Kristian Näkyvä

Kristian Näkyvä
Born November 18, 1990
Helsinki, Finland
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 196 lb (89 kg; 14 st 0 lb)
Position Defence
Shoots Left
NHL team
Former teams 		Nashville Predators
Espoo Blues
JYP
Luleå HF
NHL Draft Undrafted
Playing career 2008–present

Kristian Näkyvä (born November 18, 1990) is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman who currently plays for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Playing career

Undrafted, Näkyvä played as a youth within the Espoo Blues organization. He made his professional debut in the 2008–09 with the Blues with 2 assists in 6 games. After three seasons with the Blues, Näkyvä signed with rivals JYP in search of regular playing time at the Liiga level on May 18, 2011.[1]

Näkyvä established himself within the blueline of JYP and after three seasons in which he won a Championship in 2012 and found a place in the international squad he opted to leave his native Finland and signed a three-year contract with Luleå HF of the Swedish Hockey League on June 9, 2014.[2] In his debut season in Sweden in the 2014–15 season, Näkyvä was an instant success in co-leading the league in goals from the blueline with 10 and finishing 5th in scoring with 29 points.

Näkyvä performances gained NHL interest and after just one season with Luleå, he cut short his contract with the club to sign a one-year entry-level contract with the Nashville Predators on April 24, 2015.[3]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2008–09 Espoo Blues SM-l 6 0 2 2 2 — — — — —
2009–10 Espoo Blues SM-l 7 0 0 0 4 — — — — —
2009–10 TuTo Mestis 5 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2010–11 Espoo Blues SM-l 16 0 1 1 8 — — — — —
2010–11 Jukurit Mestis 16 0 7 7 8 — — — — —
2010–11 Kiekko-Vantaa Mestis 5 0 2 2 6 — — — — —
2011–12 JYP SM-l 55 7 16 23 20 13 0 5 5 4
2011–12 JYP-Akatemia Mestis 2 2 1 3 2 — — — — —
2012–13 JYP SM-l 59 6 22 28 52 11 1 3 4 6
2013–14 JYP Liiga 57 7 19 26 40 6 1 2 3 2
2014–15 Luleå HF SHL 55 10 19 29 42 9 1 3 4 6
Liiga totals 200 20 60 80 126 30 2 10 12 12

International

Year Team Event Result   GP G A Pts PIM
2010 Finland WJC 5th 6 0 1 1 2
Junior totals 6 0 1 1 2

References

  1. ↑ "JYP capture Nakyva from Blues". JYP. 2011-05-18. Retrieved 2011-05-18.
  2. ↑ "Nakyva ready for Lulea" (in Swedish). Luleå Hockey. 2014-06-09. Retrieved 2014-06-09.
  3. ↑ "Nashville Predators sign Kristian Nakyva to entry-level contract". Nashville Predators. 2015-04-24. Retrieved 2015-04-24.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kristian Näkyvä.