Contract status: UFA in 2014 Current contract: 3 years, $13.5M ($4.5M cap hit) Acquired: Traded by Edmonton for Erik Cole, 7/1/2008
The past few weeks haven't provided much inspiration to keep these things going, but like Jack Burton always says... what the hell.
Pitkanen is a #2 defenseman who plays a #1 on television. The best we can hope for is that 1) Faulk takes developmental strides to become a second solid top-pair guy and complement Joni well enough to make a serviceable top-pair-by-committee or 2) Karmanos gets another wild hair next summer and pursues the Suter/Weber of that FA class. Unti then, it's hard to see Piktanen ever being more than the vaguely-disappointing but efficient enigma he's always been.
Someone yelling "Pitkanen you suck!" while Joni is not on the ice is on my Hurricanes bingo card, but it happens so often I'm thinking of removing it. Thoughts?
Seriously though, he's easily the best d-man on the team, and is good enough in his own end, even though he never hits anybody. He does have bonehead plays every now and then, but he's asked to play a ridiculous amount of minutes with next to no help, so they're understandable.
He's been injured over the last few seasons but from what he's actually shown he seems to have an improved mindset. I know the last reasonable criticism I've seen of him is that he doesn't shoot the puck, but clearly Lewis or someone got to him and said "you've got a cannon, use it sometimes."
His next full, healthy year will be his best yet, IMO.
He's been injured over the last few seasons but from what he's actually shown he seems to have an improved mindset. I know the last reasonable criticism I've seen of him is that he doesn't shoot the puck, but clearly Lewis or someone got to him and said "you've got a cannon, use it sometimes."
His next full, healthy year will be his best yet, IMO.
It's win//win, cause he might only need to play 50//60 games this year to play a full season
Is he an ideal top pairing guy or a #1? No. Is he an ideal top pairing guy in a budget team without a $7 million dollar defenseman? Sure.
He's not perfect. He's not very physical. But he's playing for 2nd pairing money, and eating up minutes like Pavel Brendl eats donuts. With the right partner, he could easily pass as a top pairing guy.
There is hardly a player on the Canes' roster who is a bigger enigma that Joni. He is a very talented skater and passer that does an adequate job in his on end. He is on the ice for close to half the game (too much under Mo, I think) and that amplifies his blunders, which happen occasionally. He seems to have some form of Finnish ADD that makes him attracted to shiny objects and squirels at the worst times.
As BK mentioned, what he produces at his salary level is fine. I think that small aspect gets lost in the shuffle. If he's getting top D-man money and producing at his current level, then there is some concern. He is the top earning D-man on the Canes roster, so is he looked at as a top pairing guy...sure. He's still only 29 years old and the old addage about D-men taking longer to develop.
