The Hoofbeats On Jesse Joensuu

Craig MacTavish dubbed Jesse Joensuu better than Teemu Hartikainen and mentioned that he was signed sight unseen on the advice of Edmonton's pro scouts. A couple of days later, MacTavish had Joensuu penciled in as the right wing on the third line, skating next to Ryan Jones and Boyd Gordon on what looks to be a tough minutes line. To see if Joensuu can handle such an assignment, I reached out to Lighthouse Hockey's Dominik, and though he was on holiday at his villa on the lake, took the time to respond to my inquiry.

Essentially he came over originally to be a scorer, and it took a few years and a detour back to Europe for him to accept adapting to a lower line role though. Injuries totally botched his chance this year...

He fits in well in Edmonton, then.

but I still fear his mobility limits him too much to make much of an impact.

This clashes with MacTavish's take that he was a step up from Hartikainen.

He has some skill though.

Fantastic. The Oilers have none of that on the bottom lines.

Big, but not a face puncher.

Uh oh. There's no quarter in Edmonton for big guys who won't fight. Consider Dustin Penner, the man who ended Landon Wilson's career - he was still called "soft" by the fans and media in Edmonton.