The Rangers announced today that they have signed free agent defenseman Ilkka Heikkinen. What this means overall as to who plays where and what is happening moving forward is anyone’s guess. It’s hard to say if Heikkinen is slotted for Hartford or New York. What it does signal though is the team is making moves as they have been looking at repairing what has been a glaring weakness on this team for quite some time as they’ve been signing an awful lot of defenseman of late.
Heikkinen, 24, skated in 54 games with HIFK Helsinki of the SM-liiga this past season, registering eight goals and 26 assists for 34 points, along with 22 penalty minutes. His 34 points ranked third among all SM-liiga defensemen. He led all HIFK defensemen in goals (eight), assists (26) and points, while finishing second on the team overall in assists, fourth in points and seventh in goals. The Rauma, Finland native recorded two, six-game scoring streaks – November 13 at Tappara to November 25 at Espoo (two goals and five assists) and January 15 vs. Kärpät to January 26 at Kärpät (two goals and six assists) – and posted five multi-point performances, including two, three-point efforts – January 15 vs. Kärpät (one goal and two assists) and February 14 at Lukko (one goal and two assists). In addition, he recorded one assist in two postseason contests with HIFK.
The 6-2, 200-pounder has appeared in 283 career SM-liiga games with Lukko Rauma and HIFK Helsinki, collecting 31 goals and 82 assists for 113 points, along with 255 penalty minutes. In 2007-08, Heikkinen established career-highs in goals (11), points (37) and penalty minutes (96), while his 26 assists led all HIFK skaters. In addition, he has appeared in 21 career SM-liiga playoff games with Lukko and HIFK, registering three assists and six penalty minutes.
