Jarkko Immonen Explained

Jarkko Immonen
Birth Date:19 April 1982
Birth Place:Rantasalmi, Finland
Height Ft:5
Height In:11
Weight Lb:201
Position:Centre
Shoots:Right
League:Liiga
Team:Jukurit
Former Teams:Ässät
JYP Jyväskylä
New York Rangers
Ak Bars Kazan
Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod
EV Zug
Ntl Team:FIN
Draft:254th overall
Draft Year:2002
Draft Team:Toronto Maple Leafs
Career Start:1998
Career End:2024

Jarkko Immonen (born April 19, 1982) is a Finnish professional ice hockey forward currently playing for Mikkelin Jukurit of the Liiga.

Playing career

Immonen made his debut in Finland's second-tier league Mestis with TuTo Hockey during the 2000–01 season. For the following year, he joined Ässät of the country's top-tier Liiga. He then signed with fellow Liiga side JYP Jyväskylä in 2002 and remained three years at the club.

Immonen was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft as their eighth round pick, 254th overall.

On March 3, 2004, Immonen was traded by the Maple Leafs to the New York Rangers as part of the Brian Leetch trade.[1] He made his NHL debut for the Rangers during the 2005–06 season. In the course of his two-year stint with the Rangers, he played a total of 20 games in the NHL and mostly gained playing time in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Hartford Wolf Pack. In his 141 AHL contests played, he scored 54 goals and had 75 assists.[2]

He returned to Finland for the 2007-08 campaign, again joining JYP, where he spent another two years and won the Finnish championship in 2009, before signing with Ak Bars Kazan of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) shortly after. In his first year, he won the championship with Kazan. After four years with Ak Bars, Immonen decided to move on and join fellow KHL team Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod for the 2014–15 season.

On March 30, 2015, he agreed to a two-year contract with Swiss club, EV Zug of the NLA.[3] At the conclusion of his contract with Zug, Immonen returned to Finland to play with his original club, JYP on a three-year contract from the 2017–18 season. [4]

On 14 April 2021, Immonen extended his professional career, leaving JYP as a free agent and signing a one-year contract with fellow Liiga club, Mikkelin Jukurit.[5]

ON 5 May 2024, Immonen announced his retirement via an Instagram post.[6]

International play

Immonen won the bronze medal with Finland at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.[7] He won the gold medal with Finland at the 2011 IIHF World Championship, where he scored the most goals (9 in 9 games) and the most points (12) in the tournament. He was also named to the all-star lineup.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Team League GP GPG A Pts PIM
1997–98SaPKoFIN.2 U2014812200
1998–99SaPKoFIN.2 U20126101614
1998–99SaPKoFIN.2362246
1999–2000SaPKoFIN.2 U20211210
1999–2000SaPKoFIN.24218163434
2000–01TuToFIN U2010110
2000–01TuToMestis412020402211571210
2001–02ÄssätSM-l440226
2001–02ÄssätFIN.2 U2054046
2002–03JYPSM-l561023333471128
2003–04JYPSM-l522326492820000
2004–05JYPSM-l541928472430222
2005–06Hartford Wolf PackAHL743040703462352
2005–06New York RangersNHL62020
2006–07Hartford Wolf PackAHL542026463072682
2006–07New York RangersNHL141564
2007–08JYPSM-l542637635461898
2008–09JYPSM-l5823416440151101124
2009–10Ak Bars KazanKHL561326392622410148
2010–11Ak Bars KazanKHL532117383092462
2011–12Ak Bars KazanKHL531412268120220
2012–13Ak Bars KazanKHL50112031101844812
2013–14Torpedo Nizhny NovgorodKHL541424381873142
2014–15Torpedo Nizhny NovgorodKHL571722392652242
2015–16EV ZugNLA492417412240224
2016–17EV ZugNLA491214262815461041
2017–18JYPLiiga5913375014631414
2018–19JYPLiiga601532474230112
2019–20JYPLiiga5921234414
2020–21JYPLiiga5913152814
2021–22JukuritLiiga601810282471122
Liiga totals615182274456294497243160
NHL totals203584
KHL totals323901212111187315233826

International

YearTeamEventResultGPGAPtsPIM
2000FinlandWJC1873474
2002FinlandWJC74376
2009FinlandWC5th71452
FinlandOG60000
2010FinlandWC6th73144
2011FinlandWC993122
2012FinlandWC4th103250
FinlandOG52022
2014FinlandWC103362
2015FinlandWC6th70002
Junior totals 14771410
Senior totals 6121133414

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Rangers trade Brian Leetch to Toronto . . March 3, 2004 . March 3, 2004.
  2. Web site: TheAHL.com The American Hockey League. theahl.com. 2016-05-08.
  3. Web site: Zug signs Finnish World Champion Jarkko Immonen for the next two seasons . swisshockeynews.ch . March 30, 2015 . March 30, 2015.
  4. Web site: Jarkko Immonen has signed a three-year contract with JYP . swisshockeynews.ch . June 4, 2017 . June 5, 2017.
  5. Web site: Jukurit sign veteran Jarkko Immonen . . 14 April 2021 . 14 April 2021 . Finnish.
  6. Web site: Jarkko Immonen retires . . 5 May 2024 . 5 May 2024 . English.
  7. Web site: Finland claim Bronze at Vancouver . . 2010-02-03 . 2010-02-03.