Lasse Kukkonen

Lasse Juhani Kukkonen (born 18 September 1981) is a retired Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman. He last played for Oulun Kärpät of the Finnish Liiga. Earlier in his career, he had a four-year stint in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers. After his career in ice hockey, Kukkonen is working as a lecturer and trainer specialising in mental coaching and leadership.

Playing career Kukkonen was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks as their fifth-round pick, 151st overall, in the 2003 NHL entry draft. He played ten National Hockey League games during the 2003–04 NHL season, after which he returned to his hometown Kärpät in the SM-liiga. Kukkonen won the SM-liiga gold medal with Kärpät in 2005.

In the 2006-07 season, Kukkonen returned to the Chicago Blackhawks and played in 54 games before he was dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers along with a 3rd round draft pick in a three-way deal with the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings on 26 February 2007. With the Flyers, Kukkonen was put on a defensive pairing with Joni Pitkänen, also a native of Oulu. The two were also a pairing for 4 years in Finland. On 17 May 2007 he signed a two-year contract with the Flyers.

On 24 June 2009, Kukkonen signed a two-year deal with Russian team Avangard Omsk of the KHL.

International play He was named to the Finnish Olympic team at the 2006 Winter Olympics after defenceman Sami Salo was injured, and played in both the semifinal match versus Russia and the gold medal match versus Sweden. Kukkonen was named the Finnish national team as captain of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1998–99 Kärpät FIN U20 22 2 9 11 14 — — — — — 1999–2000 Kärpät FIN U20 27 9 11 20 26 — — — — — 1999–2000 Kärpät FIN.2 22 0 4 4 14 — — — — — 2000–01 Kärpät SM-l 47 1 5 6 46 9 0 2 2 4 2001–02 Kärpät SM-l 55 2 6 8 42 4 0 3 3 4 2001–02 Kärpät FIN U20 — — — — — 1 1 0 1 0 2002–03 Kärpät SM-l 56 6 12 18 67 15 1 4 5 16 2003–04 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 10 0 1 1 4 — — — — — 2003–04 Norfolk Admirals AHL 59 3 11 14 58 8 0 0 0 8 2004–05 Kärpät SM-l 55 5 13 18 68 12 0 2 2 6 2005–06 Kärpät SM-l 56 11 16 27 38 11 5 7 12 8 2006–07 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 54 5 9 14 30 — — — — — 2006–07 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 20 0 0 0 8 — — — — — 2007–08 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 53 1 4 5 38 14 0 2 2 6 2008–09 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 22 0 2 2 10 — — — — — 2008–09 Philadelphia Phantoms AHL 26 0 11 11 20 4 2 0 2 6 2009–10 Avangard Omsk KHL 53 6 6 12 34 3 0 1 1 0 2010–11 Metallurg Magnitogorsk KHL 37 4 8 12 16 5 0 0 0 0 2011–12 Metallurg Magnitogorsk KHL 51 4 4 8 22 10 0 1 1 4 2012–13 Rögle BK SEL 54 2 4 6 30 — — — — — 2013–14 Kärpät Liiga 55 12 16 28 52 16 2 8 10 16 2014–15 Kärpät Liiga 59 11 10 21 26 12 2 3 5 2 2015–16 Kärpät Liiga 58 6 19 25 54 14 2 3 5 4 2016–17 Kärpät Liiga 48 7 15 22 26 2 0 0 0 0 2017–18 Kärpät Liiga 54 3 10 13 30 18 4 2 6 10 2018–19 Kärpät Liiga 58 6 10 16 47 17 1 3 4 2 2019–20 Kärpät Liiga 50 2 2 4 14 — — — — — 2020–21 Kärpät Liiga 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — — SM-l/Liiga totals 652 72 134 206 510 130 17 37 54 72 NHL totals 159 6 16 22 90 14 0 2 2 6 KHL totals 141 14 18 32 72 18 0 2 2 4

International

Year Team Event Place GP G A Pts PIM 1999 Finland WJC18 7 1 1 2 0 2001 Finland WJC 7 0 0 0 2 2005 Finland WC 7th 7 0 0 0 2 2006 Finland OG 2 0 0 0 0 2006 Finland WC 9 2 0 2 8 2007 Finland WC 9 0 1 1 4 2009 Finland WC 5th 6 0 0 0 4 2010 Finland OG 6 0 1 1 4 2010 Finland WC 6th 6 0 0 0 2 2011 Finland WC 9 0 0 0 0 2012 Finland WC 4th 10 0 1 1 0 2013 Finland WC 4th 10 0 0 0 0 2014 Finland OG 6 0 0 0 2 2016 Finland WC 6 0 0 0 0 2017 Finland WC 4th 8 0 0 0 12 2018 Finland OG 6th 5 1 0 1 2 Junior totals 14 1 0 1 2 Senior totals 99 3 3 6 40

Awards and honours Award Year Liiga Kanada-malja champion 2004–05, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2017-18 Runner-up 2002–03, 2018–19 Third place 2005–06, 2015–16 All-Star Team 2003, 2006, 2014, 2015 Matti Keinonen Trophy 2003, 2006 Pekka Rautakallio Trophy 2006, 2014 Juha Rantasila Trophy 2014 KHL All-Star Game 2010

Other awards: Champions Hockey League: 2016