Peltonen with his 5th pro team HIFK, wearing the golden helmet as the leading scorer of his team in 2011.
In his rookie season in the NHL, Peltonen played 31 games with Sharks, scoring 13 points. He scored his first career NHL goal on 26 February 1996 against the Montreal Canadiens into an empty net in a Sharks 7-4 victory,[5] San Jose's first ever over Montreal. He also played 29 regular season games for Sharks' IHL affiliate Kansas City Blades,[6] scoring 18 points. However, San Jose did not make the playoffs. The next season Peltonen scored only five points in 28 NHL games, but with the Kentucky Thoroughblades he scored 22 goals and 52 points in 40 games. After two years in the NHL, Peltonen returned to Europe to play for Västra Frölunda HC of SwedishElitserien. He was the best pointman of the league, scoring 51 points in 49 games. After a successful season with Frölunda, Peltonen returned to NHL to play for Nashville Predators. However, his returning season was short lived, when he injured after 14 games. Before the injury, Peltonen had scored 10 points with the team. He stayed with the Predators for two more seasons, but in 2000-2001 NHL season he played mostly for Milwaukee Admirals, and was chosen to AHL's All Star Game.[4]
After the years in Nashville, Peltonen returned to SM-liiga, signing a two-year contract with Jokerit, a local competitor of Peltonen's former SM-liiga team HIFK. He was chosen as the captain of the team, but was injured and played only 30 games of the regular season scoring 29 points. However, Jokerit and Peltonen won the Kanada-malja championship. He continued with Jokerit in 2002–03 SM-liiga season, scoring 42 points in 49 games.[2] He won the Raimo Kilpiö trophy as league's "gentleman player",[7][8] and was chosen to the league's All-Star lineup.[9]
After a two-season stint with Jokerit, Peltonen headed to Switzerland's National League A to play for HC Lugano, where he played three outstanding seasons. In his first season with the team, he scored career-high 28 goals, 44 assists and 72 points in only 48 games, winning the title of league's best pointman. The following season Peltonen scored 56 points. In his last season with the team, he was named the captain of the team. Peltonen led the playoffs in goal scoring, and also scored the game-winning goal winning the championship of the league.[6] The great three seasons with Lugano gave Peltonen an opportunity to return to NHL, this time for Florida Panthers. In his first season with Florida, he scored 37 points in 72 games of regular season. The following season was disturbed by a leg injury, which caused Peltonen to miss 24 games.[10] Peltonen stayed with the Panthers for one more season, but then moved to Kontinental Hockey League to play for HC Dinamo Minsk, where he was once again the captain of his team. However, Peltonen only scored 26 points in 51 games for the team in regular season.
After only one season in KHL Peltonen returned for his old franchise HIFK with a two-year contract in 2010,[11][12] and was named as team's captain.[13] Peltonen scored 28 goals and 65 points, and finished second in points of the whole league after Perttu Lindgren of Lukko, who scored 66 points. Peltonen was chosen as the best player of the regular season winning the Lasse Oksanen trophy.[14] He was also awarded with the Raimo Kilpiö trophy for second time during his career, and for the first time he also won the Kultainen kypärä (The Golden Helmet), being awarded as the best player by league's other players. Peltonen was chosen to the All-Star lineup and HIFK won the Kanada-malja championship for first time since 1998 as Peltonen, Mikael Granlund and Juha-Pekka Haataja led the team to the championship.
In the 2011-12 SM-liiga season, Peltonen played 49 regular season games scoring 24 goals and 48 points, finishing as the ninth player of the league in points. After another great season, 38-year-old forward decided to continue his career with the IFK.[15] In a practice game in September 2012, Peltonen was assaulted by Semir Ben-Amor that injured him for some time, and deteriorated the relationship between him and some players from Ben-Amor's team that he had befriended.[16][17] In March 2014, Peltonen officially announced his retirement as a player. He played his last game as his club HIFK was eliminated from the playoffs.
Peltonen has represented Finland in international play on several occasions since the 1994 Winter Olympics. After this, Finland has played 25 international tournaments, with Peltonen playing in the team for 19 times, being tied with Finnish hockey legend Raimo Helminen. He has also played as the captain of his team in IIHF World Championships for six times.[6] Peltonen is by far the most successful Finnish hockey player with 13 medals from his 19 tournaments. The next-best individual medal record is nine.
Peltonen debuted the national team in November 1993 in a game against Czech Republic. He was chosen to the Finnish olympic team to play for 1994 Winter Olympics held in Lillehammer. He played on the same line with Jere Lehtinen and Saku Koivu, and they formed team's best line of the tournament.[18] The Finns achieved a bronze medal and Peltonen, who scored 7 points in 8 games, was also chosen to the 1994 World Championships, where the team gained a silver medal after a 3-2 loss to Canada in a shootout competition.[19] However, the following year Peltonen established his place in the history of Finnish hockey; Peltonen scored a hat trick in the final game against Sweden, leading his team to 4-1 victory and taking their first World Championship victory. Peltonen once again formed a great line with Lehtinen and Koivu, and all three were named tournament All-Stars line.[6]
In the 1998 Winter Olympics Peltonen was replaced with Finnish NHL-star Teemu Selänne on the first line of Finland. However, Selänne was injured before the bronze medal game, and Peltonen once again showed his skills with Koivu and Lehtinen, scoring the game-winning goal against Canada.[20] The same year in the World Championships, Peltonen tied the game against Canada in second consolation round only ten seconds before the end of the game.[21] The Finns once again played in the finals, but were defeated by Sweden.
Coaching career
After retiring in 2014, Peltonen immediately started his coaching career in the youth ranks of his hometown club HIFK, serving as head coach of the club’s under-20 team. He was also named assistant coach of Finland’s national team, serving under Kari Jalonen[22] at the 2015 and 2016 World Championships[23] and during the 2014–15 and 2015-16 Euro Hockey Tour.[24]
In April 2016, Peltonen signed with SC Bern of Switzerland, where he served as assistant coach, again under Jalonen.[25] He helped Bern capture the 2017 Swiss national championship. Peltonen left the club at the conclusion of the 2017-18 campaign and took over the head coaching job at Lausanne HC.[26] In the 2018-19 season, he guided Lausanne to a semifinal appearance in the Swiss league.[27] He was fired at the end of February 2020.[28] In 2021, he served as assistant coach of Germany's national team at the Deutschland Cup and the World Championship, working under his countryman, head coach Toni Söderholm.[29] Later that month, he signed a three-year contract with his home team HIFK as the head coach.[30] In 2023, the contract was extended until 2026.[31]
Personal life
Peltonen married a Finnish figure skater, Hanna. They have four children – twin sons Alex and Jesper (born c. 1997), Emmi Peltonen (Finnish figure skater born in November 1999), and Nelli (born c. 2005).[32]
