The Calgary Wranglers have recalled defenceman Joni Jurmo from the ECHL’s Rapid City Rush, the club announced Thursday morning.

Jurmo, 22, skated in nine games with the Rush to start the 2024-25 campaign after being assigned to the ECHL on Nov. 5, scoring a goal in his North American professional debut with the club the following day. In total, Jurmo collected two goals and seven points in nine games with Rapid City.

The Wranglers had previously made Jurmo a healthy scratch for all their October games before sending him down to get a chance to play. With him now back in the fold, the Wranglers have eight defenders on their AHL roster once again: Artem Grushnikov, Jeremie Poirier, Hunter Brzustewicz, Ilya Solovyov, Jarred Tinordi, Yan Kuznetsov, and Jonathan Aspirot.

Jurmo returns to the Wranglers shortly after the club also recalled forward Ilya Nikolaev, whose own ECHL stint lasted all of two games. However, the Flames subsequently moved to terminate Nikolaev’s contract on Thursday afternoon.

The Calgary Flames originally acquired Jurmo from the Vancouver Canucks in January as part of the Elias Lindholm trade, which saw the Flames also receive Brzustewicz, Andrei Kuzmenko, a 2024 first-round pick (Matvei Gridin), and a 2024 fourth-round pick (traded to Philadelphia for the Luke Misa and Eric Jamieson picks). Lindholm subsequently departed the Canucks to sign a seven-year contract with the Boston Bruins as an unrestricted free agent.

Jurmo, the Canucks’ third-round pick from the 2020 NHL Draft, subsequently agreed to terms on a two-year, entry-level contract with the Flames on March 24. The 6’5″, 205-pound left-handed defenceman previously played in the Finnish Liiga with KooKoo Kouvola, Ilves Tampere, and Jukurit Mikkeli before coming overseas to join the Flames organization.

The Wranglers have lost back-to-back games in regulation but still lead the AHL’s Pacific Division with a 13-5-1-0 record through 19 games this season, with their plus-16 goal differential also tops in the Pacific. It remains to be seen whether Jurmo will draw into the lineup for the first time on Thursday as the Wranglers take on the Manitoba Moose at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg.