Some of ex-IFKs in the NHL
Photo from '91-92-season
Carey Wilson
Canadien Wilson played in 81-83 for IFK (65. 31+41), he won one finnish championship '83. After the time in Finland Carey played ten seasons (83-93) in NHL (552. 169+258) with Calgary, Hartford and NY Rangers. I think he is still playing in some IHL or AHL-team, but I'm not sure of this.
First two photos are from '92-93-season and last '95-96
Ville Peltonen
Ville played for IFK since junior-teams. He was chosen as the rookie of the year in Finnish Elite League. Peltonen was Sharks' 4th choice in '93 draft. In the national team he has won olympic-bronze in '94, silver in world championships '95 and finally gold in '95 world championships (with amazing hat-trick against Sweden in the final).
Last season Ville scored 13 points with the Sharks in 31 games. He also played 29 games in Kansas City Blades (IHL) scoring 18 points.
This season he played only eleven games in San Jose before being sent to Kentucky Thoroughblades (AHL), but was recalled at the of the season. Ville finished season with five points in 28 games.
Peltonen beating Tommy Salo and scoring Finland's first goal against Sweden in World Championships '97. Sadly it ended 2-5 for the swedes.
After Sharks' season was over, Ville was called to finnish national team for World Championships. Ville had problem with his elbow and games wasn't going too well untill he was reunited again with his old linemate Saku Koivu. Peltonen scored 4 (2+2) points in the tournament and the absolute highlight was scoring of Team Finland's both goals in match versus Sweden.
Photo from '95-96-season
Sami Kapanen
Kapanen started his carreer in Finnish Elite League with KalPa Kuopio '90-91. He played four seasons in Kuopio before moving to IFK with his brother, Kimmo (goalie) and father, Hannu (coach). Last season in KalPa scored 55 (23+32) points.
Sami played only one season for IFK with 43 (14+28) points, before leaving to Hartford despite that he had already contract with IFK. He was drafted in the fourth round in 1995 draft. Sami was also a member of finnish World Champion-team in Stockholm '95.
Sami had extremely bad start in Hartford when he got injured badly during the training camp. Even so he managed to score nine points in 35 games with the Whalers in his rookie season. Sami also recorded 31 points in 28 games with Springfield Falcons of AHL.
Upper photos are from '90-91 and '94-95-seasons, lower two are from '96-97
Esa Tikkanen
Tikkanen played two full seasons for IFK ('82-85) with 84 points in 72 games, before starting his NHL-carreer in spring '85. Tikkanen joined Edmonton Oilers during the playoffs, straight after IFK's season in Finland was finished.
Tikkanen has won Stanley Cup five time (four times with Oilers and once with Rangers). He is a good defensive attacker, important especially in the playoffs, and is also know about his "Tiki-talk".
Esa has also played in NHL for the Blues, Devils (only nine games !) and Canucks. He returned to IFK for 19 games (2+11) during the NHL lockout in '94-95-season. Currently Esa is back in Manhattan with the Rangers looking for another Stanley Cup-ring.
Left photo from '89-90 and rest two are from '90-91-season
Ilkka Sinisalo
Sinisalo's carreer in IFK lasted for four seasons ('77-81). He won finnish champion ship with IFK in '79-80-season. He started playing in NHL for Flyers in autumn of '81. Highlights of his years in Philadelphia were two Stanley Cup-finalseries against Oilers, Flyers lost both times. If I remember corrctly, Sinisalo is one of the few players who have scored their first NHL-goal on penalty shot.
Sinisalo was signed by Minnesota Northstars for '90-91-season, but later traded to L.A. Kings.
After 11 seasons in NHL, Sinisalo returned to Finland. He had a decent season with HPK, scoring 29 points in 49 games. He also played for Ilves, Kärpät and Kiekko-Espoo before retiring in the spring of '96. He is currently general manager of Kiekko-Espoo.
