Maple Leafs Miss Out on Potential Top-Six Forward After Surprise Western Signing
Photo credit: Hockey Patrol
The Toronto Maple Leafs missed out on adding a solid depth scoring piece to their lineup as Joel Kiviranta decided to sign with the Colorado Avalanche on Friday the team announced.
While the NHL offseason has been fairly quiet over the past few weeks, things are expected to heat up and there could be some more signings and trades coming our way soon.
Avalanche's August Start Off With Solid Signing
Well, the Colorado Avalanche seemed to want to get things started off on the right foot for August, and brought back one of their most impressive and surprising stars from last season.
It was announced on Friday that the Avs had signed forward Joel Kiviranta to a one-year deal, bringing him back after a surprisingly solid campaign where he seemed to break out offensively.
GM Chris MacFarland was excited about bringing him back and looked forward to what Kiviranta has in store for the Avs in 2025-26:
Joel is a hard-working, responsible player who has demonstrated he can be a key contributor at five-on-five.
He has been a valuable member of our lineup, and we are excited to have him back for another season.
He has been a valuable member of our lineup, and we are excited to have him back for another season.
Kiviranta had career-highs in points (23) and goals (16) while also appearing in seven playoff contests.
Before coming over to the NHL, Kiviranta was part of Finland's SM-Liiga where he played for Jokerit and Sport Vaasa over six seasons, where he registered 60 goals and 114 points before signing with the Dallas Stars.
Toronto Misses Out Yet Again; Time Is Running Out
This marks the end of Kiviranta's potential of signing with the Maple Leafs, and we touched on his ability to be a great piece alongside William Nylander, however with the signing the team needs to shift gears elsewhere.
There isn't much left on the market, and while Jack Roslovic and Victor Olofsson are still available, with a dwindling cap and bloated roster it'll be hard to get a deal done; so perhaps they just couldn't afford Kiviranta.
But given he made $775,000 this season, and there's a likelihood he will make that or slightly above, it's hard to see why he couldn't have fit in; Toronto needs to cut their losses at some point and bite the bullet.
For now though, Kiviranta gets a bigger bank account and another chance to show the Avalanche why they took another shot on him.
| POLL | ||
AOUT 8 | 844 ANSWERS Maple Leafs Miss Out on Potential Top-Six Forward After Surprise Western Signing Do you think the Maple Leafs should have tried to Joel Kiviranta? | ||
| Yes | 216 | 25.6 % |
| No | 628 | 74.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
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