Ville Peltonen

Ville Peltonen (born on May 24, 1973 in Vantaa) is a Finnish retired professional ice hockey left winger. He was drafted by the San Jose Sharks as their third round pick, 58th overall, in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. In the 2014-15 season, he was introduced into the Finnish Hockey Hall of Fame and a season later into the IIHF Hall of Fame. He is currently the assistant coach and team consultant with the German National Team.

Ville Peltonen is the son of Esa Peltonen, a member of IIHF Hall of Fame, who played 277 games (93+49=142) for the Finnish National Team.

Club career
Peltonen played junior hockey with the HIFK organisation. He made his senior debut in the 1991-92 season when he played 6 games with the HIFK of the SM-liiga while he also played 37 regular season games and 4 play-off games with the HIFK under-20 team.

In the 1992-93 season, he played 2 games with the HIFK under-20 team and 46 regular season games and 4 play-off games with the HIFK of the SM-liiga. In this season, he became the SM-liiga Rookie of the Year as he was the rookie who recorded most assists (24) and most points (37) in the SM-liiga.

Peltonen then continued with the HIFK of the SM-liiga for next two seasons. In the 1993-94 season was Peltonen the player who scored most game-winning goals (5) in the SM-liiga.

Peltonen left the team to play in the NHL with the San Jose Sharks in 1995, but after two seasons there he returned to Europe. In the 1995-96 season played Peltonen 31 games with the San Jose Sharks of the NHL and 29 games with the Kansas City Blades of the IHL. In the 1996-97 season, he played 28 games with the San Jose Sharks of the NHL and 40 games with the Kentucky Thoroughblades of the AHL. In this season, he was also named the AHL Player of the Week on March 2, 1997.

After a year with the Västra Frölunda HC of the Elitserien in which he scored most points (51) of all Elitserien players, Peltonen returned to the United States to play with the Nashville Predators of the NHL, it was short lived, however. He played two whole seasons with the Nashville Predators of the NHL and in the 2000-01 season, he played 23 games with the Nashville Predators of the NHL and 53 regular season games and 5 play-off games with the Milwaukee Admirals of the IHL.

His career continued with a two-season stint with Jokerit of the SM-liiga. In the 2001-02 season, he became the SM-liiga champion and in the 2002-03 season, he made it into the SM-liiga All-Star Team and was named the SM-liiga Gentleman of the Year.

After that, he headed to Swiss league. Peltonen played three outstanding seasons with the HC Lugano of the NLA. In the 2003-04 season, he became the NLA Forward of the Year, NLA Media Most Valuable Player, made it into the NLA Media All-Star Team and was the best scoring player of the NLA with 72 points scored. In the 2004-05 season became Peltonen the NLA Media Best Forward and made it into the NLA Media All-Star Team. In the 2005-06 season, he became the NLA champion and was the player who scored most goals (12) in the play-offs.

Peltonen signed to a 1-year contract with the Florida Panthers of the NHL. After 2006-07 season, his first with the Panthers, Peltonen was offered a 2-year extension, which he accepted. On August 2, 2009, the HC Dynamo Minsk of the KHL signed him from Florida Panthers. In the 2009-10 season, he played at the KHL All-Star Game and won the Spengler Cup.

In 2010 - 2014, he spent his final seasons of his career with the HIFK of the SM-liiga (later Liiga). In the 2010-11 season, he won the Lasse Oskanen Award for the SM-liiga's best player of regular season, made it into the SM-liiga All-Star Team, became the SM-liiga champion, was named the SM-liiga Gentleman of the Year, won the Golden Helmet and was named the SM-liiga Player of the Month in September 2010 and in February 2011.

International career
Peltonen has represented Finland in international play on several occasions, most memorably in the 1995 Ice Hockey World Championships; Peltonen scored a hat trick in the final game against Sweden, which Finland won 4-1 to come away with their only World Championship to date. He played on the Finnish first line with Saku Koivu and Jere Lehtinen; all three were named tournament all-stars. Peltonen also has been named World Championships all-star in 1998 and 2004. He was a member of the silver medal winning Finnish ice hockey team at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

He played for Finland in:


 * 1991 European U18 Championship (bronze medal)
 * 1993 World Junior Championship
 * 1994 Winter Olympics (bronze medal)
 * 1994 World Championship (silver medal)
 * 1995 World Championship (gold medal)
 * 1996 World Championship
 * 1996 World Cup of Hockey
 * 1997 World Championship
 * 1998 Winter Olympics (bronze medal)
 * 1998 World Championship (silver medal)
 * 1999 World Championship (silver medal)
 * 2000 World Championship (bronze medal)
 * 2003 World Championship
 * 2004 World Championship
 * 2004 World Cup of Hockey (silver medal)
 * 2005 World Championship
 * 2006 Winter Olympics (silver medal)
 * 2006 World Championship (bronze medal)
 * 2007 World Championship (silver medal)
 * 2008 World Championship (bronze medal)
 * 2010 Winter Olympics (bronze medal)

As the coach:


 * 2015 World Championship (Finland)
 * 2016 World Championship (Finland) (silver medal)
 * 2021 World Championship (Germany)

Awards

 * Jarmo Wasama memorial trophy for best rookie in the SM-liiga - 1993
 * World Championships Tournament All-Star - 1995, 1998, 2004
 * World Championships Scorer of the CWG - 1995
 * AHL Player of the Week - March 2, 1997
 * SM-liiga Championship - 2002 Jokerit, 2011 HIFK
 * SM-liiga All-Star Team - 2003, 2011
 * SM-liiga Gentleman of the Year (Raimo Kilpiö Trophy) - 2003, 2011
 * NLA Forward of the Year - 2004
 * NLA Media All-Star Team - 2004, 2005
 * NLA Media MVP - 2004
 * NLA Media Best Forward - 2005
 * NLA Championship - 2006 HC Lugano, 2017 SC Bern (as coach)
 * KHL All-Star Game - 2010
 * Spengler Cup winner - 2010
 * Lasse Oksanen Award - 2011
 * SM-liiga Golden Helmet - 2011
 * SM-liiga Player of the Month - September 2010, February 2011