After attending Colorado Avalanche training camp on professional tryouts, forwards Joel Kiviranta and Peter Holland have inked one-year contracts with their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. Both players have significant NHL experience, although Kiviranta’s is more recent, logging 70 games for the Dallas Stars last season.
Kiviranta, 27, had high hopes of securing a fourth-line job in the NHL, but he was passed over in favor of a Dallas teammate last season, Fredrik Olofsson. The Finnish winger notched a career-high eight goals last season but only registered one assist for nine points – poor production given his games played total and ice time (12:09 per game). He’ll now try and earn his way back to the sport’s highest level by taking on a significant role in the minors with Colorado. Kiviranta’s lone stint in the AHL came in 2019-20, recording 12 goals, 11 assists and 23 points in 48 games with the Texas Stars.
Holland was much less likely to earn an NHL job, so it’s fair to call this a successful tryout for the 32-year-old center who retired from hockey after the 2021-22 campaign. A 2009 first-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks, Holland last played in the AHL in 2018-19 before departing for overseas play the following season. He was always a strong producer in the minors, recording 222 points in 252 AHL contests across seven seasons, but couldn’t lock down a full-time NHL role outside of a three-year period with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Arizona Coyotes in the mid-2010s. Holland and Kiviranta will play vital roles to begin the season with the Eagles, who are without three projected regulars (Alex Beaucage, Jean-Luc Foudy, and Chris Wagner) due to injuries.