NHL team Chicago Blackhawks contract player Antti Saarela is returning to Finland on a loan contract after one AHL season.
Antti Saarela returns to SM league club Rauma Lukko with a season-long loan agreement from the Chicago Blackhawks organization.
Saarela has played for Rauma for the last time in the 2022–23 season, when the forward scored 18 points in 41 matches.
– The feelings are good, of course. The familiar environment seemed like the right choice at this point and it also played a big role when I was thinking about possible places to play, Saarela commented on Lukon on the homepage.
The 23-year-old hockey player spent the previous season in the ranks of the Blackhawks’ farm club, the AHL team Rockford IceHogs. Six power points were accumulated in 27 matches, five of which were goals.
Lukko says on his website that a year in North America brought Saarela speed and strength for fighting.
– The year was quite full of phases, but it also developed a lot. The field is so much smaller there that, for example, the shot became more versatile. There was so much less space that I learned to shoot from smaller angles and more difficult positions, it makes scoring a lot easier, Saarela commented on his development during the AHL season, Saarela said.
Before going behind the rapako, Saarela also represented Tampere’s Ilves in Finland. Saarela, known as a scorer in his best league season, has scored 12 goals and 19 power points.
Saarela is Chicago’s fourth-round pick from 2019.