Jarmo Myllys

Jarmo Myllys (born May 29, 1965 in Savonlinna, Finland) is a retired Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender. He was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars as their ninth-round pick, #172 overall, in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. He is currently the goalkeeping coach for the Finnish hockey team SaiPa.

Career in Finland
Jarmo Myllys was born in Savonlinna and started playing ice hockey for the local team Savonlinnan Pallokerho or SaPKo. He played his first adult season (1982–1983) in SaPko but moved to Tampere for SM-Liiga games in Ilves. Myllys spent a total of 3 seasons (1983–1986) with Ilves then moved to Rauman Lukko where he stayed for 2 seasons (1986–1988) before moving to the NHL.

NHL career
Myllys gained a spot in the Minnesota North Stars lineup. He played 6 NHL games in the 1988–1989 season but spent most of the year with the North Stars' farmteam, Kalamazoo Wings of the IHL. In his 3 seasons (1988–1991) with North Stars Myllys never played more that 10 games in a season. He spent most of these seasons in the IHL. When the San Jose Sharks were formed in 1991 Myllys moved to San Jose along with several North Stars players in the Dispersal Draft. Myllys played 27 games with the Sharks during the 1991–1992 season. This was his last season in the NHL, as Myllys returned to Finland in 1992.

Return from the NHL
In 1992 Myllys joined the 1 Divisioona team KooKoo, which located in Kouvola. After one season with KooKoo Myllys went to Lukko and stayed there for the 1993–1994 season. After his second season since his return in Finland, Myllys signed to Swedish Elitserien team Luleå HF.

Career in Elitserien
Myllys established himself as a star in Sweden, staying with Luleå for 7 seasons (1994–2001). During that time Myllys won several awards and played twice in the Elitserien all-star game. Myllys also scored two goals in two Elitserien games, which is a rare feat for a goalkeeper. Myllys returned to Finland in 2001, however.

Return to Finland
Jarmo Myllys was signed by Espoo Blues in 2001. He played with the Blues for 2 seasons (2001–2003) with little success. After his time with the Blues, Myllys moved to near his birth place in order to play with SaiPa and played there for the 2003–2004 season. Myllys played in Elitserien with HV71 in the playoffs, then returned to SaiPa for his final season. Myllys retired from professional ice hockey after the 2004–2005 season.

International play
Aside from his great success on club level, Myllys was also an accomplished goalkeeper in international competitions. Myllys made a total of 188 appearances for Finnish national ice hockey team. Altogether, Myllys competed in 7 World Championships Tournaments, 3 Olympic Tournaments and 2 World Cups. Myllys had his finest hour in the 1995 World Championship tournament as Finland won its first ever (still to date) World Championship by defeating Sweden 4–1, with Ville Peltonen scoring a hat-trick who played alongside future NHL stars Saku Koivu and Jere Lehtinen. Myllys played a big part in the match and nearly kept his net empty, but a small mistake cost him a shutout. Overall Jarmo Myllys is one of the most accomplished goalkeepers in Finnish Hockey history.

Career statistics
--- Regular Season ---  Playoffs Season  Team                        Lge    GP    G    A  Pts  PIM  GP   G   A Pts PIM -- 1982-83 SaPKo Savonlinna           Fin1    28    0    0    0    0  --  --  --  --  -- 1983-84 Ilves Tampere               FNL    29    0    1    1    2  --  --  --  --  -- 1984-85 Ilves Tampere               FNL    31    0    0    0    4  9    0   0   0   0 1985-86 Ilves Tampere               FNL    36    0    0    0    2  --  --  --  --  -- 1986-87 Lukko Rauma                 FNL    43    0    1    1   40  --  --  --  --  -- 1987-88 Lukko Rauma                 FNL    44    0    1    1    6   8   0   0   0  12 1988-89 Kalamazoo Wings             IHL    30    0    1    1    4   6   0   0   0   0 1988-89 Minnesota North Stars       NHL     6    0    0    0    0  --  --  --  --  -- 1989-90 Kalamazoo Wings             IHL    49    0    8    8   39   5   0   0   0   0 1989-90 Minnesota North Stars       NHL     4    0    0    0    0  --  --  --  --  -- 1990-91 Kalamazoo Wings             IHL    39    0    4    4   14  10   0   0   0  22 1990-91 Minnesota North Stars       NHL     2    0    0    0    2  --  --  --  --  -- 1991-92 Kansas-City Blades          IHL     5    0    0    0    2  --  --  --  --  -- 1991-92 San Jose Sharks             NHL    27    0    1    1    2  --  --  --  --  -- 1992-93 KooKoo Kouvola             Fin1    41    0    6    6   18   6   0   1   1   2 1993-94 Lukko Rauma                 FNL    46    0    3    3    8   9   0   1   1   4 1994-95 Luleå HF                    SEL    37    0    4    4   22   9   0   0   0  14 1995-96 Luleå HF                    SEL    40    0    2    2   30  13   0   0   0   2 1996-97 Luleå HF                    SEL    37    0    3    3   56  10   0   0   0  10 1997-98 Luleå HF                    SEL    43    0    0    0   22 1998-99 Luleå HF                    SEL    47    0    0    0   58   9   0   0   0  14 1999-00 Luleå HF                    SEL    44    1    1    1   46 2000-01 Luleå HF                    SEL    46    1    3    4   53  10   0   1   1   4 2001-02 Blues                       FNL    56    0    2    2   22   3   0   0   0   2 2002-03 Blues                       FNL    19    0    0    0   14   7   0   0   0   0 2003-04 SaiPa Lappeenranta          FNL    41    0    1    1   24  --  --  --  --  -- 2003-04 HV71 Jönköping              SEL     4    0    0    0    0  13   0   0   0   0 2004-05 SaiPa Lappeenranta          FNL    54    0    0    0   24  --  --  --  --  -- --       Fin1 Totals                         69    0    6    6   18   6   0   1   1   2 FNL Totals                       409    0    9    9  146  38   0   1   1  18 SEL Totals                       299    2   14   15  287  76   0   1   1  56 NHL Totals                        39    0    1    1    4  --  --  --  --  -- IHL Totals                       118    0   12   12   59  21   0   0   0  22

Seasons Team                               GP    G    A  Pts  PIM -- 1985-01 Finland                           188    0    4    4   18

Trivia

 * Jarmo Myllys was the childhood hero of the Atlanta Thrashers goalie Kari Lehtonen.