NHL Notebook: Nikolas Matinpalo replaces Rasmus Ristolainen for Team Finland

Losing Ristolainen hurts Team Finland. This season,. The right-shot defenceman who plays for the Philadelphia Flyers has two goals and 15 points while improving quite a bit defensively. He’s not on pace for 40 points as he used to do earlier in his career, but he’s the nation’s best right-shot defenceman.

In his place, Matinpalo joins the team. The 26-year-old was undrafted and spent his first six professional seasons in Finland before joining the Senators franchise before the 2023-24 season. Last season, he played four games with the team, as well as 67 games with the Belleville Senators of the American Hockey League where he scored four goals and 14 points. Matinpalo has become somewhat of a regular this season, playing 18 games with a -1 and six penalty minutes.

It’s not a good sign for Team Finland, as they’re already seen as the weakest team in the tournament.

Jesse Puljujärvi’s contract terminated by Penguins

Speaking about Finns, Jesse Puljujärvi was placed on waivers the other day, with his contract being terminated by the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday.

Puljujärvi was selected fourth overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 2016. After struggling to get traction in the National Hockey League, the right winger returned to Finland in 2019-20 and scored 24 goals and 53 points in 56 games for Oulun Kärpät. After another 16 games with the Finnish team in 2020-21, he returned to the Oilers the same season.

He looked like a brand new player in his second stint with the team, scoring 15 goals and 25 points in 55 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season. In an 82-game season, Puljujärvi was on pace for 22 goals and 37 points. The Finnish forward’s best season came in 2021-22, scoring 14 goals and 36 points in 65 games.

After mediocre results in 2022-23, scoring five goals and 14 points in 58 games, Puljujärvi was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in what was essentially a cap dump for the Oilers. He finished the season with two assists in 17 games.

Puljujärvi signed a professional tryout with the Penguins before the 2023-24 season, not making the team but eventually earning a PTO with their American Hockey League team. The Penguins eventually signed him to a two-year, $1.6 million deal in Feb. 2024 and he scored three goals and four points in 22 games. This season, he had three goals and nine points in 26 games.

Who knows what’s next for the Finnish forward?

Thatcher Demko left Saturday’s game

On Saturday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks netminder Thatcher Demko left the game in the first period and did not return.

Last season, Demko finished second in Vezina Trophy voting thanks to a .918 save percentage and a 2.45 goals against average in 51 games, with a 35-14-2 record. He missed games toward the end of the season and played just one post-season game before an injury kept him out of the rest of the Canucks’ post-season run.

That injury kept him out of the Canucks crease to begin the season, with the San Diego native making his season debut on Dec. 10. As expected, his numbers haven’t been nearly as good as the 29-year-old has an .891 save percentage and a 2.87 goals against average in 17 games, with a 6-6-3 record. However, he had a .955 save percentage and a 3-1-0 record over his past five games before the injury, so he was finding his game again.

According to Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet, it happened during the game, and from what he’s heard, the injury isn’t serious. More importantly, the injury doesn’t involve the knee that caused him to miss a stint of regular season games last season and the post-season plus the start of this season.

The Canucks hold on to the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference with a 26-18-11 record with 68 points. They have a three-point lead over their Pacific Division rivals, the Calgary Flames, and are just two points back of the Los Angeles Kings for third in the division.