[News] Russia/Finland Olympic Camp Lists

[Flamescat]

Watch Canada get lit up by Hagman..

[getbak]

Hagman was Finland's leading scorer in Vancouver.

[trackercowe]

Hagman was a pretty good player in Dallas. I still don't know what happened when he hit Calgary. Did playing in Toronto actually hurt his career that much?

[Muta]

It's sad not seeing Kipper on that list.

[Henry Fool]

Originally Posted by Trailer Fire

How does Hagman get an invite exactly?

Must be past service. He can't possibly make the team based on the current state of his game.

Finland never has an impressive lineup, but their record in best-against-best tournaments is still really good. We'll see.

Barkov might make the team.

[BACKCHECK!!!]

Hagman wasn't terribly productive in terms of points this year, but he was one of the drivers on the new Yaroslavl Lokomotiv team that did surprisingly well in the KHL this year. The team came out strong, especinally considering they had to start the team from scratch, and Hagman was one of the reasons for that (along with fellow former-Flame Staffan Kronwall).

There's some life in the old dog yet (but I don't expect to see much sign of it in Sochi).

[Ezio]

Will be interesting to see how Russia manages their roster. I thought last Olympics they made a huge blunder by excluding younger talent like Kulikov from the team and instead put in KHL journeymen.

[BACKCHECK!!!]

Originally Posted by Ezio

Will be interesting to see how Russia manages their roster. I thought last Olympics they made a huge blunder by excluding younger talent like Kulikov from the team and instead put in KHL journeymen.

They only dressed like 3 or 4 guys who haven't played in the NHL.

And those were guys like Ilya Nikulin, who was a 31st overall NHL draft pick, and is a franchise defender in the KHL. He's not a "KHL journeyman", he's "an Olympic calibre player that saw more ice time than NHL regulars like Tyutin, Volchenkov, and Grebeshkov, and is not even comparable to some 18 year old kid who had put up all of about 10 points in the NHL at that time".

Just because you don't know who they are, doesn't mean the KHL guys were 'blunders'.

(Edited to add: Just checked, and in 2010 Nikulin scored more points as a defenceman in the KHL than Maxim Afinogenov did coming off a 24 goal 61 point NHL season. He also would have led several KHL teams in scoring.)

[boogerz]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Man what an embarrassment of riches in goal for Finland. Can we have one of those please?

They've got an embarrassment of riches in goal to make up for the potential ticking time bomb of embarrassment for a defense.

In the likelihood that Salo and Pitkanen are injured, Timonen won't be able to carry an entire defense on his back against the likes of Canada, Russia, Sweden, and the US.

[vilzeh]

Finland´s roster is weak, but it's always been weak, Except Selanne, S.Koivu, Timonen, Salo, but they were younger. No real up and coming players to pass the torch to, yet.

Goalies are of course the best in the business, but other than that, 1st line with Filppula - M. Koivu - Ruutu is really the one that can make damage. PP could be Teemu´s thing in these Olympics. S. Koivu will provide a good shut down line for Finland, other than that, I'm worried, but I've always been worried, yet they surprise everyone.