Liam Kirk’s next game in Finland occurs on the same day as the NHL trade deadline.

On March 03, Jukurit will face off against Tappara on home ice, their fourth last game of the regular season.

The team based in Mikkeli, are entrenched in a battle to make the playoffs.
Currently sitting in tenth place (the last play-off berth), the two teams behind Jukurit will surpass them if winning their games in hand.

Kirk’s Finnish adventure could be over on March 11 if Jukurit falls out of playoff contention.

Regardless of what happens, Kirk has done his future prospects no harm during a short stint in Liiga.

Kirk has produced fifteen points in 21 games, at a higher point-per-game rate than his teammates.

Four of his five goals are 5v5 tallies, with the other an empty net marker.

Eleven 5v5 points and nine primary points give greater credence to his effectiveness through twenty-one games.

Kirk leads Jukuirt in Corsi percentage at 58.8, which is good for ninth best in Liiga amongst all skaters to have played twenty or more games.

Having surpassed the twenty-game mark, Kirk has a large enough sample size to peruse the Points Per 60 metric.

Points Per 60 = 2.57 Primary Points Per 60 = 1.71

Is that good, or not?

P/60 is not a statistic freely available through the Liiga website, or anywhere else I’ve searched.

I have taken the time to research and compare Kirk’s P/60 to Liiga’s top scorer, Michael Joly.

The winger for HPK has amassed 59 points in 55 games this season and tied for the league lead in goals (24).

The 27-year-old has a P/60 of 3.11 with over 1100 minutes logged.
A differential of 0.54 points per sixty minutes, which works out to around an extra point every 5-6 games.

The next few weeks will be interesting for Liam Kirk, for whom the season could end in a few ways.

1) There remains the opportunity for a trade, on or before March 03.

2) Jukurit fails to make the playoffs. Kirk is recalled to the AHL or ECHL to play out the remainder of the season in North America. An intriguing foible to this would be if Kirk were to be traded to another NHL organisation.

3) Jukurit qualifies for the post-season but is eliminated early, thus opening up option two again.

4) Finishes the season with Jukurit regardless of finishing date and sits tight until the World Championships. The least palatable option, I would imagine.

There are other possibilities, including loans, but I’m certain that having spoken with Liam, his priority would be to continue playing for as long as possible this season.

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