Welcome to the first article in our Olympic coverage here at Blackout Dallas. We will cover everything going on with the Dallas Stars, who are participating in the games. We will start with our Finnish Mafia members, who are representing the Dallas Stars on the biggest stage. We all love our favorite Finns, and it's fantastic to see them represent their country. They will bring a lot to Team Finland as they look to bring home gold for their homeland.
Miro Heiskanen brings extensive lockdown defense experience to his country. One of his best performances on the ice has to be shutting down Connor McDavid when the Stars forced overtime. McDavid could have easily taken over the game and won that game for the Oilers. However, Heiskanen was really not giving him any room to take a shot on goal. Don't be surprised if Esa Lindell and him are defensive partners during the tournament.
Lindell is another player who will bring significant defensive experience to the lineup. It was good seeing the Stars lock him down with a new contract to keep him here in Dallas for another five seasons. Even though he doesn't really generate any offense, he does a lot of stuff on the defensive side of the ice that sometimes will go unrecognized. If they are smart in constructing their roster, Lindell and Heiskanen should end up as a defensive pairing.
Mikko Rantanen is definitely going to bring his scoring to Italy. I would not be surprised if he were on the top line with Roope Hintz and former Dallas Stars player Mikael Granlund. Since they were a good pairing here in Dallas, I'm sure Finland will put them together as their top line. Rantanen will also be one of Finland's assistant captains, which is a massive honor. It will be interesting to see if we see a Rantanen who charges the net or a version that sets up his teammates, as he has done this season in Dallas.
We can't forget the Ace of Spades, Mr. Roope Hintz. He's one of the more underrated scorers that Finland will have on their roster for the Olympics. With how he and Rantanen are on the first power play line, don't be surprised if Finland keeps them together on the same line. While I don't know whether Finnish fans will see the 2023-24 version of him in Italy, Hintz will provide much-needed offense when they face teams like Team Canada and possibly the United States.
This is just the beginning of our Olympic coverage. You can expect more later today as we go over how Jake Oettinger is living out his childhood dream and how Thomas Harley looks to help Team Canada in more than one way with their game strategy. Finland will have their first game on Wednesday as they take on Slovakia in Group B. Do the Finns have what it takes to have a deep run in the Olympic Games? We will find out in their first game on Wednesday.