What do people think of Olli Jokinen as Timrå's head coach? Did he do a good job or bad job?
First off: I think everyone likes him as a character. Most importantly, his players seem to like playing for him, but fans and the media loves his passionate speeches. I know I do.
Timrå also had a good season, I think they had Brynäs’ (who won the regular season) number for instance, and made the quarterfinals without needing a qualifying round. They faced a super stingy Frölunda team in the quarterfinals and while especially their top stars arguably disappointed in their eventual defeat, it was a tightly contested series and it wasn’t for a lack of trying that they disappeared. Frölunda’s defense and netminders is the best in the league if you ask me.
On the other hand, they weren’t super consistent during the season, and as mentioned, their stars who were firmly at the top in terms of point production during the regular season failed to have much impact in the playoffs. Timrå has been a good albeit top-heavy team for a couple of years now, and Jokinen’s team did just marginally better than previous years. You had the sense that he’s the kind of coach who can make his players rise to the occasion, but here’s how his season compares to the previous two years:
2024-25: 6th, 81 points, +16, QF loss (4-2)
2023-24: 8th, 80 points, -4, play-in loss (2-0)
2022-23: 5th, 81 points, +7, QF loss (4-3)
To summarize, I’d say he had a good first year, and objectively a slight improvement to last year, but he didn’t perform that much better than we’ve come to expect from Timrå.
On the other hand, I looked at how I projected the standings back in September, and I had Timrå finishing 10th. I don’t remember why they would drop in my estimation back then, but I remember thinking several teams looked to have improved and perhaps didn’t think of Timrå as one of them. It’s kind of ridiculous in hindsight, Växjö missing the playoffs was probably wishful thinking and Frölunda at 9th is funny… shows how much I know (actual finishes in parantheses):
1. Skellefteå (5)
2. Rögle (7)
3. Färjestad (4)
4. Luleå (2)
5. Leksand (11)
6. Linköping (12)
7. Brynäs (1)
8. HV71 (14)
9. Frölunda (3)
10. Timrå (6)
11. Örebro (9)
12. Växjö (8)
13. Malmö (10)
14. Modo (13)
Compared to where I had Timrå, Jokinen did very well.