Tommi Santala

Tommi Santala (born June 27, 1979 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish professional ice hockey player who is currently playing for HIFK of the Liiga.

Tommi Santala
Born (1979-06-27) June 27, 1979
Helsinki, Finland
Height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight 216 lb (98 kg; 15 st 6 lb)
Position Centre
Shoots Right
Liiga team
Former teams		 HIFK
EHC Kloten
Jokerit
HPK
Atlanta Thrashers
Vancouver Canucks
National team  Finland
NHL Draft 245th overall, 1999
Atlanta Thrashers
Playing career 1998–present

Playing career

Santala started his pro career in Jokerit in the Finnish SM-liiga in the 1998–99 season. After a total of four seasons with HPK, Santala moved to the Thrashers' organisation for the 2003–04 NHL season. Santala divided his time between 50 games in the AHL Chicago Wolves and 33 NHL games.[1] He spent the 2004–05 NHL lockout with the Wolves registering 40 assists and 48 points in 67 games. During the post-season he helped Chicago win the Robert W. Clarke Trophy, for AHL Western Conference Champions,[2] by adding 11 points in 18 games.[3] However, the Wolves were swept in the Calder Cup finals by the Philadelphia Phantoms.[4]

After the lockout, Santala was assigned to Jokerit by the Thrashers. He played one year with Jokerit before Atlanta traded him to the Vancouver Canucks. Santala played 30 games for the Canucks during the 2006–07 season, but he suffered a knee injury on December 8, 2006 in a game vs. the Carolina Hurricanes that forced him to miss the majority of the season.[1] On September 5, 2007 he signed as a free agent with Jokerit.[3]

After one season back with Jokerit, Santala opted to leave and sign with Swiss club, the Kloten Flyers from the 2008–09 season. He parted company with the team in December 2016 to join the KHL.[5] On December 23, 2016, he inked a deal with Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

Unhappy with his KHL experience, Santala returned to EHC Kloten on a one-year deal for the 2017-18 season.

International play

Santala played for Team Finland in the 1999 World Junior Championship registering two points through six games. He represented Finland at the World Championships in, 2003, 2006, 2009, and 2010. However, he only played one game for the 2006 Finnish team that won the Bronze medal. Santala had a much larger role for Finland during the 2002 Karlja Cup. Finland won the Gold and Santala was named a Second Team All-Star.[3]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs
Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1998–99 Jokerit SM-l 30 0 0 0 14 3 0 0 0 0
1999–00 Jokerit SM-l 14 0 1 1 2 — — — — —
1999–00 HPK SM-l 38 8 19 27 63 8 3 4 7 10
2000–01 HPK SM-l 56 16 24 40 90 — — — — —
2001–02 HPK SM-l 17 6 16 22 14 — — — — —
2002–03 HPK SM-l 50 13 38 51 92 13 6 6 12 18
2003–04 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 33 1 2 3 22 — — — — —
2003–04 Chicago Wolves AHL 50 15 22 37 34 10 1 6 7 31
2004–05 Chicago Wolves AHL 67 8 40 48 83 18 5 6 11 42
2005–06 Jokerit SM-l 43 9 23 32 80 — — — — —
2006–07 Manitoba Moose AHL 6 0 3 3 8 — — — — —
2006–07 Vancouver Canucks NHL 30 1 5 6 24 1 0 0 0 0
2007–08 Jokerit SM-l 56 28 30 58 82 13 4 12 16 18
2008–09 Kloten Flyers NLA 50 13 35 48 96 15 4 5 9 18
2009–10 Kloten Flyers NLA 4717324959 1045920
2010–11 Kloten Flyers NLA 49 10 36 46 78 16 4 7 11 32
2011–12 Kloten Flyers NLA 479354446 51234
2012–13 Kloten Flyers NLA 4511273862 —————
2013–14 Kloten Flyers NLA 3914253944 16591422
2014–15 Kloten Flyers NLA 399152442 —————
2015–16 Kloten Flyers NLA 4813263950 40226
NHL totals 63 2 7 9 46 1 0 0 0 0

International
Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
1999 Finland WJC 5th 6 1 1 2 6
2003 Finland WC 5th 7 0 1 1 6
2006 Finland WC 1 0 0 0 2
2009 Finland WC 5th 7 0 0 0 4
2010 Finland WC 6th 6 0 0 0 4
Junior totals 6 1 1 2 6
Senior totals 21 0 1 1 16

Transactions

References
  1. "Tommi Santala's player profile". Hockey Reference.com. Retrieved 2010-06-03.
  2. "Wolves team Awards and Honors". Chicago Wolves.com. Retrieved 2010-06-03.
  3. "Tommi Santala's bio". Legends of Hockey.net. Retrieved 2010-06-03.
  4. "Trophy Case: Calder Cup". AHL Hall of Fame.com. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
  5. "MM_Santala - EHC Kloten". EHC Kloten (in German). Archived from the original on 2016-12-22. Retrieved 2016-12-19.
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