Carolina Hurricanes sign Juha Jaaska to one-year, entry-level contract

The Carolina Hurricanes have signed European free agent Juha Jääskä to a one-year, entry-level contract in 2024-25.

Jääskä was previously undrafted to the NHL, having instead played his whole junior and pro career with HIFK. The 26-year-old is coming off a 10-goal, 30-point season as an alternate captain with HIFK. He also had his best playoff run to date with five goals and seven points in seven games as the Pelicans ultimately eliminated HIFK on April 2.

Jääskä, a 6-foot, 196-pound winger with experience on both sides, made his junior hockey debut with HIFK’s U-16 program in 2012-13. He stuck there for two years before graduating to the U-18 program in 2014-15 while still 16.

The Helisnki, Finland native made his pro Liiga debut with HIFK during the 2015-16 season before ventually becoming a full-timer in 2018-19. Jääskä had his best season of his career in 20222-23, scoring 12 goals and 25 assists for 37 points in 56 games.

He would go on to represented Finland internationally at various levels, including the U-18 World Championship in 2016 and the 2018 World Junior Championship in Buffalo. Jääskä was one of Finland’s better players in Euro Hockey Tour action this year, an event used as a tune-up for World Championship events.

Jääskä is an neergetic forward who could potentially crack the team in a depth role next year. He won’t likely be a big offensive contributor, but he works hard defensively, does a good job of chasing down opponents and gives the team some good speed to work with.