Crop of young Finland-born players generating excitement

HELSINKI --The high-end crop of Finland-born players flooding into the NHL has been noticed by of one of the country's hockey pioneers.

Alpo Suhonen, the first Finland-born coach in the NHL in 2000-01 with the Chicago Blackhawks, says forwards Sebastian Aho, 21, of the Carolina Hurricanes and Patrik Laine, 20, of the Winnipeg Jets are at the top of the list of an exciting generation of Finnish players.
There are 36 Finnish skaters who have played in at least one game in the NHL this season. Thirty-two have yet to reach their 30th birthday and only 13 are 25 or older. Five are teenagers.
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Laine and Florida Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov, 23, each from nearby Tampere, were here this week as the centerpieces of the 2018 NHL Global Series between the Panthers and the Jets at Hartwall Arena.
Winnipeg won the first game 4-2 behind a hat trick by Laine on Thursday. Florida took the second game by the same score on Friday.

Suhonen, 70, also served as an assistant with the Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs before returning to Finland in 2001. He coached Finland at the 1984 Winter Olympics and has held various coaching positions throughout Europe.
He remains a keen observer of the game and closely follows the fortunes of Finnish players in the NHL as they adapt to a change of continents, cultures and hockey systems.
"Aho is my favorite player in this sense," Suhonen said.
Aho is in his third NHL season and leads the Hurricanes in scoring with 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in 12 games. He has an assist in each game to set a Hurricanes record and became the third player (Wayne Gretzky, Ken Lineman) in NHL history to open the season with at least one assist in 12 consecutive games.
Suhonen says Aho's ability to successfully adapt and excel in the NHL has set a standard for his peers and said it's intriguing to follow how others are dealing with the same obstacles.
He is keeping a close eye on the progress of Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen, 24, Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen, 19, Laine, who he saw play person this week, and Edmonton Oilers forward Jesse Puljujarvi, 20.
Suhonen says the challenges faced by young Finnish players today is different than it was two decades ago. He cites the progression of Hockey Hall of Famer Teemu Selanne, the country's best hockey export, as an example.
"When we drafted Teemu Selanne in Winnipeg, we waited two (extra) years to bring him over," said Suhonen, one of three Europeans to serve as NHL coaches (Johnny Gottselig; Black Hawks, 1944-48; Ivan Hlinka; Pittsburgh Penguins, 2000-02).

The Jets chose Selanne No. 10 in the 1988 NHL Draft but he didn't make his NHL debut until 1992. He scored an NHL rookie record 76 goals and 132 points in 1992-93.
"We gave him a conditioning program here and watched him and made sure he was ready," Suhonen said. "And he was ready. Timing is everything, especially with young players.
"Some develop fast, some slower. Skills can be very good but intellectual and emotional levels can be different. So you have to be very careful that the player is intellectually and emotionally ready to change and face the culture."
Suhonen says the evolution of players in Finland has been fascinating to follow as the end game has gone from reaching Finland's top professional league (Liiga) and playing for the national team to reaching the NHL as soon as possible.
"We have a very good development system for young players but that has changed in the last 20 years," he said. "Now, the main goal is the NHL. That's a big change... and of course that means that some players go too young and they are not ready. Every young player is different."
Although the new Finnish breed has captivated Suhonen, he is also excited to relive some old memories with the Jets during their visit here; Suhonen was an assistant with them from 1989-1993. He made the trip from his home in Forssa, about 70 miles outside the Finnish capital, to see many old friends, particularly at the alumni gathering Winnipeg hosted Friday.
"Of course, it's very nice to see Winnipeg because my time there was very great there, with good memories," he said. "No doubt about that."
Despite interests outside of hockey, including music, theater and public speaking, Suhonen said he still sees coaching as his daily driving force.
"I can still coach," said Suhonen, whose last coached competitively with Austria's national team two years ago. "I miss it. Once a coach, always a coach. I like to think, to read. I don't think I belong in offices. That's not me.
"Me is in the dressing room and on the ice with players. Human contact. We have so many computers today, the internet and Facebook and Twitter, so the human contact is even more important in today's world. And that's coaching."