This Week In "Stan Thinks People Are Stupid": Henri Jokiharju Might Benefit From Going To The World Juniors
Stanley, Stanley, Stanley…we are not stupid. This stuff might fly with the media and you might be able to say it in a quick interview with Kap and Haugh and they’ll let it slide. Not here, man. The fans here see right through this. We all know the score here. You boxed yourself in with bad contracts for defensemen that can’t help you win so you’re exploring options and planting stories. Scott Powers also JUST reported that the Hawks were shopping Manning and Rutta
So look, we all know what happened. You called 30 other general managers to see if they wanted Manning or Rutta. Everyone laughed in your face. Murphy came back and Stan had the “good fortune” of being able to kick the can down the road a bit because Forsling got hurt and he could put him on IR. Forsling will be healthy again soon and Stan will once again be in the position of having 9 NHL defensemen technically on the roster(Davidson would make 9, but he too is temporarily on IR). So now they’re pushing the narrative through the media that going to the World Junior Championships will be good for Henri Jokiharju’s development and that is insulting
How is playing against teenagers for three weeks supposed to help Jokiharju’s development? Actually, let’s table that discussion for a minute. Let’s focus on the team. Henri Jokiharju is ABSOLUTELY one of your 6 best defensemen right now. On most night’s he’s in your top 4, and a few times he’s been the best defensemen on the team. If you’re trying to win because you believe its a playoff team then HOW on Earth can you justify releasing one of your most talented players to an under-age tournament? THAT’S A CONTRADICTION.
Yes, Colliton has been reducing his minutes and playing him with a ton of different partners. Colliton was supposedly brought in to get more out of the group, and specifically the young players. He’s gotten SIGNIFICANTLY less out of Jokiharju than Quenneville did. Maybe it’s because Joel put him with Duncan Keith and left him there. They found continuity, and it was a mentorship program. Colliton came in and immediately split those two guys up and put Jokiharju with Erik Gustafsson and said that they would “learn from each other”. SPOILER: it didn’t work because the only thing Jokiharju can learn from Gustafsson in his own zone is how to get lost.
Now we are supposed to believe that it’s really about Jokiharju’s development and getting his confidence back. That somehow saying to him, “you’re not good enough to play here anymore, but go be a PP guy for Finland for a few weeks” is going to give him more confidence than playing every night at the highest level. I also reject the idea that ANY three week stretch can drastically impact a player’s long-term trajectory. The entire notion is ridiculous. It’s false. Stan is just looking for a roster pressure release valve as he waits for someone to say yes to picking up Rutta and/or Manning’s contracts. He’d rather make the team worse in the short term by sending Jokiharju to Team Finland than admit he was wrong and just put Rutta on waivers.
Stanley, you can make this all go away. You can come on Redline Radio, talk about your moves and say those three little words people are longing to hear…”I. Fucked. Up”. Just don’t tell me this is good for the player and the team. It really does insult our intelligence. That may work on John, but it doesn’t work on us
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