| Matias Rajaniemi | |
| Birth Date: | 11 September 2002 |
| Birth Place: | Lahti, Finland |
| Height Ft: | 6 |
| Height In: | 4 |
| Weight Lb: | 205 |
| Position: | Defence |
| Shoots: | Left |
| League: | AHL |
| Team: | Bridgeport Islanders |
| Former Teams: | Lahti Pelicans SaiPa |
| Draft: | 183rd overall |
| Draft Year: | 2020 |
| Draft Team: | New York Islanders |
| Career Start: | 2020 |
Matias Rajaniemi (born 11 September 2002) is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenceman for the Bridgeport Islanders of the American Hockey League (AHL). Rajaniemi was drafted in the sixth round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Islanders with the 183rd overall pick.[1] [2]
Rajaniemi played as a youth within the Lahti Pelicans organization before making his professional debut in the Liiga with the Pelicans during the 2019–20 season. He registered 2 assists through 12 games.
During his fourth season with the Pelicans, having featured in 6 games, Rajaniemi left the club to sign a two-year contract and immediately join SaiPa of the Liiga on 22 November 2022.[3]
At the conclusion of his contract with SaiPa, Rajaniemi joined the New York Islanders affiliate, the Bridgeport Islanders, on an initial ATO for the remainder of the 2023–24 season while signing a one-year contract for the following season on March 26, 2024.[4]
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | League | GP | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||||||
| 2018–19 | Jr. A | 34 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||
| 2019–20 | Lahti Pelicans | Jr. A | 39 | 2 | 15 | 17 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Lahti Pelicans | Liiga | 12 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Mestis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Lahti Pelicans | Liiga | 46 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 20 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||
| Lahti Pelicans | Liiga | 58 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 24 | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Lahti Pelicans | Liiga | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2022–23 | Liiga | 25 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| SaiPa | Liiga | 53 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| Liiga totals | 200 | 4 | 26 | 30 | 74 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||
| Year | Team | Event | Result | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Finland | WJC | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2022 | Finland | WJC | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Junior totals | 12 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||||