Rewind back to the 2015-16 season, goaltender Ville Husso was playing for HIFK Helsinki in the SM-Liiga, the top league in Finland. Husso won the goalie of the year award that season but in the Liiga playoff finals, his club fell to Tampereen Tappara. Now bringing things back to the 2016-17 season, Blues’ defensive prospect had the same fate. His club KalPa was beaten by Tappara in six games. But for Mikkola this season should still be considered a success.
The 20 year old was drafted by the St. Louis Blues in 2015, a fifth round draft pick 127th overall. Mikkola played in 56 games putting up 15 points, with 11 of them coming by the way of assist. In the post season he did miss some time with a concussion but Mikkola did manage to rack up three points.
Not unlike fellow Finnish prospect Petteri Lindbohm, Mikkola’s bread and butter is the physical play. He has good size at 6’4” and is never afraid to throw his body around. Mikkola did have 89 penalty minutes on the season but was never a detriment to his team. His contract is up with KalPa and it’s been rumored all season that the defensemen is heading to North America next year. Mikkola is for sure one to keep an eye at the 2017-18 camps/preseason.