Ville Peltonen

Ville Sakari Peltonen (born 24 May 1973) is a Finnish ice hockey coach and a former professional ice hockey forward. Peltonen was drafted by the San Jose Sharks as their third round pick, 58th overall, in the 1993 NHL entry draft. During his professional career, he has played 382 NHL games for Sharks, Nashville Predators and Florida Panthers. Internationally, he represented the Finland men's national ice hockey team, and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2016.

Playing career Peltonen started playing hockey with Etelä-Vantaan Urheilijat (EVU), and moved to HIFK when he was ten years old. He debuted the Finnish SM-liiga in 1991–92 SM-liiga season, playing six games in regular season. The following year, Peltonen scored 13 goals and 37 points in 46 games with HIFK winning the Jarmo Wasama memorial trophy as the best rookie of the season. The NHL franchise San Jose Sharks drafted Peltonen as their third round pick, 58th overall in the 1993 NHL entry draft. San Jose's first ever over Montreal. He also played 29 regular season games for Sharks' IHL affiliate Kansas City Blades, scoring 18 points. However, San Jose did not make the playoffs. The next season Peltonen scored only five points in 28 NHL games, but with the Kentucky Thoroughblades he scored 22 goals and 52 points in 40 games. After two years in the NHL, Peltonen returned to Europe to play for Västra Frölunda HC of Swedish Elitserien. He was the best pointman of the league, scoring 51 points in 49 games. After a successful season with Frölunda, Peltonen returned to NHL to play for Nashville Predators. However, his returning season was short lived, when he injured after 14 games. Before the injury, Peltonen had scored 10 points with the team. He stayed with the Predators for two more seasons, but in 2000-2001 NHL season he played mostly for Milwaukee Admirals, and was chosen to AHL's All Star Game. and was chosen to the league's All-Star lineup.

After a two-season stint with Jokerit, Peltonen headed to Switzerland's National League A to play for HC Lugano, where he played three outstanding seasons. In his first season with the team, he scored career-high 28 goals, 44 assists and 72 points in only 48 games, winning the title of league's best pointman. The following season Peltonen scored 56 points. In his last season with the team, he was named the captain of the team. Peltonen led the playoffs in goal scoring, and also scored the game-winning goal winning the championship of the league. Peltonen stayed with the Panthers for one more season, but then moved to Kontinental Hockey League to play for HC Dinamo Minsk, where he was once again the captain of his team. However, Peltonen only scored 26 points in 51 games for the team in regular season.

After only one season in KHL Peltonen returned for his old franchise HIFK with a two-year contract in 2010, and was named as team's captain. Peltonen scored 28 goals and 65 points, and finished second in points of the whole league after Perttu Lindgren of Lukko, who scored 66 points. Peltonen was chosen as the best player of the regular season winning the Lasse Oksanen trophy. He was also awarded with the Raimo Kilpiö trophy for second time during his career, and for the first time he also won the Kultainen kypärä (The Golden Helmet), being awarded as the best player by league's other players. Peltonen was chosen to the All-Star lineup and HIFK won the Kanada-malja championship for first time since 1998 as Peltonen, Mikael Granlund and Juha-Pekka Haataja led the team to the championship.

In the 2011-12 SM-liiga season, Peltonen played 49 regular season games scoring 24 goals and 48 points, finishing as the ninth player of the league in points. After another great season, 38-year-old forward decided to continue his career with the IFK. In a practice game in September 2012, Peltonen was assaulted by Semir Ben-Amor that injured him for some time, and deteriorated the relationship between him and some players from Ben-Amor's team that he had befriended. In March 2014, Peltonen officially announced his retirement as a player. He played his last game as his club HIFK was eliminated from the playoffs.

International play

Peltonen has represented Finland in international play on several occasions since the 1994 Winter Olympics. After this, Finland has played 25 international tournaments, with Peltonen playing in the team for 19 times, being tied with Finnish hockey legend Raimo Helminen. He has also played as the captain of his team in IIHF World Championships for six times. The Finns achieved a bronze medal and Peltonen, who scored 7 points in 8 games, was also chosen to the 1994 World Championships, where the team gained a silver medal after a 3-2 loss to Canada in a shootout competition. However, the following year Peltonen established his place in the history of Finnish hockey; Peltonen scored a hat trick in the final game against Sweden, leading his team to 4-1 victory and taking their first World Championship victory. Peltonen once again formed a great line with Lehtinen and Koivu, and all three were named tournament All-Stars line. The same year in the World Championships, Peltonen tied the game against Canada in second consolation round only ten seconds before the end of the game. The Finns once again played in the finals, but were defeated by Sweden.

Coaching career After retiring in 2014, Peltonen immediately started his coaching career in the youth ranks of his hometown club HIFK, serving as head coach of the club’s under-20 team. He was also named assistant coach of Finland’s national team, serving under Kari Jalonen at the 2015 and 2016 World Championships and during the 2014–15 and 2015-16 Euro Hockey Tour.

In April 2016, Peltonen signed with SC Bern of Switzerland, where he served as assistant coach, again under Jalonen. He helped Bern capture the 2017 Swiss national championship. Peltonen left the club at the conclusion of the 2017-18 campaign and took over the head coaching job at Lausanne HC. In the 2018-19 season, he guided Lausanne to a semifinal appearance in the Swiss league. He was fired at the end of February 2020. In 2021, he served as assistant coach of Germany's national team at the Deutschland Cup and the World Championship, working under his countryman, head coach Toni Söderholm. Later that month, he signed a three-year contract with his home team HIFK as the head coach. In 2023, the contract was extended until 2026. In 2025, after a disappointing playoff run and fans' demands, he was fired as HIFK's head coach and his contract was terminated. Peltonen's replacement is Olli Jokinen.

Personal life Peltonen married a Finnish figure skater, Hanna. They have four children – twin sons Alex and Jesper (born 1997), Emmi Peltonen (Finnish figure skater born in November 1999), and Nelli (born 2005).

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1990–91 HIFK FIN U20 36 21 16 37 16 7 2 3 5 10 1991–92 HIFK FIN U20 37 28 23 51 28 4 0 2 2 2 1991–92 HIFK SM-l 6 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1992–93 HIFK FIN U20 2 4 2 6 4 — — — — — 1992–93 HIFK SM-l 46 13 24 37 16 4 0 2 2 2 1993–94 HIFK SM-l 43 16 22 38 14 3 0 0 0 2 1994–95 HIFK SM-l 45 20 16 36 16 3 0 0 0 0 1995–96 San Jose Sharks NHL 31 2 11 13 14 — — — — — 1995–96 Kansas City Blades IHL 29 5 13 18 8 — — — — — 1996–97 San Jose Sharks NHL 28 2 3 5 0 — — — — — 1996–97 Kentucky Thoroughblades AHL 40 22 30 52 21 — — — — — 1997–98 Västra Frölunda HC SEL 45 22 29 51 44 7 4 2 6 0 1998–99 Nashville Predators NHL 14 5 5 10 2 — — — — — 1999–2000 Nashville Predators NHL 79 6 22 28 22 — — — — — 2000–01 Nashville Predators NHL 23 3 1 4 2 — — — — — 2000–01 Milwaukee Admirals IHL 53 27 33 60 26 5 2 1 3 6 2001–02 Jokerit SM-l 30 11 18 29 8 — — — — — 2002–03 Jokerit SM-l 49 23 19 42 14 10 4 6 10 0 2003–04 HC Lugano NLA 48 28 44 72 16 16 4 10 14 8 2004–05 HC Lugano NLA 44 24 32 56 16 5 0 3 3 2 2005–06 HC Lugano NLA 39 23 25 48 22 17 12 14 26 8 2006–07 Florida Panthers NHL 72 17 20 37 28 — — — — — 2007–08 Florida Panthers NHL 56 5 15 20 20 — — — — — 2008–09 Florida Panthers NHL 79 12 19 31 31 — — — — — 2009–10 Dinamo Minsk KHL 51 6 20 26 54 — — — — — 2010–11 HIFK SM-l 54 28 37 65 16 16 6 6 12 6 2011–12 HIFK SM-l 49 24 24 48 36 4 0 1 1 0 2012–13 HIFK SM-l 43 13 16 29 40 — — — — — 2013–14 HIFK SM-l 55 13 29 42 16 2 0 1 1 0 SM-l totals 420 161 205 366 176 42 10 16 26 10 NHL totals 382 52 96 148 119 — — — — — NLA totals 131 75 101 176 54 38 16 27 43 18

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1991 Finland EJC 6 4 4 8 2 1993 Finland WJC 7 5 6 11 20 1994 Finland OG 8 4 3 7 0 1994 Finland WC 8 4 1 5 4 1995 Finland WC 8 6 5 11 4 1996 Finland WCH 4 1 3 4 0 1996 Finland WC 6 3 2 5 6 1997 Finland WC 7 2 2 4 0 1998 Finland OG 6 2 1 3 6 1998 Finland WC 10 4 6 10 8 1999 Finland WC 12 2 3 5 2 2000 Finland WC 9 0 4 4 2 2003 Finland WC 7 3 4 7 2 2004 Finland WCH 6 1 2 3 2 2004 Finland WC 7 4 6 10 2 2005 Finland WC 6 1 2 3 4 2006 Finland OG 8 4 5 9 6 2006 Finland WC 9 2 2 4 8 2007 Finland WC 9 2 7 9 4 2008 Finland WC 9 1 3 4 2 2010 Finland OG 6 0 1 1 2 Junior totals 13 9 10 19 22 Senior totals 145 46 62 108 64

Awards

SM-liiga Kanada-malja championship (2002, 2011) Jarmo Wasama memorial trophy (Best rookie of the league, 1993) Raimo Kilpiö trophy (The gentleman player of the league, 2003, 2011) Lasse Oksanen trophy (Best player of the regular season, 2011) Kultainen kypärä (The best player of the league voted by others, 2011) President's Trophy (Person who has influenced ice hockey for the most, 2005) Was chosen to the SM-liiga All-Star line (2003, 2011)

Other awards Finnish Jr. A League Runners-up (1990–91) Ice Hockey World Championships Tournament All-Star (1995, 1998, 2004) NLA-league Championship (2006) Leading scorer Swedish Elitserien (1998) Leading scorer Swiss NLA-league (2004) The Most Valuable Player of the national team (2005) Spengler Cup Winner (2009) Inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2016