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When the news reached the Edmonton public in early November that 2002 first round draft pick Jesse Niinimaki was joining the local AHL affiliate, it sent a jolt of excitement through the fanbase. The move was billed as an unseen piece of Edmonton’s prospect puzzle finally making an appearance at Rexall Place. For their part, Oiler fans were excited to see what the Finnish center was capable of with full anticipation that they would see some highlight reel hockey in town again.

Disappointment wouldn’t be strong enough of a word.

You’ll remember that Niinimaki was the surprise pick of the first round in 2002, with the Oilers going off the map to land the 6’3 middleman a couple rounds before most pundits predicted he would be chosen. At the time, the Oilers claimed they were not the only team interested in drafting Niinimaki and that they felt if they didn’t act quickly, another team would have stepped up with one of the subsequent picks shortly after their turn at 15.

A few years later, even the player admits that he was surprised to hear his name called out by GM Kevin Lowe that day. Interestingly enough though, Niinimaki also believes that he would have been drafted by another team shortly after the Oilers picked if Lowe hadn’t looked his way.

“There were a couple teams I knew that were going to pick me in the first round,” Niinimaki said before listing off a handful of teams including Ottawa, who picked immediately after Edmonton at 16^th, and the New York Islanders who had the 22^nd choice. “There were four or five teams; I think San Jose was the only team I didn’t have an interview with.”

Following the draft that summer, Niinimaki began the 2002-03 campaign back in his homeland with Ilves Tampere. It was his first full season with the pro club and by the end of the year Niinimaki had totaled a respectable 17 points.

In the summer of 2003, the Oilers held their first annual Top Prospects camp in Sherwood Park and brought in about 30 of their key draftees from around the world, Niinimaki being one of the centerpieces of the event. While the weeklong sessions were meant more for orientation to the organization and the city as opposed to evaluation, the Finnish pivot displayed his enormous puck controlling and playmaking abilities. At that point, the future was still so bright that the Oiler brass was wearing shades.

“He was very good at the rookie camp we had and now he’s back with his team back in Finland. We talked to their coach last week and Jesse is going to be a big part of their rebuilding, they went out and signed some good players to play around him,” Kevin Prendergast said that summer. “He’s just got to understand that there are some things that he’s got to improve on from a mental and physical stand point but from an ability to play the game, we certainly think he should play for us, probably, within the next two years. By the end of this year we’ll make a decision and he’ll probably be ready to come over to North America next year. He’s probably two years away from the NHL.”

Remember, that was the summer of 2003.

Cue the train wreck.

After beginning the 2003-04 schedule off at a terrific pace, recording 6 points in 10 games, Niinimaki’s world turned upside down in one fluke instant. Chasing after a loose puck he was bumped by an opposing defenseman, knocking him off balance and into the end boards. The hit wasn’t dirty and the impact into the boards was really nothing out of the ordinary, but a one in a million angle or body position resulted in an incredibly shattered shoulder that knocked Niinimaki out for the entire season.

Extensive surgery was needed to repair the joint as well as the various Latin-named bits and pieces in the area.

With his season a complete wash, Niinimaki and the Oilers began weighing their options on what would be the best way to proceed to get the prospect back on track as soon as possible. At one point it appeared that the youngster would leave Finland to begin rehab and training under the guidance of Daryl Duke, the Oilers fitness guru. Niinimaki did spent a couple weeks in the City of Champions last year and it looked like spending the summer in Edmonton was but a formality. Upon his return to Finland, he hired a personal trainer to help him begin the rehabilitation process.

“Once he’s back to 90-95 percent we’re going to bring him back to train with Darryl Duke who’ll sort of push him and we might consider having him over here next year,” Prendergast said then, again stating the team’s desire to have Niinimaki in North America for the coming season.

At some point over the summer, the plans changed again. It may have simply been someone foreseeing the CBA work stoppage or possibly deciding that Niinimaki’s shoulder wouldn’t be ready for the more physical North American game but regardless, as the 2004-05 season grew closer, it became clear that the center was going to play for Ilves again.

“That goes back to the injury; he basically only played eight games all year and from our standpoint as a first rounder we’d like to see him play more and get bigger and make a decision on him from there,” Prendergast said in the 2004 offseason.

Niinimaki began the year as a top two-line center, but when Ilves signed Patrik Stefan of the NHL’s Atlanta Thrashers early into the schedule, the Oiler prospect’s ice time began diminishing rapidly. After 18 games, and 8 points, Niinimaki and the Oilers reached an agreement that would see the 21-year-old join the AHL’s Edmonton Road Runners for the remainder of the 2004-05 season.

For two weeks Niinimaki practiced with the injured Road Runner players in Sherwood Park while the team was away from Rexall Place. Skating with J.J. Hunter, Brent Henley, Dan Baum and the Oiler’s Marty Reasoner was a good warm up for the newcomer and he impressed his new teammates.

““That kid’s got skill! He’s just a pure skilled hockey player and I think he’s going to do very well,” Henley praised. “With his experience in the Finnish League, which is pretty much on par with the AHL, I don’t think he’ll have trouble at all and I definitely see him being an NHL player. He’s really strong on his skates and you can’t play that well in that league and be weak.”

Niinimaki made is North American professional debut on November 17^th in a road game against the Hamilton Bulldogs. He did not record a point in the game, something he and the fans would need to get used to.

The Road Runners have a lot of players to pick from on a nightly basis, 26 at the moment, which is three or four more than most other AHL squads are carrying. Because of that, and partly because they wanted to acclimatize him slowly, the Runners coaching staff made Niinimaki a healthy scratch for most of November and December. That shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone, because the Oilers said from the outset that the Finn was not going to get opportunities handed to him.

“As far as getting preferential treatment because he’s a first rounder, that isn’t going to happen,” Prendergast told Hockey’s Future in November. “He’s going to have to unseat the guys playing ahead of him and that’s a coaching decision for Geoff Ward. We’re going to look at him and bring him along at our pace now. He’s got a road ahead of him, this isn’t going to be an easy go for him.”

On November 23^rd, a home contest against St. john’s, coach Ward not only gave Niinimaki the green light to suit up but also sent him out as his first sniper when the game went to the shootout round after overtime had settled nothing. In what can best be described as a major league goal, Niinimaki beat the Leafs goaltender with an amazing deke that revealed an ability probably not found on more than a couple other Road Runner players.

“That was an easy decision,” said Ward after the game in regards to his choice to go with his newest player. “He’s a skilled hockey player and I think he showed a pretty good move on the goal.”

After the first round of the shootout, the game was still tied so Niinimaki was given a second opportunity but failed when he tried to get too fancy and lost control of the puck.

“I have four or five moves and the one I chose for the second try was a big mistake because the ice was pretty bad,” he sighed later.

With the Runners still holding down top spot in their division, it was continuing to be difficult for Niinimaki to earn a regular starting job on the roster, but he wasn’t yet to the point where he was too frustrated.

“Everything is new,” Jesse reasoned. “I have to get used to the guys in practice, the systems we use here are so different then we use in Finland. The forecheck is a lot more here, the ice is smaller and that makes the game much different. Of course I have to earn my ice time and so I have to play well so I get to play more and more, but let’s see what happens.”

As the season continued and the pressbox seat became even more familiar, a visible difference could be seen in Niinimaki’s demeanor. The smiling youth had become more subdued and by the time Christmas came around, Niinimaki still had not played his tenth AHL game. Still he would not admit to regretting his choice to leave Finland.

“It’s too early to say that; it’s only been three weeks with the team,” he said on December 20^th. “Of course I want to play as much as I can, but let’s see what comes. They just want me to play the way I can.”

What the coaching staff wanted to see from Niinimaki in practice was a more driven player than what had shown up to that point.

“He’s got to get in a little bit better condition and we’ve talked about that,” Ward’s explanation began. “He’s close that way and I think he’s pretty comfortable in our systems but when he’s got the opportunity to play he’s got to show that he’s making a positive impact on the game. It’s a two-part process; he’s got to bring more and show us a bit more that he wants to compete, have more passion when he plays and we have to keep teaching him how to do that by showing him video of himself and of other guys on the team and how they play so that he can make the comparison. He’s a talented player, but right now he’s a guy trying to break into the lineup at our deepest position, which is center.”

As January calendar pages gave way to February, Niinimaki had played in just nine games and only recorded his first goal, and point, in a 2-1 road loss to San Antonio. Prior to his most recent appearance, a game against Grand Rapids, the center revealed to Hockey’s Future that he was battling with a lack confidence stemming from his injury-shortened season coupled with the current campaign’s lack of productivity.

With his father in town from Finland to watch, Niinimaki dressed and played a regular shift against the Griffins, but had a very disappointing night.

“I was so bad,” Niinimaki managed to say with red eyes, choking back his emotions. “Everything was so wrong, I don’t know… I don’t know.”

When asked about Niinimaki’s performance on the evening, Ward chose his words carefully. “He does some really good things with the puck but there are areas of the game he’s still trying to learn,” he said. “How you rotate into the defensive zone, how hard you play on special teams, things like that but he’s making strides forward so we just have to stay patient and keep working with him.”

Fans are split down the middle on their opinion of the situation and what they think should be done for the benefit of the team and the player. On one hand the league is supposed to be developmental, but on the other, it needs to foster a winning environment and have each player earn their ice time.

It’s not hard to tell which side of the argument the Oilers and Road Runners are on but in Geoff Ward’s case as coach of the AHL club, he’s damned either way.

“It’s true, we really have to look at two things,” Ward agreed. “One, ‘do you make your team better?’ We have to make sure we’re accountable to our team and the players on it that we make ourselves into the best team as possible. Two, we’re also accountable to make individual players better so you do have to make sure you’re paying attention to both things and try to marry those two concepts together so that guys buy in. Goals you set should be congruent so that they work together and if you do that, then both things create a team energy that you can count on in situations.”

“We do pay attention to both things and Jesse’s not any different than any other young player,” Ward continued. “They make mistakes and that’s why they’re here! We have to work with them, reinforce the positive things and show them the correct reads that they have to do to make the mistakes disappear.”

Back in October during training camp and before Niinimaki was even in the picture, Kevin Lowe declared his philosophy when it came to balancing development with winning.

“(The AHL) is no different than the NHL; you have to win games,” began the Oilers GM. “Ward’s a good coach and he’s got lots to work with here so we’re going to be very competitive before it’s all over.”

“Our mandate has not been to allow a young guy to make a lot of mistakes over the winning element because we think the winning is as important as the gratuitous development,” Lowe continued. “There’s probably more emphasis on winning this year than in other years. In my mind, winning is development. You have to learn to win and in order to win you have to be able to make plays at the right time.”

Sources within the organization have told Hockey’s Future that the only obstacle standing between Niinimaki and more ice time is Niinimaki himself. They want him to play with more assertiveness, a hunger and a passion that they simply aren’t seeing in practice.

Part of the problem has to be the shoulder that clearly prevents Niinimaki from playing as naturally as he did prior to the injury. In a quiet and informal demonstration, Niinimaki showed the difference in the range of motion that exists from his healthy side to the one that was reconstructed and the disparity is startling. For a player who depends on his agility and stickhandling prowess, to be so limited in his physical abilities cannot be understated.

One Oiler insider went so far as to suggest that this season should be considered a write off for Niinimaki, and that it should be simply viewed as rehab.

“This summer is going to be incredibly important,” the source said.

“I don’t think the clock starts to click on this kid until next year because of where he is right now,” agreed Prendergast. “If the NHL was going right now there would be more ice time for him with the Road Runners. He’s going to need the summer to get into the right situation. From my standpoint, I’m not worried about this kid now because I knew we just needed to get him here so we could get our hands on him.”

Niinimaki has spent an exorbitant amount of time in the gym with Daryl Duke and has added a dozen pounds of muscle to his frame since he arrived in Edmonton in November. Now tilting the scales at 192 lbs, one has to give credit to both Duke and Niinimaki for devising a regiment that has done what the last few off seasons in Finland have failed to do; bulk him up.

While Niinimaki isn’t sure what his plans are yet for next season, he has not ruled out staying in Edmonton or a return to Europe, although Sweden interests him more than heading back to Finland. If the NHL and its players were active next fall, Niinimaki might have more opportunity to play with the Road Runners because Jarret Stoll, Raffi Torres and possibly another forward or two would move up to the big club. There are also veteran players on the current roster that may not be resigned because of the rookie crop on the way including Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Zack Stortini, J.F. Jacques, possibly Matt Greene as well as a European or two.

At this point the only thing that is certain in regards to this entire ‘Niinimaki Scenario’ is that in the four drafts since the scouting reigns switched from Barry Fraser to Kevin Prendergast in 2001, no Edmonton pick has been more controversial or second guessed by outsiders. Time will tell if the Oilers were right or, if after a serious injury, they’ll be panned for another 90’s-like first round bust.

“(This year) is an eye opener for him, he now knows what it takes,” said Prendergast, ”We’ll know what kind of hockey player we have in September when he comes back.”

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