Former Vancouver Canucks Forward Lands New Contract After Three Year Absence From NHL

Teams around the National Hockey League are continuing to make preparations for the 2025-26 campaign and with the majority of clubs focused on the offseason already, we've seen a handful of signings and even trades.

Among the moves we've seen over the last five days are the Anaheim Ducks acquire Chris Kreider, Boston Bruins acquire former first-rounder Victor Soderstrom and now the New Jersey Devils have landed a former Vancouver Canucks forward, who is returning from Europe after three seasons away from the NHL.

In a post on X on Saturday afternoon, PuckPedia revealed that the New Jersey Devils have agreed to terms on a one-year, one-way contract worth $800,000 USD with former Vancouver Canucks forward Juho Lammikko.

Lammikko, 29, was acquired by the Vancouver Canucks in October 2021 from the Florida Panthers, along with defenseman Noah Juulsen, who the team is still undecided if they'll sign before the opening of free agency in a little over two weeks.

During the 2021-22 season, which was his lone campaign as a member of the Vancouver Canucks, Lammikko appeared in 75 games where he registered 15 points (seven goals, eight assists), 14 penalty minutes and was a minus-six.

Vancouver would go on to miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs that year and on June 30th, General Manager Patrik Allvin decided not to issue Lammikko a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent here in North America.

Instead of finding another NHL team to sign with, the Noormarkku, Finland native signed with Zurich in Switzerland's National League and during his time with the club, he won back-to-back league championships as well as the 2024-25 Champions Hockey League title.

This year in Zurich, Lammikko had 46 points (18 goals, 28 assists) in 61 games between the regular season and playoffs, along with 11 points in 12 contests in the Champions Hockey League.

Lammikko will come into training camp with the New Jersey Devils looking to make a statement - that he can still play in the National Hockey League, and if he's able to make their opening night roster, don't expect him to play anything more than a bottom-six role.