4 Nations Tournament : Finland officials eye Joel Armia (according to Pierre LeBrun)

Dose
Crédit: MONTREAL, CANADA - APRIL 16: Joel Armia #40 of the Montreal Canadiens skates the puck during the second period against the Detroit Red Wings at the Bell Centre on April 16, 2024 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in a shootout. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

Will any of the Canadiens’ players be taking part in the 4 Nations Tournament next February?

The question is pertinent, because there could be a few “logical” candidates.

Obviously, Cole Caufield (USA), Mike Matheson (Canada), Samuel Montembeault (Canada), Nick Suzuki (Canada) come to mind… But in this group, we could also add the name of Joel Armia (Finland).

Basically, it’s easy to forget Armia in all this, because we’re not talking about an NHL star.

But as Pierre LeBrun pointed out in a recent article, Finnish officials are watching him to see if he can help the team at the tournament.

He’s good at puck protection and can be useful on the ice:

Last July, the NHL published a list of players who could be part of the Finnish team.

Forwards include Sebastian Aho, Aleksander Barkov, Mikael Granlund, Erik Haula, Roope Hintz, Artturi Lehkonen, Anton Lundell, Eetu Luostarinen, Matias Maccelli, Mikko Rantanen, Teuvo Terevainen and Eeli Tolvanen.

But you also have to think about players like Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Kaapo Kakko, Patrik Laine…

There are some guys who already have a secure place on the team, but the others will have to fight to make a place for themselves.

And that’s where Armia could come in, even if he’s not off to the greatest start of his career.

And what about Caufield?

Since the start of the campaign, Cole Caufield has been scoring goals at an impressive rate.

He’s hit the back of the net eight times in just nine games, and he’s catching the eye of Team USA management.

But his place in the line-up is far from guaranteed, according to Elliotte Friedman in the latest episode of his podcast.

And the reason is simple: the Americans have talent, talent… and more talent.

Does he have what it takes to dethrone one of these players?

  • Kyle Connor
  • Jack Eichel
  • Jake Guentzel
  • Jack Hughes
  • Clayton Keller
  • Dylan Larkin
  • Auston Matthews
  • J.T. Miller
  • Jason Robertson
  • Brady Tkachuk
  • Matthew Tkachuk
  • Vincent Trocheck
  • Trevor Zegras
  • Alex DeBrincat
  • Troy Terry
  • Patrick Kane
  • Matty Beniers
  • Brock Boeser

You’ll notice that the list is long, and we’re only talking about players who play in the forward position.

To put it another way, Caufield is going to have to score more goals if he really wants to earn his place in the American line-up.

In closing…

The more things go on, the more I get the impression that Nick Suzuki and Samuel Montembeault have a chance of playing in the tournament for Team Canada.

The captain’s stats are off to a good start, and Monty is one of Canada’s most outstanding goalkeepers so far this season.

All this remains to be seen, in the end. But it’s worth mentioning because the countries have until early December (just over a month away) to send in their official line-ups for the event.

Overtime

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