Coyotes’ Center Jokinen Ripped by Former Team
Vince Marotta over at AZ Sports Hub blogs today on a report in the Miami Herald of a letter going out to Florida Panther season ticket holders that asserts former Panther and current Coyoter center Olli Jokinen was a choker who lacked heart and leadership.
“Olli is a great player, but he has shown no leadership or improvement, and he never came through for us when we needed him the most. As a stat, Jokinen scored 5 goals in the last 24 games, this is not acceptable for a Captain of an NHL organization. He played with little heart or passion and never had the determination to reach the playoffs. This move was done for one reason only, to make the postseason and return the passion and energy into this arena.”
Panther management was quick to distance themselves from the brewing scandal, with Florida’s chief executive officer Michael Yormark describing the letter as “not the kind of communication we condone and is unacceptable”. Of course Yormark failed to call the comments untrue or to apologize to the former Panthers’ captain. Yormark simply told the Herald that “we’ve addressed the issue with the individual. Not only with the individual, but with the entire staff. I can assure you this is not the kind of communication you will see in the future”. So a slap on the wrist but probably only because they got caught.
You have to remember that this was written by a Panthers’ account executive who was trying to appease fans upset by the trade. But it is highly unlikely that this letter went out without the knowledge of some higher-ups in the organization. It is telling of the type of dysfunction within the Florida organization when the person who wrote the letter was not immediately fired and an apology issued to Jokinen. To call out someone’s character is perhaps the most damaging thing you can say about a professional athlete. When someone is your teams leading all-time scorer and you lambaste them like that you are showing an incredible lack of character yourself. Why not just say ‘thanks for your contributions but we believe it is in everybody’s best interest, including Olli’s, that we move in a different direction at this time’?
It should also give pause to teams who might be thinking of making trades with the Panthers in the future. What does it tell Coyotes season ticket holders about the job GM Don Maloney is doing if the Panthers are bragging to their people about how they got over on Phoenix by shipping them a choking player who lacks heart for a fan favorite like Keith Ballard? It certainly will not help sell tickets at Jobing.com Arena — already a tough gig.
Obviously we will have to wait six to nine months to really put a value on the trade but face value right now says the Coyotes flat-out stole Jokinen. The Panthers management did such a bad job with their star player that he wanted out and it made them look bad so they have to take this blatantly biased tack to their ticket base. I come from sales so I know for a fact what scumbags sales people can be but this is a low-water mark in professional sports marketing. While the Coyotes are improving their team with swift aplomb the Panthers remain a wreck of a team, overloaded with defensemen with no inkling of an offense on the horizon. Good luck selling boring defensive hockey — worse — boring defensive losing hockey to south Florida where there are only 5,000 other things people could be doing in the winter. It is that reality that caused the Panthers’ to use Jokinen as a scapegoat.
When asked for a response to the letter Jokinen text-messaged his reply to the Herald:
“Of course I’m disappointed if somebody has said that, I honestly tried my best in all areas, whether it was on ice or outside the rink.”
Hopefully Ollie will take that letter as a personal challenge and use it to help fuel him to a career best year that returns the Coyotes —at long last— to the post-season.
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5 Responses to “Coyotes’ Center Jokinen Ripped by Former Team”
June 27th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
It’s a shame but Olli’s reputation in Finland is the same. Maybe too much smoke not to be some fire, too.
As for Panthers’ letter anybody can say that it’s classless. Total bush league.
But in my opinion Vancouver GM Mike Gillis’ comments were even worse when he said that he looked at Jokinen but what he heard were disturbing or something like that.
Well, Gillis was commenting about player that has not played for Vancouver and is not going to play for them. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
And don’t tell me that Bob Clarke once said that “Nedved is as stupid as Bure, only worse”.
June 28th, 2008 at 4:03 am
As a diehard Panthers fan and 15 year season ticket holder I think it important to see a opinion from this side. Olli loved it here! He was very dedicated to this organization and to confess sour grapes after he is gone I feel as well is a stab in the back. Beyond that stinking article, let me give my take on this player.
Very good speed with a excellent slap shot. Main problem I see is that he is not much of a 2 way player and consistently will take some shifts off…I mean everyone loves a player who can light it up but that does not mean he can/will help lead you to the promised land. For most of his career, Olli has been a perennial minus player and this is obviously the most overlooked statistic in Hockey…to be a minus means you don’t back check and you don’t play defense. I remember when Pavel Bure was lighting it up here…yes it was very exciting yet he too could not help us reach the ultimate goal. All NHL champions are built on great Defense and charachter offensive guys who know how to back check and play defense..unfortunately Olli is not one of those and I feel in time this trade will show its true worth…I am excited to hear Keith Ballard is a fan favorite. We need to protect Vokoun more and have less shots against of which I believe we were league leaders last season. Olli has never helped us reach th playoffs and really, isn’t that the ultimate goal in the NHL? With the offensive youth we have ready to make the jump, and possibly adding 1 QUALITY offensive guy through free agency, is this franchise so much worse off now? It is time for the Panthers to move on but again I agree it is shameful to stab a guy in the back…especially one who has been so caring and dedicated to this franchise.
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Rich B — thanks for the comments. It is interesting to get a Panthers fan’s perspective. Like you and RussoTo both bring up, there are issues with Jokinen’s game and work ethic and if they prove to be true here as well then Jokinen could just be a place-holder for Kyle Turris who, if he continues to develop, could be a first line center in two years.
Coyotes fans can only hope that a change of venue will help Ollie focus. If this guy is scoring 90 points a season with a poor work ethic I can’t wait to see what he can do when he is truly motivated. Gretzky has little patience for veterans who don’t back-check and who set a bad example for the many promising youngsters the Coyotes will have on their roster this season.
July 13th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Why not just say ‘thanks for your contributions but we believe it is in everybody’s best interest, including Olli’s, that we move in a different direction at this time’?
That is what they should have said and if the account executive had asked they probably would have told him. The guy is trying to appease season ticket holders who expected offense back (Rumors had the Sedin Twins and Zerdev so two defensemen they never heard of was a disappointment) and wrote what everyone else was thinking. Olli always said on camera the right things but behind the scenes many players did not like him. From all accounts he was a cancer that the team decided needed to be removed. The account executive made a mistake but the Panthers didn’t he needed to go.
August 7th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Boris, I think Ollie was unhappy for awhile in Florida and when that happens you can’t help but be a “cancer”. It would have shown much more character for him to tough it out and remain a solid leader but I am not privy to the details and only know that Florida’s GM and Ollie were on slightly worse terms than Brett Favre and Ted Thompson.
Hopefully a new start in Phoenix will help Jokinen re-stoke the fire. He will not be expected to be the team leader and he can slide in and just do his thing. If it does not work out the Coyotes can always dump him at the trade deadline for some prospects.
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