Anssi Salmela

Anssi Salmela (born 13 August 1984) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the New Jersey Devils and Atlanta Thrashers.

Playing career Undrafted, Salmela's professional career started in the 2003–04 season with Finnish SM-liiga side Tappara, where he made his debut on 24 January 2004. His place was settled in Tappara for another year, but the next year he was transferred to Pelicans. In 2007, he moved back to Tappara.

Salmela was a member of Team Finland that won a bronze medal in the World Under-20 Championship. He made his debut for the senior national team in the 2008 IIHF World Championships held in Canada in 2008. On 22 May 2008, he signed a one-year, two-way contract with the New Jersey Devils of the NHL.

In the 2008–09 season, Salmela made his NHL and North American debut with New Jersey in the season opener on 10 October 2008, in a 2–1 win over the New York Islanders. However, Salmela spent the majority of his time with the Devils affiliate the Lowell Devils of the American Hockey League (AHL). On 2 March 2009, Salmela was traded by the Devils to the Atlanta Thrashers for Niclas Hävelid. In his second game with the Thrashers Salmela scored his first career NHL goal in a 5–1 win against the Washington Capitals on 16 March 2009.

On 4 February 2010, Salmela was traded back to the New Jersey Devils along with Ilya Kovalchuk for Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier and a 1st round draft pick in the 2010 NHL entry draft. Salmela scored only one goal in 2010–11, but it was a big one. On 12 March, he scored an overtime goal against Al Montoya to give the Devils a 3–2 victory over the New York Islanders. Salmela did not receive a qualifying offer from the Devils following the 2010–11 season, making him an unrestricted free agent. He signed a two-year contract with Avangard Omsk in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), reportedly for US$1.5 million per season, on 15 July 2011. When his contract was up at the end of the 2012–13 season, he moved to Sweden, penning a deal with Modo Hockey, before transferring to fellow SHL side HV71 during the 2013-14 campaign. In the following two years, he played for two more SHL clubs, Färjestad BK and Brynäs IF.

He was signed by newly founded KHL side Red Star Kunlun from Beijing, China, in July 2016 and left the team by mutual consent in November 2016.

On 5 June 2018, Salmela agreed to a one-year contract with EHC Biel of the National League (NL). On 4 December 2018, Salmela was signed to an early one-year contract extension by Biel through the end of the 2019–20 season.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 2003–04 Tappara Tampere SM-l 10 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 2 2004–05 Tappara Tampere SM-l 48 1 5 6 49 8 0 0 0 0 2005–06 Tappara Tampere SM-l 8 0 1 1 0 — — — — — 2005–06 Pelicans SM-l 48 8 8 16 59 — — — — — 2006–07 Pelicans SM-l 56 11 12 23 58 6 1 1 2 4 2007–08 Tappara Tampere SM-l 56 16 16 32 40 11 0 6 6 14 2008–09 New Jersey Devils NHL 17 0 3 3 6 — — — — — 2008–09 Lowell Devils AHL 38 8 16 24 41 — — — — — 2008–09 Chicago Wolves AHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 2008–09 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 9 1 2 3 2 — — — — — 2009–10 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 29 1 4 5 22 — — — — —2009–10 New Jersey Devils NHL 9 1 2 3 0 — — — — — 2010–11 New Jersey Devils NHL 48 1 6 7 14 — — — — — 2010–11 Albany Devils AHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 2011–12 Avangard Omsk KHL 22 6 4 10 14 21 1 3 4 16 2012–13 Avangard Omsk KHL 37 2 12 14 37 11 0 1 1 6 2013–14 Modo Hockey SHL 8 2 4 6 20 — — — — — 2013–14 HV71 SHL 36 7 14 21 64 5 1 1 2 2 2014–15 Färjestad BK SHL 42 6 17 23 28 3 1 2 3 4 2015–16 Brynäs IF SHL 24 4 11 15 47 3 0 1 1 4 2016–17 Kunlun Red Star KHL 10 3 2 5 8 — — — — — 2016–17 Linköpings HC SHL 32 4 14 18 28 6 0 2 2 2 2017–18 Dinamo Riga KHL 33 5 12 17 18 — — — — — 2018–19 EHC Biel NL 49 10 11 21 28 12 0 5 5 62019–20EHC BielNL375111610————— 2020–21 Ilves Liiga 23 3 5 8 24 5 0 0 0 4 Liiga totals 249 39 47 86 232 33 1 7 8 24 NHL totals 112 4 17 21 44 — — — — — KHL totals 102 16 30 46 77 32 1 4 5 22

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 2004 Finland WJC 7 1 2 3 6 2008 Finland WC 8 0 0 0 37 2009 Finland WC 5th 7 1 0 1 2 2011 Finland WC 9 1 2 3 4 2012 Finland WC 4th 7 0 2 2 25 2015 Finland WC 6th 8 0 2 2 4 2016 Finland WC 5 0 1 1 2 Junior totals 7 1 2 3 6 Senior totals 44 2 7 9 74

Awards and honours Award Year Liiga Bronze Medal (Tappara) 2007–08 Juha Rantasila Trophy (most goals for defenseman) 2007–08