Veli-Matti Savinainen (born 5 January 1986) is a Finnish 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 ...

forward who currently plays for

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).

Playing career

Savinainen has previously played for 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 ...

clubs,

Ässät Ässät or Ässä may refer to: * HC Ässät Pori Oy, Finnish sports club ** Porin Ässät (men's ice hockey) ** Porin Ässät (women's ice hockey) ** Porin Ässät (men's football) ** PATA (esports) *, Finnish band from Oulu *S Group, Finnish Con ...

and

Tappara Tappara (; Finnish for "Battle axe") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the Liiga. They play at ''Tampere Deck Arena'' in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 18 Finnish league championships (1959, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, ...

, and for

HC Ugra Hockey Club Yugra (russian: Хоккейный клуб Югра), is a professional ice hockey team based in Khanty-Mansiysk, Yugra, Russia. They currently play in the Supreme Hockey League, the second-highest league in Russia, and played in th ...

Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod (russian: Торпедо Нижний Новгород) is a professional ice hockey club in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. It is a member of the Bobrov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League. The team's home arena is Trad ...

of the Russian KHL, as well as

Leksands IF Leksands Idrottsförening is a Swedish ice hockey team from the town of Leksand in the region of Dalarna. The team plays in the top-tier league, SHL, after succeeding through the 2019 SHL qualifiers and thus earning promotion to the SHL. The c ...

of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). He Joined Leksands IF on a one-year contract on 30 August 2014 after spending the 2013–14 season with Ugra. After completing his second stint with HC Yugra following the 2017–18 season, posting 17 points in 50 games, Savinainen left as a free agent but opted to continue in the KHL, in joining Chinese outfit

Kunlun Red Star HC Kunlun Red Star () is a Chinese ice hockey club that joined the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) prior to the 2016–17 season. History Preparation of the team In March 2016, representatives of Kunlun Red Star and the KHL signed a protocol o ...

on a one-year contract on May 2, 2018. Following his lone season in China in the 2018–19 season, Savinainen returned to Finland to continue in the KHL, signing a two-year contract Jokerit on May 4, 2019.

International play

Savinainen was named to the Finland men's national ice hockey team for competition at the

2014 IIHF World Championship The 2014 IIHF World Championship was hosted by Belarus in its capital, Minsk, held from 9–25 May 2014. Sixteen national teams were competing in two venues, the Minsk-Arena and Chizhovka-Arena. It was the first time Belarus hosted the tournamen ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* 1986 births Living people Ässät players Finnish ice hockey forwards FoPS players Leksands IF players Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in China Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden Jokerit players KooKoo players HC Kunlun Red Star players Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey players of Finland Sportspeople from Espoo Tappara players Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod players HC Yugra players {{Finland-icehockey-winger-stub