Rozner: Chicago Blackhawks' Jokiharju playing beyond his years

Henri Jokiharju is 19 years old.

No, really. He's only 19.

Now, three games doesn't make a career, but Jokiharju leads the Blackhawks with a plus-5 and five assists in three games, including the primary assist on both of Patrick Kane's game-tying goals 53 seconds apart in the final 90 seconds of the wild finish Sunday night against the Leafs.

Both times he was on the ice with an empty net, sitting on the point and calmly finding the right guy, the second one with a sweet one-timer.

He's third among Hawks defense in time on ice (19:39), behind Duncan Keith (24:11) and Erik Gustafsson (20:17).

The Hawks' first-round pick (29) in the 2017 draft, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Finnish defenseman is scoring big points with his head coach, as well.

"You gotta love his poise and patience," Joel Quenneville said Sunday. "He seems to get better as the games go on.

"It's really a great start to the year for him."

Yeah, there's a lot unusual about this beginning for Jokiharju, not the least of which is so quickly earning the trust of a veteran coach.

"That helps so much," Jokiharju said after Sunday's game. "When he trusts your game you want to show him that he's right to trust you, but it makes a big difference when you know he wants you on the ice."

Quenneville has made no secret of that, installing him on the first pair with Keith, believing he can handle the minutes and the stage.

"He's a real confident kid and he's playing important minutes right off the bat," Quenneville said. "He gives us some predictability back there."

If you've been watching closely, the kid has been more predictable than his partner, the future Hall of Famer.

While Keith continues to fight the puck and is frenetic in his movements, Jokiharju has very quiet hands and his breakout feeds have been on the tape and crisp.

He sorts the rush like a veteran, his retrieval is smooth, and he has an idea of where to move the puck before he possesses the puck.

"I like his competitiveness for a youngster," Quenneville said. "He's only going to get better in how he reads situations and in how he plays around his net.

"But I like how he wants the puck. He really has good play recognition and he breaks out on some tight coverage plays off their forecheck.

"He seems to give us relief in direct plays exiting, as well. He complements Keith in a lot of ways.

"So it's been a good start for him. He's gonna be playing a lot of games back there."

That's very high praise coming from a certain Hall of Fame coach, himself an NHL defenseman of more than 800 games, and one who has coached Chris Pronger, Al MacInnis, Rob Blake and Keith, to name just a few Hall of Famers.

"I have to give huge credit to my defense partner, Duncan Keith. He makes it so much easier to play," Jokiharju said. "Hockey has never been this easy to me. I mean, to play with another guy back there. I'm not saying it's easy to play over here."

The kid stopped and laughed. To be fair, his English is a bit broken and he's working on it. At 17, he left Finland to play for Portland of the WHL and he's not quite fluent, but he's trying.

"I mean, the NHL is hard, but Duncan Keith makes the game easy for me to play," he said with a smile. "We talk all the time. He keeps the game simple for me. I love playing with him.

"It's an adjustment playing this game at this level. I just do my own thing. Play with confidence and play with the puck as much as I can."

There's something beautiful about the way he gets back with the opposition bearing down, collects the puck and creates a quick transition. This is something Hawks defensemen must be able to do so that the Hawks' skill on offense can play in the other end.

It takes guts and finesse to make it look so simple, but so far - so far - he has done that.

"I don't want to make it more complicated," Jokiharju said. "I don't want to make it not sound like a big deal, but it's just hockey. I'm just playing hockey.

"It's awesome to be here. It's so cool. You want to enjoy it every time with the boys.

"Sometimes, when I'm going to sleep, I think, 'I just played another game in the NHL.' It's unbelievable. It feels like a dream come true."

For the Blackhawks, too.