Ilari Antti Sakari Filppula (born 5 November 1981) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

forward currently playing for the TPS in the Finnish

Liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding lea ...

. He is the older brother of Valtteri Filppula.

Playing career

Filppula started his pro career in

Kiekko-Vantaa Kiekko-Vantaa is an ice hockey team from Vantaa, Finland, playing in the Mestis league. It plays its home games in Trio Areena. Kiekko-Vantaa has been in Mestis since the league started in 2000 and have been in the finals twice, losing both times ...

, in the Finnish lower leagues, and after two years with JYP, he spent a season with

Jokerit Helsingin Jokerit (English: Jokers or Jesters) are a professional ice hockey team based in Helsinki, Finland. The team won six league championships as a member of the Finnish SM-liiga (1973, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997, and 2002). Jokerit plays its h ...

, and then returned to JYP with a two-year contract. In 2008, he signed a 2-year contract with TPS. Filppula won the Jari Kurri trophy in 2010. On 15 June 2010, Filppula signed a one-year,

two-way contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless of ...

with the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings assigned Filppula to their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, during training camp. In his first season in North America, Filppula participated in the AHL All-Star game and finished the season first on the Grand Rapids Griffins in assists and points. Despite leading the Griffins with 64 points, Filppula was not given an opportunity in the NHL with the Red Wings and on 19 May 2011, he returned to Finland with Jokerit, signing a four-year deal. In 2013 he signed a one-year contract with

HC CSKA Moscow HC CSKA Moscow (1946–present, russian: ЦСКА Москва, Центральный Спортивный Клуб Армии, ''Central Sports Club of the Army, Moscow'') is a Russian professional ice hockey club based in Moscow. The club i ...

of the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs ba ...

. At the completion of the 2013–14 season, Filppula left the KHL to sign a two-year contract with Swiss club,

HC Lugano Hockey Club Lugano, often abbreviated to HC Lugano or HCL, is a professional ice hockey club based in Lugano, Switzerland. The team competes in the National League (NL) and has won seven Swiss championships. History The founding of HC Lugano took ...

of the

National League A The National League (NL) is a professional ice hockey league in Switzerland and is the top tier of the Swiss league system. Prior to the 2017–18 season, the league was known as National League A. During the 2018–19 season, the league h ...

on 8 April. 2014. In the final year of his contract in Lugano, Filppula moved in a mid-season transfer to the SHL, signing for the remainder of the 2015–16 campaign with

Modo Hockey Modo Hockey (or MoDo with uppercase letters) is a professional ice hockey club in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The team plays in Sweden's second-tier league HockeyAllsvenskan. The club was founded in 1987 and has won one SHL championships; in 2007. ...

. Unable to help Modo retain their SHL status, Filppula left the club in the off-season, signing a one-year deal to remain in the top-flight league with the Malmö Redhawks on 9 April 2016. He returned to TPS in Finnish Liiga for season 2017-18.

Career statistics

References

External links

* 1981 births Living people HC CSKA Moscow players Finnish ice hockey centres Grand Rapids Griffins players Kiekko-Vantaa players Jokerit players JYP Jyväskylä players HC Lugano players Modo Hockey players Sportspeople from Vantaa HC TPS players Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden Malmö Redhawks players {{Finland-icehockey-centre-stub