Finnish ice hockey player

Juuso Riikola (born 9 November 1993) is a Finnish professional ice hockey defenseman currently playing with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). His brother, Simo-Pekka also plays professionally for SaiPa in the Liiga.

Contents

• 1 Playing career
• 2 International play
• 3 Career statistics
  • 3.1 Regular season and playoffs
  • 3.2 International
• 4 References
• 5 External links

Playing career

Riikola made his SM-liiga debut playing with KalPa as a 19-year-old during the 2012–13 SM-liiga season. He dressed for 20 games while posting 6 *ists from the blueline.

In his sixth season with KalPa in 2017–18, and while serving as an alternate captain, Riikola scored a career high 8 goals for 24 points in 59 games.

On 17 May 2018, as an undrafted free agent, Riikola signed a one-year, entry-level deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL for a reported $925,000. He made his NHL debut on 11 October 2018 against the Vegas Golden Knights at PPG Paints Arena. Riikola recorded his first career NHL point, an *ist, on 28 November against the Colorado Avalanche. He scored his first NHL goal on 29 December 2018 against the St. Louis Blues.

On 30 May 2019, the Penguins re-signed Riikola to a one-year, one-way contract extension worth $850,000. On 16 October 2019, against the Colorado Avalanche, Riikola played as a left winger due to injuries to several Penguins forwards.

On 5 September 2020, the Penguins signed Riikola to a two-year, $2.3 million extension.

International play

Riikola played for the Finland national team at the 2018 IIHF World Championship.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or:Eliteprospects.com, or:Eurohockey.com, or:Hockey-Reference.com, or:The Internet Hockey Database