Canucks Daily: Lammikko Crosses Pond, Flames with Huge Signing

Vancouver Canucks fans won’t have Juho Lammikko to kick around anymore. Just kidding. He was pretty much harmless, non-controversial, and not the least bit dynamic. The quiet Finn forward moved back across the pond and signed a one-year contract with the ZSC Lions of Switzerland’s National League.

In 75 NHL games with the Vancouver Canucks last season Lammikko put up 15 points with 67 shots on goal and 93 hits. The 26-year-old, a former 3rd-round draft choice of the Florida Panthers, actually played the 2019-’20 season with Karpat in the Finnish top SM-Liiga and then part of the following season in the Russian KHL. He has a total of 159 NHL games under his belt including his one season in Vancouver.

Brad’s Big Bucks

Calgary Flames General Manager Brad Treliving locked up recently acquired winger Jonathan Huberdeau with the largest contract in team history, eight years and $84-million dollars for an annual salary cap hit of $10.5-million, the same deal the club had offered free agent forward Johnny Gaudreau before he decided to bolt to Columbus.

Huberdeau still has a year remaining on his previous contract at $5.9-million for this season. He’ll turn 30 next summer before the eight year deal begins. It includes a full no-move clause in the first six seasons and modified no-trade in the final two years.

This one gets Vancouver Canucks fans to scratch their heads a bit as their club seems trepidatious and unlikely to sign leading scorer and soon to be 30-year-old centre JT Miller to such an agreement. It’s an understandable position to take, as a contract of that length for a player of that age does somewhat mortgage the future and potentially tie the hands. The Canucks have said they’re looking to build a younger core.

Huberdeau is coming off career highs in goals (30), assists (85) and points (115) while working with centre Aleksander Barkov in Florida. He’ll now very likely be combined with centre Elias Lindholm and right wing Tyler Toffoli in Calgary.

Let’s just say the pressure will be on to get off to a hot start.