Joel Kiviranta is heading into 2026-27 with a fresh start, and the timing might be exactly right for him.
The 30-year-old winger is coming off a frustrating season in Colorado, one where injuries knocked him off track and he never quite found his footing again. A lower-body injury in October set the tone, and from there his role shrank. His ice time dipped to 10:22 a night after sitting at 12:31 the season before, and his production followed suit: three goals, six assists and nine points in 51 games.
That was a steep drop from his 2024-25 breakout, when he posted 16 goals and 23 points in 79 games. This past year, he also went 17 straight regular-season games without a point to close things out, a stretch that underscored how hard it was for him to get back into the mix on a deep Avalanche team.
Colorado had plenty of offensive talent and plenty of competition for minutes, and Kiviranta simply didn’t get the same opportunities he had a year earlier. At the same time, he didn’t do enough to push his way back into a bigger role.
His playoff usage told a similar story. Kiviranta appeared in five of Colorado’s 13 postseason games, logging 9:30 per night and finishing without a point. He did chip in five shots, 13 hits and a plus-4 rating, but the scoring touch was absent when the games tightened up.
Now he lands in Dallas looking for a reset in his eighth NHL season. The fit makes sense on a few levels.
He already knows plenty of the Finnish names in that locker room, including Roope Hintz, Mikko Rantanen, Esa Lindell and Miro Heiskanen, and that familiarity should help him settle in quickly. Dallas is also operating on a tight budget next season, which opens the door for inexpensive depth pieces to carve out real roles.
That could matter for Kiviranta. He played four seasons with the organization before, and his time there was uneven, but he also delivered one of the franchise’s signature moments: a hat trick to beat Colorado in Game 7 of the Second Round in 2020, a performance that helped send the Stars to the Stanley Cup Final.
This return gives him another chance to find a place where smart, reliable minutes can turn into something more. He’s not a big winger, but he can play off skilled teammates, make sensible decisions and add a bit of physical edge. That’s the kind of player Glen Gulutzan and his staff may have room for.
The Stars’ budget situation could create opportunity for Kiviranta, Sam Steel and Justin Hryckowian to work their way up the lineup. Even if they don’t crack the top two lines with Hintz or Wyatt Johnston, there should be space on the fourth line with Oskar Bäck, Radek Faksa or Colin Blackwell.
The formula is pretty simple from here: stay healthy, and the chances should come. For Kiviranta, that alone could make Dallas a very good place to be.
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Hurricanes Just Got A Dynasty-Level Stanley Cup Case
The latest round of Stanley Cup forecasting lands on a familiar place for the Stars: right in the mix with the leagues best long-range contenders. The broader case for Dallas is built on the kind of organizational stability teams spend years trying to assemble, with a core that has already shown it can hang around the top of the Western Conference and a roster structure that still gives the club a real window over the next several seasons.
What makes the discussion interesting for Dallas is how narrow the gap can be between being viewed as a contender and being viewed as a true threat to break through. The Stars have enough high-end talent and enough recent success to stay in that conversation, but the debate around their place in the leagues title hierarchy also underlines how much the final judgment may depend on a few pivotal pieces coming together at the right time. [Read more 🡒]