Chicago Blackhawks: A Look at Henri Jokiharju’s Surprising Start

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Chicago Blackhawks‘ defenseman Henri Jokiharju has been a bright spot on a team largely without one, especially in the past five games. Jokiharju’s consistency makes him especially easy to take for granted, so I’m writing in hopes of preventing that.

It’s no secret: the Chicago Blackhawks defensemen are not very good. Hell, through fifteen games only two of them are still positive in +/-. As a result, I always thought whether he was ready or not, Henri Jokiharju would be playing in the NHL this year.

Incase you were wondering who the two defensemen with positive plus/minus’s currently are, Jokiharju sits at +1 while Duncan Keith is at a solid +3. Everyone else, though, remains in the negatives including newly-signed free agent Brandon Manning with a team worst -7.

Keith posted a less-than-desirable -29 last season, but it’s no surprise that he’s having more success to start this year — he’s playing alongside a quicker partner and in front of a healthy Corey Crawford. What is surprising, however, is the extent to which Jokiharju has been successful.

Coming into the NHL as a teenager is tough. Coming in straight from juniors? Tougher.

But, trying to do both of these as a defenseman? Good luck.

Jokiharju’s success is undoubtedly surprising, but what really shocks me is just how unsurprised everyone seems to about it.

Jokijharju’s Rise

Currently, there are only 14 teenagers playing in the NHL. Of them, only four are defensemen. They are as follows: Buffalo Sabres’ no. 1 overall pick Rasmus Dahlin (18 years old), the Dallas Stars’ Miro Heiskanen (19), Edmonton Oilers’ Evan Bouchard (19) and the Chicago Blackhawks’ own Henri Jokiharju (19).

For reference, let’s see how Jokiharju stacks up against these other four players in the major statistical categories.

Goals

Heiskanen, 2
Dahlin, 2
Bouchard, 1
Jokiharju, 0

Not a great start, but there is more than one way to help get the puck in the net.

Assists

Jokiharju, 8
Dahlin, 4
Heiskanen, 2
Bouchard, 0

Combining the two to tally points, Jokiharju leads the pack again.

Points

Jokiharju, 8
Dahlin, 5
Heiskanen, 4
Bouchard, 1

Additionally, Jokiharju is the only one to be positive in +/- thus far.

Plus/Minus

Jokiharju (+1)
Heiskanen (0)
Dahlin (-1)
Bouchard (-5)

While +/- is useful, this stat becomes a bit more impressive given the amount of ice time some of these guys are using up.

Jokiharju and Heiskanen are the only one’s to break 20 minutes of ATOI (21:34 and 21:53, respectively) while Dahlin (18:09) follows close behind, leaving Bouchard (12:21) in the rear view mirror.

Both Jokes and Heiskanen are playing top pairing minutes to start the season, meaning they’re facing some of the oppositions best offensive lines. Because of that, the fact that one is positive and the other is even is tremendously impressive given their age.

While Jokiharju is the only of the bunch without a goal, a look into his tape in the WHL should convince you that his first in the NHL should be right around the corner.

All in all, offensive production from defensemen is great and it’s fantastic to see Jokiharju leading the vast majority of the leaderboards.

Jokes wasn’t expected to start the season on an NHL roster and the fact that he’s leading the NHL’s young defensemen in so many categories is huge. That said, rookies are rookies for a reason, so let’s take a look at how Henri Jokiharju looks in comparison to the Chicago Blackhawks current defensemen.

COLUMBUS, OH – OCTOBER 20: Henri Jokiharju #28 of the Chicago Blackhawks skates against the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 20, 2018 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Chicago defeated Columbus 4-1. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Jokiharju and the Blackhawks

Henri Jokiharju leads the teenage defensemen in most major scoring categories and that doesn’t differ much when discussing the Blackhawks, either. Though Brent Seabrook leads the team defensemen in goals (2), Jokiharju still leads in both points and assists with 8.

As we mentioned at the beginning, the Chicago Blackhawks +/- is a complete mess excluding Jokes and Keith, so I decided to take look into each players CF%.

Corsi is a solid way of quantifying just how effective a player is on the ice, and Jokiharju’s number’s don’t disappoint. Essentially, a player’s CF% takes their CF (shots + blocks + misses for) and divides it by CF + CA (Corsi against).

Above 50% indicates that when that specific player is on the ice, their team controls the puck more often than not. Here’s how Henri Jokiharju stacks up against his fellow Blackhawks defensemen.

CF%

Keith, 55.4%
Jokiharju, 54.8
Erik Gustafsson, 52.0%
Jan Rutta, 50.3%
Manning, 49.3%
Seabrook, 48.7%
Brandon Davidson, 47.7%

Looking at this, it should come as no surprise that Keith, Jokiharju and Gustafsson are the defensemen leading the Chicago Blackhawks in ice time.

Jokiharju is obviously having a positive impact on the Blackhawks in both scoring, defense and now puck possession. Furthermore, he’s making a difference on the play of his teammates, too.

Duncan Keith, being the seasoned veteran that he is, was supposed to be there to guide Jokiharju, to carry him at times and to cover him when he made mistakes. While he’s still doing these things, this relationship looks to be more mutually beneficial than you’d think.

“He allows me to play my game,” said Keith. “For 19 years old, he’s pretty poised. He’s a great skater, he’s good with the puck, makes smart plays, good defensively. He’s ahead of his age, that’s for sure. Defense isn’t an easy position to break into, and he’s doing it like a veteran. So it’s impressive.”

Statistically speaking, Jokiharju passes all the tests. Through 15 games, it looks as if he’s passing the eye test as well.

When the Chicago Blackhawks faced off against the Edmonton Oilers for the first time this season, Jokiharju faced one of his toughest matchups yet, Connor McDavid. Here’s how he fared, in the words of Mark Lazerus:

“Jokiharju played a whopping 13:22 of 5-on-5 time against the best player in the world, Connor McDavid. The Hawks out-attempted the Oilers 20-9 and out-chanced the Oilers 13-4 in those 13 minutes.”

Yeah, that’s pretty damn good.

All things considering, it’s still easy to be pessimistic about the Chicago Blackhawks – especially after their recent five game skid. That said, this is exactly why I encourage you all to take a moment and appreciate Henri Jokiharju.

At only 19 years old, Jokiharju is looking to be one of the best rookie defensemen and, additionally, one of the best on the Blackhawks. So much so, that GM Stan Bowman is questioning whether or not Adam Boqvist can do the same thing next season.

Next. Blackhawks Problems on Full Display in Oilers Loss. dark

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So for today, ignore the standings, ignore the lack of scoring depth, ignore the bad free agent signings and ignore the $4.7 million in cap space that the team hasn’t done anything with. Instead, take the time to appreciate the success of our beautiful baby boy, Henri Jokiharju.

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