charvik
NHL Road Fade Guru
HPK was crowned the champions for the first time ever this spring, when they defeated Assat, 3-1, in the Championship series. HPK knocked out the biggest club, Karpat, in their series and never looked back. For the 2006/2007, the favorites are yet again Karpat and I'll attempt to give you some analysis of the situation for them and the other teams in the league in this post.
Karpat:
They lost some strength in the net when they lost a very solid Nicklas Backstrom to the Minnesota Wild and they are trying to replace him with two AHL goalies. Andy Chido (currently injured) and Tuomas Tarkki is between the pipes and while both decent, they are not as good as Backstrom.
On defense they have lost Lasse Kukkonen, Mikko Lehtonen and Ari Vallin to the NHL and are replacing them with a good scoring defender in Juha-Pekka Laamanen and a Latvianan player, Atvars Tribuntsovs, that spend last season in the Swedish league. Combined with the loss in net I expect Karpat to be more vulnerable this season and let more goals past them, great for overs.
Petr Tenkrat that played well last year has left for Boston and replacing him is a hard shooting, dangerous Hannes Hyvonnen. Hyvönen, Viuhkola, Pyörälä are the stars
The team is definitely weaker this year, especially in goal and on defense, but the team still has a good base of quality players and will be in the race all year.
HPK:
They won the title last year, but a repeat will be difficult as they lost solid players across the board. Jyrkhi Louhi, Jukka Voutilainen and Juha-Pekka Laamanen (Karpat) will be missed and the club hasn't been as active this off season as I would've liked to see.
Joonas Vihko (SaiPa) and Aki Uusikartano (Assat) is 2 decent players they have aquired, and to some extent that will help. The team has elected to bring in some Swedish players, Fredrik Svensson (Ambri) and fast Jonas Andersson (Ilves) and this can be a problem during games as Finnish fans don't take that too lightly.
In the pipes we find Miika Wiikman and he might be found in the NHL shortly. He is solid and will help them stay in games.
TPS:
This is normally a successful club in Finland, but last season was horrible, ending in a 10th place finish. That's not impressing anyone and they have some big losses to make up for this season. 5 players have left for the Swedish league, Marcus Paulsson (Malmo), Jari Kauppila (HV71) and Antti Hulkkonen (Brynas) among others. They do get a BIG improvement both on the ice and for the fans as Aki-Petteri Berg is done in the NHL and are coing back to his roots.
They also bring home defender Teemu Kesa and goalie Jani Hurme from North America.
With the routine in the troop they will improve some this year, but I am not so sure they will make a big push. The finnish league is going to use the NHL rules this year, and most of these players are too old.
Look out for Makkonnen. He is an up and coming star and will play in the NHL.
Blues:
Another team that hopes to compete. They have had HUGE offensive losses before the season, losing Steve Kariya, Joakim Eriksson and Jaakko Uhlback, and the replacements, while decent are not close to their caliber.
Newcomers: Kent Manderville, Ville Viitaluoma and Martin Kariya.
They are a longshot to make the quarter finals this year...
Tappara:
lost Timo Vertala and Pasi Puistola to Sweden and HV71, but they brought in Teemu Aalto from Timra and he is good for a couple of scores from his defensive position. He will help their PP unit too.
On defense they already have Tuukka Mantyla and the offense has Quinnn Hancock and Petri Kontiola. Kontiola will go the the NHL next year as he is a VERY good forward with an eye for the game. Stefan Ohman, defensive forward, will play his last season in Finland before turning home.
This is an intriguing team and I expect some noice from them.
HIFK:
REALLY Physical team, but the SM Liiga is switching to the NHL rules, so they will have to have a great PK to survive. The team ended up 2nd in the league last year and will still compete, but it will be hard to make up for the changes. They lost a star in Tony Salmelainen to the Blackhawks and also number 2 and 3 of their scorers to the NHL, Janne Hauhtonen and Arttu Luttinen. To replace them they bring in capable Steve Guolla, Rem Murray, Ilkka Pikkarainen, Kimmo Kuhta and Jan Hrdina.
More to come...
Karpat:
They lost some strength in the net when they lost a very solid Nicklas Backstrom to the Minnesota Wild and they are trying to replace him with two AHL goalies. Andy Chido (currently injured) and Tuomas Tarkki is between the pipes and while both decent, they are not as good as Backstrom.
On defense they have lost Lasse Kukkonen, Mikko Lehtonen and Ari Vallin to the NHL and are replacing them with a good scoring defender in Juha-Pekka Laamanen and a Latvianan player, Atvars Tribuntsovs, that spend last season in the Swedish league. Combined with the loss in net I expect Karpat to be more vulnerable this season and let more goals past them, great for overs.
Petr Tenkrat that played well last year has left for Boston and replacing him is a hard shooting, dangerous Hannes Hyvonnen. Hyvönen, Viuhkola, Pyörälä are the stars
The team is definitely weaker this year, especially in goal and on defense, but the team still has a good base of quality players and will be in the race all year.
HPK:
They won the title last year, but a repeat will be difficult as they lost solid players across the board. Jyrkhi Louhi, Jukka Voutilainen and Juha-Pekka Laamanen (Karpat) will be missed and the club hasn't been as active this off season as I would've liked to see.
Joonas Vihko (SaiPa) and Aki Uusikartano (Assat) is 2 decent players they have aquired, and to some extent that will help. The team has elected to bring in some Swedish players, Fredrik Svensson (Ambri) and fast Jonas Andersson (Ilves) and this can be a problem during games as Finnish fans don't take that too lightly.
In the pipes we find Miika Wiikman and he might be found in the NHL shortly. He is solid and will help them stay in games.
TPS:
This is normally a successful club in Finland, but last season was horrible, ending in a 10th place finish. That's not impressing anyone and they have some big losses to make up for this season. 5 players have left for the Swedish league, Marcus Paulsson (Malmo), Jari Kauppila (HV71) and Antti Hulkkonen (Brynas) among others. They do get a BIG improvement both on the ice and for the fans as Aki-Petteri Berg is done in the NHL and are coing back to his roots.
They also bring home defender Teemu Kesa and goalie Jani Hurme from North America.
With the routine in the troop they will improve some this year, but I am not so sure they will make a big push. The finnish league is going to use the NHL rules this year, and most of these players are too old.
Look out for Makkonnen. He is an up and coming star and will play in the NHL.
Blues:
Another team that hopes to compete. They have had HUGE offensive losses before the season, losing Steve Kariya, Joakim Eriksson and Jaakko Uhlback, and the replacements, while decent are not close to their caliber.
Newcomers: Kent Manderville, Ville Viitaluoma and Martin Kariya.
They are a longshot to make the quarter finals this year...
Tappara:
lost Timo Vertala and Pasi Puistola to Sweden and HV71, but they brought in Teemu Aalto from Timra and he is good for a couple of scores from his defensive position. He will help their PP unit too.
On defense they already have Tuukka Mantyla and the offense has Quinnn Hancock and Petri Kontiola. Kontiola will go the the NHL next year as he is a VERY good forward with an eye for the game. Stefan Ohman, defensive forward, will play his last season in Finland before turning home.
This is an intriguing team and I expect some noice from them.
HIFK:
REALLY Physical team, but the SM Liiga is switching to the NHL rules, so they will have to have a great PK to survive. The team ended up 2nd in the league last year and will still compete, but it will be hard to make up for the changes. They lost a star in Tony Salmelainen to the Blackhawks and also number 2 and 3 of their scorers to the NHL, Janne Hauhtonen and Arttu Luttinen. To replace them they bring in capable Steve Guolla, Rem Murray, Ilkka Pikkarainen, Kimmo Kuhta and Jan Hrdina.
More to come...
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