Joonas Kemppainen (born 7 April 1988) 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 Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

who currently plays for

Oulun Kärpät Oulun Kärpät (Finnish for "Oulu Ermines", sometimes referred to as Kärpät Oulu) is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Oulu and playing in the top-tier Finnish Liiga. Kärpät have won the Finnish championship title eight times ...

of the

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 ...

Playing career

Undrafted, Kemppainen played nine seasons in the Finnish

with

Ässät Ässät or Ässä may refer to: * HC Ässät Pori Oy, Finnish sports club ** Porin Ässät (men's ice hockey) ** Porin Ässät (women's ice hockey) ** Porin Ässät (men's football) ** PATA (esports) *, Finnish band from Oulu *S Group, Finnish Con ...

HPK Hämeenlinnan Pallokerho (HPK) is a professional ice hockey team in the Liiga, the top men's ice hockey league in Finland. Their home ice is the Ritari-areena in Hämeenlinna. HPK was established in 1929. The parent club of the team is HPK Edu ...

and

. After his second consecutive season of 30 plus points with Kärpät in the 2014–15 season, on 21 May 2015, Boston Bruins general manager

Don Sweeney Donald Clarke Sweeney (born August 17, 1966) is a Canadian former ice hockey defenceman who played over 1,100 games in the National Hockey League (NHL), mostly with the Boston Bruins. He ranks among the top ten in many Bruins team statistics, inc ...

announced that the club had signed Kemppainen to a one-year, two-way NHL contract for the 2015–16 season. He picked up his first NHL assist and scored his first NHL goal on 23 October 2015, against

Jaroslav Halák Jaroslav Halák (; born 13 May 1985) is a Slovak professional ice hockey goaltender for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Halák was selected with the 271st overall pick by the Montreal Canadiens in the ninth and final ro ...

of the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

in a 5-3 Bruins victory. Less than a year after coming to the United States, Kemppainen signed a deal with KHL hockey club Sibir Novosibirsk on 14 May 2016. Following two productive seasons with

Salavat Yulaev Ufa Hockey Club Salavat Yulaev (russian: Хоккейный клуб «Салават Юлаев», Hokkejnyj klub «Salavat Julajev»; ba, «Салауат Юлаев» хоккей клубы, «Salawat Yulayev» xokkey klubı), commonly referred ...

, including reaching the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2018–19 season, posting 14 points in 17 games, Kemppaninen secured a lucrative one-year contract with SKA Saint Petersburg on 1 May 2019. Kemppaninen played three seasons with SKA Saint Petersburg before leaving following the 2021–22 campaign to return to his native Finland on a one-year contract with former club, Kärpät of the Liiga, on 27 April 2022.

International play

Kemppainen competed in the

2015 IIHF World Championships The 2015 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 79th such event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Teams participated at several levels of competition, which also served as qualification for division placements in the 2016 Me ...

, finishing third on Team

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

in scoring in his debut senior tournament.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* 1988 births Living people Ässät players Boston Bruins players Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Finnish ice hockey forwards HPK players Mikkelin Jukurit players Oulun Kärpät players Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players of Finland People from Kajaani Providence Bruins players Salavat Yulaev Ufa players HC Sibir Novosibirsk players SKA Saint Petersburg players Undrafted National Hockey League players Sportspeople from Kainuu {{Finland-icehockey-centre-stub