Juuso Välimäki
Carolina Hurricanes Defense #4
A first-round pick, two hundred and seventy games, and not enough ice to judge him on.
| Season | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 43 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -5 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 5.0 | 16:33 |
| Career | 271 | 11 | 61 | 72 | -7 | 133 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 313 | 3.5 | 17:20 |
No games in 2025-26. The season above is the last one he played, and everything on this page should be read with that gap in it.
2024-25
Two goals and three assists in 43 games, minus-five, at 16:33 a night. He did not play enough five-on-five in one place to register an on-ice record in this edition. He did not appear in the NHL last season.
The Finesse Game
Thin. Forty shots on goal in 43 games and two goals; 72 points in 271 career games, most of them assists from the point.
The first pass is fine and the decision-making is slow. He tends to take the extra half-second, which against a hard forecheck is the difference between a breakout and a turnover.
The Physical Game
Six foot two, 201, and he defends adequately without imposing anything. Fourteen penalty minutes in 43 games.
A serious knee injury early in his career cost him a season and, by most accounts, a step he never got back.
The Intangibles
The sixteenth pick in 2017, on his fourth organisation, and the minus-five is the only number on the page with any signal in it.
He is 27. On a Carolina blue line that goes Slavin, Miller, Nikishin, Walker, Chatfield and Gostisbehere, he is the seventh man, and seventh defencemen on good teams do not accumulate evidence.
There is not enough here to write a fair report. That is itself the assessment.