On paper they look better than last year, but they were BAD last night. My bet is on Russia.

I'd put Suzuki on the right side of frost and comtois. They all seems to have some sort of chemistry on the pp. Also, Brook was probably the best Dmen yesterday, Dobson wasn't great and Smith was horrible... He should be ahead of them and on the pp. Just my opinion

I agree they looked bad, but I think Finland has a serious chance, I’d love to see them pull it off for Kakkos sake!

these are the lines they used, but I agree with your suggestions. Smith will probably get replaced by McIsaac for next game, and we could see some changes in the bottom 6

I think with performance last night they would leave Comtois-Glass-Tippett intact and rest I would do like this:

Comtois-Glass-Tippett (obviously)
Lafreniere-Studnicka-Suzuki
Frost-Hayton-Leason
Veleno-JAD-Entwistle

What do you think?

The fins are good, but I like Russia’s size and experience. Kostin and Krakatov are both too good for this tournament and have been playing pro-hockey for 2 years. If they get goaltending and consistency (both always the downfall of the Russians) I think they take it.

I like it! I think that is better than what Hunter’s been running. I would probably switch Veleno and JAD tho, I like him at C.

Every pairing besides Mitchell-Bouchard were pretty meh

Oh yeah I forgot to mention, they did switch Phillips and Mitchell, and Mitchell played better with Bouchard IMO. Expect to see him there from now on. They were the best line out there, I agree.

Thanks! I want Veleno and JAD to change on dot dependant on JADs hand which was injured lately. I think JAD is better at actual position of centerman but Veleno is more capable with hand injury of JAD in place. JAD would need another C on his line in case of emergency.

Well Finland does have Jokiharju and Tolvanen one was already playing seamlessly in a top pairing role while the other was lighting up the KHL in his draft year then you throw in Kaapo, Kupari, along with the other finns that will likely see themselves drafted this year I think they are better than Russia.

Its really telling when this isnt even Finland at full strength since Valimaki, Vesalainen, Heiskanen, and Kotkaniemi arent on the team when all of them could have been.