Kari Jalonen to coach Kölner Haie

After the departure of Uwe Krupp in March following the team’s elimination from the DEL playoffs, German club Kölner Haie was in need of a new coach and on Monday, they announced the vacancy had been filled by veteran Finnish international coach Kari Jalonen, who was signed to a two-year contract.

“I’m really looking forward to the task here in Cologne,” Jalonen said in a club-issued press release. “In the conversations with Matthias Baldys and those responsible at the KEC, I quickly realized that we were on the same wavelength. Working in Germany for the first time and for such a historic club is something very special. In my work it is always very important to me to build bridges and take people with me. I am a fan of new challenges and tackle them with full enthusiasm.”

“Kari Jalonen fits the profile we had developed very well,” said Matthias Baldys, the club’s sports director. “The first discussions with him took place at the beginning of April. They were very goal-oriented and trustworthy right from the start. Kari Jalonen has a very high level of ice hockey expertise and has impressively proven in the past in different countries that he can form teams into a group and lead them successfully.”

Jalonen, 64, has a distinguished record as a coach, mostly in Finland but also in Switzerland and the KHL. He coached Finland at the 2014 and 2015 IIHF World Championships, winning a silver medal, and then coached Czechia in 2022 and 2023. winning a bronze.

As a player, Jalonen had an 18-year career spent largely with his hometown club Kärpät Oulu but he also played for IFK Helsinki and TPS in Finland, Skelleftea AIK in Sweden, and finished with two years in France for the Rouen Dragons. He also spent two seasons in North America in the early 80s, in which he played 37 NHL games for the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers, recording nine goals and six assists.

The club also announced a press conference on Tuesday at 10:00 CET, where Jalonen is to be introduced to local media.