Joonas Lyytinen has been reassigned by the Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) to the Norfolk Admirals (ECHL). This move comes a week after the organization did the same thing to get Fred Allard playing time with Norfolk. Both of the Admirals will be playing Friday and Saturday night. Lyytinen should make his North American professional playing debut in the ECHL as Norfolk travel to face-off against the Colorado Eagles.

Lyytinen was fifth round selection by the Nashville Predators in the 2014 NHL Draft. He did turn up at the end of the 2015-16 season in Milwaukee but had not signed his entry level contract at the time so he, as well as Janne Juvonen, didn’t factor in. Lyytinen didn’t make the leap to North America in 2016-17 and instead finished out his time with KalPa who he had been with since joining their youth academy in 2009.

It had seemed Lyytinen might be sticking across the pond this season. The 22-year old Finnish defenseman had signed a contract with Kärpät (Liiga). He later signed his entry level contract with Nashville and has since been confirmed to be starting his transition to the North American pro game this season whether it be in Milwaukee or Norfolk. The sheer volume of defensemen in Milwaukee, as well as the lack of games taking place early in the season, are the reason for his trip to the ECHL. It was the same reasoning behind Allard doing so last weekend and he worked in his first 3 games of his professional career.

Be sure to keep updated with Admirals Roundtable through social media platform of your choice: follow along on Twitter, like us on Facebook, get photo updates on Instagram, and listen along on SoundCloud.