Ossi Reijo Juhani Väänänen (born August 18, 1980) 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 ...

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 h ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

. He was the captain of

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 ...

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 ...

(KHL), with whom he has previously won two silver medals as runner-up for the

Kanada-malja The Kanada-malja is an ice hockey club championship trophy, awarded annually to the winner of the Finnish Liiga playoffs. Kanada-malja is Finnish for "Canada Bowl"; the trophy is so named because it was donated by Canada's Finnish community in 19 ...

in 2000 and 2005 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 was originally drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes and has additionally played for the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home games in Well ...

and

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

in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL).

Playing career

After a

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career with

's under-18 and junior teams, Väänänen was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft as their second-round pick, 43rd overall. He remained in Finland to play with Jokerit in the professional

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 ...

for two seasons, winning a silver medal with the team in 2000 as runner-up for the

, the SM-liiga's championship trophy. Väänänen then joined the Coyotes in 2000–01 and recorded 16 points in his rookie season. In his fourth season with the Coyotes in 2003–04, he was traded at the trade deadline to the

(along with Chris Gratton and a second-round draft choice, used to select

Paul Stastny Paul Stastny (born December 27, 1985) is a Canadian-born American professional ice hockey center for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has previously played for the Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Blues, Winnipeg Jets ...

) in 2005 in exchange for Derek Morris and

Keith Ballard Keith Galen Ballard (born November 26, 1982) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who previously played in the National Hockey League with the Phoenix Coyotes, Florida Panthers, Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Wild. He played ...

. Due to the subsequent

NHL lockout The NHL lockout may refer to any of the four labour actions in the history of the National Hockey League: * The 1992 NHL strike, which postponed 30 games of the 1991–92 season * The 1994–95 NHL lockout, which cancelled many of the games of ...

, Väänänen returned to Jokerit in 2004–05 and helped his former team to another silver medal, losing the Finnish championship to Kärpät. Returning to the NHL in 2005–06, he played two more seasons with the Avalanche before returning to Europe to play in the Swedish Elitserien for

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is name ...

during the 2007–08 season. On July 1, 2008, Väänänen signed a one-year contract with the

. However, late in the 2008–09 season, on February 27, 2009, he was placed on waivers and claimed by the

. The move by the Flyers, which also included waiving Glen Metropolit, was precipitated by the imminent return of forward

Daniel Brière Daniel Jean-Claude Brière (born October 6, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and executive. He was drafted in the first round of the 1996 NHL Entry Draft by the Phoenix Coyotes, and also played for the Buffalo Sabres, Ph ...

from injury, requiring the club to dump salary to remain under the cap. On August 2, 2009, Väänänen joined national teammate

Ville Peltonen Ville Sakari Peltonen (born 24 May 1973) is a Finnish ice hockey coach and a former professional ice hockey forward. Peltonen was drafted by the San Jose Sharks as their third round pick, 58th overall, in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. During his ...

, signing a one-year contract with Dynamo Minsk of the

(KHL). He appeared in 52 games and recorded 6 assists as Minsk failed to make the playoffs in 2009–10. On May 3, 2010, Väänänen returned to Finland signing a contract with his original club, Jokerit, of the SM-liiga. On July 13, 2016, after six additional seasons with Jokerit, Väänänen retired from professional hockey, having been restricted to just six games due to injury in the 2015–16 season.

International play

As a junior, Väänänen competed for Finland at the European Junior Championships in 1998 and World Junior Championships in

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and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. At the senior level, he has represented team Finland in five

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, earning a silver medal in 2001 and a bronze medal in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. In 2011 he won a gold medal. At the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, Väänänen contributed an international career-high three points in four games, helping

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 ...

to the

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final, where they were defeated by

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. He made his

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

debut at the 2002 Games in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

. Four years later, he was named to the Finnish team for the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

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, where he earned a silver medal despite not appearing in any games.

Awards

*Won the Finnish Junior Player of the Year Award in 2000.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Transactions

*June 27, 1998 – Drafted in the second round, 43rd overall, by the Phoenix Coyotes at the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. *March 9, 2004 – Traded to the

from the Phoenix Coyotes along with Chris Gratton and a second-round choice (

) in 2005 in exchange for Derek Morris and

*December 1, 2004 – Signed as a free agent by

. *July 1, 2008 – Signed to a one-year contract by the

. *February 27, 2009 – Put on waivers by the Philadelphia Flyers, claimed by the

. ''Source: ''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaananen, Ossi 1980 births Living people Arizona Coyotes draft picks Colorado Avalanche players Djurgårdens IF Hockey players Finnish ice hockey defencemen HC Dinamo Minsk players Ice hockey players at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2014 Winter Olympics Jokerit players Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic ice hockey players of Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Sportspeople from Vantaa Philadelphia Flyers players Phoenix Coyotes players Vancouver Canucks players