The Calgary Flames have reportedly placed defensive prospect Joni Jurmo on unconditional waivers to terminate his contract, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

The 23-year-old Jurmo is a left shot defenceman from Espoo, Finland. He was originally selected in the third round of the 2020 NHL Draft by the Vancouver Canucks. His rights moved to the Flames as part of the January 2024 trade for Elias Lindholm, and the Flames signed Jurmo to a two year entry-level contract in March 2024.

Since being drafted, Jurmo had bounced around Finnish pro hockey a bit, playing with JYP, Jukurit, Ilves and KooKoo in the first-tier SM-liiga and Kiekko-Espoo in the second tier Mestis over a four season period. When he signed with the Flames, the hope was probably that some stability would allow the big-bodied blueliner to blossom. Listed at 6’4″ and 207 pounds, you can understand why the Flames would have coveted Jurmo’s size, defensive prowess and pro experience in good leagues.

Unfortunately, Jurmo was lost in the shuffle in the Flames system. When he was with the ECHL’s Rapid City Rush, he played a lot and played quite well. Well enough, in fact, that an argument could be made that he was too good for that league. He had 10 points in 12 ECHL games with the Rush last season. With the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers, he played just 17 times, often as a seventh defender, and he didn’t really carve out a role for himself given how sporadically he played. He had zero points in the AHL.

Including Jurmo, the Flames organization has 16 defencemen on NHL contracts for 2025-26. With highly-touted prospect Etienne Morin going pro with the Wranglers in the fall, and lefties like Ilya Solovyov, Nick Cicek, Yan Kuznetsov and Jeremie Poirier vying for ice time, it seems unlikely (on paper) that Jurmo’s placement within the Flames defensive pecking order would improve in 2025-26 from where it was in 2024-25.

A contract termination opens up a contract slot for the Flames, and gives Jurmo a chance to pursue a larger on-ice role elsewhere. Signing Jurmo was a worthwhile, low-risk gamble for player and team. Sometimes those gambles don’t work out.

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