Patrik Laine had to miss last year’s World Cup due to an injury, but now the Finn may be seen in Tampere in a Lions shirt.
Roope Visuri,
Pauli Jokinen
There are more than two months to the Ice Hockey World Cup, but as usual, the NHL reinforcements of the Lions speak well in advance.
One name in particular has been on the wallpaper, that of Columbus Patrick Laine. Tampere’s NHL club Columbus is a league jumbo and has practically lost its hopes of reaching the playoffs.
On Saturday, Urheilu asked Leijoni’s head coach about Laine’s situation From Jukka Jalose.
– Patrik was already interested in coming to the World Championships last year, but he was badly injured before the Games. Yes, he has the same feeling even today. If nothing miraculous happens, Patrik might be available, Jalonen said.
Jalonen then reminded that nothing can be said for sure at this stage.
– But Patrik has a positive attitude towards Leijon, as he always has. Probably the home races and above all the races in Tampere are also interesting, Jalonen says.
According to Jalonen, it’s generally not worth getting ahead of things when talking about NHL players in the Lions’ World Cup team. He wants to wait for the NHL players’ season to end before locking anything in place.
Jalose has the best offer for the World Championships of its time
Jalonen and Lehtinen were available to the media on Saturday in Tampere. The two had returned from their traditional trip to North America, where they meet Finnish NHL players.
The two saw 25 Finnish NHL players at the beginning of March. The calendar included the matches Dallas-Arizona, Florida-Nashville, Columbus-Seattle, Montreal-Carolina and Philadelphia-Detroit.
The NHL regular season ends on April 13. The Lions’ first World Cup match is scheduled for May 12.
The WC camp starts in Norway on April 10. According to Jalonen, the selection for the Lions’ World Cup team is the hardest that he has had in his time.
– We have a lot of good players in Europe who have been part of our success in recent years. At least probably a team and a half. There are other players from Europe who have not been with us before. Then there are the NHL players. It’s a bit of a special situation in a positive way. There is an abundance of top players, Jalonen described.
A strict message for puck decision-makers
In Leijon, 70 different players have already played in three different EHT tournaments this season.
In front of the media, Jalonen also took a firm stand on how the SM league is played at the same time as the national team games.
Currently, the SM league takes a break only during the EHT tournament played in Helsinki.
– I have noticed that nobody likes this situation. Not the players, not the coaches, not especially the fans, Jalonen said.
Jalonen singles out February’s tournament in Sweden as the most problematic.
– I have seen and heard that the fans get pretty hot when one or two of their key players play in the national team while their own team is fighting for a place in the playoffs, Jalonen said.
Jalonen hopes from the bottom of his heart that three or four game days can be found in the SM league somewhere other than the EHT tournaments.
– The simplest solution would be for the matches played during the tournaments to be moved to another time. We would play our own tournament in peace. Those on the club team should focus on training and recovery, says Jalonen.