The ZSC Lions have signed two forwards with NHL experience to contract extensions, the Zurich-based National League club announced on Friday. They are 28-year-old Finnish center Juho Lammikko, who has signed for three extra years and 30-year-old Swedish right winger Jesper Frödén, who has added two.

The two linemates played a key role in the Lions’ championship last season, and they combined on the only two goals in the game-7 victory over Lausanne HC in the finals.

Lammikko hails from Noormarkku, Finland and played for the Ässät club, with whom he got his first taste of professional hockey in 2013-14. He was drafted in the third round, 65th overall by the Florida Panthers in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft and then spent the next two seasons playing for the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs.

In 88 NHL games for the Panthers, Lammikko tallied 11 points, but he really hit his stride in the 2021-22 season with the Vancouver Canucks, playing on a fourth line with Tyler Motte and Matthew Highmore that was lights out for the Canucks until Motte, a pending UFA, was traded at the deadline. Lammikko had 15 points in 75 games that season but, unable to attract a suitable offer that summer, he signed with Zurich, where he’s played ever since.

Lammikko has 102 points in 139 National League games in the two-and-a-half seasons since he joined the team.

“Juho is a pioneer who you can count on in crunch time,” said ZSC sports director Sven Leuenberger. “His physique and his offensive and defensive qualities make him very valuable to us as a center. It is not for nothing that Juho is often on the ice against the opponents' top lines.”

Frödén was born in Stockholm and played professionally in Sweden for Södertälje SK, AIK Stockholm and Skellefteå AIK. Never drafted by an NHL team, he signed with the Boston Bruins in 2021 and played seven games with that team in 2021-22, scoring one goal, and playing the rest of the campaign with AHL Providence. The following season, he played 14 regular-season games and once in the playoffs for the Seattle Kraken, recording four assists, and again spent the remainder of the season in the AHL with the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

In a season and a half in Zurich, Frödén has 64 points in 74 regular-season and playoff games.

“Jesper was one of our best scorers last season and, with 22 goals, the player with the most goals during the qualification,” said Leuenberger. “He can be used in all situations and with his two-way qualities he embodies our philosophy wonderfully.”

Internationally, Lammikko has played for Finland at three IIHF World Championships, winning gold medals in 2019 and 2022, and Frödén has played for Sweden in two World Championships, winning a bronze medal in 2024.

Through 24 games in the 2024-25 season, the Lions sit second in the National League standings with 52 points. They are also currently engaged in the Champions Hockey League quarterfinals, having come from behind to defeat Eisbären Berlin 4-3 in the first leg on Wednesday. Frödén scored a goal and Lammikko recorded two assists in the game. 

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