Shedden to coach Team Finland

[Shardik]

Today it was announced that Canadian Doug Shedden will coach Team Finland starting after IHWC 2007 and ending at IHWC 2008. His 2nd coach will be Jukka Jalonen who will become the head coach in 2008 and continue until olympics 2010. Shedden will coach part time (keeps his club job) while Jalonen will be full time and also will develop Finnish coaching systems.

Doug Shedden's comments: http://www.yle.fi/urheilu/mediasali/video/id56970.html
The whole press conference (some additional comments by Shedden down the line): http://www.yle.fi/urheilu/mediasali/video/id56964.html

Shedden coached HIFK to 4th place in SM-Liiga last year and is coaching Jokerit this season. He has also coached in AHL, CHL, ECHL and UHL. He played 416 NHL games during his active career. Jalonen on the other hand is coaching HPK for the sixth year. Every year so far he has reached the medal games and 4 times out of five ended the season in a victory (1 gold, 3 bronzes).

Personal opinions:
I am feeling more comfortable with this decision every minute. Shedden is a gamble. He has only a year and a half of experience in Europe (though it will be 3 seasons by the time he will coach the IHWC's) and no experience in national programs. But he is an up and coming coach and hopefully it will pay off in Canada in 2008. What I like about this deal is that it thinks in long term. Shedden will take the responsibility (and possibly blame) in 2008 while Jalonen gets into the system. Shedden will also enlighten Jalonen on the small rink tactics etc. needed in 2008 and 2010 and Jalonen will get first-hand experience in Quebec/Halifax. And then he becomes the head coach, has a year and a half to master the job before the olympics. A smart way to get the best possible coach with the best possible experience to coach Finland in Vancouver.

Interesting note: Jalonen and Shedden went head-to-head in HPK-HIFK semifinals last year. HPK won the series and went to win the championship.

[Davide]

What about Westerlund? He resigned? Was fired? Or simply his contract expires?

[Shardik]

What about Westerlund? He resigned? Was fired? Or simply his contract expires?
Westerlund's contract expires after IHWC in Moscow. He will start running the Vierumäki Sports Academy.

[pihinalle]

I find this whole process a bit weird. Here it is in a nutshell:

1. It comes clear that Westerlund will be coaching his last season.

2. The speculation begins. Jukka Jalonen is the strongest candidate.

3. Summer 2006: Urheiluruutu (our main daily sport news) makes an interview with Jukka Jalonen. It seems clear he's the only serious candidate at this point.

4. The speculation calms down because it seems obvious Jalonen is the only choice.

5. 2-3 weeks ago: Ilta-Sanomat (our biggest tabloid) releases an article about Shedden being the strongest candidate at the moment. Before this there was no talk about Shedden.

6. Last Thursday: Ilta-Sanomat releases an article about Shedden being named as a headcoach that day. Kalervo Kummola (the chairman of the Finnish hockey association) says nobody will be named that day and the decision will be made in December.

7. During the Euro Hockey Tour several Finnish players playing in Europe and NHL are interviewed and they all wanted the headcoach to be Finnish. Also pretty much all hockey experts in Finland wanted a Finnish coach.

8. Last Sunday: Jari Kurri (the GM of the Finnish national team) says the decision will be made in December.

9. Today: Doug Shedden gets named as a headcoach and Jukka Jalonen as an assistant coach.


I have two main points why I think this process was weird:

1. There was no talk about Shedden being a candidate until this month. What lifted him above all the others? Being a Canadian because Canada has the WC in 2008? That's the only reason I can come up with.

2. The final decision was supposed to be made in December. So why now?


But let's give him a chance before judging him.

[Laho]

1. There was no talk about Shedden being a candidate until this month. What lifted him above all the others? Being a Canadian because Canada has the WC in 2008? That's the only reason I can come up with. That's what Shedden is. A project coach. And won't be having a role too big despite being the namely number one. The truth is that Jalonen will draw up the lines on the board and all there is left for Shedden is to make sure there's no shortage of F-words behind the bench.

But why Shedden and not some other Canadian possibility with more name? The answer is found by looking in the wallet. According to Timo Lehkonen (HPK's second coach) Jalonen already gets the same paycheck as number two he will get as no. 1. It would have taken too much credits to hire a bigger name than Shedden. He was cheap, and even cheaper thanks to most of his pay coming from Jokerit.

2. The final decision was supposed to be made in December. So why now? Ilta-Sanomat let the cat out of the bag already... no need holding back. Of course, they should have, as now they can't even pretend that it was a long and tedious process... it resembles more like a farce. Especially if there's believing to certain Finnish hockey journalist who claims that GM Jari Kurri and the Finnish Association CEO Heikki Hietanen opposed Shedden's contract. It practically means that Chairman Kalervo Kummola walked over both of them. With big boots.

I'm not least bit concerned however. It seems that Shedden is merely a puppet. It's even likely that he's been given direct orders to mostly implement on the tactics Jalonen suggests or he's going to end up as Summanen did.

That (hopefully) being the case, I'm psyched up about this as well. Shedden is probably a man on the spot to juice up the players but his hearsay lack on figuring out the best tactics on ongoing situations doesn't get to be a problem.

Besides, it's just 4 EHT tournaments and one IHWC. As long as we don't finish somewhere around tenth place in 2008 it's pretty much the same even if we had P. Rinta-Jouppi (Virmanen's busy as he's practically the head coach of Jokerit now :003: ) standing in the box.

[Laho]

Aw man, can't wait the next union press conference in 2011...

Sheik Khaled El-Kummola enters the room in his trademark grey suit and announces how he has picked an eager young Canadian "Prat Kushuu" (Brad Gushue) to coach team Finland, backed by ingenious tactician Waltteri "Wade" Immonen of Jokerit.

"We were just corking our second Kossu of the night in Hartwall Arena's sauna two weeks ago when Hjallis brought yet another brilliant option to my mind. In a quick process I called to Jari (Kurri) the next day who gave his silent approval to my - and I want to emphasize - MY candidate.

I believe they will work excellently as a team, Mr. Kusthuus knows the ice very closely and will bring some of that Canadian "winning culture" into the team. He is internationally recognized and respected and everybody can still remember how he led the team into olympic gold in Turino 2006. He is a hard-working man and what really clinched it for me was when they brought it into my attention that he has those 'balls of stone'."