Joel Armia

Joel Armia (born 31 May 1993) is a Finnish professional ice hockey forward currently playing with the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). He originally played professionally in his native Finland with Pori Ässät of the SM-liiga.[1] He was selected 16th overall in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft by the Buffalo Sabres.

Joel Armia
Armia with the Winnipeg Jets in 2016
Born	31 May 1993 Pori, Finland
Height	6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight	212 lb (96 kg; 15 st 2 lb)
Position	Right wing
Shoots	Right
NHL team Former teams	Montreal Canadiens Pori Ässät Buffalo Sabres Winnipeg Jets
NHL Draft	16th overall, 2011 Buffalo Sabres
Playing career	2010–present

Playing career

Finland

Armia would spend three years in Finland, playing with Porin Ässät. During that time, he would have career totals of 55 goals, 45 assists, for 100 points, with 120 penalty minutes. In 2012–13, Armia would score 19 goals and 14 assists in 47 games. He was instrumental in helping Ässät capture the SM-Liiga's Kanada-malja championship after finishing fourth in the regular season. In the playoffs, Armia scored three goals with five assists in 16 playoff games.[2]

NHL

Armia at the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championships.

On 16 June 2012, Armia was signed to a three-year entry level contract with the Buffalo Sabres.[3] During his second North American professional season in 2014–15, Armia was recalled from Buffalo's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Rochester Americans, and made his NHL debut with the Sabres against the Detroit Red Wings on 23 December 2014.[4] He was then returned to the Americans before being traded on February 11, 2015, the Sabres sent Armia, alongside Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, Brendan Lemieux and a conditional first-round draft pick in 2015 (Jack Roslovic), to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian and the rights to goaltender Jason Kasdorf.[5]

On 30 June 2018, the Jets traded Armia, alongside Steve Mason, a seventh-round draft pick in 2019, and a fourth-round pick in 2020 to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Simon Bourque.[6] On 13 July 2018, Armia signed a one-year contract worth $1.85-million with the Canadiens.[7]

On 6 October 2018, Armia scored his first goal for Montreal, a shorthanded goal that gave the Canadiens a 4–0 lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins en route to a 5–1 victory.[8] On 1 November 2018, Armia and Habs teammate Max Domi scored the fastest two goals by one team when Montreal defeated the Washington Capitals, 6–4.[9] Domi scored at 19:38 of the third period, and Armia clinched the win with an empty net goal two seconds later.[10] Armia converted the decisive goal in the fifth round of a shootout victory against the New York Islanders on 5 November 2018; he was the only player from either team to beat the goaltender.[11] However, in the Canadiens' next game, against the New York Rangers on 6 November 2018, Armia suffered a knee injury. He was initially expected to miss six to eight weeks, and ultimately missed twenty-five games.[12] On 3 January 2019, Armia returned from injury against the Vancouver Canucks; he was credited with an assist on Jordie Benn's opening goal in a 2-0 Montreal win.[13] On 1 March 2019 Armia scored his first career NHL hat trick in a 4–2 victory against the New York Rangers.[14]

On 11 July 2019, Armia signed a two-year contract worth $5.2 million with the Canadiens. He had previously filed for salary arbitration as a restricted free agent.[15][16] Armia scored his first two goals of the 2019–20 season in a 4–5 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres on 9 October 2019.[17]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2009–10	Ässät	FIN U18		6	5	7	12	6		6	6	3	9	8
2009–10	Ässät	FIN U20		27	15	6	21	32		5	1	1	2	0
2010–11	Ässät	SM-l		48	18	11	29	24		5	2	0	2	4
2011–12	Ässät	SM-l		54	18	20	38	66		3	0	2	2	2
2012–13	Ässät	SM-l		47	19	14	33	32		16	3	5	8	20
2013–14	Rochester Americans	AHL		54	7	20	27	30		5	3	3	6	9
2014–15	Rochester Americans	AHL		33	10	15	25	39		—	—	—	—	—
2014–15	Buffalo Sabres	NHL		1	0	0	0	0		—	—	—	—	—
2014–15	St. John's IceCaps	AHL		21	2	6	8	22		—	—	—	—	—
2015–16	Manitoba Moose	AHL		18	3	5	8	16		—	—	—	—	—
2015–16	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		43	4	6	10	12		—	—	—	—	—
2016–17	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		57	10	9	19	20		—	—	—	—	—
2017–18	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		79	12	17	29	22		13	2	0	2	2
2018–19	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		57	13	10	23	14		—	—	—	—	—
2019–20	Montreal Canadiens	NHL		58	16	14	30	28		10	3	2	5	10
Liiga totals				149	55	45	100	120		24	5	7	12	24
NHL totals				295	55	56	111	96		23	5	2	7	12

International

Year	Team	Event	Result		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2010	Finland	U17	10th		5	5	3	8	2
2011	Finland	WJC18	5th		6	4	9	13	8
2011	Finland	WJC	6th		6	0	1	1	2
2012	Finland	WJC	4th		7	5	2	7	16
2013	Finland	WJC	7th		6	6	6	12	12
Junior totals					30	20	21	41	40

References

1. "Joel Armia's player profile with his team Porin Ässät" (in Finnish). Porin Ässät. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011.
2. "Joel Armia". Hockey's Future. 4 July 2015.
3. "Armia agree to terms on entry-level deal". Buffalo Sabres. 16 June 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
4. "Armia to make NHL debut against Red Wings". Buffalo Sabres. 23 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
5. "Kane, Bogosian dealt to Sabres in eight-player blockbuster deal". TSN. 11 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
6. "Canadiens acquire Joel Armia, Steve Mason from Jets". Sportsnet.ca. 30 June 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
7. "Canadiens sign forward Joel Armia to one-year, $1.85-million contract". Montreal Gazette. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
8. "Gritty Canadiens shock talented Penguins 5-1". Montreal Gazette. 7 October 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
9. "Montreal Canadiens set NHL record with 2 goals in 2 seconds vs. Washington Capitals". USA TODAY. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
10. "Washington Capitals - Montréal Canadiens - November 1st, 2018". NHL.com. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
11. "Canadiens overcome 3-1 deficit, overtime penalty kill to beat Islanders in shootout". Montreal Gazette. 6 November 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
12. Labbé, Richard (8 November 2018). "Joel Armia ratera de six à huit semaines | Richard Labbé | Hockey". La Presse (in French). Retrieved 9 November 2018.
13. Hickey, Pat (4 January 2019). "Carey Price looks healthy and rested while blanking the Canucks 2-0". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
14. "Armia's hat trick leads Canadiens past Rangers". tsn.ca. 1 March 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
15. "Canadiens agree to terms with Joel Armia". NHL. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
16. Cowan, Stu (11 July 2019). "Canadiens sign Joel Armia to two-year deal worth $5.2 million". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
17. Hickey, Pat (9 October 2019). "Never-say-die Canadiens salvage another road point in defeat". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 13 October 2019.

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Eurohockey.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database
• Joel Armia's player profile on Jatkoaika.com