New Jersey Devils Sign Juho Lammikko to One-Year Deal After 38-Point Season with ZSC Lions

The New Jersey Devils have officially signed Finnish forward Juho Lammikko to a one-year, one-way NHL contract worth $800,000 for the 2025-26 season. The announcement, first reported by PuckPedia and later confirmed by the team at 10:00 a.m. Eastern, brings Lammikko back to the NHL after a three-year stint in Switzerland’s National League with the ZSC Lions.
Lammikko, 29, was originally selected by the Florida Panthers with the 65th overall pick in the third round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. He made his NHL debut during the 2018-19 season and appeared in 40 games, recording six assists. In total, he has played 159 NHL games across three seasons split between the Panthers and the Vancouver Canucks. His NHL career includes 11 goals, 15 assists, and 26 total points, along with 188 recorded hits.
During his last NHL season in 2021-22 with the Vancouver Canucks, Lammikko played 75 games, scoring seven goals and eight assists for 15 points. He delivered 93 hits and finished with a minus-6 rating. That year, he won 354 faceoffs and lost 340, giving him a faceoff win rate of 51 percent for the season. His overall career faceoff percentage in the NHL is 47.6 percent.
Since leaving the NHL, Lammikko has spent three seasons with the ZSC Lions in Switzerland. In the 2024-25 campaign, he recorded 13 goals and 25 assists for 38 points in 48 games. He also registered a plus-23 rating. That season, Lammikko helped the Lions win the National League championship and subsequently the Champions Hockey League title for the first time in franchise history.
Lammikko’s performance in the 2021-22 NHL season placed him in the 68th percentile in top skating speed, clocking in at 22.52 miles per hour. He ranked in the 79th percentile for total speed bursts over 18 miles per hour, recording 525 bursts, and in the 80th percentile for speed bursts over 20 miles per hour with 119 such bursts. His top shot speed that season reached 91.83 miles per hour, placing him in the 75th percentile. He also had 26 shots between 70 and 80 MPH, ranking in the 60th percentile.
According to an analysis by CJ Turtoro, Lammikko would have ranked fourth on the 2021-22 Devils in 18+ MPH speed bursts per 60 minutes, with 40.14 bursts. This placed him just behind Jack Hughes (40.55) and ahead of Jesper Bratt (35.42). By comparison, Justin Dowling was noted as having a below-average top speed and one of the weakest shots on the team. Curtis Lazar was in the 90th percentile for top speed at 23.14 MPH but used his speed less frequently. His top shot speed was 82.73 MPH, which was below the league average.
Listed by the ZSC Lions at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, Lammikko brings significant size to the Devils’ bottom-six forward group. In addition to his club play, Lammikko represented Finland at the 2025 IIHF World Championships, where he registered three assists in eight games while playing alongside Devils prospect Lenni Hämeenaho. He previously helped Finland win gold at the World Championships in both 2019 and 2022.
Before his recent time in Europe, Lammikko played five seasons in North America from 2014 to 2019, including time in the AHL. He then returned to the NHL in 2020-21 with the Florida Panthers and played the following year with Vancouver. In 2022, he left again to join ZSC in Switzerland. A Swiss news outlet, Blue News, reported in 2023 that Lammikko had signed a contract extension with ZSC through the 2027-28 season.
Despite this reported contract term, Lammikko has returned to the NHL on a guaranteed deal rather than a professional tryout (PTO). The one-way nature of his deal ensures he will be paid the full $800,000 salary regardless of whether he makes the NHL roster or is assigned to Utica in the AHL.
General Manager Tom Fitzgerald’s decision to sign Lammikko illustrates an offseason approach that includes identifying value from European leagues. The Devils have a history of adding European professionals under Fitzgerald’s tenure, including players who had not yet played in North America prior to signing. One past example is Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who entered the NHL in 2014 at age 29 and went on to play through the 2023-24 season. In 2024-25, Bellemare scored 10 goals and 18 assists in 34 games, while Lammikko had 13 goals and 25 assists in 48 games for ZSC.
Fitzgerald’s decision also aligns with the team’s current cap situation. With only $11.24 million in cap space and pending contracts for Luke Hughes and Cody Glass, signing Lammikko for $800,000—only $25,000 above the league minimum—is a cap-conscious move. If Lammikko does not make the team, his salary will not count against the salary cap, although he will still be paid in full.
At present, the Devils have five natural centers under contract: Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, Dawson Mercer, Erik Haula, and Juho Lammikko. Cody Glass is a restricted free agent and, if re-signed, would become the sixth. Two depth chart projections show how the lineup could look depending on Glass’s contract status.
Without Glass, the projected lines could be: Timo Meier – Nico Hischier – Stefan Noesen, Erik Haula – Jack Hughes – Jesper Bratt, Ondrej Palat – Dawson Mercer – Arseni Gritsyuk, Paul Cotter – Juho Lammikko – Kurtis MacDermid. With Glass signed, the lineup could shift to: Meier – Hischier – Noesen, Bratt – Hughes – Mercer, Haula – Glass – Gritsyuk, Palat – Lammikko – Cotter.
One area of fan curiosity is why the Devils offered Lammikko a full contract rather than inviting him to training camp on a PTO.Given that Lammikko’s reported deal with ZSC ran through 2027-28, and considering ZSC’s willingness to invest in former NHL bottom-six players—like when they signed Denis Malgin to a five-year contract in 2023—he likely had little financial motivation to return on a tryout basis. A one-way contract with a guaranteed salary, even if below market by NHL standards, would have been necessary to lure him back.
The Devils’ bottom six struggled during the 2024-25 season, and while the current roster may not look like a Cup contender, adding a player like Lammikko strengthens the team’s depth at minimal cost. The move offers New Jersey another experienced option at center, and at 6-foot-3, Lammikko joins MacDermid as the second player in the bottom six with that height. Whether that added size translates to better results on the ice remains to be seen, but it is a direct response to some of the physical shortcomings from last season.
In the broader picture, Lammikko is represented by Allain Roy of RSG Hockey, an agency that represents several other Devils players, including Nico Hischier, Jake Allen, Erik Haula, Brenden Dillon, Jonas Siegenthaler, Dennis Cholowski, and Mikael Diotte. Roy also represents Andrew Mangiapane, a 29-year-old winger whose contract with Washington is expiring on July 1. Mangiapane had 14 goals and 14 assists in 81 games this past season, his lowest production in five years. He previously signed a three-year, $17.4 million deal with Calgary in 2022 and is now expected to test free agency.
Mangiapane’s agent switch and connections to the Devils have led to speculation that New Jersey may pursue him. From 2019-20 to 2023-24, Mangiapane never scored fewer than 14 goals in a season. His most productive season came in 2021-22 when he scored 35 goals and 55 points for Calgary. He has also posted three full seasons with an on-ice goal share of 56.1 percent or better.