{coyotes} No Saku Koivu on Finland roster; sixth go for Selanne

Tuesday, 7 January 2014

{coyotes} No Saku Koivu on Finland roster; sixth go for Selanne

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A pair of teenagers and the absence of a national icon on Finland's 25-man roster for the 2014 Sochi Olympics named Tuesday have signaled the start of a transition for the country.

Florida Panthers center Aleksander Barkov and Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta will provide a measure of youthful enthusiasm for the Finns, but Anaheim Ducks center Saku Koivu reportedly has declined an invitation to participate in his fifth Olympics and was not on the announced roster.

Finland is the only country to medal in three of the four tournaments since the NHL began taking a break from its schedule to allow players to participate in 1998.

While it will be strange to see the Finns without longtime captain Koivu, Ducks forward Teemu Selanne will be on the team for a sixth time. The team also is stacked in net, with goaltenders Tuukka Rask (Boston Bruins), Anntti Niemi (San Jose Sharks) and Kari Lehtonen (Dallas Stars). Another elite goaltender, Nashville's Pekka Rinne, has missed most of the season because of an infection in his hip and was not named to the roster.

The defense corps includes only two current NHL veterans, Kimmo Timonen (Philadelphia Flyers) and the Tampa Bay Lightning's Sami Salo. They are joined by Maatta and young Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen, and four players from Europe.

Mikku Koivu, Saku's brother and likely successor as team captain, was named to the team but his participation is in doubt because of a broken ankle.

Here is the 25-man roster for Finland:

Goaltenders: Kari Lehtonen, Dallas Stars; Antti Niemi, San Jose Sharks; Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins

Defensemen: Lasse Kukkonen, Karpat Oulu (FIN); Juuso Hietanen, Torpedo Nizhni Novgorod (RUS); Sami Lepisto, Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (RUS); Olli Maatta, Pittsburgh Penguins; Sami Salo, Tampa Bay Lightning; Kimmo Timonen, Philadelphia Flyers; Ossi Vaananen, Jokerit Helsinki (FIN); Sami Vatanen, Anaheim Ducks