Carolina Hurricane's Joni Pitkanen and His Hockey Career

Joni Pitkanen is a name that most hockey fans are already very familiar with. Joni Pitkanen was born in Oulu, Finland on September 19, 1983, making him twenty five years old. This defenseman is 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 213 pounds. Joni Pitkanen's hockey career started in his home country in the 1998-1999 season with the Karpat in the SM-liiga Jr. Joni Pitkanen remained with the Karpat for three hockey seasons, before moving up to the Karpat in the SM-liiga in the 2000-2001 season. The SM-liiga is the professional hockey league of Finland, and the most competitive level of hockey in the country.

In 2002, Joni Pitkanen entered the NHL draft and was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers, 4th overall. He was the Philadelphia Flyer's first round pick. Although he was drafted in 2002, Joni Pitkanen stayed with the Karpat in the SM-liiga for the 2002-2003 season before moving to the United States. In 2003-2004 season, Joni Pitkanen started off his rookie season in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers and played almost all of the regular season games. Joni Pitkanen proved to be an impressive player as he was selected to be part of the NHL All-Rookie team in the 2003-2004 season. Also in the 2003-2004 season, Pitkanen was selected to play in the YoungStars Game.

The NHL Lockout during the 2004-2005 season forced Joni Pitkanen into the AHL (American Hockey League). The AHL serves as a developmental league for future NHL players and AHL teams often have affiliate NHL teams who they feed into. During the 2004-2005 Lockout, many NHL players played in the AHL while waiting for the end of the Lockout. Joni Pitkanen played with the Philadelphia Flyer's affiliate team, the Philadelphia Phantoms. During this season, the Philadelphia Phantoms won the Calder Cup, which is the equivalent of the Stanley Cup in the AHL.

Once the NHL Lockout was over, Joni Pitkanen returned to his team, the Philadelphia Flyers to play the 2005-2006 season. Pitkanen was a part of the Philadelphia Flyers until the end of the 2006-2007 season. In 2006, he was awarded the Barry Ashbee Trophy which is awarded to the best defenseman of the Flyers. Also in 2006, Joni Pitkanen was awarded the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial which is awarded to the player who is voted most improved from the previous season by his teammates. After the 2006-2007 season, Joni Pitkanen was traded to the Edmonton Oilers and played the 2007-2008 season with them. That would be his only season with the Edmonton Oilers as he was traded to his current team, the Carolina Hurricanes for the 2008-2009 season.

Joni Pitkanen is not the youngest of the NHL players, but he is still a relatively young player and does not have much experience with international hockey, although he does have some. In 2003, Pitkanen played for Team Finland in the World Junior Championships, where Finland won the bronze medal. In 2004, Joni Pitkanen played in the World Cup of Hockey with Team Finland. He was also selected to play in the 2006 Winter Olympics for Finland, but could not play due to injury.

ref-www.nhl.com