Jussi Jokinen = All Star?

Well someone sure thinks so.

Just came across a Twitter page that is dedicated to the idea of getting Carolina Hurricane Jussi Jokinen into the 2011 NHL All Star Game. The fact that the 2011 All Star Game is in Raleigh, North Carolina I am sure would just be a bonus to the self proclaimed Caniacs.

Also the Twitter page links to a Facebook group page in support of Jussi "The Juice" Jokinen's All Star Bid.

NHL Draft by Country

In case you were wondering here is a quick run down of how each country did in the 2010 NHL Draft.

Canada 99
United States 59
Sweden 20
Russia 8
Finland 7
Czech Republic 5
Germany 5
Slovakia 2
Switzerland 2
Denmark 1
Latvia 1
Norway 1

2010 Draft quick hits:

158 picks were from North America ( 75.2% for you math nerds out there).

Leaving Europe with 52 picks ( and the remaining 24.8% so you don't have to do the math).

11 Americans went in the first round of the draft - a new US record
0 Swedes in the first round
4 of the top 5 picks of the draft were Canadian
the 5th pick of the draft was from Switzerland
the 9th pick of the draft was the first European trained player of the draft

Even the NHL makes Jersey Fouls

Really? "Miko" Koivu? Is the second "k" taking up too much space to spell out "Mikko"?

The NHL can't even get the name of FIRST (permanent) captain in the history of the Wild right? One would think some where along the lines someone, somewhere had to have gone over and proof read, or even just read the listings.

How has no one affiliated with the site caught this mistake?

Anteeksi Mikko.

***Special thanks to Bryan Reynolds over at Hockey Wilderness for capturing a screen shot of the lovely jersey foul brought to you by the official Shop.NHL.com site for the Minnesota Wild for me.

So much for a boring off season

Breaking news over night that the Detroit Red Wings have signed Ilari Filppula has many asking, "isn't his name Valtteri?"




Ilari Filppula is the older brother for current Red Wings forward Valtteri Filppula.

Ilari spent the last few years with TPS Turku in the SM-liiga (in his native country Finland), winning this past seasons championship, and was named the winner of the 2010 Jari Kurri trophy (play off MVP).

For the 2009/2010 season Ilari played 58 games in which he had 12 goals and 37 assist. In the playoffs he played an additional 15 games with 2 goals and 12 assist.

Fitting song for the clip seeing as he is now on an NHL contact...



TPS Turku is partially owned by (current) NHL players Miikka Kiprusoff (Flames), Mikko Koivu (Wild) and his older brother Saku (Ducks).

First to cross the Finnish line

History was in fact made last night as the Chicago Blackhawks hoisted the Stanley Cup. For the first time in history a Finnish goaltender will have his name engraved into Lord Stanley's Cup.

With so many great goalies coming from Finland (young stars like Pekka Rinne and Tuukka Rask along with Olympians Antero Niittymaki, Niklas Backstrom and Miikka Kiprusoff just to name a few) it was just a matter of time before this goal was met.

Antti Niemi come and claim your cup - it's yours to take back to Finland.

Help Bäckström design a new mask

For those that do not know I write for The Hockey Writers about the Minnesota Wild. I came across this awhile ago and have forwarded it on via twitter and facebook but thought it was time to pass it on here as well.

If you have kids or know any kids (under 18) that love hockey and are creative (or even if not let them still have a shot who knows) Niklas Bäckström of the Minnesota Wild is having a contest to create a new mask design.

Here is the offical link with detailed information: http://wild.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=527141&navid=DLMINhome

Is Padawan Niemi turning into the Master?

Anyone even remember back in October when the Chicago Blackhawks were in Helsinki, Finland playing the Florida Panthers? No? Probably because the games were also on during the week at midday because of the time zones.

As an unemployed student at the time I was home and able to watch and remembering in game two Chicago decided to play this 'unknown' rookie goalie that just happened to be from Finland. The game started off with just that feel good feeling of 'awww they are letting him get his NHL debut in his home country' but turned into 'wow this kid is actually pretty good' and further into "Wow this Antti Niemi just recorded a shutout in his NHL debut in his home country."

For the life of me I can't find the article but someone had asked Niemi if he was going to take over the number one spot from Christobal Huet. I believe his answer was along the lines of "I'll try".

In the words of Yoda "Do or do not ... there is no try."

Young master Niemi did and now he is leading the Blackhawks into Game Three of the Stanley Cup finals as a rookie goalie (who was not nominated for Calder) with a 2-0 series lead.

May the force be with you...