Just heard the Kerr interview with Conroy about Jokinen.
Described him as a great teammate and player, and mentioned Jokinen had a personal trainer / assistant named Pizza(?!) that went everywhere with Olli. Kerr and Steinberg described him as the best forward for the Flames in his one playoff appearance vs Chicago.
Steinberg summed Jokinen up well I think. Said he was a controversial and good Calgary Flame, but at the wrong time.
that alone sells me on him
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Captain James P. DeCOSTE, CD, 18 Sep 1993
Came here on deadline '09 when the team was running away with the division and one of the hottest in the league. "Flames are the deadline day winners!!"
Injury bug hit and the team collapsed down the stretch and sputtered out in the 1st round.
Then no more playoffs for 5 years...
This to me is the craziest part of the flames over the past decade.
1) Team in 2009 was stanley cup contenders until injury bug hit
2) Get knocked out of first round
3) Add JBo and keep Jokinen into 2009-2010 season. Argubably even deeper roster and Stanley cup contenders again...
3) Don't make the playoffs again until 2015
Serious wtf...
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I remember reading a few articles that Olli Jokinen had a personal massage therapist that lived and went to every NHL stop with him.
It was an arrangement to help him recover and extend his career as long as possible. I believe the quote went something along the lines of "I pay him $200k a year to extend my earnings by a few million a career"
Things might be much better now but even as recently as a few years ago the amount of money that teams assigned to things such as recovery, travel luxury, food and therapy was lower. Some teams that were in constant financial loss mode were always looking at cutting corners and I believe this is an area that wealthy teams could make a separation by improving on recovery looking after the little ailments and such a bit better.
I will never ever forget watching that first game with Jokinen.
I don't know if, as a Flames fan, I've ever been more confident, more enthusiastic and more excited for the coming team as I ended up being that first week, but especially that first game, with Jokinen on the ice.
Regarding Jokinen's masseuse, it was more than about getting a massage after games, it was a lifestyle change:
Quote:
“I’ve been sober six years now,” a candid Jokinen told the Calgary Sun, sharing his alcohol issues publicly for the first time.
“I don’t want to be one of those guys who sits in the bar after I’m done playing and says, ‘What if?’ I don’t like to use the word ‘if.’ Whatever the length of your career is going to be, you want to make the most out of it. You want to be in a position to look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself, ‘I did everything I possibly could to be the best I could.’ ”
And that meant changing his lifestyle in many ways, starting with eliminating alcohol from his diet — not something many athletes openly discuss during their careers.
“I think quitting drinking was more about feeling good about myself,” the 33-year-old Calgary Flames centre said of a decision that came while he was still playing with the Panthers in Florida.
“I didn’t like to have a hangover. It wasn’t like I would drink every day, but when you go out, you would get plastered up pretty good, and it would take two or three days to recover. When you get older, that gets even harder and harder — you can’t do that very often. I’d have a major headache for several days, and that was the part I didn’t enjoy.”
Blessed with a 6-foot-3, 210-lb. frame, the knock on Jokinen for years was that he didn’t take care of himself as well as most of today’s NHLers do. That began to change in 2005, when he made wholesale lifestyle changes that included the realization his drinking was a legitimate problem.
“You have to be honest with yourself and make decisions on which way you want to go,” said Jokinen, who quit cold turkey and without the aid of Alcoholics Anonymous or any other support group other than his wife and kids.
“I tried it and felt better and better, and there was no reason to go back (to drinking). To be honest, it wasn’t hard (to quit). I wasn’t a guy who got blasted once a week — more like four or five times during the year and then also through the summer. It wasn’t like I was hung over every day. You’ve got to know yourself. When you’re young, it takes time to understand what’s good for you and what works.”
As part of Jokinen’s increased focus on fitness, he now employs a full-time masseuse he figures has done wonders to help him remain healthy. He’s only missed three games over the last 21/2 NHL seasons.
Did Sutter ever explain the reason for trading Jokinen for negative value then re-signing him the next season?
I thought maybe there were dressing room issues between Olli and Phaneuf and Sutter decided to take drastic measures by getting rid of both of them. Then after the season in the exit interviews Sutter learns the problem was Dion only and the team loved Jokinen so decided to fix his mistake by bringing him back.
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Did Sutter ever explain the reason for trading Jokinen for negative value then re-signing him the next season?
I thought maybe there were dressing room issues between Olli and Phaneuf and Sutter decided to take drastic measures by getting rid of both of them. Then after the season in the exit interviews Sutter learns the problem was Dion only and the team loved Jokinen so decided to fix his mistake by bringing him back.
I'll never understand the trade the Islanders made, moving Jokinen and Luongo to Florida for Oleg Kvasha and Mark Parrish -- and then taking Rick DiPietro first overall.
Essentially they could have had Jokinen, Luongo and Gaborik/Heatley but instead had Kvasha, Parrish and DiPietro. Such a horrible deal.
I'll never understand the trade the Islanders made, moving Jokinen and Luongo to Florida for Oleg Kvasha and Mark Parrish -- and then taking Rick DiPietro first overall.
Essentially they could have had Jokinen, Luongo and Gaborik/Heatley but instead had Kvasha, Parrish and DiPietro. Such a horrible deal.
There's no point in trying to understand anything the Islanders did for a good two decades. They were the proto-Oilers.
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