Six years after retirement Olli Jokinen is ready to return to the NHL

Let's go, big man!

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HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Six years after retirement Olli Jokinen is ready to return to the NHL
Zuma Press

Six years after officially retiring from professional hockey, former NHLer Olli Jokinen is looking to make a return to the NHL in a coaching capacity.

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reports that Jokinen was close to landing an assistant coaching job with the Winnipeg Jets under head coach Paul Maurice before the Jets ultimately hired Dave Lowry. Still, Jokinen feels it's only a matter of time until he lands on the bench back in the world's biggest hockey league.

From Friedman's most recent "31 Thoughts" column for Sportsnet:

Six years after retirement, Olli Jokinen is ready for the next phase of his life: coaching. Jokinen has enormous respect for Paul Maurice, who he played for in Winnipeg, and the two talked about the position created when Todd Woodcroft went to NCAA Vermont. (It went to Dave Lowry.) There was also the possibility of a KHL job, but it fell through.
Since retirement, he’s run the South Florida Hockey Academy, “and since day one, I’ve loved coaching,” he said. “My goal is to be a head coach in the NHL. I understand it’s even a harder grind than as a player. I understand there are limited spots, and it might be a few years for things to get back to normal.”
Jokinen made it clear he’s willing to work his way up the ladder, knowing nothing will be handed to him. He’s spoken with Alex Tanguay, who took a job with AHL Iowa, about that path. “There’s not one coach (I played for) I didn’t learn anything from, and there are lots of coaches I didn’t understand how good they were until I was done.” Jokinen had a great line, saying, that late in his career he didn’t understand why he wasn’t playing much, but looking back on it, recognizes “I wouldn’t have played myself, either.”

Honestly, I could see Jokinen as an astute coach. The guy has plenty of experience to draw from given that he played over 1200 NHL games with 10 different organizations. I mean... the guy has seen it all. He has 321 goals and 750 points in 1231 games split between the Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, Phoenix Coyotes, Calgary Flames, New York Rangers, Winnipeg Jets, Nashville Predators, Toronto Maple Leafs and St. Louis Blues.