Ville PELTONEN

Forward Ville Peltonen débuted at the Finnish Championships in 1991 with HIFK. The NHL franchise San Jose Sharks drafted Peltonen in 1993, but he decided to stay with HIFK for two more seasons before heading to the NHL. But he did not made much impact in North America, playing most of his two seasons there with the Sharks’ International Hockey League (IHL) affiliate Kansas City Blades and American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Kentucky Thoroughblades. In 1997, Peltonen returned to Europe and played with Frölunda HC in Sweden, but after only one season with them was called back to the NHL and began play with the Nashville Predators in 1998. Peltonen stayed with the franchise three seasons, although during his third season he played mostly with the Predator’s IHL affiliate Milwaukee Admirals. In 2001, Peltonen again returned to Europe, playing two seasons with Jokerit in Finland and then three seasons with HC Lugano in Switzerland. With Jokerit, he won a Finnish title in 2002 and with Lugano won a Swiss title in 2006. In 2006, Peltonen made his third appearance in the NHL, playing with the Florida Panthers until 2009. He then had one season with Dynamo Minsk and since 2010 has re-joined HIFK in the Finnish league.

Internationally, Peltonen débuted with the Finnish national team at the 1994 Olympics and since then, Finland has played 25 international tournaments, with Peltonen playing for the team at 19 tournaments. Peltonen is by far the most successful Finnish hockey player with 13 international medals. He has won the Olympic silver in 2006 and Olympic bronzes in 1994, 1998, and 2010. At the World Championships, Peltonen won a World title in 1995, silvers in 1994, 1998, 1999 and 2007 and bronzes in 2000, 2006 and 2008. He also won silver at the 2004 World Cup. He was selected to the World Championship tournament All-Star teams in 1995, 1998 and 2004 and was named as the Finnish ice hockey player-of-the-year in 2005.