Greyhounds acquire Finnish forward

It turns out, Soo Greyhounds General Manager Kyle Raftis used Tuesday’s trade deadline for overage players to fill two spots with one player.

As the noon deadline hit, the Greyhounds acquired Finnish forward Jonne Tammela from the Peterborough Petes in exchange for a conditional 15th round pick in the 2018 OHL Priority Selection.

Tammela, a prospect of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, was selected by the Petes in the 2015 Canadian Hockey League Import Draft and joined the team for the 2016-17 season but a knee injury limited him to just a pair of games last season.

Tammela signed with the Lightning ahead of last season and was assigned to the Petes after an injury was diagnosed as patella tendinitis. After joining the Petes, Tammela would eventually need surgery to repair damage to the tendon, a procedure he went through in January. He suffered a setback while rehabbing the injury and was eventually shut down again and never played another game for the Petes.

After being selected by the Petes, Tammela remained in Finland for a season due a commitment to a pro team there.

The 20-year-old was assigned to the American Hockey League’s Syracuse Crunch this season but has yet to play a game.

At the time of the setback, Petes General Manager Mike Oke told the Peterborough Examiner he felt Tommela “a good player who would be a top forward in our league.”

The Kitchener Rangers were busy ahead of the deadline, acquiring goaltender Mario Culina from the Sudbury Wolves on Monday in exchange for a draft pick.

Culina, a Sault native, joined the Wolves earlier this season after starting the season with the Ryerson Rams in Canadian college hockey.

To make room for Culina, the Rangers released a pair of overage goaltenders in Anthony Dumont-Bouchard and Luke Opilka while also trading forward Jake Henderson to the North Bay Battalion.

Sudbury remained busy as well ahead of the deadline, moving forward Michael Pezzetta to the Sarnia Sting and Troy Lajeunesse to the Erie Otters.

The addition of Lajeunesse led to the Otters releasing overage goaltender Troy Timpano.

Tuesday’s other deal ahead of the overage deadline saw the London Knights send Sam Miletic and a third round pick to the Niagara IceDogs for four draft picks.