Vancouver Canucks fans do not have fond memories looking back on the 2016 NHL Draft. The Canucks had the fifth-overall pick and decided on low-event puck-moving defenceman Olli Juolevi as their selection rather than present stars Matthew Tkachuk (218 goals), Clayton Keller (424 points), Mikhail Sergachev (two Stanley Cups, 260 points), Charlie McAvoy (280 points), or Jakob Chychrun (216 points). While it’s not good to live in the past, it’s still difficult to think what could have been if the Canucks would have selected one of those players instead of Juolevi.
Juolevi battled several major injuries in his young career and saw his development halt before being shipped off to the Florida Panthers for Noah Juulsen and Juho Lammikko on Oct. 10, 2021. All in all, he spent five seasons in the Canucks organization and only played 23 games, scoring two goals and three points. He showed flashes of being a legitimate NHL defenceman, but the surgeries to his back and knee ultimately derailed his once-promising career and destroyed the asset that made him a top prospect – his skating. Now three years removed from the trade, let’s take a look at where the different players are hanging their skates these days.
Olli Juolevi
After being traded to the Panthers, Juolevi played 10 games and averaged 12:27 of ice time on the bottom pairing. He was then placed on waivers and claimed by the Detroit Red Wings on March 6, 2022. Between the Panthers and Red Wings, he played his former team twice, recording two shots and a minus-1 in the plus/minus column. He played eight games with the Red Wings and finished the season with zero points in 18 games.
In the offseason, the Red Wings decided not to bring Juolevi back and he entered free agency as an unrestricted free agent. It took until July 27, 2022, before Anaheim Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek came calling and signed him to a one-year deal worth $750,000. Juolevi spent the entire 2022-23 season in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the San Diego Gulls where he put up one goal and 14 points in 38 games.
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The Ducks didn’t re-sign Juolevi, and he jetted back to Europe to sign with Timra IK of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). He spent nine games there, scoring one goal along with a minus-6 rating. Last season he returned to the Liiga and won a championship with Tappara, and will be playing there again this season. He is only 26 years old, but considering his lack of success in the AHL and NHL, he will probably spend the rest of his hockey career overseas barring a breakout and a team taking another flyer on him as a European free agent.
Noah Juulsen
The only piece of this trade still playing in the NHL, Juulsen also started his career as a first-round pick with high expectations. While he was not a top-10 pick like Juolevi, he was still selected 26th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in 2015 and failed to make it with the organization that drafted him. After a successful stint in the Western Hockey League (WHL) with the Everett Silvertips, he bounced between the American Hockey League’s Laval Rocket and the Canadiens and played 44 games in the NHL during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons before being scooped off waivers by the Panthers in January 2021.
The Canucks then acquired Juulsen in the Juolevi trade and amidst injuries to the defence corps, played eight games and recorded his first NHL points (two assists) since 2018-19 when he put up five points in 21 games with the Canadiens. He did the same thing in 2022-23, playing 12 games in the NHL and 49 in the AHL with the Abbotsford Canucks.
Fast forward to last season and Juulsen – after a two-year contract extension – has established himself as a solid piece of the Canucks’ improved blue line headlined by Quinn Hughes and Filip Hronek. He played a simple and quiet game alongside Ian Cole at five-on-five and even usurped a more veteran Mark Friedman as the sixth defenceman when injuries struck the blue line. While he didn’t provide much offence, he was a quality penalty-killer and added physicality and shot blocking to the back end – something that Adam Foote and Rick Tocchet appreciate in their defencemen.
“Well, definitely puck decisions. Whatever’s in front of them, he’s taken it. He’s not looking for the second option; he’s looking for the first option. I think that’s really helped his game. And his PK, I think, is PK, which has been really good lately, has helped his five on five game. He’s got a lot of confidence out there. He’s getting a lot of confidence. He’s just been night and day over the last month.”
– Rick Tocchet
Juulsen finished last season fourth on the team in blocked shots and hits with 85 and 164 respectively. He made the team this season as a seventh defenceman and will be called upon again when injuries or struggles hit the regulars – like he’s already done with Vincent Desharnais’ underwhelming debut against the Calgary Flames.
Juho Lammikko
Lammikko had his best season in the NHL in Vancouver as he formed an effective fourth line with former Canucks Tyler Motte and Matthew Highmore. Similar to the impressive third line of today of Dakota Joshua, Teddy Blueger and Conor Garland, they were hard on the forecheck and made life miserable for the opposition. They were often then-head coach Bruce Boudreau’s best line and could have made a difference in the playoffs if they had gotten there.
“He’s an anchor on that line and you need a good fourth-line centre and he’s turning out to be that,” said Boudreau. “He’s responsible. I just love the way he plays right now, and with a lot of confidence, because we’ve been playing him quite often.”
Unfortunately, despite a career-high seven goals and 15 points in 75 games, the Canucks decided not to re-sign Lammikko in the offseason and the fourth line got a major facelift as all three didn’t return for the 2022-23 season – Motte was traded at the 2022 Trade Deadline and Highmore, like Lammikko, was allowed to walk in free agency.
In fact, Lammikko hasn’t played in the NHL since that season, spending time overseas with Zurich SC of the Swiss National League (NL). He’s been pretty successful offensively with an overall career-high of 24 goals in 52 games during the 2022-23 season and a goal and five points in 10 games so far this season. His previous high for goals was in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) in 2015-16 when he put up 22 goals in 59 games with the Kingston Frontenacs.
Canucks Come Away Winners
With Juolevi overseas and the Panthers losing him on waivers to the Red Wings, the Canucks win this trade hands down. While they no longer have Lammikko on their roster, they still have Juulsen, who has turned into a solid addition on the blue line. He likely won’t ever be a regular, but he fills in nicely whenever he’s needed. Injuries and struggles inevitably happen throughout the season, and it’s good to have a reliable plug-and-play defender like Juulsen ready to go at a moment’s notice.
Juulsen will likely never meet the expectations of a first-round pick, but at least the Canucks got something of value for their former top prospect in Juolevi. With the changes that happened on the back end in the offseason with Ian Cole and Nikita Zadorov signing elsewhere and Desharnais potentially becoming an in-and-out defender, he could see more time in the lineup than expected. If nothing else, he will be a solid injury replacement, which is what every contender needs to survive the 82-game grind that is the NHL regular season. I think that’s a pretty good return for a prospect many people thought wouldn’t even grab a late-round draft pick.
