The Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club announced today that the organization has signed forward Joel Kiviranta to a one-year contract through the 2024-25 season.
Kiviranta, 28, played in 56 regular-season games for Colorado in 2023-24, producing nine points (3g/6a) with his six helpers matching his single-season career-high. The forward also appeared in eight of Colorado’s Stanley Cup Playoff games and chipped in two points (1g/1a). After attending training camp on a professional tryout (PTO), Kiviranta signed an NHL deal with the Avs on Nov. 12 and set a regular-season career-high with three points (1g/2a) three days later vs. Anaheim. He skated in his 200th NHL game on Feb. 8 at Carolina.
The 5-foot-11, 185-pound forward has registered 37 points (19g/18a) over 219 regular-season NHL games with the Avalanche and Dallas Stars from 2019-24. He’s played in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of the last three seasons as well as four of his five as a professional in North America, tallying 14 points (7g/7a) in 44 postseason contests. Kiviranta made a Stanley Cup Final appearance with the Stars in 2020 and helped them earn a Western Conference Final appearance in 2023. In his first campaign in North America, Kiviranta was added to Dallas’ 2020 postseason roster and chipped in a career-high six points (5g/1a) over 14 games, including a hat trick in Game 7 of the Second Round against Colorado.
The Vantaa, Finland native signed with Dallas as an undrafted free agent on May 31, 2019 after playing parts of six seasons for the SM-Liiga’s Jokerit (2013-14) and Vaasan Sport (2014-19) programs. He tallied 114 points (60g/54a) in 261 games in his Liiga career. On the international stage, Kiviranta captured a gold medal representing Finland at the 2019 World Championship and a bronze medal at the 2013 U-18 World Championship where he was teammates with Artturi Lehkonen.
