Reijo Ruotsalainen

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Olympic medal record
Men's Ice hockey
Silver	1988 Calgary	Ice hockey

Reijo Ruotsalainen (born April 1, 1960 in Oulu, Finland) is a Finnish retired ice hockey defenceman. He was twice named Finland's top defenceman, and won two Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, in 1987 and 1990.

Ruotsalainen played in Finland for Karpat Oulu from 1977 to 1981. He won the Pekka Rautakallio trophy as the top defenceman in 1980 and 1981. He played in the NHL from 1981 to 1987, then in Switzerland (with SC Bern in 1986-87 and 1988-89) and Sweden (with HV71 in 1987-88 before returning to the NHL in 1989-90. He then returned to Europe, playing in Switzerland again with SC Bern from 1990-93 and 1994-95, and with Zurcher SC in 1995-96. In Finland, he played for Tappara Tampere in 1993-94 and KalPa Kuopio in 1995-96, before finishing his career with his old club Karpat Oulu from 1996-98. [1]

Lacking size, Ruotsalainen made his mark in NHL as a fluid skater. New York Rangers head coach Herb Brooks said he was the best skater in NHL. He played in the NHL all-star game in 1986.

[edit] International Career

Ruotsalainen played for the Finnish junior national team from 1975 to 1980, winning bronze at the European Junior Championships in 1976 and silver at the World Junior Championships in 1980, where he was named best defenceman. He played for the Finnish national team at the IIHF World Championships in 1978, 1979, 1981, 1985, and 1989, the 1988 Winter Olympics (winning silver) and the 1981 and the 1987 Canada Cups. [2]

Routsalainen became a coach after his playing career. He is a member of the Finnish Ice Hockey Hall of Fame.

[edit] NHL Statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1981–82	New York Rangers	NHL		78	18	38	56	27		10	4	5	9	2
1982–83	New York Rangers	NHL		77	16	53	69	22		9	4	2	6	6
1983–84	New York Rangers	NHL		74	20	39	59	26		5	1	1	2	2
1984–85	New York Rangers	NHL		80	28	45	73	32		3	2	0	2	6
1985–86	New York Rangers	NHL		80	17	42	59	47		16	0	8	8	6
1986–87	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		16	5	8	13	6		21	2	5	7	10
1989–90	New Jersey Devils	NHL		31	2	5	7	14		-	-	-	-	-
1989–90	Edmonton Oilers	NHL		10	1	7	8	6		22	2	11	13	12
NHL totals				446	107	237	344	180		86	15	32	47	44

[edit] References

• Reijo Ruotsalainen on nhlfinns.com
• A to Z of Ice Hockey
• Ice Hockey Wiki