Top Finnish coaches are wanted in the money league – Here’s the reason

Tuomo Ruutu is part of the Florida Panthers coaching team. AOP / USA TODAY Sports

Finnish ice hockey coaches are good for Switzerland again. When the KHL takes shape, Switzerland is the most desirable place in Europe to coach and play.

In Käkikelloland, the pay is right, the players are of a high standard and life is comfortable.

Next season, the Swiss premier league will have two Finnish head coaches and numerous blue and white players in other roles.

Jussi Tapola won two Finnish championships and the CHL as the pilot of Tappara within a year. Tapola is the most successful club coach on this continent by a short shot, and he earned his job in Bern.

Fierce place

Tapola’s place is tough. Bern is a passionate puck city and when the game starts, even the market grandmothers point their finger at the head coach. Not to mention the media.

On the other side of the scale is a hefty salary. According to information obtained by Iltalehti from Switzerland, Tapola enjoys a net annual salary of well over 200,000 francs, or 200,000 euros.

Success means additional years to the contract and more weight to the bank account.

Matikainen’s return

In Biel-Bienne, he manages the business Petri Matikainenthe second head coach from the Swiss league.

The rise of the 56-year-old former KHL and league coach to the coveted head coach’s ball in the Swiss league can be considered somewhat surprising.

In Switzerland, Austrian puck events are followed closely.

Antti Törmänen would likely continue his successful spell behind Biel’s bench barring the unfortunate cancer.

Six helpers

Finns are also eligible for Switzerland as helpers. Petteri Nummelin will continue as Ajoie’s second coach and probably also in the coaching ladder of the Latvian national team.

The head coach of Ajoie’s U20 team is a Jyp legend Juha-Pekka Hytönen.

Another from Turku Kalle Kaskinen is the second coach of traditional Lugano. Matikainen took Biel with him Juha Vuoren.

Former top striker Kimmo Rintanen continues in Kloten’s team. Also works in the same group Saku Martikainen.

Joker icon Walter Immonen the job is still in the beautiful alpine town of Davos. Immonen has coached in Switzerland for 14 seasons already.

In the Swiss league, Finns work in other roles as well, such as Lassi Laakso Lugano’s physical trainer washes and Markus Ketterer As Davos’ goalkeeper coach.

Brave Ahokas

At the end of July, Jussi Ahokka’s new job became clear, when the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League, or OHL junior league, announced Ahokka’s head coach contract.

Kitchener Rangers is one of the OHL’s top clubs and a four-time league champion (1981, 1982, 2003, 2008).

Ahokas is the first Finnish OHL head coach. The league is an educational platform for NHL coaches. It’s a bold move to go to a different league and culture to pursue the NHL dream.

Reijo Ruotsalainen will also coach in the same league next season. The pack legend’s employer is the Flint Firebirds and his role is assistant coach.

Molar knowledge

Within the Finnish coaching staff, goalkeeper coaches have their own export product. There will be a total of four of them in NHL organizations next season.

Jussi Parkkila is the deserving Stanley Cup winner of the Colorado Avalanche. The Tampere native has been involved in Colorado for six seasons already.

Marko Torenius the employer is the Vancouver Canucks and its farm team the Abbotsford Canucks. The Espoo native’s career is moving forward quickly. He has worked, among other things, at the KHL’s major club St. Petersburg SKA.

A man from Hämeenlinna Juha Lehtola won the AHL championship in June. Lehtola trains new stars for the Washington Capitals in the Hershey Bears.

The Detroit Red Wings hired earlier this summer Roope Koistinen as the goalie coach of the AHL team Grand Rapids Griffins belonging to his organization.

Hannu Toivonen is employed by the Toronto Marlies.

Söderholm in Germany

Toni Söderholm continues to build his career in Germany. The former kit is the head coach of Red Bull Munich.

Matti Tiilikainen became the coach of Löwen Frankfurt.

Finnish champion coach Jyrki Aho is the general manager of Grenoble in the French league. Miika Elomo coaches the Cergy-Pontoinen team of the same series in Paris and Janne Sinkkonen in Chamonix.

Next season, the Finns will also be coached in, for example, the Polish main league and the ICEHL league.

It is special that there is no Finnish head coach in the main leagues of Sweden, Denmark and Norway at the start of the season.

The example of the players

One of the reasons for Finns’ “popularity” is the NHL’s star players. Mikko Rantanen, Sebastian Aho, Aleksander Barkov and partners are known all over the puck world.

Finns are considered conscientious and reliable workers. Of course, behind every success story are also the coach’s own sacrifices and years of work.

The interest in Finns is partly explained by the success of the national teams. Olympic gold and men’s and junior world championships are valued everywhere.

Finnish ice hockey has been on the international scene in recent years. Coach training has been of high quality – and it must continue to be so.

Being Finnish can also be a burden for the coach. When one of the coaches mentioned in this story was interviewed for a club in Central Europe, the club’s general manager asked if he would play the team in the style of the Finnish national team.

– We don’t want that style for us, was the concise opinion of the club boss.

NHL Tuomo

The highest in the hierarchy of Finnish coaches is currently 40 years old Tuomo Ruutu. The former top player is an assistant coach of the Florida Panthers and got to experience the Stanley Cup finals last spring.