Ville Leino

Ville Leino (born October 6, 1983 in Savonlinna, Finland) is a Finnish professional ice hockey forward, currently playing for the Detroit Red Wings in the National Hockey League.

Playing career
Leino started playing men's hockey at age 17 for his hometown team SaPKo in the Suomi-sarja. He was recruited into the SM-liiga by Ilves, and later moved on to HPK, where he led the team in scoring in the 2005-06 season when HPK won their first SM-liiga championship.

In 2007, Leino was signed by Jokerit. In his first season with the team, he broke the franchise record for most points in the regular season when he surpassed Timo Sutinen's record of 73. He went on to finish second in scoring, and won the Lasse Oksanen trophy for the best player during the regular season.

On May 10, 2008, Leino signed a one-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings. Due to the Wings salary cap issues, Leino was then assigned to affiliate the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL. Red Wings coach Mike Babcock commented that Leino was the "best player" he had ever sent to the minors. Ville was eventually recalled from the Griffins on January 29, 2009.

In the first period of his NHL debut on January 31, 2009, Leino scored a goal against goaltender José Théodore in a 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals. Leino is one the few players that have made a goal in their first NHL apperiance.

Leino signed a one-way, two-year extension with the Red Wings on July 6th 2009.

Awards

 * SM-liiga -All-Star 2006
 * SM-liiga -player of the month, January 2006 and October 2007
 * SM-liiga -Lasse Oksanen trophy for best player of the regular season, 2008

International play
Leino made his international debut on Team Finland on the 2006-07 Euro Hockey Tour.