The discussion about the quality of Finnish player education has been heated during the current autumn. Even though the Finnish puck is wiping out at the elite level of the NHL better than ever, there have been voices of concern about the readiness of the Finnish players to play North America’s high-octane tempo hockey.
Many young Finns are in trouble in the NHL. Let’s get back to the problems in a moment.
Sure Alexander Barkov, Mikko Rantanen and Sebastian Aho at the forefront are players who have been at the NHL’s elite level for a long time. Patrik Laine the career has progressed more on a roller coaster, but the numbers speak for the striker from Tampere.
After the aforementioned quartet, we have yet to see Roope Hintz and Miro Heiskanen spectacular breakthroughs to the absolute top of the sport.
In addition to peaks, there is also mass. Finland has been producing players for the NHL at a very good pace, if the numbers are compared to, say, Sweden.
Between 2016 and 2022, 123 players from Finland and 190 from Sweden have been booked into the NHL. The Finns’ success rate is almost at the level of the Swedes: 18.7 percent of the Finnish reserves (23 players) have played in the NHL this season, exactly 20 percent of the Swedes (38 players).
– It’s good to remember that we’re a pretty small country and we still get a reasonable number of players to the NHL every year. Of course, we still need to develop our activities in order to get more of them there, the head coach of the national team and the 2016 Junior World Cup gold pilot Jukka Jalonen says.
As a player breeder, Finland should not be compared to Canada or Russia, not even to the United States, but with Sweden we have mostly been able to progress side by side. Of course, Sweden has produced a lot more, but in the last few years, not even in the last rounds of the reserve rounds, have you found more creative men from the people’s home to the NHL than from Finland.
If you look at rounds 4–7, Sweden has one gem from recent years: Jesper Bratt, from round six. Otherwise, one has to go back to 2014 to find out by Viktor Arvidsson, by Gustav Forsling and by Viktor Olofsson such as the more significant discoveries of the stern rounds. Can be found in Finland from recent years Juuso Pärssinen, Matias Maccelli mixed Niko Mikkola.
Defenders are the blind spot of Suomi hockey
The weakness of Finnish player education at the world’s elite level is the defenders. Finland has produced better forwards than Sweden for the upper floors of the NHL, but the situation in defenders turns crushingly in Sweden’s favor.
It’s been like this for a really long time. Finland has been able to produce one top-level puck defenseman, Heiskanen, in the NHL elite during the previous twenty years.
The previous reserve that really hatched a high-quality puck-playing top defender in the NHL is Joni Pitkänen from 2002. Sure Rasmus Ristolainen played four 40-point seasons in Buffalo, but his player profile looks very different right now, when the Turku native should be playing the best hockey of his career at the age of 28.
Finland has eight defensemen in the NHL who are clearly part of their team’s standard lineup, and of these, only Heiskanen is the top player on his team. Olli Määttä, Esa Lindell, Jani HakanpääRistolainen and Mikkola are, above all else, the fundamentals of my own head.
Henri Jokiharju and Juuso Välimäki are still aspiring puck players.
In the years 2010–2015, 22 Finnish defensemen were drafted into the NHL, of which only five play in the NHL. Sixth, Markus Nutivaara has been sidelined from NHL rosters for a long time due to injuries.
Between 2010 and 2015, 57 defensemen were drafted from Sweden to the NHL, of which 13 are still playing.
Since then, Heiskanen rose to stardom immediately, but otherwise it has been quieter.
In 2016 and 2017 alone, 15 Finnish packs were booked. Of these, only Jokiharju has established its place in the taala league. Markus Niemeläinen, Robin Salo, Urho Vaakanainen, Ville Heinola, Lassi Thomson and Santeri Hatakkaeven Välimäki are still very much in the process.
At the same time, Sweden has already produced a lot of defenders at the NHL level. Rasmus Dahlin is the best place to play like Heiskanen, which can also be found in the western neighbor Timothy Liljegren and many other defenders who already play more regularly in the NHL – and specifically defenders with pucks.
– Sweden will have large puck defenders, while we have always had a clearer division, that the big ones will be more defensive basic defenders and the smaller ones will be puck defenders. The way the Swedes work with large-sized kits to develop puck skills is really good, Jalonen praises.
– At a certain age, we have easily made the decision for a large and perhaps clumsier player that this guy is a basic defender. Size has nothing to do with gameplay. Hopefully bigger players will also get more support for attacking in the future. In general, we need to do a better job with the kits.
The Swedish defenders booked between 2016 and 2022 have played 1350 games in the NHL and scored 456 (93+363) power points. The Finnish readings are 893 and 268 (60+208). When Heiskanen’s 161 (31+129) points are subtracted from the pot, there is not much left for eight players.
– Sweden is a special case with defenders. They certainly produce the most defenders for the number of players, even more than the North Americans. They do things in everyday life with high-quality skills, and that’s what we should strive for, Jalonen reminds.
Why is this?
How has Finnish hockey drifted, after the reijoswedes, ristosiltati, tepponumni, kimmotimos and jyrkirilumpi, to a situation where it is unable to produce defenders at the top of the sport?
– Probably quite a broad question, to which there is no unequivocal answer, who played 980 NHL games in Ottawa, Vancouver and Tampa in his career Sami Salo sighs with a laugh.
At least it is clear that the demands of the game on the defenders are also tougher than ever before – especially for those who plan to make their living as a top defender running the first dominant play composition. In 2023, skating skills in particular separate the chaff from the grain in a blunt way.
– The gap between the SM league and the NHL has only grown since the days when I played. Skating is the biggest thing that has widened that gap.
Salo also highlights the differences in playing styles. The passive trap seen a lot in the SM league does not prepare players for the big league.
– It’s not the best possible game if you consider that the player is going to North America. However, the size of the cup determines how to play. If you go running like a fool in a big bag, you’ll get cold. It is no accident why certain teams have been consistently successful.
Jalonen reminds that training players for the NHL is not the primary task of league clubs.
– When you start building a team in the SM league, the first thing you don’t think is that we are training players for the NHL. Yes, the first task is to succeed in the home league. However, 90 percent of the players never play a game in the NHL, states Jalonen.
– Of course, you have to give them the best possible meals, train in the right way in everyday life and also play active hockey in a certain way, but each coach ultimately decides which game he feels his team has the best chance of succeeding in, Jalonen continues.
According to Salo, even reducing the size of your hips is not the direct key to happiness.
– It is not a guarantee of a pressure game. I doubt if a small rink would remove the trap game from Finland. Control games can also be seen in the NHL. Of course, it’s okay to ask why not all sides play in the same size rink.
Jalonen avoids blaming the SM league.
– The SM league does not prevent anyone from getting to the NHL. When a player enters the league at the age of 18–20, quite a lot of work has been done there before. If between the ages of 8 and 18 the work is not done correctly, you probably won’t make it to the NHL train. Those years largely determine whether a player has what it takes to go to the NHL, Jalone’s line.
Long game
Of course, with the latest Finnish bookings, you have to keep watching the game longer. For defensemen, the demands of the game are so tough at the NHL level that only truly exceptional individuals blossom at a young age. A breakthrough may not happen until around 25 years.
Sami Salo moved to North America at the age of 24 and played his best hockey in his thirties.
– Yes, it’s worth thinking about whether to go there if you’re not quite sure you’re ready for it. You can only make a first impression once. It takes longer for defenders to adapt there, and there you are under a magnifying glass every day until practice. You do one workout with a little half-light, so it’s cold, says Salo.
– The level of demand compared to the attacker is worlds apart from the angle of winning and losing. In the NHL, you can’t take a player among the six Paks to see how “Masan” does. You can take a five-minute player as the 12th forward and he’ll be fine. Only a world-class player in Heiskanen’s style goes from Liiga or SHL directly to the NHL, Jalonen knows.
Salo also calls for the player’s responsibility.
– A lot depends on the player’s own motivation, how much he is ready to develop himself. You also have to be self-critical that everything is not always the coach’s fault. When I look at those who made it to the NHL during my time, many had found this kind of fire.
Jalonen hopes that the structures of Suomi-kieko would be in a suitable state in terms of the competition and thus the development of young people.
– Of course, in Finnish ice hockey, we have to think about how we can stay on board and how we can develop young players in the best way. Here we also come to the idea of finding such systems for the youth leagues that the competition would be as fierce as possible in the 50–60 games they play, Jalonen concludes.