Colorado Avalanche sign Olympic gold medalist to a Professional Tryout
The Colorado Avalanche have been one of the more active teams in the professional tryout contract market, signing two forwards - Peter Holland and Joel Kiviranta - heading into Friday, but have now added an Olympic gold medalist.
According to CapFriendly, the Avalanche have signed 2022 Olympic gold medalist and former Winnipeg Jets forward Saku Maenalanen to a PTO and will join them for training camp and preseason games later this month.
Maenalanen played for Winnipeg last season."
Maenalanen, 29, was initially draft by the Nashville Predators in 2013 before being signed as a free agent by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2018. After spending the 2018-19 season with the Hurricanes and their AHL affiliate, he headed back to Finland.
After a strong season with Karpat in Liiga, as well as winning gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics and 2022 IIHF World Hockey Championship, Maenalanen signed a contract with the Winnipeg Jets to return to the NHL. In 64 regular season games with the Jets last season, the Kemi, Finland native had ten points (four goals, six assists), 16 penalty minutes and had an even-rating.
| POLL | ||
Do you think Saku Maenalanen will earn a contract with the Avalanche at the end of training camp? | ||
| Yes | 9 | 42.9 % |
| No | 12 | 57.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
