The Calgary Flames have signed defense prospect Joni Jurmo to a two-year, entry-level contract, the club announced Sunday afternoon.
Jurmo, 21, has one goal and five points in 46 games in the Finnish Liiga this season split between Ilves Tampere and KooKoo Kouvola. His new contract with the Flames carries an $850,000 NHL cap hit.
“We are pleased to sign Joni to his entry-level contract and look forward to his continued development in our organization,” Flames GM Craig Conroy said in a statement on Sunday. “At 21 years old, he provides us with another young defenceman prospect with size, mobility, who skates and defends well.”
The Flames originally acquired Jurmo from the Vancouver Canucks back on January 31 as part of the deal that sent pending UFA center Elias Lindholm to Vancouver.
Jurmo’s contract will take effect starting in the 2024-25 season. The 6’5″ left-handed defenseman is expected to report to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers on a tryout contract to close out the 2023-24 campaign.
The Canucks originally selected Jurmo in the third round (No. 82 overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft. Had the Flames not signed him on Sunday, Jurmo would have remained eligible to become an unrestricted free agent in August.
Jurmo was one of five pieces the Flames acquired from the Canucks in the Lindhom deal at the end of January. Coincidentally, the Flames acquired another defenseman drafted in the third round by Vancouver in that trade: Hunter Brzustewicz, who also signed his entry-level deal with Calgary earlier this month.
The Flames also received two draft picks — Vancouver’s own 2024 1st, plus a conditional 2024 4th — as well as forward Andrei Kuzmenko in the trade. Through his first 22 games with the Canucks, Lindholm has five goals and nine points; Kuzmenko has five goals and eight points in 16 games with the Flames.
Jurmo joins a group of Flames defenders that has grown significantly in recent months with the additions of Brzustewicz, Daniil Miromanov, Artem Grushnikov, Brayden Pachal, Nikita Okhotiuk, and Joel Hanley. Next year, Jurmo is expected to compete with the likes of Grushnikov and Yan Kuznetsov for playing time with the Wranglers.
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