Nestled amongst the flurry of trades Pens GM and resident wizard of Pittsburgh Ray Shero pulled off last year was bringing in Hurricanes forward Jussi Jokinen. When he was traded Jokinen was on the Hurricanes’ AHL affiliate and had been placed on waivers multiple times but drew no interest. Showing foresight would make the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi jealous Ray Shero pulled the trigger on a deal that put Jokinen in black and gold while only giving up what equated to high five and a half eaten Primanti Brothers sandwich, while getting Carolina to pay most of what remained on his three-year deal.
In just 10 games with the Pens last season, Jokinen showed flashes of what was to come scoring 11 points, (7 G 4 A) while bouncing between lines and switching line mates often as Dan Bylsma tried to manage the bevy of superstar talent that was suddenly dropped in his lap.
Flash forward past all of the offseason rumors that he was on his way out of Pittsburgh to this season where he is one of the few Penguins players that has been healthy enough to play in all of the team’s 57 games. Seeing time on both the top line and second line, Jokinen has accrued 41 points, the most in a season since his second season with the Hurricanes where he totaled a career high 65 points (30 G 35 A). When his usual line is healthy or not, suspended Jokinen has found a home as one of the Top Six for Pittsburgh alongside James Neal and Evgeni Malkin.
The combination of Neal, Malkin and Jokinen has become one of the most potent lines to take the ice for the Penguins or in the NHL, for that matter. When Jokinen is on the ice with his two partners in crime, if the puck doesn’t end up in the net a short time later or if they don’t make the goaltender sweat a little, something isn’t right. Jokinen has been responsible more than once for setting social media and Bob Errey afire with cries of “Did Jussi That!” with his skillful passing, stick and puck handling and scoring ability. One high point in this breakout season for Jokinen was the night he score a hat-trick against his former Hurricanes, while ironically enough, they were still paying him.
This season, Jokinen has also played his way on the Pens second power play unit where he and Brandon Sutter have caused a fair amount of havoc helping lead the team to its first ranked power play.
For his efforts, especially since 2010, Jokinen was selected as a member of the Finnish Men’s Hockey Team for the first time since he helped the team to a silver medal in Torino, Italy in 2006.
With this being the last year of his current three-year deal and the lack of salary cap room facing the Penguins, it is fairly certain that Jokinen will be mentioned in almost every trade rumor during and after the Olympic break, especially if he has an Olympic campaign that resembles his NHL season. But it seems unlikely that Shero and the Pens will be willing to part with Jokinen because his versatility and scoring presence on a team that lacks much of a scoring threat for an ever changing bottom six. When the season is over, however, Jokinen seems fairly certain to draw a fair amount of interest from teams looking to make it over the hump to be contenders for next season. Honestly, if Shero realizes what a steal Jokinen was and how valuable he is to the team’s output, he may move other pieces to keep Jokinen in town and keep his top six tied down for the foreseeable future.
