GM: Jukka Tuominen
Coach: Brent Sutter
Last season: 7th overall. In playoffs, lost to Oslo.
Ins and Outs
(Season 16 to Season 15)
In: Andres De La Garma (free agent), Patrik Laine (trade), Stanislav Vrhel (trade), (Dmitri Voronkov (free agent), Henry Thrun (free agent), Rafael Harvey-Pinard (free agent), Valtteri Puustinen (free agent), Michikazu Hata (free agent),
Out: Frederik Andersen (trade), Taylor Hall (free agent), Jonathan Toews (free agent), Dillon Dube (free agent), Nazem Kadri (free agent), Kevin Poulin (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Patrik Laine/Sergei Mozyakin/Brock Boeser
Kyle Connor/Tyler Seguin/Mikko Lehtonen
Ryan Strome/Jesperi Kotkaniemi/Anthony Mantha
Connor Zary/Stanislav Vrhel/Valtteri Puustinen
Nerius Alisauskas/Henri Jokiharju
Noah Dobson/Erik Karlsson
Cam York/John Carlson
Andres De La Garma/Michikazu Hata
A Question
How will Helsinki respond to 7th overall? Most clubs would be pretty thrilled to finish 7th overall in the standings. But for the Helsinki Jokerit under GM Jukka Tuominen, that won’t fly. Throw in the fact the team was booted from the playoffs in Round 1 by Oslo … now you’ve got some real Finnish tension going on. Changes had to be made. Therefore, let us introduce you to one of the most exciting new forward lines in the league, courtesy of Tuominen’s trade with Amsterdam to acquire Patrik Laine. Sergei Mozyakin, who was a point short of recording his 7th straight 90-point season, could center Brock Boeser and Laine, who are both 100-rated shooters. Laine scored 48 goals one year and he’s only 28 year old now. Expect the big Finn to give it his all for the homeland. Speaking of Finns, the Jokerit have some real Finnish flavor (what is that anyway, just snow?) on their roster with a half-dozen Finns, including Henri Jokiharju who has developed into a top-pair defenseman. To fill the goalie slots after trading away Frederik Andersen, Tuominen didn’t look in Finland. Instead, he went to those hotbeds of hockey: Mexico and Japan. Andres De La Garma, who won Cups in Copenhagen is the new starter after performing that job the last three seasons in Athens. His lifetime 89.9 save percentage puts him in the Top 20 all-time and it’s 11th best among active goalies. He also has 99 playoff games under his belt and pads. Michikazu Hata has no EURO experience at age 33 but was signed to be the team’s backup on a long-term deal.
Rose’s Focus
“Helsinki is taking the right steps toward another championship. By that, I mean Coach Brent Sutter showed he’s brighter than he looks by listening to my advice. Coach Sutter recently took my advice, shuffled his lines and KC (I call Kyle Connor KC sometimes) is back on the Line 2. Last year in this space I pointed out that talented left winger doesn’t seem happy getting top line minutes because his point total had dropped from 83 per season for four seasons on the second line to just 71 points. Well, in Season 16, he didn’t even reach that total. See what happens when you ignore my advice, Coach? Meanwhile, the second line phenomenon in Helsinki continued. The top line of Sergei Mozyakin, Mikko Lehtonen and Connor put together a plus-minus total just over 0. The second line’s average was +19. And despite playing about 6 minutes less per game than the top line, the second line of Tyler Seguin, Taylor Hall and my lovey pumpkins Brock Boeser was just below the top line’s point totals. And all three of them outscored Connor. Look, I’m not saying KC was dragging the team down, but some people just don’t handle promotions well. Look at the commissioner of this league. “
