Olli Jokinen

Olli Jokinen (born December 5, 1978) is a Finnish professional player currently playing for the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was initially drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in 1997, third overall after Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau. He became the captain of the Florida Panthers from 2003 to 2008. He was later dealt to the Phoenix Coyotes, where he started the 2008–09 NHL season. With Phoenix failing to make the NHL playoffs, the Coyotes, on trade deadline day, traded Jokinen to the Calgary Flames. Jokinen has the dubious record of playing the most regular season games without making a playoff appearance. He played 799 games before reaching the post season with the Flames.

KalPa (1995–96)
Jokinen started his career in his hometown club KalPa, where he played his first season in SM-liiga. Jokinen played 15 games for the Kuopio team and scored 1 goal and assisted 1 and had 2 minutes in penalties.

HIFK (1996–97)
Jokinen had his true breakthrough during his second SM-liiga season, when he moved south and was contracted by HIFK, which was by that time a major contender in SM-liiga. HIFK was coached by American Head Coach Mike Eaves during the 1996-97 season and Jokinen had a good season as he played in all 50 games, scoring 41 points (14+27).

Los Angeles Kings (1997–98)
Jokinen was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings, 3rd overall in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft and was contracted to the Kings for the following season. Jokinen's NHL debut, however, was not a great one. Jokinen played eight games without any points and decided to return to Finland during the season.

HIFK (1998)
Jokinen returned to HIFK after his eight game NHL season for the Kings. Jokinen did get in form and played the 30 remaining games for HIFK, scoring 39 points. HIFK qualified for the play-offs and advanced to the finals, competing for the SM-liiga Championships against Ilves. HIFK swept Ilves aside in three games and claimed its first championship victory in 15 years (the last to that date being in 1983), Jokinen scoring the decisive goal in the overtime of the third game.

Los Angeles Kings (1998–99)
After a successful season in Finland, Jokinen decided to give his NHL career another shot and returned to Kings for the 1998-99 NHL season. Jokinen played in 66 games and scored 21 points.

New York Islanders (1999–2000)
After his second overall season and first full one in the NHL, Jokinen was dealt to the New York Islanders in a trade that brought Žigmund Pálffy to Los Angeles. Jokinen's mediocre form continued as he racked 21 points in 82 games. Jokinen did have a NHL career-high in penalties, as he had 80 penalty minutes during his season with the Islanders. After one disappointing season in Long Island, Jokinen was dealt to the Florida Panthers.

Florida Panthers (2000–2004)
Jokinen was again traded away, this time his destination was Florida Panthers. Jokinen continued on his checking line-form, racking in 106 penalty minutes and scoring 16 points in 76 games. In Jokinen's second season for the Panthers, he fared slightly better as he had 29 points in 80 games. He then had his big breakthrough during his third season with the Panthers, potting in 36 goals and assisting 29 others in 81 games, making it his best NHL-season at that time, cementing his "first-line status" during the season. He continued his good showing from the following season, as he scored 58 points in 82 games.

EHC Kloten, Södertälje SK and HIFK (2004–05)
During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Jokinen played in Europe. He played for EHC Kloten in Switzerland, Södertälje SK in Sweden and the most familiar team to him, HIFK in Finland.

Florida Panthers (2005–08)
After the Lockout season, Jokinen continued his scoring habit, notching 89 points in 82 games during 2005–06 season. Jokinen did better on the following season, as he had career-high 91 points in 82 games. Jokinen broke the team record for most game-winning goals (24) on October 21, 2006. The record was previously held by Pavel Bure. He recently broke the Panthers franchise records in goals, points, and consecutive games played.

Jokinen's 2007–08 season saw a bit struggle, as Jokinen's form was a bit inconsistent but he still scored 71 points in 82 games. On February 10, 2008, Olli Jokinen was involved in one of the most serious hockey injuries to date when he was upended and his skate cut the neck of teammate Richard Zedník, nearly severing his external jugular vein and causing a tremendous loss of blood. Zedník skated to the bench on his own, where he was met with Panthers trainers. He was escorted out of the rink and taken to Buffalo General Hospital. The game was put on hold until it was announced that Zedník was in stable condition. After the game Jokinen was interviewed about the incident and after being asked how scary it was for him to see, he replied "Well what do you think? What kind of fucking question is that?". After the question was reworded he replied "well you know i think we all were in shock".

On February 5, 2008, Jokinen reached the 200 goal mark in his NHL career.

Phoenix Coyotes (2008–09)
During the 2008 NHL Entry Draft weekend, Jokinen was traded to Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for defencemen Nick Boynton, Keith Ballard and a second round pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft (Jared Staal).

Calgary Flames (2009–present)
On March 4, 2009, Jokinen was traded to the Calgary Flames in exchange for forwards Matthew Lombardi, Brandon Prust, and a conditional 1st round draft pick in 2009 or 2010 (Calgary's choice). In his first game with the Flames the following day, he scored two goals against the Philadelphia Flyers.

International career
During his career, Olli Jokinen has played for the Finnish National team several times.

In 1997, Jokinen played in the 1997 World Championships which were held in Finland.

In 1998, Jokinen won the 1998 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, along with players like Niklas Hagman, Mika Noronen, Niklas Bäckström, Niko Kapanen, Toni Dahlman and Eero Somervuori. Jokinen also played in 1998 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships, where Finland lost to Sweden in the Finals.

Jokinen played in 1999 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships and won Silver after Finland lost to Czech Republic in the Finals.

Jokinen was part of the Bronze-winning team in 2000 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships as Finland won Canada 2-1.

Jokinen played in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 tournaments, where Finland was not that successful as they were left without medals on each occasion.

Jokinen however played in 2004 World Cup of Hockey, where Finland surprised everyone and played in the Final against Canada, losing 2 - 1.

Jokinen was part of the 2006 Olympic team, which won Olympic Silver after they lost to Sweden in the Finals and the 2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships team, which won bronze, beating Canada 5-0.

Jokinen was selected to 2008 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships team. Finland won Sweden in the Bronze Medal game 4-0 and Jokinen won his third World Championship Bronze.

Off the ice
Olli Jokinen's older brother, forward Ville Jokinen (born July 27, 1976) played 47 games in SM-liiga, scoring 4 points. They are not related to Carolina Hurricanes forward Jussi Jokinen.

Olli Jokinen has a wife, Katerina and two daughters.

Awards

 * 1996–97 SM-liiga -Jarmo Wasama memorial trophy
 * 1997–98 SM-liiga -Matti Keinonen trophy
 * 1997–98 SM-liiga -Jari Kurri trophy

Transactions

 * 21 June 1997 - Jokinen drafted by Los Angeles.
 * 19 June 1999 - Jokinen traded along with Josh Green, Mathieu Biron and a 1st round draft pick in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft (Taylor Pyatt) to the New York Islanders in exchange for Žigmund Pálffy, Bryan Smolinski, Marcel Cousineau and a 4th round draft pick in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft (Daniel Johansson)
 * 24 June 2000 - Jokinen and Roberto Luongo traded to Florida in exchange for Oleg Kvasha and Mark Parrish
 * 20 June 2008 - Jokinen traded to Phoenix in exchange for Keith Ballard, Nick Boynton and a 2nd round draft pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. The draft pick was 49th overall going to Florida.
 * March 4, 2009 - Jokinen traded to the Calgary Flames along with a third-round pick from Phoenix for Matthew Lombardi, Brandon Prust and a first-round draft pick in either 2009 or 2010 to be chosen by Calgary.