Niko Klaus Petteri Kapanen (born 29 April 1978) is a Finnish former 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 ...

centre, who last played for

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 ...

of 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 leagu ...

Playing career

Kapanen was drafted by the Dallas Stars in the 6th round as the 173rd overall pick in the

1998 NHL Entry Draft The 1998 NHL Entry Draft was the 36th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 27 at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, New York. A total of 258 players were drafted. The last active players in the NHL from this draft class were Brian Gionta, Mi ...

. During the 2005–06 season, Kapanen recorded a career high in goals (14) and points (35). He scored his first career hat-trick on February 9, 2006 against the

Phoenix 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 Mull ...

in a 5–1 victory. On June 24, 2006, Kapanen was traded by the Stars to the

Atlanta Thrashers The Atlanta Thrashers were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta. Atlanta was granted a franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL) on June 25, 1997, and became the League's 28th franchise when it began play in the 1999–2000 seaso ...

, along with 7th round draft pick in 2006, for defenceman

Jaroslav Modrý Jaroslav Modrý (born 27 February 1971) is a Czech former professional ice hockey defenseman who played 13 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New Jersey Devils, Ottawa Senators, Los Angeles Kings, Atlanta Thrashers, Dallas Star ...

and centerman

Patrik Štefan Patrik Štefan (born 16 September 1980) is a Czech former professional ice hockey player who was drafted first overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. Playing career Prior to being drafted by the Thrashers, Štefan played ...

. During his first season with the Thrashers, Kapanen was picked up off the waiver list by the

. On June 9, 2008, Kapanen left the NHL and signed for Ak Bars Kazan of the Kontinental Hockey League. After five seasons with Ak Bars, Kapanen left as a free agent to sign a multi-year contract with Czech club HC Lev Praha of the KHL on August 11, 2013. Hampered by injury, Kapanen had a less than successful regular 2013–14 season with Praha, but redeemed himself in playoffs to post 11 points in 21 games as Lev reached the Gagarin Cup finals. Kapanen association with Lev was ended after one-year upon the club announcing financial bankruptcy. On July 10, 2014, Kapanen signed a one-year contract with new Finnish KHL entrant, Jokerit.

International play

Kapanen had a highly decorated international career with

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 collecting a medal at every level played. He made his debut as a junior in the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

World Junior Championships, claiming a gold medal at the following junior Championships in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. At the senior men's level Kapanen competed in 9 World Championships in capturing 5 medals, including a gold at the 2011 World Championships. He twice represented Finland at the Winter Olympics claiming a Silver and Bronze at the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

tournaments respectively.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kapanen, Niko Living people 1978 births Ak Bars Kazan players Atlanta Thrashers players Dallas Stars draft picks Dallas Stars players EV Zug players Expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Finnish ice hockey centres HPK players Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics Jokerit players HC Lev Praha players Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic ice hockey players of Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Olympic silver medalists for Finland People from Hattula Phoenix Coyotes players HC TPS players Utah Grizzlies (AHL) players Sportspeople from Kanta-Häme