Lasse Pirjetä

Lasse Pirjetä (born April 4, 1974) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey forward. He represented several teams in the Finnish SM-liiga, Frölunda HC in the Swedish Elitserien and the Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL.

Playing career Pirjetä spent the majority of his first nine years of his professional career playing in his native Finnish league the SM-Liiga. After nominating, Pirjetä was selected by the Columbus Blue Jackets as their fifth-round pick, 133rd overall, in the 2002 NHL entry draft, as an overage draftee. Pirjetä made the jump to the NHL immediately in 2002–03 season with the Blue Jackets, appearing in 51 games with a solid 21 points. In the following 2003–04 season, Pirjetä struggled to maintain his form from his debut season and was traded by the Blue Jackets, to the Pittsburgh Penguins, for Brian Holzinger on March 10, 2004.

After starting the 2005–06 season with Pittsburgh, he was sent down to the Penguins' AHL team, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on December 15, 2005. After playing only 8 games with Wilkes-Barre on January 20, Pirjetä returned to Europe to play for the Kloten Flyers in the Swiss NLA.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1989–90 Kärpät FIN U20 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1990–91 Kärpät FIN U20 43 9 9 18 14 11 4 0 4 2 1991–92 Kärpät FIN–2 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1991–92 Tacoma Rockets WHL 16 5 2 7 4 — — — — — 1992–93 Kärpät FIN U20 24 13 19 32 34 — — — — — 1992–93 Kärpät FIN–2 20 4 3 7 6 — — — — — 1993–94 Kärpät FIN U20 6 2 2 4 2 4 6 2 8 8 1993–94 TPS SM-l 43 9 9 18 14 11 4 0 4 2 1993–94 Kiekko–67 FIN–2 2 2 1 3 0 — — — — — 1994–95 TPS FIN U20 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1994–95 TPS SM-l 49 7 13 20 64 8 0 1 1 29 1995–96 TPS SM-l 45 13 14 27 34 11 6 3 9 4 1996–97 Frölunda HC SEL 50 14 8 22 36 3 0 1 1 4 1997–98 Tappara SM-l 48 24 22 46 20 4 1 1 2 2 1998–99 Tappara SM-l 54 22 19 41 32 — — — — — 1999–00 HIFK SM-l 54 18 25 43 24 9 2 3 5 10 2000–01 HIFK SM-l 56 15 18 33 20 — — — — — 2001–02 Kärpät SM-l 55 15 26 41 24 4 2 2 4 2 2002–03 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 51 11 10 21 12 — — — — — 2003–04 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 57 2 8 10 20 — — — — — 2003–04 Syracuse Crunch AHL 5 1 2 3 2 — — — — — 2003–04 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 13 6 6 12 0 — — — — — 2004–05 HIFK SM-l 45 16 20 36 26 5 2 0 2 2 2005–06 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 25 4 3 7 18 — — — — — 2005–06 Wilkes–Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 8 1 4 5 6 — — — — — 2005–06 Kloten Flyers NLA 7 1 2 3 2 9 0 2 2 2 2006–07 Malmö Redhawks SEL 54 10 16 26 44 — — — — — 2007–08 Malmö Redhawks SWE–2 4 4 2 6 2 10 3 5 8 6 2008–09 Pelicans SM-l 7 0 1 1 4 — — — — — SM-l totals 456 139 167 306 260 52 17 10 27 51 NHL totals 146 23 27 50 50 — — — — —

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1992 Finland EJC 5 1 3 4 2 2002 Finland WC 7 0 0 0 0 2003 Finland WC 7 1 0 1 0 2004 Finland WC 7 3 0 3 2 Junior totals 5 1 3 4 2 Senior totals 21 4 0 4 2