Ice hockey coach Söderholm: "They all have to fit in somewhere"

Leon Draisaitl?

No question.

Philipp Grubauer?

Naturally.

Moritz Seider?

In any case.

When Toni Söderholm, coach of the national ice hockey team, goes over his team for the Olympic Games in his head, the German NHL players are firmly established.

Even veterans from past world championships such as captain Moritz Müller or Korbinian Holzer are set.

However, a few places for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing are still open.

"You have certain pieces of the puzzle, they all have to fit in somewhere," said the Finn in an interview with the sports information service. From Thursday the screening for the Olympics goes into the last round. At the Deutschland Cup in Krefeld, Söderholm takes a close look: who is the right match for whom? Who does what? In the short term, Söderholm has to do without Moritz Müller from the Kölner Haien and Dominik Kahun, who is now on the ice for SC Bern. Both canceled their participation.

Because it's not about the best individual players, but about the best team.

“Just the fact that a player plays in the NHL does not automatically mean that he is in the squad,” emphasized Söderholm before the kick-off on Thursday (7.45pm live on MagentaSport) against Russia: “There has to be a suitable role for him.

If everyone fulfills their role, a lot is possible for us. "As at the World Cup in May, when the German team stormed into the semi-finals. Or at the 2018 Olympics, when they surprisingly won the silver medal without their strong support from the NHL.

Difficult Olympic puzzle

The best will be there again at the Winter Games in Beijing (February 4 to 20, 2022) and the conditions are completely different from those in Pyeongchang in 2018.

Nevertheless, Söderholm has the same confidence in his team: “There have been bigger surprises in ice hockey.” The Finn is convinced that with superstar Draisaitl and Co. in China, the best German team in history will be on the ice: “Yes, I would underline. "

But until then, the national coach is still spoiled for choice.

53 players have been registered for the time being, “we have to make one out of two teams.” The “selection of players who can make a difference on an international level” has increased. Söderholm doesn't just have to pay attention to sporting criteria in his Olympic puzzle Because the vaccination status is also decisive.

"From a sporting point of view, a quarantine for unvaccinated people, which was set by the Olympic Organizing Committee for 21 days, is not practicable," said sports director Christian Künast to SID: "An alternative is currently not foreseeable." That means: If you are not vaccinated, you will not fly The German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) has pointed this out to the players and promoted a vaccination. How many candidates - and who - do not meet this requirement, the association does not want to say with reference to data protection.

It is still completely open what Söderholm will do after the Olympics and the following World Cup in Finland (May 13-29, 2022).

His contract is running out.

In September he sat in on the Florida Panthers, the NHL appeals to him, he makes no secret of it.

"The question arises for me: Do I want to stay with the national team, or do I want to go into everyday life as a club coach?" He said. After the quarter-finals at the 2019 World Cup and the semi-finals this year, he still sees the DEB team further potential: "Germany has not yet reached its maximum by a long way."