Rockets select possible NHL draft pick at import draft

[Malc]

By Doyle Potenteau

The Kelowna Rockets have added a new name to their roster, one that fans are likely to have never seen or heard of before. Bruce Hamilton hopes by next year at this time, though, plenty of people will know of Teemu Pulkkinen.

The Canadian Hockey League held its import draft on Tuesday, and Kelowna, with the 50th pick overall, selected Pulkkinen, a 5-foot-10 175 pound left winger from Vantaa, Finland. According to the Rockets, the 17-year-old has signed a contract with Jokerit of Helsinki in Finland‘s top division and is expected to play there this season.

“At 50, I don‘t expect to get much,” said Hamilton, the Rockets‘ president and general manager. “I like Finnish players because they always seem to play with a bit of bite to their game, so we picked a skilled guy who is signed. Our goal is to get him for next season. It‘d be great to get him over here for training camp, but then... if he likes it, he has to get out of that contract.

“Still, he‘ll be a good NHL draft pick (in 2010). Our initial reports are that he could be a fairly early draft pick next year, so rather than pick a guy who we‘re going to bring over for a month and a half, then send him home – I can have a North American guy play that position – with European players, you‘d like to have them on your first two lines.”

Kelowna‘s scouting staff tipped the Rockets about Pulkkinen, having seen him play in Europe and for Finland at the 2009 IIHF World U18 Championship in Fargo, N.D., April 9 to 19, where he earned a bronze medal.

According to various websites, Pulkkinen played three games with Division One Jokerit Hockey Club last season as a 16-year-old, logging no points and six penalty minutes. In 2007-08, he tallied 36 goals and 60 points in 32 games with Jokerit‘s junior team.

At Fargo in April, Pulkkinen was third in tournament scoring, logging seven goals and 13 points and a plus-nine rating in six games. He finished behind tournament leader and Finnish teammate Toni Rajala (10-9-19) and Russia‘s Vladimir Tarasenko (8-7-15). Notably, Rajala, a 5-10 winger, was selected 14th overall by the Brandon Wheat Kings.

Essentially, Tuesday‘s selection is the equivalent of Kelowna‘s toss-the-dice pick in 2007 when they selected Swedish forward Mikael Backlund 43rd overall. In time – almost a year and a half later – Backlund wound up playing for the Rockets, and the 2007 Calgary Flames draft pick was a catalyst in helping Kelowna win its third WHL championship two months ago.

As for this season, the Rockets say their only European from last season‘s roster, Stepan Novotny, will be back for 2009-10. Last weekend, the fast 18-year-old right winger from Prague in the Czech Republic was draft eligible, but was not selected.

In 2008-09, the 6-2 forward logged 19 goals, 22 assists and 41 points as a rookie who was often on the third line.

“He‘ll be back and we have high expectations of him. He almost had 20 goals, so we expect him to have another good year,” said Hamilton. “With the (NHL) draft, I was very disappointed for him because I thought he played pretty good at the end of the year. And he has what they all want: Speed.

“But I think he‘ll come back and have a real good season for us. He went through a real learning curve last season. I learned a real lesson with Milan Kytnar the season before. I reacted a little too quick in letting him go to Saskatoon, and then he wound up having a pretty good year with the Blades.

“I won‘t be surprised if Stepan has a real good year here with us.”

http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=195957

[Malc]

Teemu Pulkkinen is 50-50 to play in Kelowna for 2010-11 season.

http://dubnation-news.blogspot.com/2010/05/nhl-combine-teemu-pulkkinen.html

[Malc]

by WCHBlog

09-10 team: Jokerit(Finland)
09-10 stats: 12 games, 1 goal, 2 assists, 3 points

Prospect Info:

Nobody seems to question Teemu Pulkkinen's abilities once he steps on the ice. On pure talent alone, he may be one of the top ten, maybe even five, players in the draft. But it is Pulkkinen's ability to stay on the ice that will be of great concern for NHL teams. Pulkkinen played very little this year, thanks to a lingering knee injury, that has affected him off and on for two years now, a broken wrist, and a separated shoulder. All three injuries have required surgery, causing questions about how Pulkkinen will handle the physical North American game.

Pulkkinen was a standout performer at this year's U18 tournament, which brought him back into the first round discussion, but shortly after the tournament, he underwent shoulder surgery, and didn't perform at the NHL Combine, since he didn't have all of his medical paperwork in order, though he was able to interview with most teams.

Pulkkinen is a pure sniper with perhaps one of the best shots in the draft. He's also a very smooth stickhandler with the puck. He's not the fastest skater, but he plays on the wing, where his skating is less of an issue, and he's a solidly built player. One area where Pulkkinen will have to improve before playing in the NHL is improving his defensive game.

It's still unclear where Pulkkinen will play next season. He is under contract with Jokerit's pro team for one more year, but there is a brief window this summer where he could transfer to the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL.

On WCH...

April 8, 2009: "This kid looks like he's going to be a superstar. He's absolutely electric 1-on-1 against a defender, and made a lot of highly ranked defenseman look absolutely silly. He's a natural goalscorer that could be among the tournament leaders in goals. I've heard a lot of good things about Taylor Hall, and I've been a huge Cam Fowler fan for years now, but Pulkkinen might be good enough to get consideration as the top overall pick in next year's draft."

April 21, 2010: "Teemu Pulkkinen is a kid that I thought was very under-rated in the draft, and being one of this tournament's leading scorers probably brings him back into the first round conversation again, though the way the tournament ended for him today probably doesn't help."

Final Analysis

It's tough to tell where Pulkkinen will go in the draft, because the final decision on whether to gamble on him will likely be made by medical professionals, rather than hockey people. Pulkkinen made the paperwork from all of his surgeries available to any NHL team that was interested, and it will be up to those teams to decide if he is a player that merely ran into some bad luck, or if these physical issues will be a perpetual problem.

Personally, I can't see a player of that talent slipping out of the first round, but he may slip into the middle of the second round or later if teams are nervous about his injury history.

http://www.westerncollegehockeyblog.com/2010/6/24/1534637/2010-nhl-draft-prospect-teemu

[Malc]

Rnd Pick Overall Team Player Pos Ht Wt Amateur League Team
4 21 111 DET TEEMU PULKKINEN LW 5'11" 183 FINLAND JOKERIT

[Malc]

By Larry Fisher

Teemu Pulkkinen is a name most Kelowna hockey fans won‘t recognize.

That could change come winter if the Kelowna Rockets are successful in convincing the talented Finnish forward to relocate to the Central Okanagan and join the WHL club.

“We‘re very aggressively onto that,” said Rockets president and general manager Bruce Hamilton, who picked Pulkkinen 50th overall in the CHL‘s 2009 import draft.

The Rockets tried recruiting Pulkkinen last summer and again at Christmas, but feel their chances improved with the Detroit Red Wings picking him in the fourth round (111th overall) of the NHL draft on the weekend.

“I talked with the Detroit people (on Saturday), and we need them to help by really encouraging him to come (here),” Hamilton said. “We‘ll be pushing for that because he would add another dynamic to our team that would be pretty exciting. He‘s a skilled offensive player and he shoots the puck as good as anybody.”

Pulkkinen didn‘t attend the draft in Los Angeles, but Hamilton was there and met with his agents from Newport Sports Management, which also represent Hamilton‘s son, Curtis. On Saturday, the Edmonton Oilers selected Curtis in the second round of the draft.

The Rockets and Wings have a good working relationship, with former Kelowna assistant coach Jeff Finley now scouting for Detroit and Red Wings general manager Ken Holland hailing from Vernon. The Red Wings spent a few days in Kelowna this spring, practising at Prospera Place between games in Calgary and Edmonton. Shortly after that visit, Detroit signed Rockets forward Mitchell Callahan, a sixth-round pick in 2009, to a three-year entry level contract, though he‘ll likely return to Kelowna for his 19-year-old season.

Pulkkinen, projected to be a first-round pick prior to last season and ranked No. 17 among European skaters by Central Scouting heading into the draft, has options this season. He can stay home and continue playing for Jokerit in Finland, where he was limited to one goal and three points in 12 games during an injury-plagued rookie campaign in 2009-10. Or he can come to Kelowna, where he‘d likely see significant ice time in a scoring role.

The Red Wings will influence that decision, with Hamilton and Jokerit‘s new GM, Jarmo Kekalainen – formerly the St. Louis Blues‘ head scout – also having input.

“That‘ll be the challenge,” Hamilton said. “He isn‘t under contract right now with Jokerit, from what I understand. Generally, these guys at this age don‘t get to play enough to make it worth their while on the elite teams there. He didn‘t play much there last year, and I know Detroit will want to get him over here to start playing the North American game, to get him ready to move to their farm team.”

Detroit‘s top European pick in the 2009 draft, Slovak forward Tomas Tatar (second round, 60th overall), came over last season and played for the Wings‘ AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins.

As for the Rockets‘ prior efforts to land Pulkkinen, Hamilton said: “He wanted to play on the senior team (Jokerit) and he wasn‘t really ready to leave home yet. We worked real hard at Christmas trying to get him. But now that he‘s been drafted, the path ahead of him is a little more charted.

“I hope we can (get him), because when we picked him, everybody kind of thought it was a foolish pick. And now if we get him, we‘ll have him for two years, likely.”

http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=276204

[Malc]

From Gregg Drinnan's Taking Note

There is an interesting dance going on involving the Kelowna Rockets, Detroit Red Wings and Jokerit Helsinki, which plays in Finland’s SM-Liiga.

And it all involves F Teemu Pulkkinen, a player selected by the Rockets in the 2009 CHL import draft and by the Red Wings in the fourth round of the 2010 NHL draft.

Pulkkinen, an extremely talented player, struggled in 2009-10 because of injuries — knee, wrist and shoulder. In fact, he has had surgery to repair all three injuries.

There are all kinds of connections between the Rockets and Red Wings, who, you will recall, took a break from the rigours of the 2009-10 schedule and spent a couple of days in the Little Apple last season. They practised in front of 5,000 or 6,000 fans and took in a lot of donations for that city’s Food Bank.

Ken Holland, the Red Wings’ GM, is from Vernon, which is just a few slapshots from Kelowna. Former Rockets assistant coach Jeff Finley lives in Kelowna and scouts for the Red Wings, while Marty Stein, another scout, lives in Vernon and veteran scout Bruce Haralson, who now is in Bellingham, Wash., used to work out of the Okanagan.

Detroit head coach Mike Babcock played a season (1982-83) of junior in Kelowna when the franchise was known as the Wings.

Kelowna winger Mitchell (Dirty Harry) Callahan was a sixth-round pick by Detroit in the 2009 NHL draft and he has since signed with the Red Wings.
And on and on...

It stands to reason, then, that Kelowna president and general manager Bruce Hamilton has asked the Red Wings to see if they can help get Pulkkinen into a Rockets’ uniform.

All of which, at first glance, might seem doable. Right?

Well... there is this one little problem.

It seems that a few days before the NHL draft, the Red Wings signed F Ilari Filppula, who played the last two seasons with TPS Turku of the Finnish Elite League. The older brother of Detroit F Valtteri Filppula, Ilari had a fine season — he had 49 points in 58 regular-season games — and ended up being named the playoff MVP after adding two goals and 12 assists in 15 games. Yes, TPS won the league championship.

Before joining TPS Turku, Ilari Filppula had played for Jokerit . . . and he signed a new deal with Jokerit on May 4. That, you have to understand, was Jokerit’s BIG signing of the offseason.

But then along came the Red Wings on June 15, which was the deadline for free agents and previously drafted players to sign for next season and get out of their Finnish contracts. Which is exactly what Filppula did.

That left Jokerit scrambling to find a replacement, something it hasn’t yet done. And remember that Finnish teams usually get their signings wrapped up by mid-June so that everyone can have something of a vacation, what with training camps opening in mid-July.

Meanwhile, Pulkkinen apparently has one season left on his contract with Jokerit, but has a window this summer during which he could leave for Kelowna.

In order to get through that window, Detroit would have to sign Pulkkinen by Aug. 15. Were that to happen, the Red Wings could assign him to Kelowna.

But having signed Filppula away from Jokerit, you have to wonder how eager the Red Wings are to take a second player from the Helsinki-based team?

(NOTE: Garth MacBeth of The MacBeth Report contributed to this report.)
http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/2010/07/friday.html