Career
Known for his skill and skating speed, Aaltonen was drafted to National Hockey League by Saint Louis Blues as the 248 overall in 2003 National Hockey League Entry Draft. Aaltonen started his professional career with Oulun Kärpät, playing with the team from 2002 to 2009 winning Finnish championship twice. After the years he spent with Kärpät, Aaltonen moved to Lahti to play for Pelicans, where he played his breakthrough year scoring 28 goals and 49 points in 58 games in regular season.
He signed a five-year contract with Pelicans, but the contract also gave Aaltonen a possibility to play in other leagues.
This option in his contract was exercised on June 15, 2010, when he was loaned from the Pelicans to Russian club, Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL. Aaltonen was an integral part of Metallurg"s offense in his two seasons in the KHL before he opted to sign with Swedish club, Rögle BK of the then Elitserien on October 15, 2012. He made his debut in Sweden two-days later and in the 2012-2013 season, contributed with 31 points in 42 regular season games.
After a season"s long return with his original Finnish club, Kärpät, Aaltonen signed for his third Finnish team, and only KHL participant, Jokerit on August 1, 2014. Following the season 2009-2010 season, he was selected to join the Finland men"s national ice hockey team and he played at the 2010 IIHF World Championship.