Blue Jackets Re-Sign Mikael Pyyhtia

After swinging a trade to bring in an impactful winger, the Blue Jackets turned their focus to a pending restricted free agent.  PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that Columbus has signed forward Mikael Pyyhtia to a two-year contract.  The AAV of the agreement is $875K while it will be a two-way deal in 2026-27 and a one-way pact in 2027-28.

A fourth-round pick by Columbus back in 2020 (114th overall), Pyyhtia played in Finland in the TPS system until late in the 2022-23 campaign when he went to North America after his club team was eliminated.  He got his feet wet with a handful of games with AHL Cleveland and even getting into two with Columbus.

Pyyhtia spent the bulk of 2023-24 in the minors but it looked like he may have turned the corner the following season when he played in 47 games with the Blue Jackets.  He didn’t produce much – just seven points – but the hope was that he might have secured himself a regular spot on the fourth line.

However, that ultimately wasn’t the case.  Pyyhtia spent most of this past season with the Monsters and had a breakout year offensively.  He came into the season with a personal best of 28 points in an AHL season but that number now sits at 49 after putting up 21 goals and 28 assists in 59 games.  That didn’t ultimately yield much in the way of playing time with the Blue Jackets as he only saw action in five games with them, where he had a goal.  However, his big year likely helped secure the one-way payment in 2027-28.

Pyyhtia has 11 points in 71 career NHL contests and will be waiver-eligible once again in the fall.  He passed through unclaimed back in September but he’s coming off a much stronger performance this time around.  That could be enough to land Pyyhtia a back-of-the-roster spot in training camp with Columbus or potentially elsewhere if the Blue Jackets try to slip him through waivers once again.