Kari Jalonen

Kari Jalonen (born January 6, 1960) is a Finnish professional ice hockey coach and former player. He was a former head coach of the Czech Republic men's national ice hockey team from 2022-2023. He is not related to Finnish ice hockey coach Jukka Jalonen.

Playing career A product of Oulun Kärpät, Jalonen played parts of two seasons (82-83, 83-84) at the NHL level, with the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers. He made a total of 37 NHL appearances. He is best known for his time in the SM-liiga, but also had stints in Sweden (Skellefteå HC) and France (Dragons de Rouen).

Jalonen represented Finland internationally on nine occasions, including with the silver medal-winning 1980 World Juniors team and the bronze medal-winning 1986 European Championship team.

Coaching career After his playing career, Jalonen embarked on a career in coaching. Jalonen has coached successful SM-liiga teams TPS, Kärpät and HIFK. He has won four Finnish national championships as a head coach: three with Kärpät and one with HIFK. Jalonen also played for HIFK during his playing career. He received Liiga Coach of the Year honors in 2005 and 2007.

Jalonen started as the head coach of Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in KHL from the beginning of the 2011–12 season and parted ways with the club during the 2012–13 season. During the 2013–14 season, he took over as head coach of fellow KHL team Lev Praha and guided the side to the Gagarin Cup finals, losing to Metallurg Magnitogorsk in seven games.

He was appointed head coach of Finland's national team in 2014. In April 2016, he was named head coach of SC Bern of the Swiss top-flight National League A (NLA). He guided the Finnish national team to a silver medal at the 2016 IIHF World Championships in Russia before stepping aside to take on the Bern job. He guided Bern to the Swiss championship in his first year in charge (2017) and also in 2019. On January 28, 2020, Jalonen was fired by SC Bern, following bad results. Hans Kossmann took over at the helm of the team. Bern was ranked 9th in the Swiss championship when Jalonen was sacked. In March 2022, Jalonen signed a head coaching contract with the Czech national team until May 2024.

Jalonen accepted a two-year contract to coach the Finnish U20 national team, covering the 2023 and 2024 IIHF U20 world championships.

Jalonen was named head coach of Kölner Haie of the German top-flight DEL league in 2024.

In 2025 was announced that Jalonen will become Tappara's new head coach starting in the 2026–27 season, when current head coach Rikard Grönborg returns to Sweden.

Awards and titles

As a player SM-Liiga champion, Kanada-malja: 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1992–93 SM-Liiga silver: 1986–87 SM-Liiga bronze: 1979–80, 1983–84, 1988–89, 1993–94 Jarmo Wasama memorial trophy winner: 1979 Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy winner: 1987 SM-liiga First All-Star Team: 1987, 1989 IIHF European Cup silver: 1989–90 Ligue Magnus champion: 1994–95 Six Nations Tournament champion: 1995–96 Ligue Magnus silver: 1995–96

As a coach SM-Liiga champion, Kanada-malja: 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01 (as assistant coach). 2004–05, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2010–11 (as head coach) Kalevi Numminen trophy winner: 2005, 2007 KHL silver: 2013–14 (as head coach) Silver medal at IIHF World U20 Championships: 2001 (as head coach) Silver medal at IIHF World Championships: 2016 (as head coach) Bronze medal at IIHF World Championships: 2022 (as head coach) National League champion: 2016–17, 2018-2019 (as head coach) DEL silver: 2024–25 (as head coach)

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1976–77 Kärpät FIN U20 24 21 10 31 32 6 4 3 7 6 1977–78 Kärpät FIN U20 23 23 18 41 52 — — — — — 1978–79 Kärpät SM-l 36 13 13 26 30 — — — — — 1979–80 Kärpät SM-l 28 23 24 47 16 6 3 5 8 2 1980–81 Kärpät SM-l 35 16 34 50 22 12 7 14 21 20 1981–82 Kärpät SM-l 33 21 26 47 24 3 2 5 7 2 1982–83 Calgary Flames NHL 25 9 3 12 4 5 1 0 1 0 1982–83 Colorado Flames CHL 33 12 32 44 8 — — — — — 1983–84 Calgary Flames NHL 9 0 3 3 0 — — — — — 1983–84 Colorado Flames CHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1983–84 Edmonton Oilers NHL 3 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1983–84 Kärpät SM-l 14 6 15 21 17 10 5 12 17 10 1984–85 HIFK SM-l 21 9 9 18 10 — — — — — 1985–86 Kärpät SM-l 35 19 35 54 46 5 2 3 5 14 1986–87 Kärpät SM-l 44 29 64 93 30 9 3 7 10 12 1987–88 Skellefteå HC SEL 22 9 18 27 16 — — — — — 1987–88 Skellefteå HC Allsv 16 9 15 24 17 5 5 4 9 6 1988–89 TPS SM-l 44 18 56 74 40 10 4 14 18 8 1989–90 TPS SM-l 37 19 31 50 12 9 5 8 13 10 1990–91 TPS SM-l 26 4 22 26 18 9 3 4 7 2 1991–92 TPS SM-l 44 10 21 31 8 3 0 1 1 0 1992–93 JHT FIN.2 26 21 45 66 28 — — — — — 1992–93 TPS SM-l 6 0 0 0 6 9 2 3 5 2 1993–94 Kärpät FIN.2 28 21 46 67 22 — — — — — 1993–94 Lukko SM-l 18 3 10 13 2 9 1 2 3 4 1994–95 Dragons de Rouen FRA 23 16 18 34 4 8 5 13 18 4 1995–96 Dragons de Rouen FRA 18 8 26 34 27 5 4 4 8 0 SM-l totals 422 190 360 550 281 94 37 78 115 86 NHL totals 37 9 6 15 4 5 1 0 1 0

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1978 Finland EJC 5 2 2 4 2 1979 Finland WJC 6 3 3 6 2 1980 Finland WJC 5 3 5 8 0 1981 Finland WC 8 4 3 7 5 1981 Finland CC 5 0 1 1 4 1982 Finland WC 7 4 3 7 0 1983 Finland WC 6 3 2 5 0 1986 Finland WC 9 4 6 10 6 1987 Finland WC 10 2 3 5 0 1989 Finland WC 10 5 9 14 0 Junior totals 16 8 10 18 4 Senior totals 55 22 27 49 15

Awards and honors Award Year DEL Coach of the year 2026