Jani Lajunen (born 16 June 1990) is a Finnish 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 hock ...

forward who is currently playing with

Örebro HK Örebro HK is a Swedish ice hockey club located in Örebro. The team is currently playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien), the top tier of Swedish ice hockey, since the 2013–14 season. The team's home arena is Behrn Are ...

of the

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (officially SHL; sv, Svenska Hockeyligan) is a professional ice hockey league, and the highest division in the Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, an ...

(SHL). He was selected by the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

in the 7th round (201st overall) of the

2008 NHL Entry Draft The 2008 NHL Entry Draft was the 46th NHL Entry Draft. It was hosted by the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place in the city of Ottawa, Ontario, on June 20–21, 2008. The Senators were originally awarded the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, but because of ...

Playing career

Having made his debut in

SM-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 leagu ...

in 2008, he made quick progress and became one of the key players with

Espoo Blues The Espoo Blues were an ice hockey team in the SM-liiga. They played in Espoo, Finland, at the Espoo Metro Areena. The club went bankrupt at the end of the 2015–16 Liiga season. History The club was established in February 1984 as Kiekko-Espoo ...

. He was selected to the Finnish national team for the

2011 IIHF World Championship Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''E ...

. At the age of 20 he scored his first national team goal against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in the quarterfinals at his second game of the tournament. Lajunen also scored a goal in the semifinals against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Team Finland went all the way to the final game and swept Sweden 6–1, winning Finland's second IIHF World Championship gold medal to date. 19 February 2013, Lajunen was traded by the Predators to the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

for fellow minor leaguer Scott Ford. He then played for

Växjö Lakers Växjö Lakers Hockey Club (often referred to as the Växjö Lakers or VLH) is a Swedish ice hockey club from Växjö in Sweden. The club plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien), the top-level league of Swedish ice hockey, and ...

of the

for two seasons before returning to Finland in joining

Tappara Tappara (; Finnish for "Battle axe") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga. They play at ''Tampere Deck Arena'' in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 18 Finnish league championships (1959, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, ...

on a two-year deal, commencing from the 2015–16 season. On 5 May 2017 Lajunen agreed to a two-year contract with

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 The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

(NL). On December 24, 2018, Lajunen was signed to an early two-year contract extension by Lugano through to the end of the 2020–21 season. On 20 May 2021, Lajunen left the Swiss National League as a free agent after four seasons and returned to the SHL, in agreeing to a two-year contract with Örebro HK.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* 1990 births Living people Espoo Blues players HC Lugano players Milwaukee Admirals players Nashville Predators draft picks Örebro HK players Peoria Rivermen (AHL) players Tappara players Växjö Lakers players Finnish ice hockey centres Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Sportspeople from Espoo Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players of Finland {{finland-icehockey-centre-stub