Colorado Avalanche forward Joel Kiviranta has come a very long way. I’m not talking about from Colorado to across seas. I’m talking about his journey across the NHL to today.
The 29-year-old has continued to have an increased role with the Avalanche since they signed him as a free agent in 2023. In Dallas, his career-high for goals in a season was eight. He broke that in his second season with Colorado, in 2024-25, scoring 16 goals in 79 games. It was a very welcome sight for the Avs, who were struggling to find depth scoring.
Fast forward to today, and Kiviranta is an Olympic goal scorer. In fact, he finished the game with two goals as Finland took down Italy by a final score of 11-0. The game was completely overpowered by the Finns, who have a bunch of NHL talent on its team, including Arturri Lehkonen, Sebastian Aho, and former Avalanche Mikko Rantanen, among many others.
Joel Kiviranta was rewarded for solid play
In August, Kiviranta signed a one-year extension worth $1.125 million. On the Avalanche, his role has intensified throughout time, and at some point, it might turn out to be a great deal for the Avalanche. At least that is the hope. We want Kiviranta to have another breakout season when play resumes following the Olympic break.
He has two goals and five assists in 28 games, and is averaging just over 10 minutes of ice time per game. I think that his reduced time on ice is in part because of the emergence of other players, and when they return to game action, it could remain the same as Gabriel Landeskog is set to return to the team after he has taken part in the Olympic games so far.
Even still, Kiviranta has filled his role nicely and can add “2026 Olympian” to his career accolades. It’s brilliant to see him finally get some quality ice time. Hopefully Finland continues to give him opportunities to shine. After Saturday, they’d be silly not to.