Did you know that former Edmonton Oilers winger Iiro Pakarinen was operating at a near goal-per-game pace earlier this season in the SM-Liiga?
Each week, we’ll take a look at a potentially forgotten Oiler who spent a few seasons with the team, usually in the role of a depth player. Today’s player, Pakarinen, was one of my favourite players when I was a teenager.
Iiro Pakarinen was born on Aug. 25, 1991, and was selected in the seventh round of the 2011 draft by the Florida Panthers. The right winger spent his first five professional seasons in Finland, playing for KalPa Kuopio and HIFK Helsinki. Additionally, he played for Team Finland in the 2010 and 2011 World Junior Championship early in his career.
After a 20-goal (a career-best at any level until this season), 30-point season in 60 games in 2013-14, Pakarinen signed a two-year entry-level deal with the Oilers. His first season saw him score 17 goals and 28 points in 39 games with the Oklahoma City Barons in the American Hockey League. Pakarinen made his National Hockey League debut that season scoring a goal and three points in 17 games. Unfortunately, his 2014-15 season ended after a knee injury.
In the 2015-16 season, he became somewhat of a regular, scoring five goals and 13 points in 63 games, a career-high in all three categories. The following season, Pakarinen only played 14 games in the regular season, scoring two goals and four points. He also played his first and only postseason game the same season, a Game 1 loss to the San Jose Sharks.
His final National Hockey League season was the 2017-18 season, where he scored two goals and three points in 40 games. That season, he scored nine goals and 13 points in 18 games in the American Hockey League.
Although Pakarinen’s National Hockey League career ended, he continued to play across the pond, playing with the Magnitogorsk Metallurg in the Kontinental Hockey League. His 2018-19 season went well, scoring 19 goals and 26 points in 60 games. The 2019-20 season saw Pakarinen depart for Barys Astana, a team from Kazakhstan also participating in the KHL. Unfortunately, most of the right winger’s season was marred by injury.
In 2020-21, he signed with Jokerit Helsinki, a Finnish team in the KHL where the 33-year-old played two seasons before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Since then, he’s returned to HIFK Helsinki in the SM-Liiga. His first season was in the midst of the 2021-22 season saw him score four games in 11 games.
Pakarinen’s 2022-23 season saw him score 19 goals and 36 points, with the latter category being a career-high at any level. The 33-year-old followed that up with an 18-goal season with 30 points in 59 games. However, his magnum opus season has come this season, as he has a career-best 27 goals in 35 games, along with 33 points, just three shy of matching his career-high.
While the probability of Pakarinen returning to the NHL is virtually non-existent, in the four seasons he played for the Oilers, he showed he had a good shot and was able to penalty kill. Hopefully, he can keep up the success in the SM-Liiga this season.
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