With all the injuries the Blue Jackets have ensued it has left them a little light upfront. They have been seeking some depth and found some today, claiming Jussi Jokinen off of waivers from the Los Angeles Kings.
This will be Jokinen’s third NHL team already this season, after being traded to LA from Edmonton earlier this season. Jokinen has had a very weird season. He played very well in Edmonton,
Natural Stat Trick had him with a 58.33% Corsi at 5 on 5 in 14 games with the Oilers. At that time Jokinen ranked 14th among all NHL forwards who had played at least 100 5 on 5 minutes, just one spot behind Artemi Panarin. Jokinen’s scoring chance numbers were also very good in his time in Edmonton. When he was on the ice Edmonton controlled 62.2% of all scoring chances and had an incredible 70.59% of the high danger chances.
The problem was Jokinen was the victim of some bad shooting luck, his on ice shooting percentage was just 1.16% and he had just a 932 PDO, two of the lower totals among forwards. Jokinen had just a single assist as an Oiler.
After the trade to LA his scoring picked up slightly. He scored a goal and four assists with the Kings, as his on ice shooting percentage jumped to 6.17% and his PDO to 994. Both those numbers are still below average but are much better than what he was showing in Edmonton. The concern with his time in LA was all his possession stats dropped. His Corsi fell to 46.67%, scoring chances to 44.74% and high danger chances to 36.21%.
With this, we need to keep in mind how his usage changed. With the Oilers Jokinen started 54.08% of his shifts in the offensive zone, with the Kings it was down at 47.86%. He was also playing with more offensively gifted players in Edmonton. With the Oilers he spent most of his time playing alongside Ryan Strome and either Drake Caggiula or Anton Slepyshev. With the Kings it was Jonny Brodzinski and Torrey Mitchell.
Overall Jokinen’s season line looks solid. Ryan Wilson
wrote briefly about Jokinen yesterday and posted this chart.
Jokinen is a real nice depth player and a good addition for the Blue Jackets. Even if he plays like he did with the Kings he's an upgrade over someone like Markus Hannikainen.
Jokinen as a winger could slot in on either the third or fourth line. The team could move Foligno back to centre and have a third line of Matt Calvert, Foligno, Jokinen. Or Jokinen could slot onto the fourth line with Tyler Motte and Jordan Schroeder.
Adding Jokinen isn’t an impact move that pushes the Jackets over top and raises their ceiling as a team. It’s a solid depth move that raises their floor and will help keep them afloat as they recover from this wave of injuries.
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