Finnish National Team Head coach Jukka Jalonen is the next on, and rips the NHL about the attitude problem against European coaches.
NHL-pestiä etsivää Jukka Jalosta turhauttaa asenne eurovalmentajia kohtaan: "Sitten on kyllä aika pihalla”
Jukka Jalonen asserts that European ice hockey will have a competitive edge for NHL.
Jukka Jalonen will continue as the Finland head coach until spring 2022 - unless he moves to the NHL before then.
- Yes, this international slump could bring something to the NHL. Yes, the best coaching skills in the world are not there.
That's what I can say with 100% certainty, Jalonen puts to Iltalehti.
The triple World Cup gold coach's contract includes a transferable NHL clause. Jalonen's departure would be a loss for the Finns,
but a good one for Finnish hockey.
Jalonen and national team GM Jere Lehtinen went to Canada and the United States last week to explore the interest of Finnish NHL players
in the spring World Championships. On the same trip, Jalonen met his own North American agent.
- I saw someone who was doing my business there. A brief meeting with him, but I had no contacts with the clubs, he says.
High threshold
The NHL coach market is tight and the threshold for hiring a European coach has remained high.
- Most coaches are friends of the head coach. That's probably the case here, but is it always the best possible equation..?
Jalonen asks rhetorically.
- As I watched a few teams play, I can say that I might be able to help them a little.
According to Jalonen, NHL bosses go after "we've always done this."
- Yes you are, but Florida, for example, how you have done lately as you think, he sets an example.
- I think it's pretty damn bad when you haven't been at the playoffs for a long time.
The Panthers haven't played playoff games in the last four years.
Case in Grönborg
Neil Glasberg, founder of PBI Sports & Entertainment, said in a recent interview with ESPN that no club wants to take a risk by
doing something different.
- The fear or lack of courage to make changes is as true as it can be, Jalonen confirms.
Former Swedish head coach Rikard Grönborg is one of Glasberg's clients. Last summer, Glasberg took Greenberg to meet the leaders of
16 NHL clubs, but the interviews were mostly courtesy meetings.
"One of the reasons why Grönborg didn't care so much about NHL clubs - and I kind of understand - was that he had never coached a
professional team at club level," Jalonen recalls.
This season, Grönborg is in such a rush for the first time as head coach of the Swiss ZSC Lions.
The experience is there
The 57-year-old Jalonen's CV is much greater in this regard. He made his debut as head coach at Ilves Tampere in 1992 and has also coached
the Lukko and HPK (with four bronze medals and the 2006 championship) in the Finnish League, as well as the KHL clubs St. Petersburg SKA
and Jokerit Helsinki.
- People need something to know or feel about who they might be acquiring. There must be some link in it. For Grönborg, there must have
been a Swedish NHL player, Jalonen believes.
- It would be best to be there and do it for yourself. However, this is my job here on other continent, so it won't work. My own style is
also not quite like that.
Is there any knowledge?
There are 31 teams in the NHL.
- If there's one GM who doesn't know who I am, then I think he's in the wrong place, Jalonen sighs in frustration.
He does not mean that every GM should know what kind of coach he is.
- But if you hear the name, it should be pretty quick to say yes, it coaches the Finnish national team and won gold last year.
- If there's no smell, then you are out of the lunch. Then you play there with your own playground.
Assistant coach
Jalonen is aware of the general opinion of NHL bosses that a top European coach should start in the Junior League or the AHL in
North America. He also knows that a career on a new continent should first be built as an assistant coach.
- It's probably realism. If there are a hundred assistant coaches, then a couple of Europeans will not fit in there.
Alpo Suhonen (Chicago Blackhawks) and the Czech Republic's Ivan Hlinka (Pittsburgh Penguins), who have just emerged through the
assistant coaching path, were the first European head coaches in the NHL in the 2000-2001 season.
Game opened
Jalonen considers the Grönborg interview an interesting opening.
- I argue that everyone reads it - unless it's just in their own backyard - and somebody can take it with their luck. In a way, the
game is a little open to the public.
Jalonen has not had any contact with the NHL clubs yet regarding coaching.
- There may be nothing. Still, remember that you don't have to wait for 30 clubs to make contacts. All it takes is one or two to come,
and if it's the right club, there it is.
- They talked to the agent about the places with their spiritual people who could get excited about the subject and want some
competitive advantage over their opponents.
- There are a million North American coaches out there, but what's the difference with one of them compared to another team coach,
when you could come up with something they don't have?
- They have their own strengths and we have ours here, Jalonen says.
- Someone understands it at some point, and then it starts.
The wall breaks
Jalonen is confident that the wall between the NHL and European coaches will break.
- That's for sure, but when it breaks and how, you don't know yet. Ten years goes, and there are European coaches, that's pretty sure.
Not one or two, but a little more.
- There's a slight delay here, but it's about to happen.