Ville Pokka

Ville Pokka (born 3 June 1994) is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenseman who plays for EHC München of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.

Playing career Pokka played with Kärpät in the SM-Liiga during the 2010–11 season. He was drafted 23rd overall by Avangard Omsk in the 2012 KHL Junior Draft and 34th overall by the New York Islanders in the 2012 NHL entry draft.

On 28 May 2014, Pokka was signed to a three-year entry-level contract with the Islanders.

Prior to the 2014–15 season, on 4 October 2014, Pokka was traded, along with T. J. Brennan and Anders Nilsson by the Islanders to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Nick Leddy and Kent Simpson. He was then directly assigned to the Blackhawks' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.

After three seasons with the organization (all of which were spent with the IceHogs), the Blackhawks re-signed Pokka to a one-year, $650,000 contract extension on 27 June 2017.

In the 2017–18 season, Pokka was reassigned to the IceHogs. On 13 December 2017, Pokka was recalled by the Blackhawks. However, remained a healthy scratch before returning to Rockford on 18 December. After posting 22 points in 46 games, Pokka was traded by the Blackhawks to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Chris DiDomenico on 15 February 2018. Pokka joined the Senators AHL affiliate, the Belleville Senators, and continued to provide offense from the blueline with 3 goals and 11 points in 23 games to end the season.

As an impending restricted free agent with the Senators, Pokka opted to leave North America by agreeing to a one-year contract with his Russian KHL draft club, Avangard Omsk, on 8 May 2018.

In March 2022, Pokka left Avangard Omsk during the playoffs due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As a free agent in the off-season, Pokka signed a one-year contract in moving to Sweden with Färjestad BK of the SHL, on 5 June 2022.

In 2023, he signed with EHC Biel-Bienne of the NL before being loaned to SC Bern in December. In January 2024, he terminated his deal with Biel-Bienne and signed with Bern for the rest of the year.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 2009–10 Kärpät FIN U18 20 0 5 5 10 5 0 0 0 4 2010–11 Kärpät FIN U18 3 0 2 2 0 9 0 7 7 8 2010–11 Kärpät FIN U20 32 6 15 21 16 — — — — — 2010–11 Kärpät SM-l 2 0 0 0 2 — — — — — 2010–11 Kiekko–Laser Mestis 3 0 3 3 0 — — — — — 2011–12 Kärpät FIN U20 4 3 4 7 2 — — — — — 2011–12 Kärpät SM-l 35 0 3 3 12 9 0 3 3 2 2012–13 Kärpät FIN U20 3 0 0 0 4 — — — — — 2012–13 Kärpät SM-l 47 6 6 12 8 3 0 2 2 0 2013–14 Kärpät Liiga 54 6 21 27 16 16 2 9 11 10 2014–15 Rockford IceHogs AHL 68 8 22 30 16 8 0 3 3 0 2015–16 Rockford IceHogs AHL 76 10 35 45 24 3 0 1 1 0 2016–17 Rockford IceHogs AHL 76 6 24 30 35 — — — — — 2017–18 Rockford IceHogs AHL 46 4 18 22 20 — — — — — 2017–18 Belleville Senators AHL 23 3 8 11 8 — — — — — 2018–19 Avangard Omsk KHL 61 7 10 17 8 19 2 1 3 6 2019–20 Avangard Omsk KHL 62 1 12 13 18 6 1 1 2 0 2020–21 Avangard Omsk KHL 31 4 9 13 8 24 1 4 5 10 2021–22 Avangard Omsk KHL 39 3 8 11 16 2 0 1 1 2 2022–23 Färjestad BK SHL 49 4 18 22 45 — — — — — 2023–24 EHC Biel–Bienne NL 18 0 4 4 4 — — — — — 2023–24 SC Bern NL 16 0 6 6 6 5 0 0 0 2 2024–25 Kärpät Liiga 23 2 4 6 4 — — — — — 2025–26 EHC München DEL 52 6 19 25 12 11 1 7 8 6 Liiga totals 161 14 34 48 42 28 2 14 16 12 KHL totals 193 15 39 54 50 51 4 7 11 18

International Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM 2011 Finland U17 7th 5 1 0 1 4 2011 Finland WJC18 5th 6 0 0 0 2 2011 Finland IH18 4th 5 2 3 5 2 2012 Finland WJC 4th 7 1 3 4 4 2012 Finland WJC18 4th 7 1 5 6 4 2013 Finland WJC 7th 6 2 4 6 2 2014 Finland WJC 7 1 3 4 4 2016 Finland WC 10 0 2 2 0 2016 Finland WCH 8th 3 0 0 0 0 2018 Finland WC 5th 8 0 0 0 0 2021 Finland WC 10 0 2 2 4 2022 Finland OG 6 1 2 3 0 2022 Finland WC 8 0 2 2 0 2023 Finland WC 7th 8 1 1 2 0 Junior totals 43 8 18 26 22 Senior totals 53 2 9 11 4

Awards and honors Award Year Liiga Matti Keinonen Trophy 2014 Kanada-malja (Oulun Kärpät) 2014 AHL All-Rookie Team 2015 KHL Gagarin Cup (Avangard Omsk) 2021