The Oilers have signed recently bought out winger Jussi Jokinen to a 1 year deal at 1.1 million.
Jokinen is a left shot but can play every forward position. One assumes he is destined for the right side of the ice on the Oilers. Jokinen has been a solid offensive performer for the majority of his NHL career with last year coming as a major blip in the radar.
His last 4 years in points were 57, 44, 60, 28. He even has a career 53.4% faceoff winning percentage, so his versatility can help the Oilers in an area of specific need. Overall this looks like a great move by Chiarelli.
I want to show Jokinen’s 5v5 advanced stats from last year beside his stats from the 3 years before that to show the kind of gamble the Oilers are taking.
P/60 2016-2017: 0.94 2013-2016: 1.97
Sh% 2016-2017: 5.62 2013-2016: 8.79
FF% 2016-2017: 51.8% 2013-2016: 53.4%
FF%RelTM 2016-2017: 1.5 2013-2016: 3.2
GF% 2016-2017: 39.4% 2013-2016: 56.8%
GF%RelTM 2016-2017: -8.6 2013-2016: 5.9
PDO 2016-2017: 96.8 2013-2016: 100.9
The way I see it, the Oilers are getting a winger with a track record of positive impact on possession and offense who just had a very bad season. This could be the beginning of the end for Jokinen or it could be just some rotten luck and injuries. When you look at that PDO from the 3 years prior and the one from last season, you can see that there ought to be a correction coming that brings his perceived effectiveness up, and that's without McDavid or Draisaitl as his center.
In addition to his 5v5 work, Jokinen has been a regular penalty killer. He simply appears to be a solid utility forward who can spot pretty much anywhere in the lineup. I think this is a killer signing and for dirt cheap. The risk/reward for Jokinen is tilted very much towards the reward, especially at $1.1 million.
If Jokinen finds chemistry with either Draisaitl or McDavid he could be due for a major rebound in offensive production. This is the kind of player I think we can expect to be signing deals with Edmonton for the foreseeable future. Follow me on Twitter @Archaeologuy