Waltteri Immonen

Waltteri Immonen (born April 3, 1967 in Helsinki, Finland) is a retired professional ice hockey defenseman and former coach of SM-liiga team Jokerit.

Playing career Immonen started his playing career in Helsingin Jokerit, an ice hockey team from Helsinki. Immonen played his first full season for Jokerit during the 1988–89 1. division league of ice hockey in Finland. Immonen led the defense of Jokerit and played alongside players like Teemu Selänne, Ari Sulander, Mika Strömberg. During the 1994–95 NHL lockout, he was joined by NHL-star Jari Kurri and, for the second time, Teemu Selänne. Immonen was appointed as the captain of Jokerit in the beginning of 1991–92 SM-liiga season by then head coach Boris Majorov. Immonen won the SM-liiga 4 times as the captain of Jokerit. He also won the 1995 European Cup with Jokerit. Immonen retired after 1998–99 SM-liiga season. Immonen's playing number 24 is currently retired by Jokerit in honour of his services as the longtime captain of the team.

Career statistics Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1987–88 Jokerit I-Divisioona 15 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1988–89 Jokerit I-Divisioona 44 4 24 28 8 — — — — — 1989–90 Jokerit Liiga 44 1 14 15 8 — — — — — 1990–91 Jokerit Liiga 43 2 8 10 8 — — — — — 1991–92 Jokerit Liiga 44 3 11 14 2 10 3 4 7 4 1992–93 Jokerit Liiga 48 3 15 18 10 3 0 1 1 0 1993–94 Jokerit Liiga 45 5 16 21 14 12 1 4 5 4 1994–95 Jokerit Liiga 50 6 18 24 16 4 0 0 0 0 1995–96 Jokerit Liiga 50 5 21 26 10 11 1 3 4 2 1996–97 Jokerit Liiga 49 4 11 15 14 9 0 3 3 2 1997–98 Jokerit Liiga 26 3 4 7 6 8 0 0 0 0 1998–99 Jokerit Liiga 53 0 5 5 4 3 0 0 0 0 Liiga totals 452 32 123 155 92 60 5 15 20 12

Coaching career After retiring, Immonen became the team manager of Jokerit and, after Hannu Jortikka left, Immonen was named the new head coach of Jokerit. After a poor start, Immonen was fired from his position but remained in the club in the role of coach. Immonen was part of the Jokerit coaching staff until 2008, when he followed the departing Doug Shedden to Nationalliga A team EV Zug where he started out as an assistant coach to Shedden.