Juhamatti Tapio Aaltonen (born 4 June 1985) is a Finnish professional ice hockey winger, who currently plays for BK Mladá Boleslav of the Czech Extraliga. Known for his skill and skating speed, Aaltonen was drafted by the St. Louis Blues as the 248th selection overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

Juhamatti Aaltonen
Aaltonen in 2016 with HIFK
Born (1985-06-04) 4 June 1985 (age 39)
Ii, Finland
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 187 lb (85 kg; 13 st 5 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shoots Right
Czech Extraliga team
Former teams
BK Mladá Boleslav
Lahti Pelicans
Metallurg Magnitogorsk
Rögle BK
Jokerit
HIFK
SC Bern
Skellefteå AIK
Oulun Kärpät
National team  Finland
NHL draft 284th overall, 2003
St. Louis Blues
Playing career 2004–present

Playing career

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Aaltonen started his professional career with Oulun Kärpät, playing with the team from 2002 to 2009 winning Finnish championship twice. After the years he spent with Kärpät, Aaltonen moved to Lahti to play for Pelicans, where he played his breakthrough year scoring 28 goals and 49 points in 58 games in regular season. He signed a five-year contract with Pelicans, but the contract also gave Aaltonen a possibility to play in other leagues.

This option in his contract was exercised on 15 June 2010, when he was loaned from the Pelicans to Russian club, Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL.[1] Aaltonen was an integral part of Metallurg's offense in his two seasons in the KHL before he opted to sign with Swedish club, Rögle BK of the then Elitserien on 15 October 2012. He made his debut in Sweden two-days later and in the 2012–13 season, contributed with 31 points in 42 regular season games.

After a season's long return with his original Finnish club, Kärpät, Aaltonen signed for his third Finnish team, and only KHL participant, Jokerit on 1 August 2014.[2] After Jokerit he had a season with Helsinki IFK in Liiga moving to SHL with Rögle BK for the 2017–18 season. After the 2022–23 SHL season he left Scandinavia for a new experience and joined BK Mladá Boleslav playing the Czech Extraliga.[3]

International play

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Following the season 2009–10 season, he was selected to join the Finland men's national ice hockey team and he played at the 2010 IIHF World Championship.[4] He won the World Championship in 2011 IIHF World Championship. He also played in the 2014 Winter Olympics, scoring the game-tying goal against Russia in the quarterfinal and went on to win bronze.

Career statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2001–02 Kärpät FIN U18 23 9 20 28 2 0 0 0 0
2002–03 Kärpät FIN U18 2 5 1 6 6
2002–03 Kärpät FIN U20 33 19 3 22 30 1 0 0 0 7
2002–03 Kärpät FIN 1 0 0 0 0
2003–04 Kärpät FIN U20 32 30 15 45 32 3 1 0 1 2
2003–04 Kärpät FIN 8 0 0 0 2
2004–05 Kärpät FIN U20 34 27 23 50 38 5 0 2 2 22
2004–05 Kärpät FIN 6 0 0 0 0
2005–06 Kärpät FIN 50 13 12 25 28 9 0 0 0 0
2006–07 Kärpät FIN 53 11 21 32 48 10 1 4 5 6
2007–08 Kärpät FIN 44 9 17 26 20 15 3 2 5 4
2008–09 Kärpät FIN 53 11 21 32 14 15 3 6 9 2
2009–10 Pelicans FIN 58 28 21 49 56
2010–11 Metallurg Magnitogorsk KHL 54 20 19 39 22 20 6 3 9 16
2011–12 Metallurg Magnitogorsk KHL 54 22 9 31 26 8 1 2 3 2
2012–13 Rögle BK SEL 42 12 19 31 22
2013–14 Kärpät FIN 35 12 19 31 38 16 8 7 15 6
2014–15 Jokerit KHL 48 10 24 34 28 10 4 2 6 22
2015–16 Jokerit KHL 45 15 13 28 14 6 0 1 1 0
2016–17 HIFK FIN 52 19 20 39 28 13 0 5 5 2
2017–18 Rögle BK SHL 35 8 11 19 14
2017–18 SC Bern NL 2 1 1 2 0 3 1 1 2 0
2018–19 Skellefteå AIK SHL 35 1 8 9 6
2018–19 Pelicans FIN 11 9 4 13 8 6 1 4 5 0
2019–20 Pelicans FIN 48 17 20 37 22
2019–20 Kärpät FIN 12 2 5 7 2
2020–21 Kärpät FIN 32 7 20 27 16 5 2 4 6 2
2021–22 Kärpät FIN 58 14 21 35 30 7 1 2 3 2
KHL totals 201 67 65 132 90 44 11 8 19 40
FIN totals 521 151 201 352 312 96 19 34 53 24

International

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Medal record
Representing   Finland
Ice hockey
Winter Olympics
  2014 Sochi
World Championships
  2011 Slovakia
Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM
2003 Finland WJC18 6 0 1 1 4
2010 Finland WC 7 1 2 3 2
2011 Finland WC 9 1 2 3 6
2013 Finland WC 10 4 7 11 4
2014 Finland OLY 4 1 0 1 2
2015 Finland WC 8 1 3 4 2
2017 Finland WC 5 0 3 3 0
Junior totals 6 0 1 1 4
Senior totals 43 8 17 25 16

References

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  1. ^ "Magnitogorsk Metallurg's 2010-11 Roster". hockeydb.com. 2 October 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  2. ^ "Aaltonen agrees to contract with Jokerit" (in Finnish). Jokerit. 1 August 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Útočné řady Bruslařů rozšíří zkušený finský útočník Juhamatti Aaltonen" (in Czech). BK Mladá Boleslav. 29 May 2023.
  4. ^ IIHF (2010). IIHF Media Guide & Record Book 2011. Moydart Press. p. 317. ISBN 978-0-9867964-0-1.
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