Finnish
winger Roby Järventie, 22, has signed a three-year contract with
Tappara, the
Liiga club announced on Tuesday.
A Tampere native, Järventie is returning to his hometown after
spending the past four seasons in North America in the Ottawa
Senators and Edmonton
Oilers organizations.
“Really good feeling – it’s nice to be
home,” Järventie is quoted on the Tappara website. “It’s
always been a dream to play together with my brother, so this is a
great opportunity to make that dream come true.”
Roby’s younger brother Emil, 20, was a seventh-round pick of the
Pittsburgh
Penguins in 2023. The two brothers are actually products of rival
club Ilves but Emil transferred to Tappara last season, where he
split time between the club’s Liiga and top junior teams. This will
be Roby’s first tour of duty with Tappara. Due to their age
difference, this will be the first time the brothers have played
together on the same team.
Roby Järventie was chosen in the second round, 33rd overall, by
Ottawa in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. He then went to North America
late in the pandemic-delayed 2021 season to play for the AHL’s
Belleville Senators, recording three points in four games.
After playing a full season with Belleville in 2021-22,
Järventie missed
significant amounts of the next two campaigns with a recurring knee
injury. He managed to play seven NHL games with Ottawa in
2023-24, recording one assist.
In the summer of 2024, he
was traded to Edmonton. Järventie missed training camp after
another knee surgery but only managed to play in two AHL games with
the Bakersfield Condors in November before re-injuring his knee and
has not played since.
According to an
Ilta-Sanomat article in March, Järventie’s
rehab has been going well and he is expected to be ready for the
start of training camp in late summer with Tappara.
In addition to the Järventie brothers, Tappara has also signed
veteran defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka, who played 150 NHL games for the
Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames. The club also has Calgary prospect
Eetu Tuola and Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Oiva Keskinen under
contract for 2025-26.
center Topi Rönni, who
recently
signed as a free agent with Liiga club
Vaasan Sport, has agreed to part ways
with the club after the signing drew intense criticism from the
Finnish public and media.
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