Olympic gold medalist inks PTO with Avalanche

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Mike Armenti
September 9, 2023 (11:02)

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It's been an interesting offseason for the Colorado Avalanche, having added Ross Colton and Ryan Johansen via trade and then having inked Miles Wood and Jonathan Drouin, among others, in free agency.

The Avs also added former Leaf Peter Holland and former Stars winger Joel Kiviranta to professional tryouts. Now, there's another intriguing player coming in on a PTO as well. The Avalanche have now signed 2022 Olympic gold medalist and former Winnipeg Jets forward Saku Maenalanen to a PTO.

"#GoAvsGo have signed UFA forward Saku Maenalanen to a professional try out.

Maenalanen played for Winnipeg last season."

Maenalanen, 29, was initially draft by the Nashville Predators in 2013 before being signed as a free agent by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2018. After spending the 2018-19 season with the Hurricanes and their AHL affiliate, he headed back to Finland.

Maenalanen spent the 2021-22 season with Karpat in Liiga, producing at nearly a point per game with 41 points in 47 games and doubling down with gold medals at the 2022 Winter Olympics and 2022 IIHF World Hockey Championships. This past season, the Kemi, Finland native returned to the NHL and played 64 regular season games with the Jets. He notched 10 points and 16 penalty minutes with an even 0 +/- rating over that span.