Patrik Laine made his Montreal Canadiens debut Tuesday. This February, the forward will be skating in Montreal representing his home country at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Laine was one of 17 players named to the roster for Team Finland on Wednesday, joining the first six who were selected in June. The best-on-best tournament featuring teams consisting of NHL players from Finland, Sweden, Canada and the United States will be held from Feb. 12-20, with games at Bell Centre in Montreal on Feb. 12-15 and at TD Garden in Boston from Feb. 17-20.
Laine, who is in his first season with Montreal and scored in his debut with them Tuesday after sustaining a lower-body injury in the preseason, is not the only Canadiens player on Team Finland; forward Joel Armia was also named to the roster.
Since entering the League in 2016-17 after being the No. 2 pick by the Winnipeg Jets at the 2016 NHL Draft, Laine is fourth among active Finnish players with 205 goals. The other three, Mikko Rantanen of the Colorado Avalanche (277), Aleksander Barkov of the Florida Panthers (272) and Sebastian Aho of the Carolina Hurricanes (261) were all named to Team Finland’s roster in June.
“We know Laine, what he’s able to do, special teams, power play, what he can do there and of course, short tournament, the special teams are going to be a big part of that,” Team Finland general manager Jere Lehtinen said. “We’ve been talking with him and knowing where he’s at and it’s great for him and the Canadiens. He’s back early and he played last night, (it) was a great thing.
“But overall, there are two months before the tournament starts so there are a lot of games before then, and I think it’s enough time to get him in good game shape and playing well there. Last night he showed he has those skills.”
The defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers have the most players on Team Finland, with four. Forwards Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, and defenseman Niko Mikkola, will join Barkov.
“It’s big value,” Lehtinen said. “You have a few who have won have been in tough situations tough situations through their career, so when it comes to a tournament like that, it’s a quick tournament. You have to be ready right away and play good hockey if you want to succeed there.
“We have a lot of guys in that group that have played a lot of playoff games, even if you don’t have Stanley cup winners. But overall,l they’ve been through a lot. And, of course, before on the international level they’ve gone through those moments, so I think there’s a lot of experience for that.”
The Dallas Stars will also be well-represented with three players named; forward Roope Hintz joins defensemen Miro Heiskanen and Esa Lindell, who were selected in June.
The only other NHL teams with at least two players on Team Finland are the Colorado Avalanche, with forward Artturi Lehkonen joining Rantanen, and the Utah Hockey Club, which had defensemen Olli Maatta and Juuso Valimaki selected Wednesday.
"I think these are awesome moments,” Maatta said. “I think the last one must have been the World Cup that we had best-on-best and it's been a while. So, I think as players we're excited. I'm sure the hockey world's excited too."
Valimaki said, "I think, like, our team's stacked, and obviously we've got a lot of good players. Guys like Barkov and all who kind of stand out the most, [I’ve] never really played with them, so that would be awesome."
Aho was named to the team in June, but his Hurricanes teammate, forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi, who helped Finland win gold at the 2018 World Junior Championship, was left off.
“I think we have a good team,” Buffalo Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen said. “I think as you mentioned, usually play with good structure and I feel like kind of the picks we have in this team represent that. I think we have a lot of good two-way players. I think we have a really good defense. I think the team will play good defense in front of the goalies.
“So, I think kind of people see us as an underdog team, but there’s some firepower too. So, really excited to get it going with the team.”
Sweden also announced its roster Wednesday afternoon. The United States and Canada will announce theirs at 6:30 p.m. ET (ESPN).
Finland opens the tournament against the U.S. on Feb. 13 at Bell Centre (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS).
