Tomasz Valtonen (born 8 January 1980) is a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

-born

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 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 ...

. He is currently the head coach for the HK Dukla Ingema Michalovce of the highest Slovak Tipos Extra League and the

Poland men's national ice hockey team The Poland national men's ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of Poland, and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. They are ranked 21st in the world in the IIHF World Rankings, but prior to the 1980s they were ranked as ...

. Valtonen was drafted by the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

as their second-round draft pick (56th overall) 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 ...

. Valtonen was born in

Piotrków Trybunalski Piotrków Trybunalski (; also known by #Etymology, alternative names), often simplified to Piotrków, is a city in central Poland with 71,252 inhabitants (2021). It is the second-largest city situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. Previously, it wa ...

to a Polish mother and a Finnish father. The family moved to Finland when Tomek was young, and he grew up in

Kitee Kitee ( sv, Kides) is a town and a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the North Karelia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The populati ...

. He started his pro career in

Ilves Ilves (; Finnish for " Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Tampere Deck Arena. The colors of Ilves, green, yellow, and black, were taken from what was then the coat of arms of the city ...

in 1997 and played his next season with the

Plymouth Whalers The Plymouth Whalers were a major junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League. They played out of Compuware Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, USA, a suburb of Detroit until 2015 when they were relocated to Flint, Michigan. History The Whalers ...

in the

OHL OHL or Ohl may refer to: Initialisms *Latvian Hockey Higher League, known in Latvian as the ''Optibet hokeja līga'' *Oberste Heeresleitung, the Supreme Army Command of Germany in World War I *Obrascón Huarte Lain, a Spanish construction company * ...

, and returned to 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 ...

in 1999 and represented Jokerit until 2007, when he signed a two-year contract with

Södertälje SK Södertälje Sportklubb, also known as Södertälje SK and often referred to as SSK, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club playing in HockeyAllsvenskan, the second highest level of pro hockey in Sweden. Södertälje were charter members of Eli ...

. Valtonen returned to

and

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 ...

for season 2008-2009. He has won the SM-liiga championship, three silver medals, and the under-20s World Championship.

Coaching career

, A-juniors (2010–2012) * Jokerit, (assistant coach 2012–2013 and head coach 2013–2014) *

Vaasan Sport Sport, known by its full name as ''Hockey Team Vaasan Sport OY'', is a Finnish ice hockey team playing in Liiga, and is based at Vaasa Arena (capacity 4448) in Vaasa. The team was established in 1939 as IF Sport (Idrottsföreningen Sport). Hist ...

, (2014–2018) *

Poland national ice hockey team The Poland national men's ice hockey team is the national ice hockey team of Poland, and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. They are ranked 21st in the world in the IIHF World Rankings, but prior to the 1980s they were ranked as ...

, (2018–2020) *

Podhale Nowy Targ Podhale Nowy Targ is a Polish ice hockey club based in Nowy Targ, Poland. They currently play in the Polska Hokej Liga The Polska Hokej Liga is the premier ice hockey league in Poland. Previously, it was known as the I Liga or Ekstraklasa from ...

, (2018–2019) *

Ravensburg Towerstars The Ravensburg Towerstars, also known as EV Ravensburg, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ravensburg, Germany, and one of the oldest clubs in the country. They currently play in DEL2, the second level of ice hockey in Germany. Prior to ...

(2019) *

Mora IK Mora IK (or Mora Ishockeyklubb) is a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Mora in northern Dalarna. After failing the 2019 SHL qualifiers, Mora has been relegated for play in the second-tier league, HockeyAllsvenskan. Mora has previously pla ...

(2019–2020) *

HK Dukla Michalovce HK Dukla Michalovce is a professional ice hockey team playing in the Tipsport Liga (hockey), Slovak Extraliga, the top level of ice hockey in the country. They play in the city of Michalovce, Slovakia at Michalovce Ice Stadium. History The club wa ...

(2020–2022)

Career statistics

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Valtonen, Tomek 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Piotrków Trybunalski Detroit Red Wings draft picks Finnish ice hockey coaches Finnish ice hockey left wingers Finnish people of Polish descent Ilves players Jokerit players Kiekko-Vantaa players Plymouth Whalers players Poland men's national ice hockey team coaches Polish emigrants to Finland Polish ice hockey players Södertälje SK players