For several years, defenseman Juuso Valimaki was a regular at the NHL level. However, he didn’t see any time at the top level this season, playing exclusively in the minors. A pending unrestricted free agent, it appears he’s not waiting to see what options await him on the open market. Instead, Expressen’s Mattias Persson and Johan Svensson report that the blueliner is in extended discussions to join SHL Brynas next season.
The 27-year-old was a first-round pick by Calgary back in 2017, going 16th overall. He saw action in parts of three seasons with the Flames and after a 49-game showing in 2020-21, they saw fit to sign him to a $1.55MM per season bridge deal. That contract wound up helping him clear waivers the following season but in 2022, he wasn’t able to sneak through, instead being claimed by Arizona.
With the Coyotes, he became a full-timer on their back end, playing in 78 games after being picked up, earning himself a one-year extension in the process. Then, after logging over 19 minutes a night in 2023-24, Valimaki received a two-year, $4MM pact and it looked as if he was finally going to get some stability.
Instead, Utah (after the Coyotes moved) bolstered its back end, pushing Valimaki down to the seventh spot last season and off the roster altogether in 2025-26. History repeated itself with the blueliner being waived in training camp and clearing, sending him off to AHL Tucson where injuries limited him to three games in as many months. Then, the Hurricanes acquired him in January to give themselves some extra defensive depth although he has yet to see action with Carolina. Instead, his regular season ended with 23 points in 27 games while he has four points in six playoff contests with AHL Chicago so far.
It appears that Valimaki will be taking quite a pay cut on this eventual deal. Persson and Svensson note that he was seeking a EUR300K deal initially (worth around $349K in USD) but that the contract is expected to come in for considerably less. Given his NHL experience and AHL success, it stands to reason that he easily could have been that on even a two-way deal in North America this summer. Accordingly, it appears that Valimaki will be leaving some money on the table to play closer to home.