Jones And Kiviranta On The Art Of The Role Player Keeping Their Mind And Body Ready (+)

You can’t win in the NHL without your star players. Look at every Stanley Cup winner in the history of the league. They all have their star players, and those are the guys that get all the publicity, for good reason. But also can’t win in this league unless you have a handful of role players that dig in and accept their job, whatever that may be. Just look at that 2022 Colorado Avalanche squad.

Jack Johnson didn’t start those playoffs in the lineup, but when Sam Girard got knocked out by the St. Louis Blues, he stepped right in and the team didn’t skip a beat. Nico Sturm, Alex Newhook, and Andre Burakovksy all spent various periods of time in the press box as healthy scratches. When you play for a deep team, you might not play every night. Some players can deal with that, and some can’t.

The Avalanche have two players who are in the lineup right now due to injuries that very clearly understand their roles.

“I think it’s pretty simple,” Joel Kiviranta said on Thursday. “We have (a) stacked lineup.”

Kiviranta and Caleb Jones spent a lot of the stretch run just waiting for an opportunity. Jones played just five games over the last three months of the season, while Kiviranta was a scratch from March 13 to April 4. It’s not easy to keep your mind and body in a good space when you sit for that long, but they found a way.

“After practice, (I) do some conditioning skates and work with the goalies too,” Kiviranta said. “Off the ice, keep the body ready.”

After getting the call back in November, Kiviranta was a regular for most of the season, but the additions the Avalanche made at the trade deadline pushed him down the depth chart. Things were a little different for Caleb Jones.

Most years, the Avalanche use a lot of defensemen due to injuries. This year, they were relatively healthy. The only regular defenseman to play less than 75 games was Sam Girard, and that was because of his time spent in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance program. Jones spent the entire season with the Avalanche on the NHL roster, but at times, was passed up by Sam Malinski when the team needed to insert a depth defenseman.

Through it all, he kept a positive attitude.

“There’s certain days that are really tough,” Jones told me after practice Thursday. “It’s your job to be ready to play. It’s one of those things where you have to make sure you’re getting extra work in and trying to do a lot of little things in practice, but it’s mentally challenging.”

Jones said the Avalanche staff and management were good at communicating with him what type of role they brought him in to play, so he wasn’t caught off guard by the extended stints in the press box. Kiviranta, who many on the Avalanche beat have referred to as “Playoff Kivi” with the way he’s played through two games, said he didn’t need the organization to communicate much with him. He knew what he was getting himself into when he signed with a good team like the Avalanche.

“Day after day, keep your body ready, keep your mind ready. That’s it,” Kiviranta said.

Kiviranta came to the Avalanche with a fair bit of playoff experience. I think Colorado fans know a lot about that, so the less said about it, the better. Things are a little different for Jones. He played just two playoff games for Edmonton during his time there, but the environment was very different from what he experienced in Winnipeg.

“It was the bubble,” Jones told me. “It wasn’t quite the same feeling as those games (in Winnipeg).”

Jones’ ability to step into the lineup and play well has impressed his teammates.

“That’s a really hard thing to do, right? Keep yourself mentally sharp the way he has,” Josh Manson said. “For him to step into the lineup in arguably one of the toughest situations, and for him to be able to fill minutes and play well and be solid for us, big credit to him. It’s tough to do.”

Kiviranta’s coach isn’t surprised at all by what he’s done.

“I wouldn’t say he’s exceeded expectations, even though I love what he’s doing so far,” Bednar said. “But I’d say we were pretty confident he’d be able to go in there and do that job.”

Role players come and go in this league, but the best ones leave their mark on a franchise.

It’s not an easy job to handle, but every team needs them.