The Florida Panthers have acquired defenseman Markus Nutivaara from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for minor-league forward Cliff Pu.
Nutivaara, 26, appeared in 37 regular season games with Columbus, recording three goals an nine points and appeared in two games during the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs.
The 6-foot-1, 187-pound native of Oulu, Finland, has played in 244 career NHL regular season games, all with Columbus (2016-17 to 2019-20), producing 60 points (17G/43A). He has played in 12 career playoff games, posting a goal and an assist.
Prior to his career in North America, Nutivaara played two seasons (2014-15 to 2015-16) for Kärpät in Finland’s top professional league, Liiga and won the 2015 Liiga Championship.
On the international stage, Nutivaara represented Finland at the 2018 IIHF World Championship, registering nine points (3G/6A) over eight games, the most points among Finland’s defensemen.
He was originally selected by Columbus in the seventh round (189th overall) of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
Nutivaara has two more years left on his current contact with an AAV of $2.7 million.
Pu was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for future considerations, which correlated with the AHL Charlotte Checkers acquisition of Tomas Jurco, on February 25, 2019. The 22-year-old produced two assists in ten games with the Springfield Thunderbirds last season.