Columbus GM Jarmo Kekäläinen Appears On Edmonton Radio Station
In what could be classified as a rare media appearance, Jarmo Kekäläinen appeared on an Edmonton radio station a few hours before his team was to play the Oilers yesterday.
Jarmo was immediately asked about how he evaluates this season and why they're struggling. Kekäläinen responded with "It's been frustrating, to say the least. The inability to close games, being in the lead so many times, and having lost it. We've been scored on 7 times at 6-on-5 against at the end of the games. Those are the most frustrating ones, where we play good for two periods or 50 minutes and you can't close out a game."
"We've been going through this build now for probably a little bit longer than anybody wanted, including our fans," he added.
On Adam Fantilli, Jarmo says "He's been good! He's a mature young man, both physically and mentally. We kind of expected that coming into the season, he'd have a good chance to make the team and make an impact." "He's a big man, he's well put together and he can handle the battles," he also says about Fantilli.
Jarmo was also asked about moving Fantilli back to the wing with the return of Boone Jenner, Kekäläinen said "The defensive responsibility, the faceoffs, the matchups you're going to see on the road with the coaches looking at a young center. They're licking their lips saying ok, let's put McDavid against this kid every time he steps on the ice as a center. I think you can still drive the play from the wing. There are a lot of wingers in this league that play like centers but don't have that defensive responsibility. So, I think it makes the job a lot easier to have your game offensively when you don't have all that defensive responsibility."
Host Jason Gregor also brought up David Jiricek and asked whether Jarmo thinks he's playing sooner because of the injuries or was he hoping to get him all this experience so early. Jarmo says "I think that you never want to rush a defenseman in particular. That's probably the hardest position to play as a young man in the NHL, your mistakes get exposed right away, and your weaknesses. He earned his spot on our team. He's been back in Cleveland a couple times this year because if he's not in the lineup, we want him playing."
He also talks about Dmitri Voronkov, Patrik Laine, Elvis Merzlikins and more. His comments on Elvis were very interesting.
You can listen to the full interview below. It starts at around the 27-minute mark of the show. Give it a listen. If you want to listen to only Jarmo, You can hear it here on Spotify.
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