He was never able to bring that game to the NHL, and instead adopted a playing style more suitable for a bottom-6 role. Most of the goals and points were scored with the Florida Panters, the team where Jokinen found himself as a hockey player, putting behind the struggles he had with the New York Islanders and the Los Angeles Kings. Kurri is most known, however, for being the linemate to none other than Wayne Gretzky. However, his place of birth does place him fourth all time in scoring among Finnish-born players with a stellar career total of 856 points. 20 of the NHL's all-time dirtiest players. “Repo man” made his name with the Winnipeg Jets and then later the Phoenix Coyotes. Petteri Nummelin made his name in the NHL with the Minnesota Wild in 2006–2008. A backup with first the Blackhawks and later the Rangers, Antti Raanta got a chance to be a starter with the Arizona Coyotes in the 2017–18 season. Although size matters in the NHL, not everyone one of the tallest players in the league has translated into a great player. While the Flames would love to see him to get back to the form that brought him to superstar status, he's still a consistent threat night after night and can still score when given the opportunity. Teemu Selanne. As an undrafted player, Antti Niemi had to get to the NHL using the long way around. Antero Niittymäki had opportunities to attain the starting goalies position several times in his career, but could never quite capitalize. Anaheim would be the last team that he played for as he retired in the same year as Selänne. Top 10 finnish NHL players of all-time. That led to a long NHL career that is still going on. Over the course of his career, Kiprusoff has frustrated opponents time and time again with acrobatic saves and solid positioning that make slipping a puck past him seem darn near impossible. His loyalty to the team led to his jersey retirement in 2010, joining only Teemu Selänne, Jari Kurri and Jere Lehtinen who have had the same honor. All-around type of player who was solid in his own end but could also chip in offensively if needed. Center, Calgary Flames: 960 GP, 269 G, 353 A, 622 P, minus-99. Only Bob Gainey and Patrice Bergeron have more Selke trophys to their name. Hagman played his last game in the NHL with the Anaheim Ducks in 2012. His career was cut short by injuries. In the following season he scored his personal point record with 44 points in 82 games. One season prior to the goal streak, Skriko also hit the 20 goal mark on his rookie season in 1984–1985. Lehtinen was drafted when the organisation was still in Minnesota, but when he come over to North America, they had already moved to Dallas. If you liked this article, follow me on Twitter for news, updates, analysis and links to new stories as I publish! How much of this is true and how much is false is a conversation for another day, what we ought to recognize amids the banter, is that Olli Jokinen is one of the best Finnish NHL-players of all time. Jari Kurri is without question one of the best players not only in Finland's history, but in the entire history of the NHL. Jussi Markkanen played a total of 128 games in the NHL. He holds the record for the most goals scored in a rookie season, with a massive 76 to his name. The highly skilled forward scored 49 points in 82 games played. The ten years he spent as a captain is an all time Finnish record. ^ Petr Nedved was born in Czechoslovakia, in what is now the Czech Republic. This was certified in 2014, when Rask was awarded the Vezina trophy for being the best goaltender in the NHL that season. His career high in points is 57 from the 2010–2011 seasons. The first years of Tuukka Rask’s career was spent backing up Tim Thomas with the Boston Bruins. It’s a role he played well, winning the Selke trophy 3 times. Hockey in Southern California owes a lot to Sandstrom, as he scored eight goals as a part of the Los Angeles Kings' 1993 run to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they fell just short. The average age of the NHL’s current players is 27.1 years. For a long time the NHL was dominated b. The brother of Mikael, Markus Granlund was drafted by the Flames in the second round of the 2011 draft. This list is accurate for most teams, but for some obscure teams the list may be partial. While he is second all time in Finnish-born scoring, he trails Jari Kurri by only 58 points. After 4 more seasons with Philadelphia, Kapanen retired from the NHL. To say that Selänne made wawes in his first season would be an understatement. The idea eventually materialized and in 4th of December 1917, the Finnish government structured the Declaration of Independence, which was approved in voting on the 6th of December 1917. 12:11. So with all of these incredible statistics, why is he not No. In the 2016–17 season he scored a career high 69 points. Right Wing, Retired: 875 GP, 243 G, 271 A, 514 P, plus-176. He got his number (8) retired by the Ducks in 2015 and he was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the 2017 class. His partnership and chemistry with Lubomir Visnovsky gave the Anaheim Ducks one of the most deadly scoring defensive duos in the entire league and were a huge part of the Ducks' surge to a fourth-place finish. Apart from the 12 games played for the St. Louis Blues, Eloranta played for the Calgary Flames only in his career. It may not have a huge population in the NHL, but the Scandanavian nation of Finland has produced some of the greatest talent ever to grace the ice. The October revolution had resulted into the Bolsheviks taking over the country from the provisional government, which itself had overthrown Tsar Nicholas II in the same year. Drafted by the Dallas Stars in the 2000, Miettinen made his NHL deput with the team in 2003–04 season. Vesa Toskala didn’t manage to get the number one spot in San Jose, where he was drafted, and had to wait until 2007, when he signed with the Leafs, to get this opportunity. Active Finnish NHL Players ‑ All-Time Stats. He couldn’t live up to it and vanished from the NHL. The 40 point plateau was reached twice by Miettinen. In the playoffs, he scored six goals in the Ducks' six-game series loss to the Nashville Predators. Perhaps it was the warming Californian sun or something completely different, but the knee injuries never returned and Selänne went on to have a productive run of seasons. Top 10 Finnish Hockey Players of All Time 10 – Petri Skriko. Firstly he was with the Sharks and the Predators before the change of the millennium. When discussing the great Finnish players Teppo Numminen always seems to go unmentioned being behind the top 3. Jokinen is currently the seventh-leading scorer all time amongst Finnish-born players. As a total his career in the NHL lasted 9 seasons,with 432 points scored. In the 2007–08 season, Rinne would establish himself as the starter, a position he is still holding a decade later. Tuomo Ruutu didn’t quite reach the heights he was expected to when he was drafted 9th overall by the Chicago Blakchawks in 2001, but he did manage to carve out a solid NHL career for himself. Nilsson was a two-time NHL All-Star, and he holds the record for most points in a season by a Swedish player. Won the Stanley Cup back-to-back with the Pens in 2016 and 2017. Christian Ruuttu was selected by the Buffalo Sabres in 1983. Ironically, Timonen would later won the Cup with the Hawks in 2015, and retired after that victory. From Vancouver Lumme made his way to Phoenix, where he spent 3 seasons ahead of short visits to Dallas and Toronto. Top 15 Tallest NHL Players of All-Time. A small and skilled defenseman, Sami Vatanen was drafted by the Anaheim Ducks in the 4th round of the 2009 draft. When his team needed him most -- in the last 4 games of the '72 series -- he let in 17 goals (6 in the final game!) Lehtonen leads all the Finnish goalies in points scored with 28. Additionally, his 738 points make him the fourth-highest-scoring player in Finland's history. Most of these years he was representing either Arizona or Colorado. More information Rangers’ 5 Best Finnish Players of All-Time After all, the sense of Finnish nationalism had grown strongly in the 19th century. His records speak for themselves: he has recorded 10 consecutive 30 goal seasons from 1980 to 1990. Reijo Ruotsalainen didn’t have the longest NHL career, but he made the most of his short time in the league. The HIFK star forward in the late 80' and early 90' had a visit in the NHL in 1988–1990, playing 116 games for the Winnipeg Jets. In the Stanley Cup winning dynasty of the Edmonton Oilers, Tikkanen was a plaoff performer: In the Playoffs of 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991 Tikkanen scored a combined 75 points in just 66 games. Played all of his career for the Minnesota North Stars. This happened with the Atlanta Trashers in 2003–2005. Drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round in the 2012 draft, Teuvo Teräväinen won the cup with them in 2015. Sebastian Aho impressed right away in his rookie season with the Carolina Hurricanes. Virta reached the 30 point plateau twice in his career. After all of the glory with the Oilers, Kurri — like Gretzky — was traded to Los Angeles. Not only did Koivu prove that wrong, he came back in remarkable time, beating the cancer and coming back to an eight-minute standing ovation from the Montreal faithful on April 9, 2002. When Thomas eventually retired, Rask — much like was expected — established himself as a new starter for the Bruins and as an elite goaltender in the NHL. The duo absolutely tore the NHL apart in the days of the Edmonton Oilers dynasty and was later resurrected in Los Angeles with the Kings. Father of Niklas. A strong two-player, Laaksonen was mostly known from his time with the Minnesota Wild, where he played a total for 4 seasons. Lehtinen won the Stanley Cup with the Stars in 1999, and had his number (26) retired by the organisation in 2017. Janne Ojanen W. The Tappara legend had a short NHL-career which spanned across 3 seasons, all with the New Jersey Devils. Rinne leads all the Finnish goalies in shotouts. What hindered him were the injuries he suffered during his time. It was a language only Tikkanen could understand. The Finnish men's national ice hockey team, or Leijonat / Lejonen (The Lions in Finnish and Swedish), as it is called in Finland, is governed by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association. He was an all-time great in European and Olympic hockey, but he only played a handful of games against NHL players. His best personal season came in 2011–12, when he scored 23 goals and 66 points. He was later traded to Vancouver where he made his NHL breakthrough in the 2016–17 season. A good offensive player, Mäkelä scored his career high in points in the 1987–88 season with 76 points in 73 games. His loyalty to the organisation continued after his retirement as he worked for the organisation as a European scout from 2005 up until his passing away in 2017, just at the age of 58. Rate 5 stars Rate 4 stars Rate 3 stars Rate 2 stars Rate 1 star . And Finnish players have never been competing at a higher level in the NHL. He is a former defenceman and current Special Assignment Coach for the Anaheim Ducks. Joe Sakic Picking Mikael Granlund 9th overall in the 2010 draft, the Minnesota Wild had high hopes for him, and now it seems like Granlund is growing into those expectations. Center, Anaheim Ducks: 938 GP, 225 G, 513 A, 738 P, minus-4. An energy player, Lauri Korpikoski played a physical, grinding type of game. An artist on the ice, Ville Leino’s NHL career was founded on the spring of 2010 and the season that followed . However, this spoke more to the goodness of Thomas than to that of Rask. In his unlikely career, he has been nominated for the Vezina Trophy on 3 separate occasions, finishing second in 2011 and in 2015. The defenseman Kari Eloranta played in the NHL for 5 seasons. In the franchise’s history Jokinen is the all time leader in both goals and points. His time with the Maple Leafs was his best scoring wise, as he had 3 consecutive 20 goal seasons from 07–08 to 09–10. Should he play next season, that record could very likely fall (with 80 points last season, it's hard to think he wouldn't break that record). Feb 26, 2020 - NHL streaming in legal, NHL news now , NHL rumors, ESPN nhl scores , How to watch online NHL : NHL Draft, Stanley Cup . He still holds the all time record for the best goal per game ratio (0.762) and netted a grand total of 573 goals in 752 matches. This shouldn’t be the case as Numminen is the best Finnish defenseman of all time. Later represented the New Jersey Devils. He made his NHL deput with the team in 1986 and was an instant success. He later played for Tampa Bay Lighting and Philadelphia Flyers in his career.