Lauri Korpikoski (born 28 July 1986) 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 ...

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who is currently playing for

HC TPS TPS or Turun Palloseura is an ice hockey team and 10-time champion of SM-liiga and 1-time champion of SM-sarja. They play in Turku, Finland, at Gatorade Center. In terms of championships, TPS is the second all-time most successful team in SM-L ...

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 lea ...

. Korpikoski has previously played in the NHL for the

Arizona Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are a professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Coyotes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and currently play at the Mul ...

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minne ...

Columbus Blue Jackets The Columbus Blue Jackets (often simply referred to as the Jackets) are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ...

and the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

, the organization that drafted him in the first round, 19th overall, at the

2004 NHL Entry Draft The 2004 NHL Entry Draft was the 42nd NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 26 and 27, 2004 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is especially notable because it was the last NHL event to take place before the beginning of the lockout ...

Playing career

Korpikoski was drafted in the first round, 19th overall, in the

by the

. He originally played for TPS' junior team in the

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 ...

before moving up to the main team for the 2004–05 season. He then played two seasons of professional hockey in Finland before joining the Rangers'

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

(AHL) affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, after TPS' 2005–06 season; he played five regular season games and 11 playoff games for Hartford for the team's 2005–06 season. In 2006–07, Korpikoski had 11 goals and 38 points for the Wolf Pack, while in 2007–08, in his second year with the team, he bested his previous year's totals, scoring 23 goals and having 50 points, also scoring two points in five Calder Cup playoff games. Following Hartford's first round exit from the playoffs, Korpikoski was named to the Rangers' reserves squad for the team's 2008 Stanley Cup playoff run. On 4 May, he dressed for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have playe ...

, and 2:03 into the game's third period, he scored his first career NHL goal on just his second-ever shot. The goal brought the Rangers to within one goal of tying (which they did), although the team eventually lost in

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

, eliminating them from the playoffs. After scoring points in every pre-season game in which he played, Korpikoski survived cuts to make the Rangers' 23-man roster for the start of the 2008–09 season, the only rookie to make the team. He later scored his first career regular season NHL goal against

Kevin Weekes Kevin Weekes (born April 4, 1975) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played 348 games in the National Hockey League (NHL). He is now a studio analyst for NHL Networks' ''On the Fly'', '' NHL Tonight'', and ESPN's The Po ...

of the New Jersey Devils on 12 November 2008. On 13 July 2009, Korpikoski was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for

Enver Lisin Enver Gennadievich Lisin (russian: Э́нвер Генна́дьевич Ли́син; born April 22, 1986) is a Russian professional ice hockey forward who is currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played for Traktor Chelyabi ...

. On 11 July 2013, the Coyotes re-signed Korpikoski to a four-year contract extension. On 30 June 2015, with two seasons left on his contract, Korpikoski was traded by the rebuilding Coyotes to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Boyd Gordon. He scored his first career NHL hat trick on 11 December 2015 against the

. After only one year in Edmonton, on 30 June 2016, Korpikoski was placed on unconditional waivers by the Oilers for the purpose of buying out the final year of his contract. LauriKorpikoski

Before the start of the 2016–17 season, the

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

signed Korpikoski to a professional try-out contract to attend training camp on 22 September 2016. Despite a successful pre-season with the Flames, Korpikoski was without a contract with the Flames. On 9 October, he was released at his request to pursue a contract offer. The following day he signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the

. Korpokoski cemented his role within the Stars checking lines, scoring 8 goals and 20 points in 60 games before he was dealt with the Stars out of post-season contention, to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Dillon Heatherington on 1 March 2017. After ending his NHL career, as an unsigned free agent, Korpikoski joined Swiss club,

ZSC Lions The Zürcher Schlittschuh Club Lions (ZSC Lions) are a professional ice hockey team located in Zürich, Switzerland, playing in the National League (NL). Their home arena is the 12,000-seat Swiss Life Arena. The team was founded in 1930 and play ...

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 ...

for the duration of the 2017–18 season. In helping the Lions capture the Swiss championship, Korpikoski produced 2 goals and 6 points in 16 post-season games. Korpikoski left Switzerland after one season, and opted to return to his native Finland, securing a long-term 6-year contract with former club, HC TPS of the Liiga, on May 21, 2018.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Korpikoski, Lauri 1986 births Living people Arizona Coyotes players EHC Biel players Columbus Blue Jackets players Dallas Stars players Edmonton Oilers players Finnish ice hockey left wingers Hartford Wolf Pack players Ice hockey players at the 2014 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics National Hockey League first-round draft picks New York Rangers draft picks New York Rangers players Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic ice hockey players of Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Phoenix Coyotes players Sportspeople from Turku HC TPS players ZSC Lions players