Avs ink top goaltending prospect Justus Annunen

The Avalanche signed another of their top prospects on Thursday afternoon when they announced goaltender Justus Annunen had signed his entry-level contract.

The standard three-year pact gets the 20-year-old Annunen under contract through the 2023 season.

Annunen is coming off a season in which he was the top goaltender for the top Finnish league’s best team, Karpat, and finished the year 15-5-3 with a .929 save percentage and 1.77 goals-against average.

The year was marked by Annunen setting a new Liiga record for the longest shutout streak when he prevented a goal from being scored across 302 minutes and five seconds. He also had a strong showing for Team Finland at the World Jr. Championships when he was named a top-three player on the team.

Annunen is widely recognized as the top goaltender in the Avalanche prospect pipeline and this contract ensures he will get a chance to prove his worth in North America when he chooses to come over.

The timing of Annunen’s arrival is now in question as this contract means he could come right away if he and the organization wanted to. The immediate expectation is Annunen will stay in Finland for another year and continue in his role as Karpat’s number one goalie while fellow prospect Adam Werner continues developing with the Colorado Eagles in the AHL.

While Annunen is expected to continue his career in Finland (he’s still signed with Karpat), his contract will still begin because his ELC signing age is 20, meaning there is no slide opportunity. Should Annunen come to North America after next season, he will have two years remaining on his ELC.

The Avalanche AHL goaltending system has seen success in recent years with a promising first year from Werner last year as well as Hunter Miska taking the starting job and earning an NHL contract late in the year after being on an AHL deal most of the season.

Those returns are encouraging that when Annunen, arguably the most talented Avalanche goaltender prospect since Calvin Pickard, chooses to come to the AHL, he will be in good hands and Colorado will have another chance to develop their first legitimate starting goaltender since moving to Denver.

That’s all for down the road, however, as right now Annunen is simply another promising prospect celebrating his first NHL contract.