As a Finn I'd be surprised if Kakko wouldn't make an appearance. He's highly revered player in here, and would most likely fit better than Kappy to a top6 role.

I would rather have Riikola-Jokiharju over the current third pair but that's me.



Is Kakko better than any of the 12 forwards? Anyways you can switch Gralund and Kapanen.

Short-term I'd probably take him over Lehkonen but that's about it. I think a creative offensive player like Kakko can be invaluable on a tight spot. Finnish defense is known to be good in any kind of tournaments, usually it's the offense they struggle on.

I wouldn't leave Nutivaara out either btw.

I’d put Kakko on a sheltered line with Barkov and Rantanen. Then have Teravainen and Aho feed the pick to Laine. Balances your top two lines to have hard working two way players with some 1 dimensional scorers.