One for the future

[jRuutu 2,303]

 

 

Jokinen, a surname that is familiar to many VHL followers, there has been in a total of four different Jokinen´s in VHL over the recent years. Three have retired already, but Fernando is currently playing in Davos. Before him, players like Alvaro, Fabio, and Diego made a name for themselves as solid defenders. There has never been any confirmation whether they are related or what the actual story is, all we know is that they are from Finland and like to play the game of hockey.

 

Recent scouting news coming from Finland suggests that there is yet again at least one more Jokinen who is slowly and steadily moving towards VHL.  Erlantz Jokinen a promising young player who is currently playing in Rauman Lukko and their junior teams back in Finland. He is 12 at the moment, but if we believe the scout who has been watching him play on multiple occasions, he has the potential to play in VHL someday.

 

Erlantz like all the Jokinen´s before him plays in defense. Just like the sun rising in the morning and going down in the evening, somewhere a player named Jokinen is playing as a defender. It has been written and it has been seen, that is the way it goes. Apparently the name ´Erlantz´ means glow or shine in Basque, which fits his playing style well. Erlantz is a puck-moving defender, he has excellent wheels that he uses to create space and to get out of trouble. If you follow NHL - the second-best hockey league in the world, someone could say Erlantz looks a lot like Miro Heiskanen as a player. Extremely smart player who has high hockey IQ, and as mentioned uses his excellent skating ability to almost dominate games at times, he can be a difference-maker out there.

 

 

Before the Covid finally ended last season early in Finland, Erlantz played in a total of 35 junior games with the Lukko D-juniors, which is mostly around 12 or 13-year-old kids, but in those 35 games Erlantz managed to score an obnoxious 240 points, 193 of those points were assists. The league tried to stop him by fighting against the Covid rules of no checking by allowing Erlantz to be the only player who you could actually hit, but very few managed to get near him. He was untouchable.

 

It's still too early to say how good of a player Erlantz will be someday, but he shows a lot of promise. They say that if the Covid is not preventing the season from starting normally in October Erlantz will move to different junior team and play against the older kids, that is a good test for him and no doubt is going to force him to improve and learn to use his teammates more often, he could skate around 12-year-olds, but it's going to be a different thing when he is playing against 15-year-olds, they are a lot faster and stronger.

 

Keep the name Erlantz Jokinen at the back of your minds, a talented boy who could be part of the S80 something draft class!

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

It's like a plague we can't get rid off

[jRuutu 2,303]

16 minutes ago, OrbitingDeath said:

It's like a plague we can't get rid off

But a positive one!