Jere Karalahti facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Jere Karalahti |
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| Born | 25 March 1975 Helsinki, Finland |
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| Height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) | ||
| Weight | 209 lb (95 kg; 14 st 13 lb) | ||
| Position | Defence | ||
| Shot | Right | ||
| Played for | HIFK Los Angeles Kings Nashville Predators Oulun Kärpät Hamburg Freezers Blues HC Dinamo Minsk Jokerit HV71 |
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| National team |  Finland |
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| NHL Draft | 146th overall, 1993 Los Angeles Kings |
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| Playing career | 1993–2016 | ||
Jere Juhani Karalahti (born 25 March 1975) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey defenceman. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings as their sixth-round pick in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft and played a total of 166 games in the NHL. Karalahti won the 1998 Liiga championship in his native Finland, he is a three-time silver medalist at World Championships and also won one bronze with the Finnish national team. His playing career included stints in Finland, the US, Germany, Belarus and Sweden.
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Playing career
Early career in Finland
Karalahti played in the 1989 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with youth ice hockey team from Helsinki.
Karalahti played his first major ice hockey games for HIFK during the 1993–94 SM-liiga season. Karalahti was soon seen as a good physical defenceman and he began to have more ice time season by season. Karalahti's best SM-liiga moment came in 1998 when HIFK won the SM-liiga championship over Ilves. Karalahti played a good season, posting a career high in points (30pts). Karalahti improved his record by three points in the following season and was offered a contract by the NHL club the Los Angeles Kings.
NHL
Karalahti moved to North America in 1999 after difficulties with his visa, playing the rest of the season for the LA Kings. After a good first season, Karalahti's time on ice was reduced and he eventually requested a trade to the Nashville Predators, which he got in 2001. In the summer of 2002 Karalahti was suspended for six months by the NHL, and he returned to Finland.
Return to Finland
Upon returning to the SM-liiga, Karalahti resumed his role as one of HIFK's premier defensemen. Head coach Doug Shedden made Karalahti team captain for the 2005–06 season, but he lost most of the season due to injuries. At the close of the season, Karalahti stirred up controversy by refusing to play in the bronze medal game for the second time in his HIFK career, citing a lack of interest. He was subsequently stripped of his captaincy. Karalahti's contract was not renewed by HIFK and he left the club he had been representing his entire career in Finland.
Karalahti was approached by several European teams including Jokerit and Kölner Haie but he chose Oulun Kärpät, a Northern Finland team which had rapidly risen to the Finnish Ice Hockey Elite. During his debut season Karalahti returned to his own level as the leading defenceman of Kärpät. Karalahti was released from Kärpät after he was arrested by Finnish police and taken into custody.
Later career
After being a free agent for some time Karalahti was approached by HC Slovan Bratislava, a top Slovakian side which is the current Slovakian League champion. Karalahti's move to Bratislava came to jeopardy when the transfer fell through because of a missing signature in the transfer documents. Juuso Pulliainen, Karalahti's agent, assured that both the Slovakian Ice Hockey Administration and Finnish Ice Hockey Administration had agreed that Karalahti's rights are owned by Slovan, hence meaning he could play for Slovan. However, Karalahti stated that he wanted to clear things in Finland before rushing into anything.
On 24 July 2008 Jere Karalahti signed a contract with the Germany Elite League Club Hamburg Freezers in Germany for the 2008–09 season.
In May 2009, Karalahti announced that he would leave Hamburg to play for HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League. However, only a few weeks later he changed his mind and decided to re-sign with the Freezers instead.
For the 2011-2012 and 2012–13 seasons, Karalahti joined Dinamo Minsk in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), where he also became captain. In 2013, he returned to Helsinki to play for Jokerit in the Liiga and the KHL.
In November 2014 Karalahti signed a contract with HV71 in the Swedish Hockey League for the 2014–15 and the 2015–16 seasons. He announced his retirement in August 2016.
Awards
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 1993–94 | HIFK | SM-l | 46 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 36 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 1994–95 | HIFK | SM-l | 37 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 42 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1995–96 | HIFK | SM-l | 36 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 102 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 1996–97 | HIFK | SM-l | 18 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1997–98 | HIFK | SM-l | 43 | 14 | 16 | 30 | 59 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 1998–99 | HIFK | SM-l | 49 | 11 | 22 | 33 | 65 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 10 | ||
| 1999–00 | HIFK | SM-l | 13 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 55 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1999–00 | Long Beach Ice Dogs | IHL | 10 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1999–00 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 48 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2000–01 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 56 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 38 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | ||
| 2001–02 | Los Angeles Kings | NHL | 30 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 29 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2001–02 | Nashville Predators | NHL | 15 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2003–04 | HIFK | SM-l | 45 | 7 | 16 | 23 | 148 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 2 | ||
| 2004–05 | HIFK | SM-l | 42 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 93 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| 2005–06 | HIFK | SM-l | 20 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 43 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ||
| 2006–07 | HIFK | SM-l | 51 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 132 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 27 | ||
| 2007–08 | Kärpät | SM-l | 15 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 43 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2008–09 | Hamburg Freezers | DEL | 50 | 7 | 16 | 23 | 148 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 10 | ||
| 2009–10 | Hamburg Freezers | DEL | 47 | 5 | 14 | 19 | 193 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2010–11 | Blues | SM-l | 53 | 11 | 19 | 30 | 147 | 18 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 36 | ||
| 2011–12 | Dinamo Minsk | KHL | 54 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 90 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 2012–13 | Dinamo Minsk | KHL | 45 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 96 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2013–14 | Jokerit | Liiga | 56 | 8 | 27 | 35 | 76 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | ||
| 2014–15 | Jokerit | KHL | 22 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 40 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2014–15 | HV71 | SHL | 30 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 57 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ||
| 2015–16 | HV71 | SHL | 36 | 3 | 9 | 12 | 72 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Liiga totals | 524 | 77 | 164 | 241 | 1061 | 79 | 7 | 13 | 20 | 115 | ||||
| NHL totals | 149 | 8 | 19 | 27 | 97 | 17 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 20 | ||||
| KHL totals | 121 | 9 | 24 | 33 | 226 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | ||||
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing  Finland |
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| Ice hockey | ||
| World Championships | ||
| Silver | 1998 Switzerland | |
| Silver | 1999 Norway | |
| Silver | 2014 Belarus | |
| Bronze | 2000 Russia | |
International
| Year | Team | Event | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Finland | EJC18 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | |
| 1994 | Finland | WJC | 7 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 4 | |
| 1995 | Finland | WJC | 7 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | |
| 1998 | Finland | WC | 10 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 6 | |
| 1999 | Finland | WC | 12 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 2 | |
| 2000 | Finland | WC | 9 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| 2002 | Finland | WC | 9 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | |
| 2004 | Finland | WC | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| 2005 | Finland | WC | 7 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | |
| 2014 | Finland | WC | 10 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 10 | |
| Junior totals | 20 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 20 | |||
| Senior totals | 64 | 14 | 16 | 30 | 46 | |||
