Thoughts On Jokinen
Now that the Jokinen trade is official, I thought I would provide my thoughts on the trade. And it’s pretty simple: Win for Glen Sather. Glen Sather may suck in free agency, but the man knows what he’s doing in trades. Jokinen for Higgins and Kotalik would be simply unheard of a couple months ago.
I’ve maintained that Jokinen is essentially being swapped for Higgins. Kotalik doesn’t play. Jokinen is a HUGE upgrade over Higgins. I like Higgins. He’s a hard worker. Good penalty killer. Can’t hit the side of a barn, though. Jokinen is a scorer. He scored 29 goals last year. Calgary wasn’t working for him. He and Iginla didn’t mesh, and he only has 11 goals. I expect that to dramatically change. Jokinen is more of a fit with Gaborik. I think Jokinen can put up some points.
Put it this way: The Rangers made a push towards the playoffs, without sacrificing their youth. Kotalik was a bust. Higgins was a bust. They gave up nothing for one of the better players in the league. To me, that’s a winning deal.
This trade was obviously done to make a playoff push and clear cap space, but even if they don’t get to the postseason, it’s a steal cause they rid themselves of Kotalik’s contract.
So I just did some research on Puck Prospectus on GVT, Goals Versus Threshold, because I figured why not learn about some advanced stats in hockey since I am a little overobsessed with them in baseball and…
Jokinen ranks in at a 5.6 GVT which is exactly the same as Prospal.
As we know, he essentially replaces Higgins, who comes in at a not surprising -0.1.
So the team upgrades significantly in what is being termed a down year for Jokinen, yet a resurgent year for Prospal.
Prust comes in at a Higginsian -0.1 GVT, ahead of both Voros (-1.1 GVT) and Brashear (-2.2 GVT).
Kotalik was a solid 0.2 GVT.
Goals versus threshold? Do explain…
Probably better off reading this:
http://www.puckprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=233
I think the general consensus is that this is a great trade. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a biased opinion because they hate Sather because of previous deals.
I’ve heard some say that Jokinen’s character was a problem, making that the crux of their argument against the trade (http://tinyurl.com/yfgzee3; it’s good, don’t sweat it). Kotalik was becoming a problem, too, so that doesn’t really hold water. Regardless of character concerns, his production will easily match the combined output of Kotalik and Higgins.
I’m looking at this in a bigger picture perspective, beyond this year. Having the cap space is well worth it.
Shock this deal went on! To make the deal fair the rangers should of thrown in a low draft pick or a low grade prospect, nice work rangers