Timo Jutila


Timo Juhani "Juti" Jutila is a retired Finnish ice hockey defenceman.
Jutila was drafted by Buffalo Sabres in 1982 NHL Entry Draft.

Playing career

Jutila's ice hockey career began at the "Pohjola Leiri" 1978 training camp held by the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation where he was selected as the best player of the camp. He played for Tappara in the 1979–80 season of the Finnish SM-liiga. He continued to play with the team for a total of five Seasons, totalling 144 regular season games.
After the 1983–84 season, Jutila went to the NHL and played for the Buffalo Sabres, the team who drafted him in 1982. However, Jutila's NHL career was short-lived and he left NHL in the following season. Jutila played most of the 1984–85 season in AHL for the Rochester Americans, totalling 56 games with 43 points.
After his short NHL spell, Jutila returned to Tappara and stayed with the club for three seasons, winning the Finnish Championship every season. After three successful seasons in Finland, Jutila signed with the Swedish team Luleå HF in Elitserien, where he played for four seasons.
He returned to Finland and Tappara in 1993 and continued to play with his former team Tampere for another four Seasons. During this period, Tappara was not as successful as in 1985–1988; the best result of Jutila's four season tenure was a fourth place after losing the bronze game in overtime to Lukko in the 1994 playoffs.
In 1996, Jutila was contracted by SC Bern in the Swiss elite league Nationalliga A. After only one season with the club, he returned to Finland playing his last two season as an active hockey player with Tappara. He retired in 1999.
After his retirement, Jutila worked as ice hockey commentator, and together with Mika Saukkonen and Jari Kurri he formed the play-by-play team for Finnish ice hockey TV programme Hockey Night, aired on MTV3.

Awards

Jutila was a defenceman and the long time captain for the Finnish national team. He played in total 246 international games, scoring 108 points. He played eight World Championships, three Winter Olympic tournaments and one Canada Cup.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International