Veini Vehviläinen (born 13 February 1997) 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 hock ...

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near t ...

. He is currently playing with

JYP Jyväskylä JYP is an ice hockey team playing in the Finnish top division Liiga. They play in Jyväskylä, Finland, at the LähiTapiola Areena. History JYP was founded in 1923. First it was the ice hockey section of the sports club ''Jyväskylän Palloilija ...

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 ...

. He was selected in the sixth round, 173rd overall, by the

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, ...

in the

2018 NHL Entry Draft The 2018 NHL Entry Draft was the 56th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 22–23, 2018, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The 2018 NHL Entry Draft was the second of two professional sports drafts to be held in the Dalla ...

Playing career

Vehviläinen began playing as a youth within

, playing in the junior ranks, he impressively backstopped the under 20 team in the Jr. A SM-liiga as a 16-year old in the 2013–14 season. Vehviläinen made his professional debut in the

Mestis Mestis (from fi, Mestaruussarja, meaning 'Championship series') is the second-highest men's ice hockey league in Finland. The league was established by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association in 2000 to replace the I-divisioona ('First Division'). ...

with

JYP-Akatemia JYP-Akatemia was a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Jyväskylä. The club played in the Mestis from 2008 to 2017, after acquiring the spot from D-Kiekko. During their inaugural season, JYP-Akatemia was known as D Team. It was renamed J ...

in the 2014–15 season, before stepping up to the

with JYP in the following 2015–16 season. On 18 April 2017, Vehviläinen left JYP and secured a two-year contract with

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 ...

. Establishing himself as the youngest starting goaltender in the Liiga, Vehviläinen quick ascension as the Liiga's best goaltender was realised in the 2017–18 season with Kärpät. He finished second in

goals against average Goals against average (GAA) also known as "average goals against" or "AGA" is a statistic used in field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a goaltender or goalkeeper (depending on s ...

and

save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various goal-scoring sports that track saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse, it is a statistic that represents the percentage of shots on goal ...

, finishing with 20 wins in 35 games. He helped Kärpät capture 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 195 ...

championship, posting 11 wins and 3 shutouts in 17 playoff games. He was named to the Liiga All-Star Team and captured the

Urpo Ylönen trophy The Urpo Ylönen trophy is an ice hockey award given by the Finnish Liiga to the best goalie of the season. It is named for Urpo Ylönen, former goaltender and later goaltender coach. In 2019 it was awarded to Veini Vehviläinen of Kärpät. Troph ...

as the league's best goaltender. After his selection by the Columbus Blue Jackets, 173rd overall, in the

, Vehviläinen returned to play with Oulun Kärpät for the 2018–19 season. In backstopping the league leading Oulun Kärpät, Vehviläinen continued his stellar play leading the league in GAA and SV% while also posting a Liiga best 25 wins and 6 shutouts. He helped Oulun return to the Championship finals, leading all goaltenders with a 1.47 GAA and 4 shutouts. He finished with a 11–6 record before falling to

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 ...

. On 4 June 2019, Vehviläinen at the conclusion of his contract with Kärpät agreed to a two-year, entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets. With the following

2020–21 NHL season The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Vehviläinen opted to continue playing in Europe after accepting a loan assignment from the Blue Jackets to play with former Finnish club, JYP Jyväskylä of the Liiga, on 8 September 2020. With the commencement of the North American season, Vehviläinen was assigned by the Blue Jackets returning to AHL affiliate, the

Cleveland Monsters The Cleveland Monsters are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). The team began play in 2007 as the Lake Erie Monsters and since 2015 has served as the top affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hock ...

. After one game with the Monsters, Vehviläinen was initially recalled by the Blue Jackets to the taxi squad before making his NHL debut in relief of

Joonas Korpisalo Joonas Korpisalo (; born 28 April 1994) is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). Playing career He was selected by the Blue Jackets in the third round (62nd overall) of t ...

, allowing 1 goal in the 11 minutes remaining of a 5–0 defeat to the

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 (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and were founde ...

on 6 March 2021. Reassigned to the Monsters, Vehviläinen was traded by the Blue Jackets to the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

in exchange for Mikko Lehtonen on 12 March 2021. He was immediately assigned to continue in the AHL with the

Toronto Marlies The Toronto Marlies are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the American Hockey League (AHL) as a member of the North Division of the Eastern Conference. The Marlies is owned by Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment, a c ...

. In four appearances with the Marlies, he collected 1 win. As a free agent from the Maple Leafs, Vehviläinen halted his North American career in agreeing to sign a one-year contract with Swedish club,

Brynäs IF Brynäs IF is a Swedish ice hockey team from Gävle. The club currently plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden. The club has played in the top-tier league since 1960, longer than any other team. History ...

of the

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (officially SHL; sv, Svenska Hockeyligan) is a professional ice hockey league, and the highest division in the Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, an ...

(SHL), on 26 July 2021. Entering his second season with Brynäs IF, Vehviläinen was winless in 5 games to open the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, before opting to leave the club and the SHL in order to return to his original Finnish club, JYP Jyväskylä of the Liiga, by agreeing to a three-year contract on 11 September 2022.

International play

Vehviläinen represented

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 ...

at the

2015 IIHF World U18 Championships The 2015 IIHF U18 World Championship was the 17th IIHF World U18 Championship, and was hosted by Zug and Lucerne, Switzerland. The tournament began on 16 April 2015, with the gold medal game played on 26 April 2015. Top Division Officials The ...

, where played seven games, posting a 1.65

and a .949

, to backstop Team Finland to a silver medal. He was named to the 2015

IIHF World U18 Championship The IIHF U18 World Championship is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation for national under-18 ice hockey teams from around the world. The tournament is usually played in April and is organized according to a sy ...

All-Star Team as the tournament's best goaltender. At the

2019 IIHF World Championship The 2019 IIHF World Championship was hosted from 10 to 26 May 2019 by Slovakia. It was the second time that Slovakia has hosted the event as an independent country, as was the case in 2011. The host cities were Bratislava and Košice, as announce ...

Vehviläinen played one game against

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the group stage.

went on to win the tournament earning Vehviläinen the gold medal.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vehvilainen, Veini 1997 births Living people Brynäs IF players Cleveland Monsters players Columbus Blue Jackets draft picks Columbus Blue Jackets players Finnish ice hockey goaltenders JYP-Akatemia players JYP Jyväskylä players Ice hockey people from Jyväskylä Oulun Kärpät players Toronto Marlies players Vaasan Sport players