Raimo Helminen

Raimo Ilmari Helminen (born 11 March 1964 in Tampere, Finland) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player.

He is often called "Raipe" or "Maestro" by his fans.

He is the world record holder for most international games played by a hockey player, as well as for tied for being the hockey player in the most Olympic Games, and his 26 seasons as a professional is one of the longest careers in professional hockey history.

After two gold medals in junior leagues, Helminen got to play for Ilves in the SM-liiga, Finland's top ice hockey league, in 1982.

His first international success came in 1984 when Finland won silver in the U20 World Championship tournament in Sweden.

Helminen broke the record for most points scored in an under-20 tournament and was selected for the All-Star team.

This attracted the attention of people scouting new talent for the professional teams in the National Hockey League in North America.

That spring Helminen also took part in his first Olympic Games in Sarajevo.

The following season he was one of the best players for Ilves, being the second highest scorer for his team and third overall in the league.

As the centre of the first line, he led Ilves to a league championship victory for the first time in the league's history.

The New York Rangers drafted him in the 1984 NHL Entry Draft as their second pick (2nd round, number 35), and Helminen headed for the NHL in the fall of 1985.

He finished his rookie season with an outstanding 40 points in 66 games.

The next fall, however, the new team management sold most of their young players and Helminen ended up with the Minnesota North Stars.

The next season proved more difficult, and Helminen ended up playing a lot in the minor leagues.

In the fall of 1987 he returned to home soil to play for Ilves again.

He proved to be a success and secured a place in the national team for the 1988 Winter Olympics.

There he helped his country win their first Olympic medal (silver) in ice hockey.

His performance included 10 points in seven games and assisting two goals in Finland's surprise 3–1 victory over gold medal hopefuls Canada.

The tournament left NHL scouts wondering why this player was not playing in North America.

Eventually Helminen got another chance to play in the NHL, this time for the New York Islanders.

In the spring of 1988 Helminen started having back problems that would hinder his career for the next couple of years.

Because of this injury his 1988–89 season for the Islanders was a disappointment—although he played spectacularly for New York's AHL Springfield Indians farm team for a month—and he left the Islanders for Malmö IF in Sweden.

Helminen's play in Malmö IF was at times very good and he earned the respect of the fans.

However, his back would not heal properly until the summer of 1992 after Malmö had won the Swedish Elitserien, the top ice hockey league in the country.

After being Elitserien's first ever foreign scoring winner in 1993, Helminen helped Malmö IF win another championship in 1994.

In 1996 Helminen returned again to his home town to play for Ilves and quickly became a fan favorite again.

In 1998 Ilves won silver medals in the SM-liiga and Helminen was voted the best player of the season.

He was also selected for the league's All-Star team in three consecutive years having remained one of the top scorers.

Helminen also made the SM-liiga record for most penalty minutes in one game with (55PIM), when he first spat towards the referee and after that tried to assault him, first with his stick and then with his fists, verbally abusing the referee all the while.

Helminen served as the captain of Ilves from 1999 until the end of his career in 2008, although he was temporarily stripped of his captaincy during the 2006–07 season after being thrown out during a game (he was reinstated after one game).

At 44 years of age, Helminen was the oldest active player during the SM-liiga 2007–08 season.

Helminen officially retired after the 2007–08 SM-liiga season ended for Ilves, when they were defeated by Kärpät in the quarter-finals of the SM-liiga playoffs.

He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2012.

In the 2022-23 season he is serving as the assistant coach of Ilves.

Helminen is credited with invention of the saucer pass.

He has a wife, Leena, and two children, Anssi and Nelli.

Helminen has himself said that he developed most of his skills when he was young and spent all his free time playing in outdoor ice rinks in Koivistonkylä, Tampere.

Before he focused on ice hockey he had also played football.

Helminen started his career in his native town, playing for one of oldest teams in the country, Ilves.

In 2014 Markus Palmroth broke the record with 59 PIM.