Mikko Leinonen

Mikko Leinonen
Date of birth	July 15, 1955
place of birth	Tampere , Finland
size	183 cm
Weight	79 kg
position	striker
Shot hand	Left
Career stations
until 1977	Tappara Tampere
1977-1979	MoDo Hockey Örnsköldsvik
1979-1981	Kärpät Oulu
1981-1984	New York Rangers
1984-1985	Kärpät Oulu
1985	Washington Capitals
1985-1986	Kärpät Oulu
1986-1987	KalPa Kuopio

Mikko Simo Yrjänä Leinonen (born July 15, 1955 in Tampere ) is a former Finnish ice hockey player who played for the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals in the National Hockey League from 1973 to 1987 .

Career

Mikko Leinonen began his career as a hockey player in his hometown at Tappara Tampere , for whose professional team he was active from 1973 to 1977, first in the SM-sarja and from the 1975/76 season in the successor league SM-liiga . During this period, the attacker and his team became Finnish champions in 1975 and 1977, and runners-up in 1976. He then moved to MoDo Hockey Örnsköldsvik in the Elitserien for two years , with whom he won the Swedish championship in the 1978/79 season . At Kärpät Oulu he also spent two seasons and won the Finnish championship again in the 1980/81 season.

On September 8, 1981, Leinonen signed as a free agent with the New York Rangers , for which he was a regular in the National Hockey League on the ice for the following three years . During his time in the New York Rangers franchise , Leinonen also worked for their farm teams , the Springfield Indians from the American Hockey League and the Tulsa Oilers from the Central Hockey League . After the 1980 Olympian had started the 1984/85 season with his ex-club Kärpät Oulu in the SM-liiga, he signed shortly before the end of the trade deadline with the Washington Capitals from the NHL, for which he had a template in four games gave. Thereupon he received no new contract and returned to Oulu. Following the 1986/87 season, which he had spent with Kärpät's league rivals KalPa Kuopio , he ended his career at the age of 31.

International

For Finland , Leinonen took part in the World Championships in 1978 , 1979 and 1981 , and the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid .

Achievements and Awards

• 1975 Finnish champion with Tappara Tampere
• 1976 Finnish runner-up with Tappara Tampere
• 1977 Finnish champion with Tappara Tampere
• 1979 Swedish champion with MoDo Hockey Örnsköldsvik
• 1981 Finnish champion with Kärpät Oulu
• 1981 SM-liiga All-Star-Team

Records

• Most assists in a National Hockey League playoff game : 6 (shared with Wayne Gretzky )

NHL statistics

	Seasons	Games	Gates	Assists	Points	Penalty minutes
Regular season	4th	162	31	78	109	71
Playoffs	4th	20th	2	11	13	28

Web links

• Mikko Leinonen at hockeydb.com (English)
• Mikko Leinonen at legendsofhockey.net (English)
• Mikko Leinonen at eurohockey.com