Ismo Lehkonen Määtta brings reliability to the Hockey Club’s back lines above all else. Määtä had time to play seven games without any power before the trade in Detroit.
– Experience, calmness and such basic defense. When it comes to man-to-man defense, fighting off the ice or giving an easy first pass, Ollihan does not leak in these matters. He brings his sure-fire way of doing things there, Lehkonen believes.
The story also has another Finnish angle. Signed a two-year contract with the club in the summer Juuso Välimäki namely dropped from the lineup playing under the player trade after collecting a power balance of -7 from the previous four matches.
– That was followed by a bad period of four games in Välimäki and there were some underpowered games, where my own man drowned a bit and so on. Now we come to how the head holds up when the competition is tough and you have to squeeze everything out of the machine. In the NHL, there can be one bad game in a period of ten games, but even that should be recognized immediately.
– When the next game comes, we have to see the best of Välimäki. That’s just the way it goes, that business involves a lot of pressure.
Both Määttä and Välimäki played without power in Thursday morning’s victorious Calgary match. Määtä got a little more than 20 minutes of ice time, Välimäki a little less than 12.
Who surprised?
Washington’s initial bet should be considered a surprise.
The head coach Spencer Carbery piloted a decaying team sensationally into the playoffs in his first NHL head coaching season a year ago, but very few believed that lightning would strike twice in the same place – it seems to be happening anyway.
The Capitals’ 6-2 victory must be considered a hard performance, especially when considering the level of the defeated teams: Vegas, Dallas, New Jersey and New York Rangers, among others. All ranked first in their conferences.
– You can’t help but take your hat off. This Carbery is an incomprehensible man, how he already found a way for that leisurely team to reach the playoffs last year. Now the same continues. For example, against the Rangers, they were better in a slow game. Completely destroyed Rangers’ top two chains. This is quite a display of biceps, Lehkonen enthuses.
Adding his own spice to the soup is the egotist who refers to the legality of Joukkuepeli with a glove Alexander Ovechkinwhose only goal is to achieve Wayne Gretzky in the goal exchange of all time. Carbery has somehow managed to isolate the Russian, who has lost his reputation, and commit the rest of the team to humble play.
– You don’t rush there or go into goal-scoring competitions to give superior attacks. This team can grind the goal games. Ovechkin looks like a guy in his fifties who has had a really long summer.
Who cheated?
Pittsburgh. If anyone still fancied yesterday’s greatness flickering and struggling seriously for a playoff spot, those dreams can be dumped in the nearest trash can.
There are six losses in a row and the quality of the game is very poor. Head coach of two Stanley Cups Mike Sullivan too often looks almost clueless behind the bench.
If we’re talking about the scoring game, the tip doesn’t deliver any better than the tail end. Pittsburgh as it has long been known is rotting before our eyes in an ugly way.
– Miracles have to happen if they’re going to make it to the playoffs. The game lacks repetition and neither the top nor the bottom can deliver mathematically enough. In some way, the coaching should get the quality for playing 5-5, and of course it would be great if the top courts didn’t suddenly take minus three. Few would believe in such a thing, the club is in a special state.
– The old saying is that the dressing room has to solve this situation. There should be quite a lot of leadership there. We thought that Pittsburgh would be really settled into the season, but now it doesn’t look like that, says Lehkonen.
Finnish goal of the week
of Philadelphia Rasmus Ristolainen scoring is not an everyday treat these days. March 2023, the last day of December 2023 and this past Sunday.
The last one wasn’t pretty, but it was even more important. Ristolainen settled the match against Minnesota, which turned out to be a fierce goal-scoring contest, by rushing to the goal and smashing the loose puck into the net.
Otherwise, the Finn’s grips have been good and as a result this Ice Age has clearly grown. In recent matches, the Turku native has logged up to 23–25 minutes of ice time.
– In Philadelphia, people really wondered about Ristolainen’s hard condition during the training camp. A hard and successful summer is behind us. And I claim that there is more reserve for the hockey game, as long as you forget the old ones and learn to enjoy playing, Lehkonen praises.
– His good grips are also good news for the national team’s Four Nations tournament. Finland doesn’t have too many defenders, and opponents hate playing against Ristolais.
What next?
Especially on the Canadian side, Edmonton, which has even been promoted as a big favorite in the media, has not had a crushing start to the season like last season, but not much better either.
Ten matches, four wins and a cold season reflect the activities of the first weeks. The new reinforcements are looking for their place, the top players’ best form has to wait and the goalkeeper’s play has not been at the level of last spring either.
Above all, a captain and a star player Connor McDavid was injured and will be sidelined for 2-3 weeks.
– Even with McDavid, Edmonton was not close to the level that will be seen in the matches in Tampere this weekend. It seems that falling from the summer finals to this has been quite tough mentally. The expectations for their level were at a completely different level than what has been seen now. Even the bottom chains have not received any support now. It can’t Corey Perry’s the task now is to bring a change of rhythm to that, Lehkonen snaps.
Lehkonen will be watching the Oilers closely in the coming weeks and expects the key players to level up.
– If someone had said during the season that a man with 50 goals With Zach Hyman is 0+1 after ten matches, no one would have believed it. Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner haven’t gotten into that at all yet. It should start happening now. If we talk about them saying that this is the year, then this does not look like a champion gang. Not there at all.
– They are again in such a situation that they will soon have to trade their lives to play themselves even in the playoffs.