Waltteri Immonen

Waltteri Immonen (born April 3, 1967 in Helsinki, Finland) is a retired professional ice hockey defenseman and former coach of SM-liiga team Jokerit.

Playing career
Immonen started his playing career in Jokerit Helsinki, an Ice Hockey team from Helsinki. Immonen played his first full season for Jokerit during the 1988–89 1. division league of ice hockey in Finland. Immonen led the defence of Jokerit and played alongside with players like Teemu Selänne, Ari Sulander, Mika Strömberg and during the 1994–95 NHL lockout he was joined by NHL-star Jari Kurri and for the second time Teemu Selänne. Immonen was appointed as the Captain of Jokerit in the beginning of the 1991–92 season by then head coach Boris Majorov. Immonen won the SM-liiga 4 times as the captain of Jokerit and also won the 1995 European Cup with Jokerit. Immonen retired after 1998–99. Immonen's playing number 24 is currently retired by Jokerit in honour of his services as the longtime captain of the team.

He won the Matti Keinonen trophy (best plus-minus in the SM-Liiga) in 1991-92.

Coaching career
After retiring, Immonen soon became the Team Manager of Jokerit and after Hannu Jortikka left, Immonen was named the as the new Head Coach of Jokerit. After a poor start, Immonen was fired from his position but remained in the club in the role of Coach. Immonen was part of the Jokerit coaching staff until 2008, when he followed the departing Doug Shedden to Nationalliga A team EV Zug where he started out as an assistant coach to Shedden.