Jokinen, a center from Finland selected by the Los Angeles Kings with the No. 3 pick in the 1997 NHL Draft, played for 10 teams during a career that spanned 17 seasons. He was at his best during a span of five-seasons with the Florida Panthers from 2002-08) in which he averaged more than 34 goals and nearly 75 points.
Jokinen, who was the rookie of the year with HIFK in Liiga, Finland's top professional league in 1996-97, made the Kings out of training camp in 1997 and was scoreless in eight games before being sent back to HIFK. He returned to the Kings in the fall of 1998 and finished with 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in 66 games in the 1998-99 season but was traded to the New York Islanders on June 20, 1999.
Jokinen, a center from Finland selected by the Los Angeles Kings with the No. 3 pick in the 1997 NHL Draft, played for 10 teams during a career that spanned 17 seasons. He was at his best during a span of five-seasons with the Florida Panthers from 2002-08) in which he averaged more than 34 goals and nearly 75 points.
Jokinen, who was the rookie of the year with HIFK in Liiga, Finland's top professional league in 1996-97, made the Kings out of training camp in 1997 and was scoreless in eight games before being sent back to HIFK. He returned to the Kings in the fall of 1998 and finished with 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in 66 games in the 1998-99 season but was traded to the New York Islanders on June 20, 1999.
Jokinen was the key piece in the trade for the Islanders, who gave up Ziggy Palffy, their top scorer, but lasted one season with them before being traded again, this time to the Panthers on June 24, 2000.
After struggling for his first two seasons in Florida, Jokinen blossomed in 2002-03 under the coaching of Mike Keenan. He scored 36 goals, one more than he'd scored in his previous four seasons combined, and finished with 65 points. Jokinen scored 111 goals in a span of three seasons from 2005-06 through 2007-08, though the Panthers failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs during his time with Florida.
Jokinen never approached those numbers after the Panthers traded him to the Phoenix Coyotes on June 20, 2008. He played for seven teams in the final six seasons of his career but scored more than 20 goals just once -- in 2011-12, when he had 23 during his second stint with the Calgary Flames.
Jokinen ended his career after playing briefly with the Toronto Maple Leafs and St. Louis Blues in 2014-15. He finished with 750 points (321 goals, 429 assists) in 1,231 NHL games. Jokinen appeared in the Stanley Cup Playoffs just once in his 17 seasons; he scored two goals and had five points in six games for the Flames in 2009. Jokinen signed an honorary contract with Florida on March 7, 2017, enabling him to officially retire as a member of the Panthers.
NOTES & TRANSACTIONS
- Finnish Rookie of the Year Award (1997)
- WJC-A All-Star Team (1998)
- Named Best Forward at WJC-A (1998)
- Played in NHL All-Star Game (2003)
- Traded to NY Islanders by Los Angeles with Josh Green, Mathieu Biron and Los Angeles' 1st round pick (Taylor Pyatt) in 1999 NHL Draft for Ziggy Palffy, Bryan Smolinski, Marcel Cousineau and New Jersey's 4th round pick (previously acquired, Los Angeles selected Daniel Johansson) in 1999 NHL Draft, June 20, 1999.
- Traded to Florida by NY Islanders with Roberto Luongo for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha, June 24, 2000.
- Signed as a free agent by Kloten (Swiss), September 15, 2004.
- Signed as a free agent by Sodertalje (Sweden), November, 2004.
- Signed as a free agent by HIFK Helsinki (Finland), January 30, 2005.
- Traded to Phoenix by Florida for Keith Ballard, Nick Boynton and Ottawa's 2nd round pick (previously acquired, later traded back to Phoenix, Phoenix selected Jared Staal) in 2008 NHL Draft, June 20, 2008.
- Traded to Calgary by Phoenix with Phoenix's 3rd round pick (later traded to Florida, Florida selected Josh Birkholz) in 2009 NHL Draft for Matthew Lombardi, Brandon Prust and Calgary's 1st round pick (Brandon Gormley) in 2010 NHL Draft, March 4, 2009.
- Traded to NY Rangers by Calgary with Brandon Prust for Chris Higgins and Ales Kotalik, February 2, 2010.
- Signed as a free agent by Calgary, July 1, 2010.
- Signed as a free agent by Winnipeg, July 2, 2012.
- Signed as a free agent by Nashville, July 2, 2014.
- Traded to Toronto by Nashville with Brendan Leipsic and Nashville's 1st round pick (later traded to Philadelphia, Philadelphia selected Travis Konecny) in 2015 NHL Draft for Cody Franson and Mike Santorelli, February 15, 2015.
- Traded to St. Louis by Toronto for Joakim Lindstrom and St. Louis' 6th round pick (Nicolas Mattinen) in 2016 NHL Draft, March 2, 2015.