Tuukka Matias Mäntylä (born 25 May 1981) is a Finnish former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

defenceman. He was selected by the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...

in the 5th round (153rd overall) of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.

Playing career

Mäntylä came through the youth ranks of Tampere Tappara and made his debut in Finland's top-tier

Liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mesti ...

in the course of the 1999–2000 season. He won the Finnish national championship with Tappara in 2003 and subsequently parted ways with the team to take his game to Sweden, where he joined

Luleå HF Luleå Hockeyförening, also known as Luleå Hockey, is a professional ice hockey club from Luleå, Sweden. The club has been playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top tier of ice hockey in Sweden, since the 1984–85 season. They are ...

of the Swedish Elite League (SHL). He enjoyed a two-year stint there, before returning to Tappara. After another two years at his hometown team, Mäntylä embarked on a second SHL tenure, playing for

Frölunda HC Frölunda Hockey Club, previously known as the Frölunda Indians, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They currently play in the highest Swedish league, the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), formerly the Elitserien, where th ...

from 2007 to 2009. On 7 April 2009 he left Frölunda and signed a contract to return to

Tappara Tappara (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Battle axe") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the SM-liiga. They play at ''Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena'' in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 20 Finnish league championships, wh ...

. In late October 2009, playing with Tampere Tappara, Mäntylä checked Helsinki IFK defenceman Mikko Kurvinen from behind into the boards, resulting in an injury that kept Kurvinen sidelined for six games. Mäntylä received a match penalty for the hit. In advance of Tappara's next visit to

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

on 26 November 2009, the IFK club ran a full-page ad in a

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

newspaper that read: “Welcome to Helsinki, Tuukka”, and on the evening of the match between the two clubs the

SM-liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mest ...

head office, which had previously approved the ad, announced it had given IFK a warning for “crossing the line of good taste”. Early in the first period of the 26 November game, with IFK head coach

Kari Jalonen Kari Jalonen (born January 6, 1960) is a Finland, Finnish professional ice hockey coach and former player. He was a former head coach of Czech Republic men's national ice hockey team in year's 2022 and 2023. He is not related to Finnish i ...

watching, IFK defenceman Ilari Melart mugged Mäntylä in the corner and a wrestling match ensued resulting in both players being ejected from the game. Between the 2011–12 and the 2015–16 season, he split time between Tappara and

KHL The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

outfits

HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk () is a professional ice hockey club based in Nizhnekamsk, Russia. It is a member of the Kharlamov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). History Neftekhimik was founded October 23, 1968 by workers of the Ni ...

Metallurg Novokuznetsk Metallurg Novokuznetsk ( ) is a professional ice hockey team from Siberia based in Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo Oblast, Russia. They are currently members of the Supreme Hockey League (VHL). History The team was founded in 1949 in Novokuznetsk (then S ...

Amur Khabarovsk Hockey Club Amur (), commonly referred to as the Amur Khabarovsk, is a professional ice hockey club based in Khabarovsk, Russia. It is a member of the Chernyshev Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Located in the Russian Far East, th ...

and KHL Medvescak Zagreb. In July 2016, he was one of the first players to ink a deal with newly founded

side Kunlun Red Star from China.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* 1981 births Amur Khabarovsk players Finnish ice hockey defencemen Frölunda HC players HC Kunlun Red Star players 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Living people Los Angeles Kings draft picks Luleå HF players KHL Medveščak Zagreb players Metallurg Novokuznetsk players HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk players Ice hockey people from Tampere Tappara players Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in China {{Finland-icehockey-defenceman-stub