Prospect Info: LW/C- Janne Kuokkanen(traded from Carolina Hurricanes)

[Triumph]

It sounds like he's playing fourth line in liiga. That's disappointing

No way that will last long. He should be one of the best players in the league.

 

[Darkauron]

I don't really mind what line he is playing on. As long as he is playing and getting a good workout and such.

 

[Forge]

No way that will last long. He should be one of the best players in the league.

That's kind of what I was thinking. But it didn't look like it's slowing him down at all. And he is on a line with Raty, so there may be reasons

 

[KovalSNIPE]

6 points in 10 games this year. Really pumped he can become a clutch player for us long term.

 

[Blackjack]

His diving clearance that popped over the defender's head before Wood gloved it down and scored on the breakaway is one of the coolest assists I've seen in a while.

 

[devilsblood]

His diving clearance that popped over the defender's head before Wood gloved it down and scored on the breakaway is one of the coolest assists I've seen in a while.

Great scoring play for sure, but assist or no assist, just love the hustle their.

 

[ninetyeight]

Best game of his NHL career. Didn’t like how he was playing the first few games, but he’s been getting better every game. If all of JK Zacha and Merkley keep scoring there’s gonna be some tough decisions with the expansion draft.

 

[OmNomNom]

He cost us nothing lel

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Last night was the quickest Janne looked, I don't think his legs were quite at last years level following camp. Last night he was winning races.

 

[The Wumpus]

He cost us nothing lel

Literally nothing. We didn't even end up missing a single game of Vatanen by trading him.

 

[PizzaAndPucks]

Literally nothing. We didn't even end up missing a single game of Vatanen by trading him.

And we possibly get a starting goalie of the future with Nico Daws. Dont sleep on that pick.

 

[DVision44]

His diving clearance that popped over the defender's head before Wood gloved it down and scored on the breakaway is one of the coolest assists I've seen in a while.

His assist on Merkley's goal was pretty nice as well as he tipped the puck over the goal.. retrieved it and got it on Merkley's stick...

 

[Svedu]

Quite impressed by his numbers this year. Remember when I saw him in the gold winning team Finland had at U18 WC´s and I liked his potential back then. Ahokas trusted him with plenty of ice time and that team had a great roster for a smaller country like Finland with players like Puljujärvi, Heiskanen, Tolvanen, Välimäki, Jokiharju, Vaakanainen, Salo, Nurmi, Vesalainen, Somppi Luukkonen etc.
They actually steamrolled Sweden in the final game. So that could be a sign that these players had something extra, a deeper pool, like more top6 potential among forwards etc than usual. Perhaps why players like Kuokkanen and others did not get that much hype because Finland were quite stacked with players born 98 and 99.
Excited to follow him this year!

Don't forget that Talvitie can become a great role player for you guys in the future as well. He's a horse with big leadership qualities.

 

[Camille the Eel]

His positioning and understanding of the game are superb. A very economical player. Both in his expenditure of motion and energy. He’s very efficient at accomplishing what he does in the cycle. You might not even notice his game - until you do.

 

[FinnishDevil]

Kuokkanen reminds me of your typical Finnish NHLer before the youth took off with the likes of Aho, Rantanen, Laine etc. What I mean by that is that for the longest time your typical Finnish NHLer, atleast for forwards was known for not scoring, not making flashy plays but instead not hurting your team and making the safe play and working their ass off, basically two-way forward/grinder kinda game that fit the style of hockey in late 90s and early 00s obviously. Finnish national team could never compete with skill, so we had to outwork the opponents and let our goalie stand on his head. And due to that many players who made their way to NHL got it through hard work and by being the safe option.

Janne to me seems like the safe option. He's young and its his first year up so yes he's gonna make mistakes but I feel like most of the time he knows where to pass it, whether to dump it, pass it back etc. I dont think his d-zone game is at the level that you can call him truly a two way forward but he's had few nice occasions he backchecked and stripped someone off the puck. His strengths in my opinion are in puck retrieving, board play and getting to the dirty areas. I think thats why he is meshing so well with Zajac.

I think that lately Zajac has gotten too much criticism, I was actually kinda surprised to read some of the last game threads cause I thought Travis was playing fine for the first time since Covid break. I'm not saying that he's amazing or something and the criticism he got since we came back was well deserved, he was awful. Look I love Zajac and said it on his 1000th game thread but I agree, he was playong horrible, the worst I've seen him play and probably shouldve gotten benched if he wasnt the longest lasting veteran on the team. Look, Kuokkanen and Shara have gotten the goals lately but Zajac is a huge part of that line. Its not just those two being good, its the whole line meshing well together. They all play the same kinda, hard working style of game and they compliment each other. Zajac was good on faceoffs last night too, an area of his game that has been amazing for years that he has struggled so far this year. He has been better lately and like I said, I'm kinda surprised his slaughtering on these boards lately.

In terms Janne.. I think my username says it all, I'd love to see any Finn that wears the Devils red succeed and I might already be the biggest Aarne Talvitie fan there is after his WJC performance and hope that he becomes an NHLer for NJ, but I'm not blind to critic them either. I hope Kuokkanen keeps this up and becomes a stable presence in the lineup and forces Devils to protect him in the expansion draft meanwhile having fun every game thread seeing his last name being misspelled by you guys.

Oh and in regards to the text under my avatar for those wondering: thats all time points among Finns that played for NJ and Kuokkanen is climbing that list very steadily. I think its a fun thing to keep an eye on. He has a chance to be 4th all time on that list by the end of the season. Who is first you say? That'd be Vatanen with 70 points. Probably tells you all about the luck that the Devils have had with Finns.

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

In terms Janne.. I think my username says it all, I'd love to see any Finn that wears the Devils red succeed and I might already be the biggest Aarne Talvitie fan there is after his WJC performance and hope that he becomes an NHLer for NJ, but I'm not blind to critic them either. I hope Kuokkanen keeps this up and becomes a stable presence in the lineup and forces Devils to protect him in the expansion draft meanwhile having fun every game thread seeing his last name being misspelled by you guys.

Oh and in regards to the text under my avatar for those wondering: thats all time points among Finns that played for NJ and Kuokkanen is climbing that list very steadily. I think its a fun thing to keep an eye on. He has a chance to be 4th all time on that list by the end of the season. Who is first you say? That'd be Vatanen with 70 points. Probably tells you all about the luck that the Devils have had with Finns.

Nice write up. Man, I swore Janne Ojanen would have been the leader.

 

[FinnishDevil]

Man, I swore Janne Ojanen would have been the leader.

He did go on to have a good and long career back here, all time leading scorer in Liiga history, but on this list he's only 3rd.

 

[Its Always Sundstrom]

He did go on to have a good and long career back here, all time leading scorer in Liiga history, but on this list he's only 3rd.

You don’t say? Man I have to get to Helsinki, I have good friends there.

I really like JK’s game. He is very subtle in his moves but usually they make positive results.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Great memories of Finland. As it turns out I was there at the right time - when emphasis on individual skills and development took off.

Running joke was that Finnish goalies were so good because there were no defenders.

Now the country produces defensemen and forwards that are aware all over the ice.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

he just went over 0.5 ppg with that power play goal

 

[Winland]

Koukkanen on his jersey

 

[Camille the Eel]

Kuokkanen reminds me of your typical Finnish NHLer before the youth took off with the likes of Aho, Rantanen, Laine etc. What I mean by that is that for the longest time your typical Finnish NHLer, atleast for forwards was known for not scoring, not making flashy plays but instead not hurting your team and making the safe play and working their ass off, basically two-way forward/grinder kinda game that fit the style of hockey in late 90s and early 00s obviously. Finnish national team could never compete with skill, so we had to outwork the opponents and let our goalie stand on his head. And due to that many players who made their way to NHL got it through hard work and by being the safe option.

Janne to me seems like the safe option. He's young and its his first year up so yes he's gonna make mistakes but I feel like most of the time he knows where to pass it, whether to dump it, pass it back etc. I dont think his d-zone game is at the level that you can call him truly a two way forward but he's had few nice occasions he backchecked and stripped someone off the puck. His strengths in my opinion are in puck retrieving, board play and getting to the dirty areas. I think thats why he is meshing so well with Zajac.

I think that lately Zajac has gotten too much criticism, I was actually kinda surprised to read some of the last game threads cause I thought Travis was playing fine for the first time since Covid break. I'm not saying that he's amazing or something and the criticism he got since we came back was well deserved, he was awful. Look I love Zajac and said it on his 1000th game thread but I agree, he was playong horrible, the worst I've seen him play and probably shouldve gotten benched if he wasnt the longest lasting veteran on the team. Look, Kuokkanen and Shara have gotten the goals lately but Zajac is a huge part of that line. Its not just those two being good, its the whole line meshing well together. They all play the same kinda, hard working style of game and they compliment each other. Zajac was good on faceoffs last night too, an area of his game that has been amazing for years that he has struggled so far this year. He has been better lately and like I said, I'm kinda surprised his slaughtering on these boards lately.

In terms Janne.. I think my username says it all, I'd love to see any Finn that wears the Devils red succeed and I might already be the biggest Aarne Talvitie fan there is after his WJC performance and hope that he becomes an NHLer for NJ, but I'm not blind to critic them either. I hope Kuokkanen keeps this up and becomes a stable presence in the lineup and forces Devils to protect him in the expansion draft meanwhile having fun every game thread seeing his last name being misspelled by you guys.

Oh and in regards to the text under my avatar for those wondering: thats all time points among Finns that played for NJ and Kuokkanen is climbing that list very steadily. I think its a fun thing to keep an eye on. He has a chance to be 4th all time on that list by the end of the season. Who is first you say? That'd be Vatanen with 70 points. Probably tells you all about the luck that the Devils have had with Finns.

 

[Camille the Eel]

This is fascinating. There's one more thing about Kuokkanen though that may or may not play out and relate to the finish of his Finnish training.

It's how he "makes plays." He's showing he's maybe got that knack, the thing you can't teach, of making the big play when you need it. You can win cups with guys like that, St. Louis won one two years back with a lot of guys like Kuok, who could separate you from the puck in the corner, or lurk in front and finish that short pass.

Every cup winner has to have guys like that. In our DNA guys like McKay, Madden or Brylin. Back in the day guys like Rejean Houle or Bob Gainey in Montreal, Eddie Westfall or Don Marcotte in Boston.

Most impressed with Kuok at this point, obviously.

(I caution that I am not comparing Kuok to McKay or Madden as to anything more than that knack for being clutch and just making a play when it needs to be made. I don't want to chase down the rabbit hole of individual comparisons).

 

[glenwo2]

Traded a handful of games of Vats for Kuokkanen.

That, my friends, is highway robbery.

Though in retrospect, I wish Vats remained in Carolina but that's a different issue entirely.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Traded a handful of games of Vats for Kuokkanen.

That, my friends, is highway robbery.

Though in retrospect, I wish Vats remained in Carolina but that's a different issue entirely.

He is helping the tank and likely gets moved for a 4th or 5th this year.