By now, everyone in the hockey world is familiar with the blockbuster trade that went down Wednesday evening. Elias Lindholm was sent to the Vancouver Canucks in return for five pieces. The most intriguing pieces coming the Calgary Flames’ way seem to be Andrei Kuzmenko, Hunter Brzustewicz, and the first-round pick. While these bring the most appeal due to the value they could bring, an underrated part of this trade could be Finnish defenceman Joni Jurmo.
Who is Joni Jurmo?
| Player | Position | Handedness | Height | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joni Jurmo | D | Left | 6’5″ / 1.95m | 209lbs / 95kg |
Joni Jurmo’s career so far
| Year | Draft Relative | League | Team | GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017–18 | D-2 | U16 SM-sarja Q | Jokerit U16 | 21 | 2 | 24 | 26 |
| U16 SM-sarja | Jokerit U16 | 15 | 4 | 11 | 15 | ||
| U18 SM-sarja | Jokerit U18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2018–19 | D-1 | U18 SM-sarja | Jokerit U18 | 43 | 3 | 20 | 23 |
| U20 SM-liiga | Jokerit U20 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 2019–20 | D+0 | U18 SM-sarja | Jokerit U18 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| U20 SM-liiga | Jokerit U20 | 43 | 5 | 23 | 28 | ||
| 2020–21 | D+1 | U20 SM-sarja | JYP U20 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Liiga | JYP | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Kiekko-Espoo | Mestis | 10 | 3 | 5 | 8 | ||
| 2021–22 | D+2 | Jukurit | Liiga | 50 | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| 2022–23 | D+3 | Jukurit | Liiga | 52 | 5 | 8 | 13 |
| 2023–24 | D+4 | Ilves | Liiga | 28 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| KooKoo | Liiga | 9 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
Pre-draft year progression
Joni Jurmo’s career can be tracked for six seasons going back to two years before his draft year. Starting in the U16 SM-sarja Q with Jokerit, Jurmo was producing over a point per game. In 21 games he had two goals and 24 assists for a total of 26 points.
Jurmo then moved on from the Q and made his way up to the U16 SM-sarja. He continued to have good production scoring four goals and 11 assists for 15 points in 15 games, producing at a point-per-game rate again. A game on Jokerit’s U18 team was rewarded to Jurmo but he did not get a point.
The following year, being 17 now, Jurmo spent the year with the U18 team. He didn’t score at as good of a rate as the prior year but it was still solid nonetheless. In 43 games, he potted three goals and added 20 assists to total out at 23 points. Jurmo got a five-game stint with the U20 team and notched one assist.
Jurmo’s draft year performance
Jurmo started his draft year by playing one game with the U18 team getting one assist before making his way to Jokerit’s U20 team. With the U20 team, Jurmo played 43 games playing a solid amount of minutes and was the second highest-producing defenceman on the team only behind 19-year-old Mico Luoto.
Jurmo’s statline read 28 points created by scoring five goals and 23 assists in his 43 games. His season was good enough for him to be selected with the 82nd pick in the third round of the 2020 draft by the Vancouver Canucks.
Post-draft development
His D+1 year was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic so he played for a handful of teams. To start, Jurmo no longer played for Jokerit but for JYP instead so he could join Liiga over Mestis. He had a small stint with their U20 team, playing four games getting one goal and three assists for four points.
He then joined their Liiga team and was given minimal ice time. Jurmo scored zero points in his 20 games. His limited playing time and the fact that JYP was a bottom feeder did not help him. Halfway through the year, he was loaned to his hometown Kiekko-Espoo of Mestis. In his hometown, Jurmo looked way better. His 10 games played saw him score three goals and five assists for eight points.
Jurmo was now entering his first full Liiga season, he wasn’t on JYP anymore and had joined the Mikkelin Jukurit. He had gone from a bottom feeder in JYP to a team that finished second in the league (only behind Tappara) in Jukurit. Due to playing on a higher-level team, Jurmo received limited ice time once again. This affected his production as in 50 games he had two goals and eight assists for 10 points.
Jukurit and Jurmo were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the playoffs to KooKoo. Jurmo was also invited to play for Finland at the World Juniors for the first time during the 2021–22 season. He and Finland went all the way to the gold medal game but lost to Canada in overtime, receiving the silver medal. Jurmo had one assist in the seven total games Finland played.
Last season is when the greater concerns with Jurmo started to begin. In his D+3 year, you would expect him to get better but that’s not what happened. He didn’t necessarily decline but he didn’t necessarily improve either. To start, Jukurit went from being the second team in the standings, to twelfth and missing the playoffs. Jurmo played a decent amount of minutes in his 52 games. In those games, he scored five goals with eight assists and had a total of 13 points.
Now we enter Jurmo’s D+3 year which is also known as this season. Jurmo started the year by signing a contract with the Tampereen Ilves. The Ilves being the top-ranked team in the Liiga, Jurmo’s playing time was being limited. In the 28 games he played, he only scored one assist. He was then moved to KooKoo, the team that eliminated him two years ago, in exchange for defenceman Juho Rautenen. This moved Jurmo from the first-place team to the eleventh-place team that is on the outside looking in.
Jurmo’s production has looked better since joining KooKoo. He’s gone from one point in 28 games to four points in 9nine games. Despite this increase in production, concerns about Jurmo continue to be there as he hasn’t seemed to improve in his few years in the Liiga.
Jurmo was not signed by the Canucks so he currently sits unsigned by the Flames. He was reportedly supposed to come over to North America last year and join the Abbotsford Canucks but obviously, that did not happen. The Flames hold Jurmo’s rights until July 1 and we will likely see him sign at the end of the Liiga season to join the Calgary Wranglers to continue his development in North America.
Joni Jurmo’s strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
When looking at Joni Jurmo, the thing that stands out is his size. Jurmo comes in at huge 6’5″ and 209lbs. Some players this size will either fail to use it or have it hold them back—neither is the case for Jurmo. Jurmo uses his long reach to a solid effectiveness in the defensive zone. He uses his size to play physically and join puck battles.
Being a 6’5″ defenceman, you wouldn’t exactly expect one of Jurmo’s strengths to be his skating ability. He reaches his top speed quite quickly, with acceleration being a strength of his. He uses his fast acceleration to jump from zone to zone, whether it’s offensive to defensive or defensive to offensive. Then that gets paired with his noticeable crossovers.
This adds to the explosiveness of his skating and is a reason why he can reach a top speed in a short amount of time. His skating ability allows him to be great at entries and swift in the transition aspect of the game. He can handle pucks pretty well when he reaches his top speed.
Despite being rendered as a defensive defenceman, Jurmo is said to have solid, good offensive instincts. He comes as a pass-first type of player, not typically shooting unless the situation absolutely calls for it. He makes simple passes and can get the puck to his open teammate but he’s not necessarily flashy.
Weaknesses
When it comes to the concerns of Jurmo’s game, it seems like one of the answers is always his hockey IQ. He doesn’t seem to think at a high or fast enough level to make an impact at the highest level. Jurmo’s decision-making is questionable. He finds himself in situations where the opposing team gets a chance for a goal or a better offensive opportunity due to a poor idea.
His gap control is suspect as scouts find that he times it poorly, not really making it an effective area of play. Not only in the defensive zone is his decision-making questioned, but also in the offensive end. He’ll often try to force things that aren’t there which results in a possession turnover or a loss of offensive momentum.
He also struggles with risk management, not necessarily doing his best to stop high-danger plays and may get caught puck-watching from time to time. Scouts say that his defensive positioning is good, but his instincts can affect his in-zone play and oncoming rushes in a negative way.
Jurmo has the tools to be a fourth or fifth defenceman at the NHL level, but his weaknesses hold him back quite a bit and a ceiling of a sixth defenceman seems more realistic.
Jurmo is an interesting get for the Flames
Joni Jurmo wasn’t one of the headline pieces in the Flames return for Elias Lindholm but he is definitely an intriguing prospect. Jurmo spent his pre-draft and draft year time with Jokerit’s U16, U18, and U20 teams before going to JYP to make the jump to Liiga. He had solid production with Jokerit, his best year coming with the U16 team.
Then upon making Liiga, his year was affected by the global pandemic and his limited playing time. He played only 20 games with JYP before being loaned to his hometown team. The next years were spread throughout multiple Liiga teams where he wasn’t necessarily improving. His production wasn’t getting higher and the same questions about his play were still there.
Jurmo’s size mixed with skating ability gives him some good potential to make the NHL one day. Fast acceleration and transitional skating make Jurmo a good bet to get from zone to zone. Weaknesses unfortunately hold him back. His hockey IQ is questionable, having problems with decision-making and risk management. With everything considered, Jurmo looks to project as a sixth or seventh defenceman for the Flames in the future.
