Kai Nurminen

Kai Nurminen (b. March 29th 1969 in Turku, Finland) is a professional Finnish forward who plays in the SM-Liiga for the TPS Turku.

Nurminen began his career with his hometown's TuTo Turku and Kiekko-67 Turku, before moving to the bigger TPS Turku in 1992-93. His career really took off however in 1995-96, while he played for Elitserien's HV 71. He formed a deadly goalscoring duo with Esa Keskinen, tallying 31 goals in 40 games. That was enough to attract the attention of North American scouts - incidentally, the Los Angeles Kings drafted him 193rd overall in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft. Nurminen would only play one season with the Kings before returning to Sweden. He attempted a North American return in 2000-01 with the Minnesota Wild; he only played two games for the Wild, spending most of the season with the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the IHL. The following season, he returned to TPS Turku, for whom he still play today.