LA Kings: Looking at Recent Addition Jussi Jokinen
By Mark Bland
Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Kings traded forward Mike Cammalleri to the Edmonton Oilers for forward Jussi Jokinen. The trade occurred, this past Tuesday, November 14th; prior to the Kings game against the Vancouver Canucks. On the night of the trade, the Kings lost their match-up 3-2 in regulation.
So who is Jussi Jokinen exactly? Jokinen is joining a Kings roster already loaded with talent, bringing in another veteran presence. Jokinen had played 14 games with the Oilers so far this season. In those 14 games played, Jussi has only totaled one point, coming from an assist against the Carolina Hurricanes on October 17th. Jokinen has also racked up only two penalty minutes this season as well.
In his 13th NHL season, Jokinen has been quite the journeyman around the league prior to joining the Kings. He’s also played for the Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Dallas Stars respectively. In his career, Jokinen has accumulated 547 total points in 905 regular season games. Of those 547 points, 186 of them have been goals while the remaining 361 have been assists.
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Jussi is a Kalajoki, Finland native and was originally drafted in 2001 by the Dallas Stars. The Stars selected Jokinen with the 27th pick of the sixth round (192nd overall). Over the summer, Jussi signed a one-year, $1.1 million deal with Edmonton. After this season, he will become an unrestricted free agent.
On the opposite end, the Kings are trading away Cammalleri, who in 15 games so far this season has tallied seven points total (three goals and four assists). Cammalleri, in his 13-year career, has played a total of 855 NHL regular season games and has a sum of 620 career points. This was Mike’s first season back with the Kings since 2007-08. He was a 2001 Kings draft selection in the second round, 19th pick (49th overall).
As of right now, Jokinen projects to fill into a line featuring a few other young talents. He will be on the line with Andrew Crescenzi as well as Jonny Brodzinski. Brodzinski and Crescenzi were both called up from the Ontario Reign this week.