Jokerit Niko Hovinen's SM-liiga career started during the 2005–06 season when Hovinen dressed for a single regular-season Jokerit game as backup to
Joonas Hallikainen, after
Tim Thomas abruptly left the team only a day before the start of the 2005–06 regular season. Hovinen returned to the junior team for the rest of the season. He made his first SM-liiga start on 23 November 2006, against
SaiPa, again called up when three Jokerit goaltenders were injured. During the 2007–08 season, Hovinen served as backup to
Jussi Markkanen. Hovinen was relegated to no. 3 goaltender when Jokerit acquired
Joni Puurula from
SaiPa just before the end of regular season. Hovinen dressed up to serve as backup for Joni Puurula in several games during the 2007–08 playoffs as Jussi Markkanen got himself injured during the first game of playoffs.
Pelicans During the off-season of 2007–08 SM-liiga season, Niko Hovinen was contracted to
Pelicans. For the first time, Niko Hovinen will play outside of Jokerit-organization in 2008–09 season. A tall goaltender at 196 cm, Hovinen covers the net and is considered a goaltender prospect. . Hovinen was ranked #10 on the International Scouting Service's list of goaltender prospects for the
2006 NHL entry draft. He was drafted in the fifth round, 132nd overall, by the
Minnesota Wild.
North America Hovinen signed a two-year entry-level contract with the
National Hockey League's
Philadelphia Flyers on 17 May 2011. He remained with the
Pelicans through the 2011–12 season. On 25 January 2013 the
Edmonton Oilers claimed Hovinen off unconditional waivers. He was assigned to AHL affiliate, the
Oklahoma City Barons, where he remained to end the
2013–14 season.
Back to Europe On 2 July 2013, Hovinen's NHL rights were retained by the Oilers after he was tendered a qualifying offer. He opted to return to Europe signing a contract with
Metallurg Novokuznetsk of the
Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), before moving on to fellow KHL team
Admiral Vladivostok. He split the
2014–15 season between
EC Salzburg of Austria and Swedish teams
Luleå HF and
Malmö Redhawks. In the 2015–16 campaign, Hovinen was back in his native Finland for a second stint with the
Pelicans. On 13 June 2016, he put pen to paper on a deal with
Medvescak Zagreb of the
Kontinental Hockey League and parted ways with the club in November 2016. Later that month, he was picked up by
KalPa of the Finnish top-flight
Liiga. Following a stint at fellow Liiga outfit
KooKoo, he signed with
Lausanne HC of the Swiss
NLA on February 7, 2017. A free agent from his
2018–19 season stint in the
Deutsche Eishockey Liga with the
Iserlohn Roosters, Hovinen familiarly returned to the Ligga, agreeing to a one-year contract with Vaasan Sport on 7 October 2019. ==Career statistics==