Joel Kiviranta

January 2023 – Halfway through the 2022-2023 season and Joel Kiviranta has been very solid for the Dallas Stars. He has spent most of his time on the fourth line but occasionally finds himself slotting in on the second or third line. He is not an offensive threat, but his defensive metrics are very impressive. The Dallas Stars have been in the top five of the NHL for their penalty kill, and Kiviranta is a huge part of that. Even creating and scoring short handed chances. He brings an energetic force to his line and is not afraid to be physical despite his size. Taylor Newby

June 2022 – Playing almost a full season (56 games) with Dallas this season, Kirivanta has been a solid option to slot into the bottom-six when needed, providing a decent defensive game, and making an effort offensively. Realistically, he won’t slot in much higher in the lineup in upcoming seasons, but as his bottom-six game develops, it’s expected that he’ll be somewhat of a mainstay on the NHL roster. Aaron Itovitch

March 2020 – The 23-year-old Kiviranta has enjoyed a successful rookie year in North America since leaving the Liiga in Finland during the off-season. It started when he made a good impression on the coaching staff in training camp with his adept two-way play, but unfortunately he was not able to secure an NHL roster spot to join the Dallas Stars. Since that time he went on to be nearly a half point per game in the AHL, maintaining a place in the top 40 rookie scoring, and further refined his two-way game. That resulted in a brief callup to the NHL with Dallas on January 3rd, 2020, and lasted for a grand total of 11 games; where he also scored his first career NHL Goal on February 1st, 2020. Jordan Lambe