To the naked eye, he looks much more assertive and comfortable doing just that lately. His increased production has also coincided with the Comets picking up nine of a possible 10 points in their past five games to take back second place in the AHL's North Division.
"There's a good mood around the locker room right now," he said.
Perhaps it's his engineer outlook or a small-town sensibility but Halonen is not prone to flowery self-evaluation, or one to delve too deeply into the near past or his path to get there. He's not grumpy, though if he was it's easy to understand why - the cult classic Grumpy Old Men was filmed in his hometown - he's more straightforward and matter-of-fact. And he's clear that he just wants to keep getting better.
"That's hockey, you always need to improve, it's when you stop when you get (into trouble)," he said, adding later in the conversation: "the (upward) pyramid of players is thinner and everyone is a good player."
Aside from the increased scoring totals, there is an edginess to Halonen's game. A 6' and a sliver below 210 pounds, he's hard on the puck and has a, well, grumpy disposition when he doesn't have it. There have been a couple of scrapes, including a short, spirited tilt in Toronto with the Marlies' Marc Johnstone in front of a holiday crowd at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto last month. It was the only game in the past several where Halonen and the Comets haven't picked up at least a point but he had the fight and four shots on net; that is a sign of making his presence felt when he's not scoring against a divisional opponent who the Comets could see in the playoffs.
All told, Halonen is like a blunt-force instrument with fine carpentry skills and it's not hard to imagine him in an NHL energy role with some offensive pop.
The small town of Delano - Halonen says he's noticed the uptick in population to just over 6,000 - had two Hobey Baker finalists last year; Halonen and Ben Meyers. High school teammates, both he and Meyers (U of Minnesota/Colorado) signed NHL deals as college free agents. Two other Delano teammates also played college hockey.
Halonen played three NHL preseason games - "a great experience" he remembers, and picked up an assist in three road appearances against Montreal, Islanders, and Rangers. It was a busy time - he attended Devils development camp in the summer, rookie camp in the fall and then the main training camp.
That all came about as he finished his degree in the spring and got married in the summer.
Halonen's cousin, Blake Pietila, played 39 games for the Devils across four seasons. But that family connection is not even the most interesting one: he's one of 11 children, the third-oldest of seven boys and four girls.
"Everyone's doing well," he said, "(unfortunately) they don't get to see (us) as much with my younger brothers' hockey and stuff."
