Jesse Niinimäki

Jesse Niinimäki
Born August 19, 1983 (1983-08-19) (age 28)
Tampere, FIN
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight 192 lb (87 kg; 13 st 10 lb)
Position Centre
Shoots Left
FNL team
Former teams
Ilves
HC Davos
Luleå HF
NHL Draft 15th overall, 2002
Edmonton Oilers
Playing career 2000–present

Jesse Niinimäki (born August 19, 1983 in Tampere, Finland) is a Finnish ice hockey forward.

Niinimäki played four seasons for Ilves in the Finnish SM-liiga, and was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, 15th overall. He spent the 2004–05 season with the Edmonton Road Runners and Ilves, and signed with Jokerit for the 2005–06 season. After a disappointing fall season, Niinimäki was released from his contract with Jokerit in January 2006, and hired by JYP for the rest of the season. After the 2005–06 season, Niinimäki moved to Sweden and played for Elitserien side Luleå HF in 37 games. Niinimäki also played for the German DEL team Krefeld Pinguine. The tenure in Germany lasted for 9 games plus 2 games in the playoffs. After completion of the 2006–07 season Niinimäki returned to Luleå but was released during September 2007. Niinimäki was acquired by Swiss Nationalliga A team HC Davos, but in January 2008 he returned to HPK.

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2001–02 Ilves SM-l 16 2 4 6 4 3 0 0 0 0
2002–03 Ilves SM-l 41 4 13 17 12
2002–03 Sport Mestis 2 0 1 1 10
2003–04 Ilves SM-l 10 3 3 6 2
2004–05 Edmonton Road Runners AHL 24 1 0 1 2
2004–05 Ilves SM-l 18 4 4 8 8
2005–06 Jokerit SM-l 34 4 8 12 14
2005–06 JYP SM-l 19 6 8 14 12 3 0 0 0 0
2006–07 Luleå HF SEL 37 7 8 15 20
2006–07 Krefeld Pinguine DEL 9 4 9 13 4 2 0 1 1 0
2007–08 Luleå HF SEL 5 0 0 0 0
2007–08 HC Davos NLA 5 1 0 1 4
2007–08 HPK FNL 17 1 4 5 4
2008–09 HK Ljubljana Olimpija Aust 8 1 1 2 8
2008–09 Ilves FNL 24 4 2 6 18 3 0 0 0 0
SM-liiga totals 179 28 46 74 74 9 0 0 0 0

External links

Preceded by
Ales Hemsky
Edmonton Oilers first round draft pick
2002
Succeeded by
Marc Pouliot