The Joni Ikonen extension could carry him right over to the Montreal Canadiens

Montreal Canadiens draft pick Joni Ikonen signed a one-year extension with KalPa, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him in North America by the end of it.

Joni Ikonen raised eyebrows when he chose to hit the big leagues instead of sticking with the Frölunda HC organization after his draft. The Montreal Canadiens selected the highly skilled forward in the second round of the 2017 draft after solid season putting up 41 points in 40 games with the J20 squad. Ikonen also played ten games for the main club, but there was no guarantee he would make it there on a full-time basis and instead chose to play for KalPa in Liiga instead.

It was a challenging debut year for Ikonen as he had to continue to work up to the increased pace. He finally got his offence going before a knee injury took him out of contention after putting up four goals and ten assists in 52 games.

The recovery from the procedure was a long one, but luckily Ikonen made a quick impact on the team. He only saw 13 games with them throughout the course of the year but scored five goals and added five assists increasing is point pace from 0.27 to 0.77. Sample size, of course, plays a role but that’s an incredible difference.

It looks as if KalPa is interested to see what the 19-year-old can do to build off this short window as they announced a one-year extension for him. According to the team, the move, as well as re-signing Henri Knuutinen and Valtteri Parikka, were efforts to keep the core together and given their age, they can all grow into key pieces moving forward.

Ikonen’s extension will carry him to the end of the 2019/20 season which will have some mystery afterwards. What is the plan then?

The Montreal Canadiens will have another year left to sign Ikonen to an entry-level contract by the time his season with KalPa is over. It wouldn’t be surprising to see them sign him then and have the centre join the Laval Rocket assuming there are still games left. Perhaps the Habs decide to give him a look with the big club altogether by that point.

Consider Lukas Vejdemo. The Habs allowed him to play three seasons in the SHL with Djurgårdens IF before signing him to an ELC and bringing him over to North America. Ikonen won’t have three full seasons under his belt, but he will have three seasons regardless. If he takes his play to the next level in 2019, then you have to think management will want to bring him over and get him accustomed to the smaller ice.

If Ikonen can pan out with his skill set, it’ll be another solid addition to the team’s centre depth within their prospect pool. Another avenue could see him as an NHL winger which seems like a bummer at first, but imagine the damage he and Jesperi Kotkaniemi could do in the future.

These are several steps ahead though. For now, it’s great news to see Ikonen ink another deal with KalPa and it’ll be interesting to see how he progresses. But I think the Montreal Canadiens will have a strong eye on him throughout the year and that it will lead him to the shouts and screams of the Bell Centre in one way or another.