Miikka Salomäki

Playing career

Salomäki began his North American career after being picked 52nd overall by the Nashville Predators in the 2011 draft, coming from Oulun Kärpät in Finland’s Liiga. He got his first NHL call-up on January 8, 2015, and that same night he debuted and scored his first goal against Dallas Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen, helping Nashville win 3–2 in overtime. By his seventh season with the Predators organization, he was still shuttling between the NHL and AHL. He started the 2019–20 campaign with the Milwaukee Admirals, got recalled for five games with Nashville, then went back to Milwaukee. After putting up only 15 points in 41 AHL games, the Predators traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs on February 22, 2020, in exchange for Ben Harpur. He joined Toronto’s AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies, and scored two goals and four points in eight games before the season was shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Becoming a free agent after that short stint with the Maple Leafs, Salomäki headed back to the Western Conference by signing a one-year, two-way deal with the Colorado Avalanche on October 9, 2020. He attended Colorado’s training camp for the pandemic-delayed season but was among the final cuts, assigned to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles. There he played 26 regular-season games, managing just two goals and 12 points, while also serving on the Avalanche’s taxi squad and later joining the team as a black ace during the playoffs. When his contract with Colorado ended, he left North America and signed a two-year contract with Örebro HK of the Swedish Hockey League on June 23, 2021. In his first SHL season, he appeared in 34 games, scoring three goals and adding 11 points. Near the end of that season, he cut his contract short and returned to Finland, finishing the year with HIFK in the Liiga as of February 28, 2022. After a brief playoff run with HIFK, he left that club to sign a two-year deal with Lausanne HC of Switzerland’s National League on June 10, 2022.