Jere Sallinen

Jere Sallinen (born on October 26, 1990 in Espoo) is a Finnish professional ice hockey left winger/center who is currently the team's captain of the HIFK of the Liiga. He was selected by the Minnesota Wild in the 6th round (163rd overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

His older brother Tomi also plays ice hockey.

Club career
Sallinen began his junior career with the Kiekko-Espoo organisation. After 11 games played with the Kiekko-Espoo under-16 team in the 2005-06 season, Sallinen moved to the Blues organisation and finished the 2005-06 season with 1 regular season game and 5 play-off games played with the Blues under-16 team. Sallinen continued playing junior hockey with the Blues organisation, before making his senior debut with the Blues of the SM-liiga in the 2007-08 season. In this season, he played 6 games with the Blues of the SM-liiga, 36 regular season games and 3 play-off games with the Blues under-20 team and 8 qualification games, 13 regular season games and 4 play-off games with the Blues under-18 team.

In the 2008-09 season, Sallinen played only with the Blues under-20 team. Sallinen played next senior games in the 2009-10 season. He played 38 regular season games and 3 play-off games with the Blues of the SM-liiga and 3 games on loan with the Suomi U20 of the Mestis.

In the 2010-11 season, Sallinen played whole season, except three play-off games with the Blues U20, with the Blues of the SM-liiga. He played there 55 regular season games and 11 play-off games in this season.

He also began the 2011-12 season with the Blues. In the middle of this season, after 21 games played and while still attempting to establish himself at the SM-liiga level, he was loaned to fellow SM-liiga club, the HPK to finish out the 2011-12 season. He played there 11 games in this season. He also played 15 games on loan with the Jokipojat of the Mestis in this season.

On May 2, 2012, Sallinen made the permanent move to the HPK from the Blues on a two-year deal. He responded instantly to his new club in breaking out with a career high 15 goals and 42 points in 57 games in the 2012-13 season. In this season, he also won the Matti Keinonen Trophy for the player with the best plus/minus (+26) in the SM-liiga. In the second year of his contract with the HPK, Sallinen was unable to reproduce his offensive presence from the previous campaign and after 51 games played with the HPK of the Liiga (formerly SM-liiga), he was a late season transfer candidate in agreeing to move to the SHL with the Örebro HK on February 21, 2014. He finished there the 2013-14 season with 6 regular season games and 10 Kvalserien SHL games played.

After helping Örebro HK avoid relegation, Sallinen as a free agent agreed to sign with a KHL entrant, the Jokerit on a two-year deal on April 14, 2014. Over two seasons with Jokerit, Sallinen appeared in 98 regular season games for 34 points. He added another 4 points in 16 play-off games.

Following Jokerit's surprise first round defeat to Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in the 2015-16 season, Sallinen as a free agent agreed to pursue an NHL career in signing a one-year entry-level contract with the Edmonton Oilers organisation on March 13, 2016. In the 2016-17 season, Sallinen was unable to make an impact in North America, registering just 10 points in 53 games with the Oilers' AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors.

With the Condors unable to gain a post-season berth, Sallinen as an impending free agent opted to return to Sweden for a second stint with the Örebro HK of the SHL. He signed a two-year contract on May 12, 2017 and led the Örebro HK as the team's captain for these two seasons.

At the conclusion of his contract in Sweden, Sallinen returned to the Liiga, agreeing to an optional two-year deal with the HIFK on May 7, 2019. He served as the team's captain in both seasons.

International career
Sallinen participated as a member of the Finnish National Team at the 2008 World U18 Championship, 2010 World Junior Championship and at the 2014 and 2019 World Championship s (winning silver at the 2014 tournament and gold in 2019).