4 Nations Roster Remix: 2005 Finland team

The top NHL players from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States will go head-to-head at the 4 Nations Face-Off, a best-on-best tournament that will be held from Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston.

Though this is the first tournament of its kind to feature these four countries, NHL.com and NHL.com International have put together what the rosters and line combinations for each country would have looked like in the past, going backwards in five-year intervals. The rosters will follow the same format as the current 4 Nations teams: 13 forwards, seven defensemen and three goalies.

The stories will run each Sunday through Feb. 9.

Today, NHL.com/fi writer Varpu Sihvonen reveals what her Team Finland roster would've looked like in 2005.

Forwards (13)

Tuomo Ruutu – Olli Jokinen – Sami Kapanen

Antti Laaksonen – Saku Koivu – Teemu Selanne

Niklas Hagman – Esa Pirnes – Jere Lehtinen

Ville Nieminen – Niko Kapanen – Antti Miettinen

Jarkko Ruutu

Only 20 Finnish forwards made NHL rosters in 2003-04, prior to the 2004-05 NHL lockout, but that would have been enough to put together two scoring lines and two lines with grit. Jokinen of the Florida Panthers blossomed in 2002-03 under the coaching of Mike Keenan. He scored 36 goals, one more than he'd scored in his previous four seasons combined, and finished with 65 points, followed by 26 goals and 58 points in 2003-04. Chicago Blackhawks rookie Ruutu played all 82 regular-season games and finished with 23 goals, 44 points, 10 power-play goals and 17 power-play points. The Carolina Hurricanes traded Kapanen to the Philadelphia Flyers on February 8, 2003, and in Philadelphia his style of play changed. Kapanen, one of the fastest skaters in the NHL, was still a scorer, but there was a new, more defensive element to his game. Kapanen finished 2003-04 with 30 points (12, 18 assists). Jokinen, Ruutu and Kapanen would have been Finland’s top line.

Laaksonen of the Minnesota Wild, known for his excellent stick-handling and two-way play, finished with 26 points (12 goals, 14 assists) in 2003-04. Montreal Canadiens captain Koivu finished with 55 points (14 goals, 41 assists), even though he missed 14 games because of a knee injury. Calder Trophy winner of NHL rookie of the year (1993), inaugural winner of Maurice ”Rocket” Richard Trophy (1999) and future Hockey Hall of Famer Selanne carried had 32 points (16 goals, 16 assists) for the Colorado Avalanche in 2003-04, just a season after getting 64 points for the Sharks.

Hagman of the Panthers, Pirnes of the Los Angeles Kings and Lehtinen of the Dallas Stars would’ve made up the third line. At the time, Lehtinen had already won the Stanley Cup with Dallas in 1999 and was a three-time Selke Trophy winner (1998, 1999, 2003). 2001 Stanley Cup winner Nieminen started 2003-04 with the Avalanche, but he was traded to the Calgary Flames and missed his second Cup by one win. He finished the season with five goals and 21 points. The fourth line would have featured Nieminen, Kapanen of the Stars and Jarkko Ruutu of the Vancouver Canucks. Dallas rookie Miettinen would have been the 13th forward.

Defensemen (7)

Kimmo Timonen – Teppo Numminen

Janne Niinimaa – Joni Pitkanen

Toni Lydman – Sami Salo

Aki Berg

Timonen joined the Nashville Predators in 1998-99 and quickly became a fixture on the team. He scored at least 11 goals five times in six seasons from 2000-01 through 2006-07. In 2003-04 he had 44 points (12 goals, 32 assists), including 30 power-play points, and averaged 23:52 of ice time. Timonen and Numminen would have made a reliable and productive top pair. Numminen reached double figures in goals five times with the Winnipeg Jets/ Phoenix Coyotes and had seven seasons with at least 40 points. Numminen was a member of the Buffalo Sabres when he set an NHL record on Nov. 13, 2006, playing his 1,252nd game. He passed Jari Kurri for the most games in the NHL by a Finnish-born player.

Niinimaa of the Islanders (nine goals, 19 assists) and Flyers rookie Pitkanen (eight goals, 19 assists), would have made up a second pair. The third pair would have included Lydman of the Flames and Salo of the Canucks. Berg of the Toronto Maple Leafs would have been the seventh defenseman.

Goalies (3)

Miikka Kiprusoff

Vesa Toskala

Pasi Nurminen

There is little question who would have started in net for Finland. Kiprusoff’s career took on a new life after the Flames lost goalie Roman Turek to injury early in 2003-04. Calgary needed a goalie and traded for Kiprusoff on Nov. 16, 2003. He finished 24-10-4 with a 1.70 goals-against average, .933 save percentage and four shutouts, helping Calgary return to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 1996. Kiprusoff carried the Flames within one win of the Stanley Cup in 2004, losing 2-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Final. He finished those playoffs 15-11, with a 1.85 goals-against average, .928 save percentage and five shutouts. Toskala had a good 2003-04 season with the San Jose Sharks, Kiprusoff’s old team. Toskala played 28 games (24 starts) and finished 12-8 with four ties, a 2.06 goals-against average, .930 save percentage and one shutout. Toskala would have been the backup, and Nurminen of the Atlanta Thrashers would have been third on the depth chart. He played his third and final season in the NHL in 2003-04, going 25-30-7.