The Winnipeg Jets have drafted Henri Nikkonen in the fourth round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. This is a pretty good pick for the Jets who are looking to continue to restock their cupboard. Based on the limited information I have found on him, he was injured for a good part of this season which is why there is not much information on him period.
His stats show a player who appears to be average in his age group, but he is also big and can hopefully skate fine. A big part of his development will be him playing more next year and not getting hurt. If he can manage that, things might work out well for him.
Nikkanen had somewhat slow start to the game against Switzerland. As expected, he did a good job at the own end, showed solid work ethic, gave good, solid and crisp passes, and read the game well. However for the first two periods or so he did nothing amazing. He wasn’t bad but his performance was not quite as good as expected and I would have liked to see better skating and intensity in the first 40 minutes.
While he somewhat struggled finding open space during the beginning of the game, he really got his feet moving and game going during the third period. He showed excellent puck protection skills many times and he gave constantly solid key passes. He gained more and more confidence as the game progressed and eventually he gave three assists during the third period, two of them being absolutely fantastic primary assists.
Nikkanen is a smart centerman and I’m really eager to see if he can perform as well as he did during the last period for the rest of the tournament. Four assists against Switzerland is an excellent start and hopefully he can continue well from here. (Source)
