Liiga week's top and flop: The top talent from the capital region is found in Espoo

The head coach of Pelicans Sami Kapanen criticized on his Instagram account that nothing positive is reported about the Liiga, but always focuses on negative things. This observation is of course valid: crises interest readers more than success stories.

But now, in addition to criticism, we also share some positives, as it is time to highlight the top and flop moments from the previous Liiga week.

Tops

1. Jere Väisänen was the most dazzling player on the ice in the local battle between Kiekko-Espoo and HIFK. I watched the 26-year-old winger throughout the match, waiting to see if he would make any mistakes with the puck. That did not happen even under intense pressure. Väisänen has scored 15 points (7+8) in 16 games. In a more offensively oriented team, he would have significantly more points.

2. In August, I wrote a long article series about Lukko’s sports director Kalle Sahlstedt. One of the interview topics was Lukko’s head coach Tomi Lämsä, who year after year does a good job and earns credit from players and industry people, but faces spitting from fans and the media. Once again, Lämsä has whipped Lukko into top form, even though the first games of the season went poorly. After 17 games played, Lukko is at the top of the standings. Fans believe this has happened despite Lämsä, not because of him.

3. Tommi Miettinen has only coached HIFK in two games, but the team is unrecognizable from the one that underperformed under Olli Jokinen. HIFK is fast, straightforward, and strong in battles on the ice. In such a short time, Miettinen has hardly had the chance to perform any tactical magic, but he has managed to unlock some mental barriers.

Tommi Miettinen has had the best possible start at HIFK. Photo: All Over Press

Flops

1. It is always a bad sign if you cannot tell from the match report whether it is a kindergarten or a men’s professional league. This happened when TPS’s star forward Lukas Wernblom bit Peetro Seppälä on the finger. Wernblom himself denies the biting, and it cannot be verified from the video either. What can be seen from the video, however, is the referee’s face next to Wernblom’s head. If and when the biting occurred, the referee was in the best position to witness it, so I would trust his eyewitness testimony. A six-game suspension is a suitable time for the Swedish forward to think about what he actually did.

2. Speaking of referees, the main referees Lassi Heikkinen and Petri Lindqvist deserve a heap of criticism for their performance in the Pelicans – Tappara match. Overall, the refereeing was confusing throughout the game, which was evident in the teams getting heated on the ice. The worst farce, however, was Tappara’s fourth goal of the night, which was not overturned after Pelicans’ challenge. The reason was that Pelicans’ goalie Jussi Olkinuora initiated contact with an opposing player outside the goalie area with his glove. This was, of course, true. But if the referees had reviewed the video, they would have seen a Tappara player continuing into the goalie area and interfering with Olkinuora’s save attempt. Mistakes happen to referees too, but such significant and easily correctable errors should not be seen in a super season anymore.

3. The sports directors of the Liiga who have changed their head coaches also deserve some criticism. The honor for this observation goes to Kiekko-Espoo’s head coach Jyrki Aho, who wondered in an interview with SuomiKiekko whether it would not be a more cost-effective solution to acquire player reinforcements instead of changing the entire coaching team. If strengthening the team does not work, then other solutions can be considered. There is a valid point here. For example, KooKoo started the season with significantly weaker material than last year, but still the first action was to replace the coach who led the team to silver, Jouko Myrrä. The coaching change was not a secret to better performance, and now the team has acquired Alexander Ruuttu. Should these things have been done the other way around?

Rumors began to circulate about Raimo Helmisen’s return to Ilves – two players reacted immediately!

League | 27.10.2026 12:06