The New York Rangers have signed winger Eeli Tolvanen to a one-year, $1.5MM contract per PuckPedia. This removes Tolvanen from a long list of remaining free agents who appeared in the NHL last season. The 27-year-old Finn spent the last four seasons with the Seattle Kraken.
Tolvanen carved out an impactful, top-nine role in the Kraken lineup quick into his tenure with the club. He scored 16 goals and 27 points in his first 48 games with the Kraken after joining the team partway through the 2022-23 season off of waivers from the Nashville Predators. Tolvanen became a focal piece of Seattle’s middle-six and earned a routine role on the second power-play unit. That standing helped him reach 16 goals and 41 points during the 2023-24 season, both career-highs at the time. He beat out his goal total once again in 2024-25, reaching 23 goals to go with 35 points. He succeeded that performance with 36 points last season.
Tolvanen proved a capable, but inconsistent, scorer with no restrictions in Seattle. His scoring often came in bunches, like when he notched 17 points in 22 games early into 2023-24. That is an 82-game pace of 63 points – yet Tolvanen has only managed to reach half as many three times – over the last three seasons – through his eight-year career.
The volume shooter will now try to find his stride in a new-look Rangers offense. New York also added scoring wingers Pavel Dorofeyev and Oliver Bjorkstrand over the summer with the goal of revitilizing an offense that scored the 10th-fewest goals in the NHL last season. This move is a step up for Tolvanen, who found his spark among a quiet Kraken offense and recorded just a 8.5 shooting percentage last season – 3.5 percent below his career average. He will hope to rebound next season with the help of playmkaing linemates like Noah Laba and William Cuylle.