2002 NHL Entry Draft

JESSE NIINIMAKI

EDMONTON • ROUND: 1 OVERALL: 15

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Previous Team: Tampere Ilves (Finland Jr.)

Pre-Draft Rankings

NHL Central Scouting: 50  Midterm Rank: 102

The Hockey News: 84    Red Line Report: 132

Vital Statistics

Position: C • Height: 6-2 • Weight: 183 • Shoots: Left
Birthdate: Aug. 19, 1983 • Hometown: Tampere, Finland

Draft-Day Notes

Oilers roll dice on Finnish pivot (THN, July 2002): According to his birth certificate, Jesse Niinimaki is from Finland. According to almost everyone else at the NHL entry draft, he's from straight out of left field. It's not often a team uses its first round pick to take a flyer on a prospect, but the Oilers dropped jaws at Toronto's Air Canada Centre when they used the 15th pick to select a player ranked 82nd among European skaters by Central Scouting and 84th overall by THN. Needless to say, the Oilers hope they know something nobody else does about the 6-foot-2, 183-pounder. The Oilers think Niinimaki, who has been playing for Tampere in the Finnish Elite League, is ready to make the NHL in two years.

Post-Draft Quotes

He fit the bill for us as far as needing a big center. We saw him in two different tournaments this year and he was, by far, the best player in both tournaments. I don't know how much of a sleeper he was. He had 23 interviews. I think a lot of teams were trying to get him late in the first round.

-- Kevin Predergast, Vice-President Hockey Ops, Edmonton Oilers

Jesse Niinimaki was a serious stretch as the 15th overall pick. A point-per-game guy in Finnish junior (which is an inferior league to North American major junior), Niinimaki sat 50th on Central Scouting’s European skaters list, and 84th overall according to The Hockey News. But the Oilers didn’t like the long-term upside of the other talent available, and so they gambled on the big Finnish center.”

-- Jonathan Willis, Edmonton Journal (2012)