Over the last two years, Joel Kiviranta has become a quiet and competitive force in the bottom six for the Colorado Avalanche. His 2024-25 season was no different, and in fact, one of his best in his career.

He played a career-high 79 games, averaging 12:31 of ice time per game. He scored a whopping 16 goals, doubling his previous career high of eight. In addition, tacked on seven assists for 23 total points, more than doubling his previous career high of 11.

This included his first two career game-winning goals, along with his second shorthanded goal of his career. He finished an impressive +15 and only 20 penalty minutes.

However, when it counted most, Kiviranta did go cold. In the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Dallas Stars, he was pointless in all seven games. His cold stretch continued at the end of the regular season, where he scored only two points in the final 20 games, including the postseason.

The story of the year for Kiviranta was his streakiness of scoring. He went through impressive stretches of scoring and went quiet elsewhere. For example, in late February and early March, he scored four points in five games.

He also scored four goals in three games in mid-October and five in three games right before Christmas. This included his first-career regular-season hat-trick against the Seattle Kraken, even mentioning the other career hat-trick he had in his post-game interview as the first star of the game. The less said about that one for Avalanche fans, the better, though.

His second year in Colorado was one to remember with a shooting percentage of 19%, and a face-off win percentage of 47.9%, also a career high.

Remember, he started his tenure in the organization on a PTO with the Colorado Eagles. He eventually worked his way up in the AHL and earned a league-minimum contract with the Avalanche. Kiviranta signed another one since then, but now he is left without a team.

Kiviranta signed a one-year contract last week looking at some other option in the free agency market.