Nikodem Pääjärvi

undefinedNikodem Pääjärvi (born January 12th 1999) is a Finnish professional ice hockey forward. He currently plays for Nashville Blues of the Major League Hockey. Pääjärvi was selected by the Nashville Blues 3rd Overall in the 2016 MLH Draft.

Youth
Nikodem grew up playing for TPS Turku of SM-Liiga and was loaned to Asia-League outfit Nippon Paper Cranes. He returned to Finland and played kept playing for TPS Turku.

Professional
On June 17th 2016, he was selected 3rd Overall by the Nashville Blues. The next day Nikodem was signed to a 3 year ELC contract and sent loaned to Ottawa 1907 HC for development in 2016-17 Season. Pääjärvi began the 2017-18 season in the MLH, playing center to wingers (older brother) Timo Pääjärvi and Ryan Gilmour He scored his first career MLH goal on October 6, 2017, against the Denver Huskies in a 5–0  win. He scored his first career MLH hat-trick on March 29, 2018, against the Texas Oilers. With his hat-trick, Pääjärvi broke the Blues rookie scoring record that was previously held by Kristaps Andris. On August 6, 2019, Pääjärvi recorded his first hat-trick in the MLH in a 4–3 overtime victory against Toronto Dynamo in the IIHF Champions League.

International Play
On May 10, 2019, Pääjärvi was a late inclusion to Finland's roster at the 2019 Scandinavian Cup joining the squad following the Blue's second-round defeat in the 2019 North American Cup Playoffs. Pääjärvi helped Finland progress through to the playoff rounds before losing the final to Denmark to finish with the silver medal on May 26. He finished the tournament with three goals and seven points through eight games.

Personal Life
Pääjärvi currently lives in Turku,Finland with his 2nd older brother and his stepbrother, Timo Pääjärvi and Artyom Ville. He is the 3rd oldest out of his 4 male siblings. He is currently engaged to Japanese idol Nagata Yui

His oldest brother Jarmo Pääjärvi did play 20 split games, 10 in the STX Superleague (MLH) during the 2010-11 season for the Winnipeg Rampage and 10 for Ottawa 1907 HC in the Major League Hockey Championship. On September 12th 2011 Jarmo died of suicide at the age of 25.