'Oh, yeah!' Blackhawks select Finnish D Henri Jokiharju in first round

‘Oh, yeah!’ Blackhawks select Finnish D Henri Jokiharju in first round

By Mark Lazerus

Gary Bettman speaks to the crowd during the NHL Draft at the United Center on Friday. (Getty Images)

Henri Jokiharju has no idea if Patrick Kane pronounced his name correctly Friday night when he announced the Finnish defenseman as the Blackhawks’ first-round pick in the NHL Draft.

He was too busy celebrating.

“I didn’t hear,” Jokiharju said. “I just heard ‘Henri’ and I was like, ‘Oh, yeah!’ ”

It was one thing for Jokiharju, a self-described swift-skating, confident, puck-moving defenseman, to get picked by his favorite NHL team. It was quite another to have Jonathan Toews and Kane making the pick.

“Kane and Toews, I love watching those players a lot, all the time,” he said. “How they lead the team under pressure — I want to be like those two guys.”

He’ll have to wait a while, of course, as only a few draftees make the NHL right away. Jokiharju, 18, had nine goals and 39 assists in 79 games with the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL. But he was the player the Hawks had targeted, and after quickly calculating he’d still be there at No. 29, the Hawks traded down from No. 26, gaining a third-round pick (No. 70) from Dallas in the process.

“We ended up essentially getting a free third-round pick out of it,” general manager Stan Bowman said. ‘That’s a commodity we can use or maybe try to move up [Saturday], so it worked out great.”

Bowman pointed out that Jokiharju is a right-handed shot, adding “those are a commodity in today’s game. It’s hard to find them. He plays a modern style of hockey. Great skillset, good skater. Can handle the puck, make plays. . . . He’s a big asset.”

Jokiharju said he tries to model his game after Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang and Anaheim’s Sami Vatanen. And he wasn’t shy about it.

“I’m a really good skater and I play with confidence,” Jokiharju said. “I’m a puck-moving ‘D’, making good passes, simple passes that help other players. I love playing power play and the PK, too. So I want to be a big part of the team.”

Follow me on Twitter @MarkLazerus.

Email: mlazerus@suntimes.com