Mikael Pyyhtiä is the hot name right now. The young Finnish winger scored his first NHL goal last night in a 6-1 thrashing on the Edmonton Oilers.
The CBJ drafted Mikael Pyyhtiä in the 4th round of the 2020 NHL Draft with pick #114. He was just the type of light winger Jarmo Kekäläinen liked to draft.
Before coming to America, he played in parts of four seasons for TPS in Liiga. He would score 31 goals and total 63 points in 140 games.
Pyyhtiä came to North America in 2023 where he would play in 7 games for the Cleveland Monsters. Pyyhtiä would score 3 goals in those 7 games.
On April 13, 2023, he would make his NHL debut against the Pittsburgh Penguins where he would play 11:56 minutes and tally an assist. The next night he played again, this time against the Buffalo Sabres in the season finale. He played 15:07 ice time but failed to get on the score sheet.
The 2023-24 season would be his first full season playing in North America. For Cleveland, he scored 7 goals and totaled 28 points in 60 games. On March 14, he was called up to Columbus due to the injury situation. He played in the final 17 games of the season, had 2 assists, and averaged 13:09 ice time. He was sent back to Cleveland for their playoff run, where he would play in 13 games and total 5 points.
And now we come to the 24-25 season. Due to injuries, Pyyhtiä was given the opportunity to play for the Jackets directly out of camp. He beat out the likes of James Malatesta, Luca Del Bel Belluz, and Trey Fix-Wolansky, which was a shock to many.
Pyyhtiä started game one on the third line but has since been moved up to the second. Lately, he’s been playing with Adam Fantilli, Cole Sillinger, and Yegor Chinakhov. Head Coach Dean Evason has talked glowingly about his young winger, who he calls “Tuna.” He’s averaging 14:33 ice time and is a plus-2 on the season.
Last night, in a game against the Edmonton Oilers, Pyyhtiä would put the Jackets up 5-0 in what would be his first career goal.
His teammates also seem to like him a lot.
Mikael Pyyhtiä seems to be the hard worker that Dean Evason loves having on his teams, and by the looks of it, he may not be going anywhere, anytime soon.
What’s Next – Columbus will take on the New York Islanders on Wednesday.
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