Risto Siltanen ?

[Stonefly]

Anyone know whatever happened to Siltanen? He was a fantastic defenceman. Great all around game. Heavy shot. Good skater. Wasn't very tall but he was really solid.
It seemed like he disappeared long before he should have. Did he suffer a career ending injury?

 

[Andrew Knoll]

Yeah, he was like the Finnish Watson, little dude but tough as hell.

He was not injured (at least not that severely), he had a rather long playing career back in Finland and possibly a brief stint in Switzerland after his NHL days. I think he was still playing in some pro capacity up until 10 or 12 years ago.

 

[Breakaway23*]

Risto Siltanen
Defense
Born Oct 31 1958 -- Mantta, Finland
Height 5.09 -- Weight 180

Selected by St. Louis Blues round 11 #173 overall 1978 NHL Amateur Draft

--- Regular Season --- ---- Playoffs ----
Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1978-79 Edmonton Oilers WHA 20 3 4 7 4 11 0 9 9 4
1979-80 Edmonton Oilers NHL 64 6 29 35 26 2 0 0 0 2
1980-81 Edmonton Oilers NHL 79 17 36 53 54 9 2 0 2 8
1981-82 Edmonton Oilers NHL 63 15 48 63 26 5 3 2 5 10
1982-83 Hartford Whalers NHL 74 5 25 30 28 -- -- -- -- --
1983-84 Hartford Whalers NHL 75 15 38 53 34 -- -- -- -- --
1984-85 Hartford Whalers NHL 76 12 33 45 30 -- -- -- -- --
1985-86 Hartford Whalers NHL 52 8 22 30 30 -- -- -- -- --
1985-86 Quebec Nordiques NHL 13 2 5 7 6 3 0 1 1 2
1986-87 Fredericton Express AHL 6 2 4 6 6 -- -- -- -- --
1986-87 Quebec Nordiques NHL 66 10 29 39 32 13 1 9 10 8
1988-89 Ilves Tampere FNL 43 19 20 39 32 5 2 1 3 6
1989-90 Ilves Tampere FNL 44 16 17 33 40 8 2 5 7 10
1990-91 Ilves Tampere FNL 37 11 13 24 32 -- -- -- -- --
1991-92 Ilves Tampere FNL 44 4 9 13 22 -- -- -- -- --
1994-95 TuTo Turku FNL 44 10 14 24 52 -- -- -- -- --
1995-96 TuTo Turku FNL 45 6 6 12 44 -- -- -- -- --
1996-97 Bietigheim-Bissingen SC Ger.2 49 13 35 48 28
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHA Totals 20 3 4 7 4 11 0 9 9 4
NHL Totals 562 90 265 355 266 32 6 12 18 30


http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid=4954

 

[VelvetJones]

I remember yelling "risto risto" at the games.

Very much a fan favorite.

 

[Puck Dogg]

Yep, as the stats show he played several years in Finland after his North American years. He was at one point definitely one of the best defenseman in the the league and played huge minutes in Ilves. The move to TuTo was a bit surprising back then, but Siltanen was already at veteran age during that period. After a year in Germany he called a quits.

 

[MXD]

I know that he's still the at the butt-end of bad hockey jokes... and of comparisons to Patrice Brisebois. At least, amongst my friends living in Quebec City or its surroundings. Take that for what it's worth.

 

[orangeshinpads]

Who did the Oilers get for him from Hartford?

 

[Dr Pepper]

Who did the Oilers get for him from Hartford?

http://oilfans.com/playerStats.php?firstname=Risto&lastname=Siltanen

August 19, 1982 » traded to Hartford with Brent Loney for Ken Linseman and Don Nachbaur.
» Trades following

 

[brianscot]

I always thought he was an exciting guy to watch and quite effective within his own game.

He didn't have the spectacular finesse skills that Reijo Ruotsalainen owned, but was quite effective for Edmonton before Paul Coffey's bloom made him expendable.

 

[PerryTurnbullfan]

Blues draft choice in the marathon draft!