TAMPERE, FINLAND - Finland's Valtteri Filppula #51 receives his Triple Gold Club pin from Luc Tardif, IIHF President after a 4-3 overtime win against Canada in the gold medal game at the 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship at Nokia Arena on May 29, 2022 in Tampere, Finland.
photo: © Andre Ringuette/HHOF-IIHF Images
Valtteri Filppula, the only Finn who is a member of the IIHF’s Triple Gold Club, has announced his retirement. The 41-year-old has just finished playing with Jokerit, where his career began, after a life in hockey spanning more than two decades in the NHL and Europe.
Filppula played a starring role on Finland’s U18 team in 2002, and that summer he was selected 95th overall by Detroit in the NHL draft. He remained in Finland for three more years, with Jokerit, during which time he also helped Suomi win back-to-back bronze medals at the 2003 and 2004 World Junior Championships.
After a year with Detroit’s AHL affiliate, Grand Rapids, he made the Red Wings full time in 2006 and never looked back. He was the first Finnish player ever to play for the Red Wings. Over the course of his seven years with the team, his career highlight came in 2008 when he helped the Wings win the Stanley Cup, over Pittsburgh, in six games. A year later, the teams met again, the Penguins emerging victorious in a seven-game classic. Filppula was also part of Finland’s 2010 Olympic team in Vancouver, winning another bronze medal. Filppula sealed the third-place win with an empty netter against Slovakia in a 5-3 win.
Filppula played at the 2012 World Championship and was second in team scoring with 10 points. The team fell just short of the podium, losing the bronze-medal game to the Czechs, 3-2. Later that summer, he signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning as a free agent. He played there for four years, taking the team to the Cup finals in 2015 before losing to Chicago in six games while playing on the top line with Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn. He later played for Philadelphia and the Islanders before returning to Detroit to close out his NHL career.
In all, Filppula played 16 NHL seasons and 1,056 regular-season games, only the ninth Finn to reach the 1,000-game mark. As well, he played in 166 playoff games, testament to the post-season success of the teams he played on. Always a steady player and reliable at both ends of the ice, he wasn’t a superstar, but he was the kind of player every team needs in order to be successful.
Filppula closed out his career in Europe, first in Switzerland, with Geneve Sevrette, winning a league championship in 2022-23 and the Champions Hockey League title the next year. Then, this past season, he returned home to play one last season in Finland’s second division (Mestis), with Jokerit, the team of which he is part owner. The team won the league championship.
Filppula also played at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and 2017 Men’s Worlds, but his last two IIHF tournaments were his most memorable. He wore the “C” at two events in 2022, both resulting in gold medals. First, he led the Finns to Olympic gold that February in Beijing, and just a few weeks later repeated the success at the World Championship on home ice in Tampere. Finland became just the second team after Sweden in 2006 to win the double gold in one season.
With these two wins, Filppula also joined the Triple Gold Club, the first Finn to do so.
Filppula played a starring role on Finland’s U18 team in 2002, and that summer he was selected 95th overall by Detroit in the NHL draft. He remained in Finland for three more years, with Jokerit, during which time he also helped Suomi win back-to-back bronze medals at the 2003 and 2004 World Junior Championships.
After a year with Detroit’s AHL affiliate, Grand Rapids, he made the Red Wings full time in 2006 and never looked back. He was the first Finnish player ever to play for the Red Wings. Over the course of his seven years with the team, his career highlight came in 2008 when he helped the Wings win the Stanley Cup, over Pittsburgh, in six games. A year later, the teams met again, the Penguins emerging victorious in a seven-game classic. Filppula was also part of Finland’s 2010 Olympic team in Vancouver, winning another bronze medal. Filppula sealed the third-place win with an empty netter against Slovakia in a 5-3 win.
Filppula played at the 2012 World Championship and was second in team scoring with 10 points. The team fell just short of the podium, losing the bronze-medal game to the Czechs, 3-2. Later that summer, he signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning as a free agent. He played there for four years, taking the team to the Cup finals in 2015 before losing to Chicago in six games while playing on the top line with Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn. He later played for Philadelphia and the Islanders before returning to Detroit to close out his NHL career.
In all, Filppula played 16 NHL seasons and 1,056 regular-season games, only the ninth Finn to reach the 1,000-game mark. As well, he played in 166 playoff games, testament to the post-season success of the teams he played on. Always a steady player and reliable at both ends of the ice, he wasn’t a superstar, but he was the kind of player every team needs in order to be successful.
Filppula closed out his career in Europe, first in Switzerland, with Geneve Sevrette, winning a league championship in 2022-23 and the Champions Hockey League title the next year. Then, this past season, he returned home to play one last season in Finland’s second division (Mestis), with Jokerit, the team of which he is part owner. The team won the league championship.
Filppula also played at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and 2017 Men’s Worlds, but his last two IIHF tournaments were his most memorable. He wore the “C” at two events in 2022, both resulting in gold medals. First, he led the Finns to Olympic gold that February in Beijing, and just a few weeks later repeated the success at the World Championship on home ice in Tampere. Finland became just the second team after Sweden in 2006 to win the double gold in one season.
With these two wins, Filppula also joined the Triple Gold Club, the first Finn to do so.