Jokerit 2019 - 2020: The Jari Kurri era

powerplaymaker

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Mar 5, 2018
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GM/Owner Kurri said the team is now ready to start the season so it's about time to put up the season thread for Jokerit.

Teams as a from of depth chat:

Joensuu - Norman - O'Neill
Savinainen - Kontiola - Haapala
Jensen - Regin - Moses
Pihström - M.Niemi - Anttila
Oksanen - Ikonen - E.Mäki
Halme - Hirvonen - Lahnaviik

Lepistö - Lehtonen
Kivistö - Grant
Eronen - Lauridsen
Lööv - Räsänen
Torpström - Reini
Luoto

A.Niemi
Kalnins
Ignatjew
Heiskanen

Coaches: L.Marjamäki, T.Virta, M.Saarinen, M.Ketterer, J.Hietaniemi

Major chancges from last season:

Going:
Ryan Zapolski -> ???
Jesper Jensen -> Malmö Redhawks (SHL)
Karl Stollery -> Frölunda HC (SHL)
Pekka Jormakka -> Vityaz
Sakari Manninen -> Ufa
Tomi Mäki -> ???
Geoff Platt -> Avtomobilist
Kristian Vesalainen -> Winnipeg Jets (NHL)
Max Wärn -> ???

Coming:
Antti Niemi (Montreal Canadiens, NHL)
Teemu Eronen (HIFK, Liiga)
Mikko Lehtonen (HV71, SHL)
Henrik Haapala (HC Lugano, NLA)
Petri Kontiola (Lokomotiv)
Ahti Oksanen (SaiPa, Liiga)
Veli-Matti Savinainen (Kunlun)

Overall i'd say Jokerit is better than last year. The defense department is the best Jokerit has had in the KHL so far.

Preseason starts 2.8.2019 at Tikkurila Trio Areena

2.8 Jokerit - Neftehimik
7.8 Sibir - Jokerit (at Valkeakoski)
14.8 Jokerit - SKA

Nikolai Putshkov tournament
 

iginlafan77

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Dec 5, 2014
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I'm optimistic for this season. The team looks good overall, and I'd say they have improved overall versus last season.
 

SoundAndFury

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May 28, 2012
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I, for one, don't see the improvement.. Very good Ds arrived but very good Fs left. Still a very good team but unless Kontiola or Savinainen play like it's 2013 again I don't see the improvement.
 

Exarz

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Jan 1, 2014
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D is really, really good this upcoming season. If Niemi can acclimatise to the KHL game, then the defence is clearly one of the best in the league. However I feel that the offensive skills are lacking. I’ve been sceptic to the signing of Kontiola as he’s on a decline and Moses’s inconsistency in scoring leaves it all up to Jensen at finding the net.
 

hansomreiste

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Sep 23, 2015
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Mr. Salary Cap strikes back: even if Jokerit improve, it will start mattering only in 2020/21. Regardless of how much they improve, we already know their fate for the upcoming season. Get 3rd place in the conference, get bumped out by SKA or CSKA in the conference semifinals. Heh. Anyways, it is nice that Jokerit fans have a reason to be positive and the club is indeed working on taking the next step. After all the negativity, we all "KHL haters" needed that.
 

Jussi

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Feb 28, 2002
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I, for one, don't see the improvement.. Very good Ds arrived but very good Fs left. Still a very good team but unless Kontiola or Savinainen play like it's 2013 again I don't see the improvement.

Lehtonen's the only good one. Eronen while good in Liiga, has already failed in KHL and is not good enough on the international level.
 

powerplaymaker

Registered User
Mar 5, 2018
86
34
Helsinki
I, for one, don't see the improvement.. Very good Ds arrived but very good Fs left. Still a very good team but unless Kontiola or Savinainen play like it's 2013 again I don't see the improvement.

Well let's look at it player by player:

Jormakka = Oksanen

Oksanen comes from Liiga with better/similar stats than Jormakka. At the best Jormakka was way better, but he lacked consistency. Could easily fly 10 games way under the radar and then play 3 good games in a row. He needs to be at that top level for every game. Hopefully Oksanen can do that.

Platt = Savinainen

Platt had very good start of the season but disapeared during the second half. They both are similar gritty players with potential for secondary scoring.

Manninen > Kontiola

Manninen had very good regular season but couldn't keep his level in the playoffs. Kontiola has great upside, but his a bit of a risk. If he can play on his best level he might be even better than Manninen. Big if thou. Good for the powerplay!

Vesalainen =< Haapala

Vesalainen was a bit of a disapointment. Haapala had injury and his a bit of a risk. He has huge upside and can feed linemates left abd right if the peaces fit together.

And remember that our fist line center had his season ruined by injuries. If Regin can bounce back from those he still has great potential to be on of the best centers in the KHL.
 

Albatros

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Aug 19, 2017
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Potanin is only a minority owner of Nornickel and not in good terms with some of the other major owners, especially Deripaska. To equate Nornickel's Finnish subsidiary with Potanin's personal wealth is more than a bit sensationalist.
 

Jussi

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Feb 28, 2002
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Potanin is only a minority owner of Nornickel and not in good terms with some of the other major owners, especially Deripaska. To equate Nornickel's Finnish subsidiary with Potanin's personal wealth is more than a bit sensationalist.

He owns a third of it. Not quite minor.
 

Albatros

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Owning a third of a joint-stock company (listed on the LSE, so audited by KPMG) doesn't enable one to use its funds for one's private purposes like one pleases. While one can speculate cynically or otherwise why exactly a sponsorship agreement came to be, it's still just a sponsorship agreement between a public company and a sports team. Their involvement in Finnish hockey also did not start with Jokerit (they've been supporting the Liiga side Ässät for years), and only becoming the main sponsor of a club is new.
 

hansomreiste

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Sep 23, 2015
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His net worth is estimated to be around 16bn USD. I think his share in NorNickel is irrelevant. The guy could bankroll Jokerit for over 100 years with his wealth and not even notice the money spent.
 

Jussi

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Feb 28, 2002
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Owning a third of a joint-stock company (listed on the LSE, so audited by KPMG) doesn't enable one to use its funds for one's private purposes like one pleases. While one can speculate cynically or otherwise why exactly a sponsorship agreement came to be, it's still just a sponsorship agreement between a public company and a sports team. Their involvement in Finnish hockey also did not start with Jokerit (they've been supporting the Liiga side Ässät for years), and only becoming the main sponsor of a club is new.

The sponsorship deal with Ässät is supposed to be only 5 figures where as they've supposedly already sponsored Jokerit heavily.
 

vorky

@vorkywh24
Jan 23, 2010
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Now, it is clear what they did the latest 12 to 18 months. As I said earlier, and @Jussi did not believe. Just paperwork needed to be done.
 

Jussi

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Now, it is clear what they did the latest 12 to 18 months.

Kurri himself said that he was initially going to be minority owner. Him being 100% owner came into talks only about a month or two before Harkimo sold it to him. But the whole process was just switching owner/front and funder from another Russian to one that isn't on sanctions list. Without Potanin's funding, Jokerit aren't going to play in the KHL and thus it's basically status quo.
 
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Albatros

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Kurri himself that he was initially going to be minority owner. Him being 100% owner came into talks only about a month or two before Harkimo sold it to him. But the whole process was just switching owner/front and funder from another Russian to one that isn't on sanctions list. Without Potanin's funding, Jokerit aren't going to play in the KHL and thus it's basically status quo.

Potanin owns around 30 percent of a company whose Finnish subsidiary owns 40 percent of Jokerit, not exactly the same level of influence as Rotenberg and Timchenko had owning 49 percent directly (and they could have sold their share to Potanin had they wanted to, but didn't).

Nornickel's sponsorship money is important for Jokerit in the KHL, but beyond financial considerations it's rather up to Kurri to decide where the team will play.
 

Jussi

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Potanin owns around 30 percent of a company whose Finnish subsidiary owns 40 percent of Jokerit, not exactly the same level of influence as Rotenberg and Timchenko had owning 49 percent directly (and they could have sold their share to Potanin had they wanted to, but didn't).

Nornickel's sponsorship money is important for Jokerit in the KHL, but beyond financial considerations it's rather up to Kurri to decide where the team will play.

It's 100% Russian owned, therefore it's 100% not a Finnish company.
 

Albatros

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Does not a Finnish joint-stock company have to follow all Finnish laws without exception, regardless of its ownership?
 

Exarz

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Jan 1, 2014
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I think it's pretty clear that Jokerit wouldn't be able to operate without Russian money, thinking otherwise is just naive. But stating that it's a Finnish company and a Finnish owner is just a stupid attempt to make it look better than it actually is. I don't think that anyone is that stupid to believe that.

However, this scenario is certainly the best option available and a much, much better option than the Timchenko-Rotenberg solution was.
 
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vorky

@vorkywh24
Jan 23, 2010
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Potanin owns around 30 percent of a company whose Finnish subsidiary owns 40 percent of Jokerit, not exactly the same level of influence as Rotenberg and Timchenko had owning 49 percent directly (and they could have sold their share to Potanin had they wanted to, but didn't).

Nornickel's sponsorship money is important for Jokerit in the KHL, but beyond financial considerations it's rather up to Kurri to decide where the team will play.
the press-release

Мы очень рады, что крупная компания хочет активно поддерживать нашу деятельность в ближайшие годы в КХЛ, - сказал Курри.

We are delighted that a big corporation wants to actively support us in the upcoming years in the KHL, said Kurri.
 

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