HELSINKI – The Finnish Ice Hockey Association named six NHL players to its roster on Wednesday and more might follow.

The goalkeepers Pekka Rinne (Nashville) and Karri Rämö (Tampa Bay), defenceman Ville Koistinen (Nashville) and the forwards Niklas Hagman (Toronto), Antti Miettinen (Minnesota) and Jarkko Ruutu (Ottawa) will be part of the Finnish national team for sure in the 2009 IIHF World Championship in Switzerland.

From the others NHL candidates, Niklas Bäckström (Minnesota), Kari Lehtonen (Atlanta), Toni Lydman (Buffalo) and Jere Lehtinen (Dallas) will be missing due to injuries. Also the participation of the following players is not clear yet due to medical reasons: Anssi Salmela (Atlanta), Teppo Numminen (Buffalo), Sean Bergenheim (Islanders), Ville Peltonen (Florida), Mikko Koivu (Minnesota) and Antti Pihlström (Nashville).

For this week’s Euro Hockey Tour with a game against Russia in Tampere and two games in Liberec, Czech Republic, two other players join the team from abroad with Niko Kapanen of Russian champions Ak Bars Kazan and Tommi Santala of Swiss runner-up Kloten Flyers. The participation of Kapanen’s teammate Jukka Hentunen is open due to an injury.