Helsinki IFK has stuck to the bottom floor of the SM league during the early season. According to sports director Tobias Salmelainen, everyone has to look in the mirror.
A quarter of the ice hockey SM league regular season has been played, but HIFK’s course, which was in trouble, is not turning around.
The team built with millions experienced its fourth consecutive defeat on Wednesday, when KalPa defeated the Helsinki team 3–0. The home crowd showed their opinion by whistling and booing their team.
The head coach Ville Peltonen stated at the press conference that HIFK deserved the reaction of its supporters. Sports director Tobias Salmelainen is on the same lines.
– Yesterday was a very weak performance in front of the home crowd. We deserved everything that came from the home crowd. Now we analyze the game, this season and the scoring problem. And then we train, Salmelainen opens to Urheilu.
Salmelainen admits that HIFK has badly underperformed in the early season. The 14th place and the result will not satisfy anyone.
– As a sports director, I am responsible for it to the same extent as the coaching and our players. This is the moment when everyone can look in the mirror.
Salmelainen says he trusts Peltose. He emphasizes that the course will be reversed with cooperation.
– Together we have built and together we will also turn this into a better one. I see every day the work and the amount that the players and coaching put in here at the hall. We believe that we will be able to turn this around together, says Salmelainen.
Listen to how Tobias Salmelainen comments on HIFK’s situation.
HIFK has announced that it has spent three million euros on its player budget. Still, the finish has been the weakest in the series.
The people from Helsinki have scored only 23 goals in 15 matches. In particular, superiority has been catastrophically weak. 77 minutes of superiority have produced two goals for the opponent and one for the team. The dominance percentage is miserable, 5.13.
– Scoring has been a big problem and, of course, superiority. Through them, there would have been a lot of relief also in light of the points this season. That is how we have drifted into this situation, says Salmelainen.
Salmelainen says he is generally satisfied with the team’s performance. According to the sports director, the team also creates enough chances to succeed.
– From the beginning, we didn’t get into the best sector. At that time, our time in the attacking area was also weak. It has improved and a stretch of the last eight games has been good work and execution, but the efficiency has been very poor.
According to Salmelainen, HIFK can significantly improve scoring and its support measures. According to him, the result has been worse in many games than what the game would have expected.
However, HIFK is in dire need of solvers. So far, the most goals have been scored by a defender Ilari Melart (4). For example, the winner of the SM league goal exchange Julius Nättinen is without goals.
Do you feel that the players are in a mental deadlock and do you believe that under the leadership of Ville Peltonen, the mental deadlock and the goal-scoring deadlock can be overcome?
– I believe completely. You can see a certain kind of mental lock when you watch the game. These are moments that are good places for growth for the players, the team and the entire organization. You have to be able to solve these and as quickly as possible. By squeezing it will not come.
– We are now trying to break those dams, so that we can also open the mental lock. With everyone, it happens through a mirror and together, says Salmelainen.
According to Salmelainen, HIFK is currently actively surveying the situation in the player market. Possible reinforcements are mapped from all game locations.
– If we feel that we can strengthen and help the team with new players, then we will act. As long as no one has come in, no one has been found, says Salmelainen.
– Of course, the defender and the attacker have left and there is a lack of players in quantity. We are actively mapping everything, says Salmelainen.
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