Flames Renounce Rights To Topi Ronni
The Flames renounced the rights to unsigned draft pick Topi Ronni on Tuesday, the team said in a statement. Ronni, who was playing in the Finnish Liiga with Tappara, was given a one-year suspended prison sentence by the District Court of Helsinki yesterday “for rape committed as a young person,” Tappara said. The incident occurred in 2021 when Ronni was a minor, according to the initial charges against him.
The 19-year-old was a second-round pick in the 2022 draft, 59th overall. His contract with Tappara has also been terminated.
By renouncing Ronni’s rights, the Flames are no longer affiliated with him, and he has become an unrestricted free agent. No NHL team holds his exclusive signing rights. He is technically eligible to re-enter the draft and has not been legally barred from playing in the league by Commissioner Gary Bettman. However, either of those things could change if Ronni attempts a return after serving his suspended sentence.
As Tappara has terminated Ronni’s contract, he is also a free agent overseas. The team suspended Ronni in October after rape charges were brought against him but allowed him to return to the team just over a month later, playing 22 professional games and 20 junior games this season before being found guilty and sentenced yesterday.
Pacific Notes: Ronni, DiCasmirro, BC Hockey
An intriguing prospect for the Calgary Flames will get a chance to rejoin his national team at next year’s World Junior Championship, as Finnish center Topi Ronni has been named to Finland’s roster for the World Junior Summer Showcase. Ronni joins an interesting slate of young Finns headed to the pre-season tournament held in Plymouth, Michigan, including top 2024 draft-eligible prospects Aron Kiviharju and Konsta Helenius, as well as recently-inked Seattle Kraken prospect Jani Nyman.
A likely contender to land on the team’s final roster for the 2024 edition of the WJC, Ronni will look to have a strong showing and improve on his 2023 performance which saw him fail to get on the scoresheet in five contests for the Finns. Standing at 6-foot-2 and 181 pounds, Calgary selected Ronni 59th overall in 2022 and is still looking to make a major impact in the professional ranks. He got into just 22 games with Liiga side Tappara last year, recording two goals and three assists. He’ll try and build on those totals as well next season, as he remains unsigned by Calgary and will re-join Tappara for 2023-24. Finland, meanwhile, will look to Ronni to help them get back to the medal rounds after a disappointing quarterfinal loss last year.
More from the Pacific Division today:
- The Edmonton Oilers have added to their minor-league coaching staff, naming Nate DiCasmirro an assistant coach for the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors today, per a team release. DiCasmirro fills out Bakersfield’s coaching staff, replacing former NHL forward Josh Green, who served just one year with the Condors. The 44-year-old coach spent the last two seasons on the bench of the AHL’s Iowa Wild but did not have his contract renewed by parent club Minnesota this summer. The Iowa job was DiCasmirro’s first in the AHL after retiring from pro hockey in 2019. Over a 17-year pro career, DiCasmirro also played 401 games in the AHL between 2002 and 2008.
- After its major league split from Hockey Canada earlier this year, British Columbia junior hockey has undergone a major restructuring. The junior-A BCHL left the national governing body to gain the ability to recruit U-18 prospects from Canadian provinces outside of British Columbia, leaving the BC Hockey governing body without a league at the country’s second-highest junior level below the major-junior CHL. Today, BC Hockey promoted three junior-B leagues – the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, the Pacific Junior Hockey League, and the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League – to junior-A status, bringing them to the same level as the BCHL. The BCHL consistently sees its players head onto collegiate careers in the NCAA as well as drafted directly to NHL teams, such as Carolina Hurricanes 2023 first-round selection Bradly Nadeau.