Juho Lammikko’s tenure with the Vancouver Canucks was pretty good for the most part, but came to an end almost as soon as it began.
After being acquired along with Noah Juulsen from the Florida Panthers in exchange for Olli Juolevi just before the start of the season, the 6’2 Finnish centre played a career-high 75 games this past season.
This was thanks in part to the fire he caught while playing on a line with Matthew Highmore and Tyler Motte under Bruce Boudreau.
The trio became Bruce Boudreau’s most trusted line for an extended period of time, and showed a great deal of chemistry with one another.
Despite that, the Canucks flipped Motte at the trade deadline for a fourth round pick, and chose not to extend qualifying offers to Lammikko and Highmore.
Instead, the club elected to use free agency to restructure their fourth line, adding B.C. native Curtis Lazar along with Dakota Joshua — and re-upping Phil Di Giuseppe in the process.
Meanwhile, Highmore signed a two-way contract with the St. Louis Blues, and Motte still hasn’t been able to find an NHL home as an unrestricted free agent.
And now, Lammikko is headed to Zürich to join the ZSC Lions of the Switzerland Hockey League.
The Lions are perhaps best known as the former team of Toronto Maple Leafs forward and Hart Trophy winner Auston Matthews.
In his draft season, Matthews elected to go pro instead of playing junior hockey before being selected first overall by the Leafs in 2016.
Lammikko, a third-round pick of the Florida Panthers in 2014, has 159 NHL games played. 75 of those games came with the Canucks this past season, as did 15 of his 26 career points.
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