Otto Paajanen is set to play his 800th Liiga game on Wednesday, when TPS visit Kiekko-Espoo. He will become the youngest player in league history to reach the milestone and is the first active player to do so. Paajanen has recorded 149 goals and 218 assists in 799 games across 15 Liiga seasons, and leads the active-player games list ahead of Jesper Piitulainen, on 726 appearances.
Paajanen made his Liiga debut for his development club, HPK, in September 2011. He captained the team from 2017 to 2019 and won the Finnish championship in 2019, receiving the Jari Kurri award as the playoffs’ best player. He later played for HIFK and spent a season in Sweden’s SHL before returning to HIFK.
After three seasons with KooKoo, where he was captain from 2023 to 2026, Paajanen joined TPS on a two-year contract last spring. His 40 points last season were a personal single-season high. His previous best was 20 goals in 2015–16.