Boston Bruins: Joonas Kemppainen Signs One-Year Contract In KHL

Boston Bruins: Joonas Kemppainen Signs One-Year Contract In KHL With Sibiu Novosibirsk For 2016-17 Season

When Joonas Kemppainen signed a one-year contract with the Boston Bruins prior to the 2015-16 season, hopes were high that the team may have found the next Carl Soderberg. Compairing Joonas Kemppainen to Soderberg based on them both being centers coming from overseas may not have been entirely fair to Kemppainen, however, as Soderberg went above-and-beyond in his first two NHL seasons.

In Soderberg’s first season with the Boston Bruins, he scored 16 goals and added 32 assists for 48 points in 73 games. In his second season, Soderberg scored 13 goals and added 31 assists for 44 points in 82 games. He played so well in his first two seasons in a Bruins’ uniform that he essentially priced himself out of a roster spot.

After being acquired for a sixth round draft pick last season, the Colorado Avalanche quickly negotiated a five-year contract with Carl Soderberg. The annual cap-hit of Soderberg’s contract is $4,750,000, and the Bruins were left looking for some fresh center depth.

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Joonas Kemppainen came to Boston after playing in the SM-liiga with Karpat for five seasons. In his previous two season, Kemppainen totaled 28 goals and 35 assists for 63 points in 110 games. His defensive ability was his strongest asset, and he seemed like a very solid addition to the Bruins lineup.

Don Sweeney‘s first official move as the general manager of the Boston Bruins was the signing of Joonas Kemppainen, and it’s likely the Bruins’ GM was looking to hit a home-run with this international signing. At 6-foot-3 and 223 pounds, Kemppainen looked like a prime candidate to take over the Bruins third or fourth line center spot. Unfortunately, the Kemppainen experiment didn’t work out as planned.

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In 44 games with the Boston Bruins, Joonas Kemppainen scored just two goals and added three assists for five points to go along with a minus-six rating. The Bruins center depth certainly worked against Joonas Kemppainen, especially given his offensive deficiencies and slow-skating. Ryan Spooner, Maxime Talbot, and even Chris Kelly when he was healthy, were all blocking Kemppainen’s opportunities in the lineup and the eventual call-up of Noel Acciari seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for any chance of Kemppainen ending up with the Bruins again by the end of the season.

Following the 2016 trade deadline, the Bruins were looking to solidify their lineup in an attempt to make the postseason. Joonas Kemppainen was sent down to Providence in the AHL and he would eventually go on to finish his year down there. Kemppainen didn’t fair much better in the AHL than he did in the NHL offensively, as he totaled only one goal and four assists in 11 games in Providence.

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With the amount of centers that the Boston Bruins currently have on their roster and in their farm system, it was unlikely that Jonas Kemppainen would make their NHL roster next season. Igor Eronko of Sport-Express was the first to announce the signing of Kemppainen in the KHL. The shift to the North American game was simply too much for Joonas Kemppainen to adjust to in one season, and unfortunately he may not get another chance in the future.