Tuukka Mäntylä

Tuukka Matias Mäntylä (born 25 May 1981) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey defenceman. He was selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the 5th round (153rd overall) of the 2001 NHL entry draft.

Playing career Mäntylä came through the youth ranks of Tampere Tappara and made his debut in Finland's top-tier Liiga in the course of the 1999–2000 season. He won the Finnish national championship with Tappara in 2003 and subsequently parted ways with the team to take his game to Sweden, where he joined Luleå HF of the Swedish Elite League (SHL). He enjoyed a two-year stint there before returning to Tappara. After another two years at his hometown team, Mäntylä embarked on a second SHL tenure, playing for Frölunda HC from 2007 to 2009.

On 7 April 2009, he left Frölunda and signed a contract to return to Tappara.

In late October 2009, playing with Tampere Tappara, Mäntylä checked Helsinki IFK defenceman Mikko Kurvinen from behind into the boards, resulting in an injury that kept Kurvinen sidelined for six games. Mäntylä received a match penalty for the hit. In advance of Tappara's next visit to Helsinki on 26 November 2009, the IFK club ran a full-page ad in a Tampere newspaper that read: “Welcome to Helsinki, Tuukka”, and on the evening of the match between the two clubs the SM-liiga head office, which had previously approved the ad, announced it had given IFK a warning for “crossing the line of good taste”. Early in the first period of the 26 November game, with IFK head coach Kari Jalonen watching, IFK defenceman Ilari Melart mugged Mäntylä in the corner, and a wrestling match ensued, resulting in both players being ejected from the game.

Between the 2011–12 and the 2015–16 season, he split time between Tappara and KHL outfits HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, Metallurg Novokuznetsk, Amur Khabarovsk and KHL Medvescak Zagreb.

In July 2016, he was one of the first players to ink a deal with the newly founded KHL side Kunlun Red Star from China.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1995–96 Tappara FIN U16 32 2 2 4 28 — — — — — 1996–97 Tappara FIN U16 32 12 25 37 52 4 1 2 3 2 1996–97 Tappara FIN U18 2 0 0 0 2 — — — — — 1997–98 Tappara FIN U18 31 2 23 25 49 — — — — — 1997–98 Tappara FIN U20 2 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 4 1998–99 Tappara FIN U18 10 4 4 8 18 — — — — — 1998–99 Tappara FIN U20 34 5 13 18 42 — — — — — 1999–2000 Tappara FIN U20 7 2 5 7 22 5 2 5 7 4 1999–2000 Tappara SM-liiga 43 2 8 10 16 4 0 0 0 0 2000–01 Tappara SM-liiga 53 6 14 20 32 10 2 2 4 10 2001–02 Tappara SM-liiga 56 5 10 15 70 10 2 4 6 8 2002–03 Tappara SM-liiga 54 3 19 22 58 15 0 2 2 6 2003–04 Luleå HF SEL 43 6 10 16 67 5 0 0 0 2 2004–05 Luleå HF SEL 48 8 14 22 40 4 1 0 1 4 2005–06 Tappara SM-liiga 56 6 16 22 81 4 1 0 1 29 2006–07 Tappara SM-liiga 55 5 16 21 62 5 2 1 3 8 2007–08 Frölunda HC SEL 45 1 10 11 46 7 0 3 3 4 2008–09 Frölunda HC SEL 53 3 17 20 52 11 0 0 0 2 2009–10 Tappara SM-liiga 47 5 17 22 145 9 0 2 2 10 2010–11 Tappara SM-liiga 57 5 19 24 93 — — — — — 2011–12 Tappara SM-liiga 12 4 7 11 14 — — — — — 2011–12 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk KHL 38 0 17 17 39 — — — — — 2012–13 Tappara SM-liiga 57 3 21 24 71 15 0 8 8 18 2013–14 Metallurg Novokuznetsk KHL 53 4 12 16 32 — — — — — 2014–15 Tappara Liiga 24 1 7 8 16 — — — — — 2014–15 Amur Khabarovsk KHL 25 2 4 6 59 — — — — — 2015–16 KHL Medveščak Zagreb KHL 48 8 10 18 64 — — — — — 2015–16 Tappara Liiga 11 2 0 2 2 18 0 2 2 20 2016–17 Kunlun Red Star KHL 57 10 14 24 56 4 2 5 7 12 2017–18 Malmö Redhawks SHL 50 0 11 11 32 5 0 0 0 0 2018–19 Tappara Liiga 49 1 12 13 42 11 2 1 3 10 2019–20 Tappara Liiga 47 2 5 7 55 — — — — — SM-liiga/Liiga totals 621 50 171 221 757 101 9 22 31 119 SEL/SHL totals 239 18 62 80 237 32 1 3 4 12 KHL totals 221 24 57 81 250 4 2 5 7 12

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1998 Finland EJC 6 0 1 1 0 1999 Finland WJC18 6 1 0 1 8 2000 Finland WJC 7 0 3 3 14 2001 Finland WJC 7 1 4 5 6 2004 Finland WC 7 0 2 2 0 2006 Finland WC 9 0 0 0 8 2007 Finland WC 5 0 2 2 2 2013 Finland WC 10 0 3 3 2 2014 Finland WC 10 2 3 5 12 2015 Finland WC 8 0 0 0 0 Junior totals 26 2 8 10 28 Senior totals 49 2 10 12 24