Lasse Kukkonen

Lasse Kukkonen
Born September 18, 1981 (1981-09-18) (age 30)
Oulu, FIN
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight 187 lb (85 kg; 13 st 5 lb)
Position Defence
Shoots Left
KHL team
Former teams
Metallurg Magnitogorsk
Kärpät (SM-l)
Chicago Blackhawks(NHL)
Philadelphia Flyers (NHL)
Avangard Omsk
National team  Finland
NHL Draft 151st overall, 2003
Chicago Blackhawks
Playing career 2004–present

Lasse Kukkonen (born September 18, 1981) is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman who plays for Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He previously played four seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers.

Contents

Playing career

Kukkonen was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks as their fifth-round pick, 151st overall, in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

Kukkonen played ten NHL games in the 2003–04 NHL season, after which he returned to his hometown Kärpät in the SM-liiga. Kukkonen won the SM-liiga gold medal with Kärpät in 2005.

In the 2006-07 season, Kukkonen returned to the Chicago Blackhawks and played in 54 games before he was dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers along with a 3rd round draft pick in a three-way deal with the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings on February 26, 2007. With the Flyers, Kukkonen was put on a defensive pairing with Joni Pitkänen, also a native of Oulu. The two were also a pairing for 4 years in Finland. On May 17, 2007 he signed a two-year contract with the Flyers.

On June 24, 2009, Kukkonen signed a two-year deal with Russian team, Avangard Omsk of the KHL.[1]

International play

Medal record
Competitor for  Finland
Ice hockey
Olympic Games
Silver 2006 Turin
Bronze 2010 Vancouver
World Championships
Gold 2011 Slovakia
Silver 2007 Russia
Bronze 2006 Latvia
World Junior Championships
Silver 2001 Russia

He was named to the Finnish Olympic team at the 2006 Winter Olympics after defenceman Sami Salo was injured, and played in both the semifinal match versus Russia and the gold medal match versus Sweden.

Awards

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2000–01 Kärpät SM-l 47 1 5 6 46 9 0 2 2 4
2001–02 Kärpät SM-l 55 2 6 8 42 4 0 3 3 4
2002–03 Kärpät SM-l 56 6 12 18 67 15 1 4 5 16
2003–04 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 10 0 1 1 4
2003–04 Norfolk Admirals AHL 59 3 11 14 58 8 0 0 0 8
2004–05 Kärpät SM-l 55 5 13 18 68 12 0 2 2 6
2005–06 Kärpät SM-l 56 11 16 27 38 11 5 7 12 8
2006–07 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 54 5 9 14 30
2006–07 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 20 0 0 0 8
2007–08 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 53 1 4 5 38 14 0 2 2 6
2008–09 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 22 0 2 2 10
2008–09 Philadelphia Phantoms AHL 26 0 11 11 20 4 2 0 2 6
2009–10 Avangard Omsk KHL 53 6 6 12 34 3 0 1 1 0
2010–11 Metallurg Magnitogorsk KHL 37 4 8 12 16 5 0 0 0 0
NHL totals 159 6 16 22 90 14 0 2 2 6
KHL totals 90 10 14 24 50 8 0 1 1 0

International

Year Team Event   GP G A Pts PIM
1999 Finland WJ18 7 1 0 1 0
2001 Finland WJC 7 0 0 0 2
2005 Finland WC 7 0 0 0 2
2006 Finland Oly 2 0 0 0 0
2006 Finland WC 9 2 0 2 8
2007 Finland WC 9 0 1 1 4
2009 Finland WC 6 0 0 0 4
2010 Finland Oly 6 0 1 1 4
2010 Finland WC 6 0 0 0 2
Junior int'l totals 14 1 0 1 2
Senior int'l totals 45 2 2 4 24

References

  1. ^ "Avangard Omsk sign Kukkonen from NHL". (in russian) hawk.ru. 2009-06-24. http://hawk.ru/news/5130.html. Retrieved 2009-06-24. 

External links

Preceded by
Ilkka Mikkola
Winner of the Pekka Rautakallio trophy
2005–06
Succeeded by
Cory Murphy