Ilkka Pikkarainen

Ilkka Pikkarainen (born April 19, 1981) is a Finnish ice hockey right winger who last played for IPK in Mestis. Most of his career has been spent in the Finnish Liiga, though he also played 31 games in the National Hockey League with the New Jersey Devils during the 2009–10 season.

Career Pikkarainen began his professional career in the SM-liiga with HIFK at the end of the 2000–01 season. He played there for two full seasons and was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the seventh round of the 2002 NHL entry draft, 218th overall. Pikkarainen came over to North America to play for the Albany River Rats, the Devils' American Hockey League affiliate, starting in the 2003–04 season. After playing in the AHL for three seasons, Pikkarainen returned to play with HIFK for the 2008–09 season, where he played in 54 games and scored 24 goals, leading the team.

The Devils re-signed Pikkarainen at age 28 on July 2, 2009, intending to keep him on the NHL roster. After missing the Devils' first game of the 2009–10 season with the stomach flu, Pikkarainen made his NHL debut on October 5 against the New York Rangers, and later scored his first NHL goal against the Montreal Canadiens on December 16, 2009. In January 2010, Pikkarainen cleared waivers to play in the KHL for CSKA Moscow after the Devils had decided that he was unable to fully adjust to the NHL style, partially for health reasons.

In May 2010, Ilkka signed with Timrå IK in Sweden.

Career statistics Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1998–99 HIFK FIN U18 24 6 12 18 26 2 1 0 1 27 1999–2000 HIFK FIN U20 28 3 2 5 14 3 1 1 2 2 2000–01 HIFK FIN U20 38 27 31 58 186 9 2 5 7 26 2000–01 HIFK SM-liiga 4 0 0 0 8 2 0 0 0 0 2001–02 HIFK SM-liiga 54 9 9 18 111 — — — — — 2002–03 HIFK SM-liiga 47 11 12 23 40 — — — — — 2003–04 Albany River Rats AHL 63 8 10 18 118 — — — — — 2004–05 Albany River Rats AHL 71 12 12 24 102 — — — — — 2005–06 Albany River Rats AHL 62 9 11 20 85 — — — — — 2006–07 HIFK SM-liiga 53 17 20 37 140 5 0 1 1 2 2007–08 HIFK SM-liiga 37 8 10 18 100 — — — — — 2008–09 HIFK SM-liiga 54 24 13 37 149 2 0 0 0 0 2009–10 New Jersey Devils NHL 31 1 3 4 10 — — — — — 2009–10 Lowell Devils AHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 2009–10 CSKA Moscow KHL 6 0 2 2 0 — — — — — 2010–11 Timrå IK SEL 50 15 13 28 119 — — — — — 2011–12 Timrå IK SEL 27 5 5 10 18 — — — — — 2011–12 Pelicans SM-liiga 11 6 4 10 20 16 1 3 4 38 2012–13 Pelicans SM-liiga 48 6 13 19 135 — — — — — 2013–14 Pelicans Liiga 49 7 8 15 61 8 1 3 4 2 2014–15 TPS Liiga 57 7 14 21 103 — — — — — 2015–16 TPS Liiga 39 12 12 24 35 6 2 1 3 27 2016–17 TPS Liiga 45 11 14 25 18 — — — — — 2017–18 TPS Liiga 52 8 11 19 98 10 0 0 0 22 2018–19 Ravensburg Towerstars DEL2 31 7 9 16 96 — — — — — 2018–19 KalPa Liiga 16 5 5 10 6 — — — — — 2019–20 IPK Mestis 43 16 29 45 92 — — — — — AHL totals 197 29 33 62 305 — — — — — Liiga totals 566 131 145 276 1026 56 5 10 15 97 NHL totals 31 1 3 4 10 — — — — —