Finnish goalie Justus Annunen, the Avalanche’s top prospect at his position, making his mark in North America – The Denver Post

Not long ago, Avalanche prospect Justus Annunen was considered the club’s goaltender of the future.

He still might be but the 6-foot-4 Finnish native needs to bounce back from a  poor 2020-21 season and remind Avs’ management how good he can be.

Annunen, 21, was the third goalie selected in the 2018 NHL draft, going to Colorado in the third round (64th overall). He then starred as a rookie for Karpet in Finland’s premier professional league, going 15-5-5 with a 1.77 goals-against average and .929 save percentage in 2019-20. Annunen also was Finland’s No. 1 goalie at the 2020 World Junior Championship when the Finns upset the United States 1-0 in the quarterfinals.

Then came COVID-19, and Annunen’s statistics in 2020-21 were underwhelming. He had a .884 save percentage in 24 games for Karpet before finishing the season with AHL’s Colorado Eagles, going 0-1-1 with a .900 save percentage in two games.

Annunen is again back in Colorado, this time prepared to spend his first full season in North America. He’s among six goalies under contract for the Avalanche and among three in this week’s development/rookie camp at Family Sports Center. Annunen is probably destined to begin the season with the Eagles as the club’s No. 4 or No. 5 goalie but, when factoring in injuries and illness, he could possibly make his NHL debut at some point in 2021-22.

Darcy Kuemper and Pavel Francouz are slated to be the Avalanche goalies and Annunen will probably share time with Jonas Johansson, 25, with the Eagles. Hunter Miska, 26, and Trent Minor, 20, are also under contract. Only Annunen and Minor are under contract beyond 2021-22.

After Thursday’s camp practice, Annunen said he moved to Colorado about six weeks before camp to get adjusted to the area. He grew up playing on Olympic-size ice sheets and only played outside Finland in international tournaments and his brief stint in Loveland with the Eagles.

“It helps me a lot to get used to this life here because it’s obviously different than back home,” Annunen said. “But I like it a lot. I feel pretty comfortable.”

Getting used to the NHL game is challenging. He said rink dimensions are 15 feet smaller in width. “There’s more action, more pucks to the net, and more guys to the net,” he said.

Annunen might get multiple starts in this weekend’s rookie showcase in Glendale and Scottsdale, Ariz., where the Avs prospects will play their peers from the Los Angeles Kings on Friday, the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday, and the San Jose Sharks on Monday.

The young Avs traveled to Arizona after a relatively long practice Thursday, their fifth day of camp.

“It’s been a great week,” said defenseman Nate Clurman of Boulder. “Practices have been great and (Tuesday’s) scrimmage was great, to have some fans out the other night. Everyone looks good and people are excited to get down to Arizona and play some games.

“It’s been a while since everyone has played some games. Some guys got their seasons canceled last year, some guys had shortened seasons. So any games, we’re grateful for. We’re looking forward to getting down there.”

Footnote. The young Avs worked on the power play Thursday and defenseman Bo Byram, as expected, ran the first group with four forwards — Alex Newhook, Sampo Ranta, Oskar Olausson and Andreas Wingerli. Byram, Newhook and Ranta made their NHL debuts with the Avs last season. Olausson was the club’s 2021 first-round draft pick and Wingerli was an undrafted free agent who was signed out of Sweden in the offseason.

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