Jokerit 09-10

[korben*]

Goalies:
Juuso Riksman (2010)
Mikko Strömberg (2011) *
Jani Kautto (2011)

Defenders:
Antti-Jussi Niemi (2012) *
Marko Kauppinen (2012)
Tom Koivisto (2010)
Mikko Kalteva (2011)
Simo Mälkiä (2011) *
Nico Manelius (2011)
Tommi Kivistö (2011) *
Sami Helenius (2010)
Teemu Eronen (2011)
Jere Ölander (2011)

Forwards:
Esa Pirnes (2011) *
Jukka Hentunen (2011) *
Jani Rita (2011)
Janne Lahti (2010)
Ossi Saarinen (2011)
Janne Hauhtonen (2010)
Tomek Valtonen (2011)
Juha Lind (2010)
Tomi Mäki (2010)
Teemu Pulkkinen (2011)
Jani-Petteri Helenius (2011)
Ilmari Pitkänen (2011)
Olavi Vauhkonen (2011)
Jan-Mikael Juutilainen (2010)
Tomi Pallassalo (2011)
Tony Pulkkinen (2011)
* new player

After fooling Jokerit fans for couple decades. Now they finally built team that fans have hoped for
Only one of those, Simo Mälkiä, has never worn Jokerit jersey before! (ages ago Pirnes played one eurochamp match on loan from Kärpät)

[Ciccarelli]

They should make the play-offs, yeah.

[korben*]

Originally Posted by rosnell

They should make the play-offs, yeah.

Very funny.

Of national perspective. Some might be interested how Manelius & Pulkkinen fair.. Nico has nearly guaranteed 3rd pair sport. If he gets lazy, he will soon find himself in juniors. Doupt that happens. More likely that Manelius is in 2nd pair come playoff time. Then we have Pulkkinen. Apparently he has guaranteed spot in the team. That sucks. You either play yourself to seniors or stay in juniors. Even Teemu2 isn´t worth quaranteed roster spot!

[Finnpin]

Nobody except the 1st line has a guaranteed roster spot...Aravirta even said that every position is open

So Teemu Pulkkinen has a chance to make the team but nothing isn´t given for free you gotta fight for it just like everybody else.

Getting Kivistö back is nice, He is a one tough customer.

I like the contract extensions especially Rita´s and lenght of Hentunen´s and Pirnes´contracts (2 years). Defense could be better but nice to see there is room for the juniors.

Damn this team looks like Jokerit!

[raystorm]

This is fantastic roster! I think that now we have chance to win something. All players comes from Finland and that's very good. Best players has long few years contracts so team looks same also next year.

We have principle SM-liiga best goalie Juuso Riksman who let us win many games last season. We have top 3 defender, winger and center.

[Tony Piscotta]

Originally Posted by raystorm

This is fantastic roster! I think that now we have chance to win something. All players comes from Finland and that's very good. Best players has long few years contracts so team looks same also next year.

Can all these two and three year contracts mean they are looking to jump to KHL in 2010-2011??

[korben*]

Bump.

Zero news of 2nd line center.
Hauhtonen is probable. 3rd and 4th line manned by Mäki, Helenius, Juutilainen or Pallassalo.

I personally prefer Hauhtonen as 3rd liner.

[raystorm]

Yes 2nd line center is a problem. I don't think so that Juutilainen would take a huge steps and will play there. So i think that Hauhtonen will unfortunately play our 2 nd line center. But it's okay. We have now good roster and good coach so anything can happen.

I put here my thought for the lines at next season:

Attackers:

Rita-Pirnes-Hentunen (o'h boys what a wonderful 1 st line)
Lahti-Hauhtonen-Valtonen
Lind-Juutilainen-Saarinen
Mäki-JP Helenius-Vauhkonen

(Teemu Pulkkinen may have some injuries in his leg so i think that he has better to start A jr.-Sm-liiga that he can get some games before jump to SM-liiga. )

Defence:

Niemi-Koivisto
Kauppinen-Kalteva
Mälkiä-Manelius/Kivistö

Good defence. All guys ties each other. Specially AJ Niemi's comeback is sometinhg what i'm waiting for a long time!

Goalies

Riksman
(Strömberg)

Good goalies. Riksman is SM-liiga's TOP 3 goalie maybe the best.

[Finnpin]

I don't see a 2nd line problem because we have Ara coaching.

[korben*]

Folks at Jatkoaika say that in training lines have been

Hentunen - Pirnes - Valtonen
xxx (Lahti?)- Hauhtonen - Pulkkinen

Rita in third line ?!
Well in 5 days time we get some clue. Maybe.

[Jussi]

Originally Posted by korben

Folks at Jatkoaika say that in training lines have been

Hentunen - Pirnes - Valtonen
xxx (Lahti?)- Hauhtonen - Pulkkinen

Rita in third line ?!
Well in 5 days time we get some clue. Maybe.

Well not quite yet, Pulkkinen and other junior players will be playing in Slovakia with the U-20 national team.

[Panopticon]

Originally Posted by korben

Rita in third line ?!

Lind/Lahti-Juutilainen-Rita would probably be the best third line in the league...

[Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Panopticon

Lind/Lahti-Juutilainen-Rita would probably be the best third line in the league...

Juutilainen is still inexperienced and must prove that he can play well in SM-liiga. He might have a lot of work ahead of him before he's a reliable 3th line center in SM-liiga.

Anyways Jokerit might be in big problems with their lack of depth at center forward position, if either Pirnes or Hauhtonen suffers a long term injury.

[Finnpin]

Originally Posted by Tormentor

Juutilainen is still inexperienced and must prove that he can play well in SM-liiga. He might have a lot of work ahead of him before he's a reliable 3th line center in SM-liiga.

I trust Ara's system and his experience to develop the players better than for example Hanlon so this is Juutilainen's big chance to step forward but he has to do a lot of work.

Originally Posted by Tormentor

Anyways Jokerit might be in big problems with their lack of depth at center forward position, if either Pirnes or Hauhtonen suffers a long term injury.

If that happens they will get some (foreign) center for sure. But that's risky business if the center doesn't know nothing about how the european center position should be played.

[Panopticon]

Originally Posted by Tormentor

Juutilainen is still inexperienced

Which is why it would be ideal to play him with experienced guys like Lind and Rita instead of burying him on a 4th line getting random minutes with random losers and barely building his confidence. It's a third line... it's not like Jokerit will lose much if Juutilainen doesn't work well in the role. I'd give him 10+ games (including exhibition games) to show if he can handle it.

[Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Panopticon

Which is why it would be ideal to play him with experienced guys like Lind and Rita instead of burying him on a 4th line getting random minutes with random losers and barely building his confidence. It's a third line... it's not like Jokerit will lose much if Juutilainen doesn't work well in the role. I'd give him 10+ games (including exhibition games) to show if he can handle it.

Yep, it would be great for Juutilainen to play a full season with those guys, but IMO it's unlikely that he would be a member of the best third line in the league next season...

To me there seems to be two weaknesses in Jokerit's roster that deteriorate their chances of winning the championship: Riksman's injury proneness combined with an average back-up goalie and the lack of quality center forwards.

I'm not an expert when talking about Jokerit, so please correct me if I'm wrong, but this is how I see their depth chart at Center Forward position:

1. Esa Pirnes - One of the top centers in the league. Great in all situations.
2. Janne Hauhtonen - Strong and reliable defensively. Might produce offensively if lined-up with the right players, but the skill set points more to 3rd or 4th line center. At the moment it seems that he must be used on 2nd Powerplay unit, because there's no better alternatives.

-------------------------- Huge cap -------------------------
3-4. Tomi Mäki - Has played the position, but not a natural center forward. Limited playmaking skills. Can he be relied on in crucial face-offs?
3-4. Jan-Mikael Juutilainen - Distributes the puck fairly nicely to his wingers, so there's some potential to higher lines, but will probably never be a high scoring player because of somewhat limited skill set. Inexperienced, so can he be relied on in short handed play and in crucial face-offs?
3-4. Jani-Petteri Helenius - Fairly strong and aggressive, but average hockey sense, limited play making ability and fairly weak puck handling skills. Could develop into a decent 3rd/4th line center in SM-liiga, but still inexperienced. Can he be relied on in short handed play and in crucial face-offs?
3-4. Tomi Pallassalo - Can't say too much about him, but the situation is probably fairly similar with Juutilainen and Helenius; he has a lot to prove.

As a conclusion I would be really surprised, if Jokerit would be the champions next season with these Center Forwards. Another surprise would be if Hjallis would have the necessary patience to watch and wait the time that the young guys need before they develop into professionals. Luckily the tough monetary situation might help to prevent some of the "emergency" acquisitions.

[Jussi]

Well it looks like the junior players will take part in the pre-season opener (tournament in Jyväksylä) after all and according to Aravirta, will play both games. This will be the lineup (as per jokerit.com):

Valtonen - Pirnes - Hentunen
Saarinen - Hauhtonen - Rita
Lind - Mäki - Te. Pulkkinen
Pitkänen - J. Helenius - Vauhkonen
Pallassalo, To. Pulkkinen

Kauppinen - Kalteva
Niemi - Eronen
Kivistö - Mälkiä
Manelius - S. Helenius

[Jussi]

First pre-season game over, Jokerit beat HIFK 5-3. Teemu Pulkkinen scored the 3-3 goal ("empty net" from the back post on a 5-3?) and older brother Tony set up the game winner scored by Vauhkonen.

[korben*]

Jokerit.com has pretty lenghty recap of todays match (in finnish)

Aravirta comments:
- I´m happy with playing trend. Great third period after long training week.
- Got to play youngsters a lot. All played like a man.
- Teemu Eronen is very tricky with the puck. Solid basic match from Nico Manelius. These are good news for us.
This match confirmed my idea of their level based on training camp. I have good trust in these youngsters.

Theme of the match was to give ice time to youngsters. After first period Jokerit got to do it more. Juha Lind played only first one and left the game due to minor back problems. Middle of second Tomek Valtonen got ejected for dropping gloves. After that Teemu Pulkkinen was moved to first line alongside Hentunen and Pirnes.

Player of the game: Ossi Saarinen

6.47 Ossi Saarinen (Janne Hauhtonen, Teemu Eronen) 1-0 pp

45.35 Jukka Hentunen (Mikko Kalteva) 2-2
50.11 Teemu Pulkkinen (Marko Kauppinen, Esa Pirnes) 3-3 pp2
53.18 Olavi Vauhkonen (Tony Pulkkinen) 4-3
56.59 Saarinen (Pirnes) 5-3

Mikko Strömberg 37 saves.

[Jussi]

Teemu Pulkkinen will play in the first line with Pirnes and Hentunen against Kalpa in the final of the tournament in Jyväskylä. Lind's back problems and Valtonen suspended(?) opened up the room for him.

[Panopticon]

Originally Posted by Jussi

Teemu Pulkkinen will play in the first line with Pirnes and Hentunen against Kalpa in the final of the tournament in Jyväskylä. Lind's back problems and Valtonen suspended(?) opened up the room for him.

Good for him. I'm glad they have a coach this year who isn't afraid to give young guys ice time. This one has always done good work with our juniors.

And yeah, I know this isn't SM-liiga yet, but it's still great for him to get good ice time with men, not to mention PP chances as well...

[Finnpin]

Jokerit lost 2-1 against KalPa and Pulkkinen scored pp goal.

[Jokerit Wasp]

a 6-2 loss in Espoo and Jokerit's poor start continues, 13th in table after 12 games.

[Andy.B]

OK then an outsider looking in perspective here.

It seems to me that Jokerit have adopted a jobs-for-the-boys mentality here and things aren't working out. Now it may just be a slight blip whilst the team gels but how long will the fans put up with paying good money for a poor product? Moreover who is to blame? It should be a given that they make top 4 with the budget and resources at their disposal.

Maintaining a sense of reality though, of the 13 games played thus far only 4 have been at home so things may not be as bad as they appear.

[Korkki]

They were really poor. No skating at all and very ineffective play too. Ässät had none problems beating them.

I don't think it is coaching issue, but changing the whole team as it might be needed is impossible.