Triumph
Registered User
- Oct 2, 2007
- 13,562
- 13,963
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.
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.
Great scoring play for sure, but assist or no assist, just love the hustle their.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.
Literally nothing. We didn't even end up missing a single game of Vatanen by trading him.He cost us nothing lel
And we possibly get a starting goalie of the future with Nico Daws. Dont sleep on that pick.Literally nothing. We didn't even end up missing a single game of Vatanen by trading him.
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...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.
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.
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.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.
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.
He is helping the tank and likely gets moved for a 4th or 5th this year.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.