Leave Kukkonen

Leave Kukkonen
Date of birth	September 18, 1981
place of birth	Oulu , Finland
size	183 cm
Weight	85 kg
position	defender
number	# 3
Shot hand	Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft	2003 , 5th round, 151st position Chicago Blackhawks
Career stations
until 2003	Oulun Kärpät
2003-2004	Chicago Blackhawks
2004-2006	Oulun Kärpät
2006-2007	Chicago Blackhawks
2007-2009	Philadelphia Flyers
2009-2010	HK Awangard Omsk
2010–2012	HK Metallurg Magnitogorsk
2012-2013	Rögle BK
since 2013	Oulun Kärpät

Lasse Juhani Kukkonen (born September 18, 1981 in Oulu ) is a Finnish ice hockey player who has been under contract with Oulun Kärpät in the Finnish Liiga since August 2013 and plays there in the position of defender .

Career

Lasse Kukkonen began his career in the 2000/01 season with the ice hockey club Oulun Kärpät in the Finnish SM-liiga . There he spent three seasons. He was selected in the fifth round of the NHL Entry Draft 2003 in 151st place by the Chicago Blackhawks from the National Hockey League (NHL) and moved immediately to North America in the summer of 2003. He mainly played for Chicago's farm team , the Norfolk Admirals , in the American Hockey League (AHL). The following season he returned to his home club in Oulu, where he played until 2006 and became Finnish champion in 2005 .

After an outstanding 2005/06 season in Finland, the Chicago Blackhawks brought him back to North America. There he was finally able to earn a regular place in the NHL squad. However, he was transferred to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Kyle Calder during the 2006/07 season along with a third-round suffrage in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft .

From 2009 he played in the Continental Hockey League (KHL). Initially for HK Avangard Omsk and from 2010 for HK Metallurg Magnitogorsk . From July 2012 he was under contract with Rögle BK from the Swedish Elitserien . For the 2013/14 season he returned to Kärpät in Finland. In 2014, 2015 and 2018 he won three more championship titles with his home club.

International

At the international level, Kukkonen was able to celebrate numerous successes. He became world champion with the Finnish national team at the 2011 World Cup. Furthermore, he became vice world champion five years later. Between 2006 and 2014, he won one silver and two bronze medals at the Winter Olympics.

Achievements and Awards

2000 Master of the I-divisioona and promotion to the SM-liiga with Oulun Kärpät 2002 SM-liiga player of the month October 2003 Matti-Keinonen-Trophy 2003 SM-liiga All-Star Team 2005 Finnish champion with Oulun Kärpät 2003 SM-liiga player of the month March 2006 Pekka Rautakallio Trophy 2006 Matti Keinonen Trophy 2006 SM-liiga All-Star Team

2010 participation in the KHL All-Star Game 2014 Finnish champion with Oulun Kärpät 2014 Pekka Rautakallio Trophy 2014 Liiga All-Star Team 2015 Finnish champion with Oulun Kärpät 2015 Liiga All-Star Team 2018 Finnish champion with Oulun Kärpät 2019 Finnish runner-up with Oulun Kärpät

International

1999 gold medal at the U18 Junior World Championship 2001 silver medal at the U20 Junior World Championship 2006 silver medal at the Olympic Winter Games 2010 bronze medal at the Olympic Winter Games

2011 gold medal at the world championship 2014 bronze medal at the Olympic Winter Games 2016 silver medal at the world championship

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2019/20 season

				Regular season						Playoffs
season	team	league		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1998/99	Oulun Kärpät U20	A-Jun.-SM-liiga		22nd	2	9	11	14th		12 1	0	4th	4th	10
1999/00	Oulun Kärpät	A-Jun.-SM-liiga		27	9	11	20th	26th		-	-	-	-	-
1999/00	Oulun Kärpät	I-divisioona		22nd	0	4th	4th	14th		-	-	-	-	-
2000/01	Oulun Kärpät	SM-liiga		47	1	5	6th	46		9	0	2	2	4th
2001/02	Oulun Kärpät	A-Jun.-SM-liiga		-	-	-	-	-		1	1	0	1	0
2001/02	Oulun Kärpät	SM-liiga		55	2	6th	8th	42		4th	0	3	3	4th
2002/03	Oulun Kärpät	NHL		56	6th	12	18th	67		15th	1	4th	5	16
2003/04	Norfolk Admirals	AHL		59	3	11	14th	58		8th	0	0	0	8th
2003/04	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		10	0	1	1	4th		-	-	-	-	-
2004/05	Oulun Kärpät	SM-liiga		55	5	13	18th	68		12	0	2	2	6th
2005/06	Oulun Kärpät	SM-liiga		56	11	16	27	38		-	-	-	-	-
2006/07	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		54	5	9	14th	30th		-	-	-	-	-
2006/07	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		20th	0	0	0	8th		-	-	-	-	-
2007/08	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		53	1	4th	5	38		14th	0	2	2	6th
2008/09	Philadelphia Flyers	NHL		22nd	0	2	2	10		-	-	-	-	-
2008/09	Philadelphia Phantoms	AHL		26th	0	11	11	20th		-	-	-	-	-
2009/10	HK Awangard Omsk	KHL		53	6th	6th	12	34		3	0	1	1	0
2010/11	HK Metallurg Magnitogorsk	KHL		37	4th	8th	12	16		5	0	0	0	0
2011/12	HK Metallurg Magnitogorsk	KHL		51	4th	4th	8th	22nd		10	0	1	1	4th
2012/13	Rögle BK	Elitserien		54	2	4th	6th	30th		6 1	0	1	1	2
2013/14	Oulun Kärpät	Liiga		55	12	16	28	52		16	2	8th	10	16
2014/15	Oulun Kärpät	Liiga		59	11	10	21st	26th		12	2	3	5	2
2015/16	Oulun Kärpät	Liiga		58	6th	19th	25th	54		14th	2	3	5	4th
2016/17	Oulun Kärpät	Liiga		48	7th	15th	22nd	26th		2	0	0	0	0
2017/18	Oulun Kärpät	Liiga		54	3	10	13	30th		18th	4th	2	6th	10
2018/19	Oulun Kärpät	Liiga		58	6th	10	16	47		17th	1	3	4th	2
2019/20	Oulun Kärpät	Liiga		50	2	2	4th	14th		-	-	-	-	-
A-Juniors-SM-liiga total				49	11	20th	31	40		13	1	4th	5	10
SM-liiga / Liiga total				651	72	134	206	510		130	17th	37	54	72
AHL total				85	3	22nd	25th	78		8th	0	0	8th	0
NHL overall				159	6th	16	22nd	90		14th	0	2	2	6th
KHL total				141	14th	18th	32	72		18th	0	2	2	4th

International

Represented Finland at:

U18 Junior World Championship 1999 U20 World Junior Championship 2001 World Championship 2005 2006 Winter Olympics World Championship 2006 World Championship 2007 World Championship 2009 2010 Winter Olympics

World Championship 2010 World Championship 2011 World Championship 2012 World Championship 2013 2014 Winter Olympics World Championship 2016 World Championship 2017 Olympic Winter Games 2018

year	team	event	result		Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
1999	Finland	U18 World Cup			7th	1	0	1	0
2001	Finland	U20 World Cup			7th	0	0	0	2
2005	Finland	WM	7th place		7th	0	0	0	2
2006	Finland	Olympia			2	0	0	0	0
2006	Finland	WM			9	2	0	2	8th
2007	Finland	WM			9	0	1	1	4th
2009	Finland	WM	5th place		6th	0	0	0	4th
2010	Finland	Olympia			6th	0	1	1	4th
2010	Finland	WM	6th place		6th	0	0	0	2
2011	Finland	WM			9	0	0	0	0
2012	Finland	WM	4th Place		10	0	1	1	0
2013	Finland	WM	4th Place		10	0	0	0	0
2014	Finland	Olympia			6th	0	0	0	2
2016	Finland	WM			6th	0	0	0	0
2017	Finland	WM	4th Place		8th	0	0	0	12
2018	Finland	Olympia	6th place		5	1	0	1	2
Juniors overall					14th	1	0	1	2
Men overall					99	3	3	6th	40

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

Commons : Lasse Kukkonen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Lasse Kukkonen at legendsofhockey.net ( Memento from October 29, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
• Leave Kukkonen at eliteprospects.com (English)