The challenge this time is doing without Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov and Montreal Canadiens forward Patrik Laine. Barkov, the Panthers captain who won the Stanley Cup with them the past two seasons, has been out this season with a knee injury sustained in the preseason. Laine is out after having core muscle surgery in October.
“When that happened, we knew we were missing one of the best players in the world (in Barkov). It’s sports. It happens and guys know that, and they’ve been in the same situation,” Finland general manager Jere Lehtinen said. “It’s huge but we have those players there who can kind of help as a team through the lineup.”
Not that the Finns lack firepower. Rantanen leads the Stars with 69 points (20 goals, 49 assists) this season, and Aho leads the Hurricanes with 57 points (20 goals, 37 assists). Heiskanen is third among Finns in the NHL with 46 points (seven goals, 39 assists) and Hintz is next with 44 points (15 goals, 29 assists).
Nevertheless, this is where Finland’s greatest asset will have to come through.
“Of course, it’s tough to miss guys like Barkov and Laine but for Finland, it’s always the team game, the system and play together,” Chicago Blackhawks forward Teuvo Teravainen said. “That’s the kind of way we have to play to win, so whoever we have in the game, those are the guys who are going to do it for us. It’s a good feeling to know one of our biggest strengths is always how good we work together.”
Finnish players have plenty of familiarity built up through past international tournaments. For the Stars and Panthers, who have four and two Finnish players heading to the Olympics respectively, there’s that much more familiarity. Lindell and Heiskanen have been the Stars’ top defense pair for a while now. Lundell and Luostarinen are usually linemates in Florida.
“It will be a benefit. It’d be a fun team to coach, wouldn’t it, no question. They’ve got some pieces there that have played together, so it’ll be up to that coaching staff to build on that a little bit,” Stars coach Glenn Gulutzan said. “Those countries, Finland, Sweden, those players have known each other a long time, played with each other so they enjoy coming together. To have some of that chemistry playing together, that’s an advantage for them.”
Finland is feeling good going into the Olympics. The NHL players who didn’t get to be there with the 2022 gold-medal team watched with pride. Now they want to be part of bringing home gold again.
“It’s a big thing in Finland. Hockey’s the No. 1 sport and people love to watch it, especially when the national team plays. It’s a whole country thing, I would say, everybody supports the team,” Rantanen said. “To do something in the Olympics, that’s the biggest stage you can do something, so hopefully we’re able to play some good games and get some good results.”
NHL.com senior director of editorial Shawn P. Roarke and independent correspondent George Richards contributed to this report