Michael Keränen (born 4 January 1990) is a Finnish professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

forward who is currently playing with Bietigheim Steelers in the

Deutsche Eishockey Liga The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called Penny (supermarket), PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga) (; English: ''German Ice Hockey League'') or DEL, is a professional ice hockey league in Germany and the highest division in German i ...

(DEL).

Playing career

Undrafted, Keränen first played as a youth in his native Finland with

Tappara Tappara (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Battle axe") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the SM-liiga. They play at ''Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena'' in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 20 Finnish league championships, wh ...

before moving to

Ilves Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Eurasian lynx, Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, ...

as a 17-year-old. Keränen made his professional debut in the

SM-liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mest ...

with Ilves at the conclusion of the 2009–10 season. After his fifth season with Ilves, in which he led the team in scoring with 52 points in as many games, Keränen initially signed as a free agent on a one-year contract with rival Finnish Liiga club,

HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

on 30 April 2014. A little over a month later, Keränen exercised his NHL out clause to leave HIFK and sign his first NHL contract on a one-year, two-way deal with the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confer ...

on 5 June 2014. In the following 2015–16 season, Keränen returned to the

Iowa Wild The Iowa Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Des Moines, Iowa. They are the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the Minnesota Wild of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Wild play their home games at Wells Fargo Arena. The ...

for a second season. He was leading Iowa in goals when on 17 November 2015, he received his first recall to the Wild. Making his NHL debut later that night against the

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. The Penguins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), E ...

. He was promptly returned to the AHL and on 29 February 2016, he was dealt by the Minnesota Wild, executing a minor league trade deadline deal, to the Ottawa Senators in return for defenseman

Conor Allen Conor Jay Allen (born January 31, 1990) is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman. He played with the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). Playing career Prior to his enrollment at UMass Amherst, Allen played his ...

. On 28 April 2016, Keränen ended his North American tenure in agreeing to return to Finland in signing a two-year contract with Jokerit of the KHL. Keränen and Jokerit parted ways by mutual consent in late November 2016. He had appeared in 25 KHL contests for the club, with two goals and five assists. On 6 December 2016, he returned to

, where he once had made his

Liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mesti ...

debut. Near the end of the 2017-18 season, with 5 games remaining in the regular season with KooKoo, Keränen -who was their leading scorer despite having missed 20 games- decided to leave the team with no playoffs hopes and joined Genève-Servette HC of the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

on a one-year contract worth CHF 700,000 for the remainder of the season to help Geneva make a playoff push. Keranen was paid CHF 175,000 of this contract. He eventually appeared in three games with Geneva, scoring one goal and left the team in the summer to join

Mora IK Mora IK (or Mora Ishockeyklubb) is a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Mora in northern Dalarna. After failing the 2019 SHL qualifiers, Mora has been relegated for play in the second-tier league, HockeyAllsvenskan. Mora has previously p ...

of the

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (SHL; ) is a professional ice hockey league in Sweden and the highest level of the ice hockey in Sweden, Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, and while Li ...

. On 3 September 2019, Keränen returned to Switzerland in the second division, to play for

EHC Visp EHC Visp is a Switzerland, Swiss professional ice hockey team based in Visp and competing in the Swiss League (SL). The club was founded in 1939 and became Swiss champion in 1962. Visp has also won the league title in NLB three times; 1960, 2011 a ...

of the

Swiss League The Swiss League, also known as the Sky Swiss League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the main professional ice hockey league in Switzerland, behind the National League (ice hockey), National League. The winners of the league each ...

. He was brought in to replace injured Mark Van Guilder and Troy Josephs.

Career statistics

Awards and honours

References

External links

* 1990 births SC Bietigheim-Bissingen players Binghamton Senators players Finnish ice hockey forwards Genève-Servette HC players HIFK (ice hockey) players Iowa Wild players Ilves players Jokerit players KooKoo players Living people Minnesota Wild players Mora IK players Ice hockey people from Stockholm Undrafted National Hockey League players Vaasan Sport players EHC Visp players Ice hockey people from Tampere Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Germany Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland 21st-century Finnish sportsmen {{Finland-icehockey-winger-stub