Karri Rämö

Karri Rämö
Ramo warming up with the Flames
Born (1986-07-01) July 1, 1986 (age 38)
Asikkala, Finland
Height 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight 215 lb (98 kg; 15 st 5 lb)
Position Goaltender
Catches Left
team
Former teams
Free Agent
Lahti Pelicans
HPK
Tampa Bay Lightning
Avangard Omsk
Calgary Flames
Jokerit
Djurgårdens IF
HC TPS
ERC Ingolstadt
National team  Finland
NHL draft 191st overall, 2004
Tampa Bay Lightning
Playing career 2003–present

Karri Rämö (born July 1, 1986) is a Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender who is currently an unrestricted free agent. He began his professional career in the SM-Liiga, initially with the Lahti Pelicans and then HPK, where he was a member of the Kanada-malja championship team in 2005–06. The Tampa Bay Lightning, having selected Rämö in the sixth round, 191st overall, at the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, gave him a contract, and he played 48 games with the team over three seasons between 2006 and 2009, before returning to play in Europe.

In four KHL seasons with Avangard Omsk, Rämö was twice selected to participate in the KHL All-Star Game. He returned to the NHL ahead of the 2013–14 season, joining the Calgary Flames, and played in 111 games over three seasons from 2013 until 2016. He returned to the KHL following that, and he then also played for Djurgårdens IF of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), before signing to ERC Ingolstadt in Germany.

Playing career

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Rämö was drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the sixth round, 191st overall, of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. A product of the Pelicans organization based in Heinola, Rämö made his SM-liiga debut in the 2003–04 season with Pelicans after the team had lost their chance at the playoffs. In the next season, he played 26 games with Pelicans, later signing a contract with HPK for the 2005–06 season. During the campaign, Rämö shared goaltending duties with Miika Wiikman, putting up excellent statistics and en route to the team's SM-liiga championship. Rämö also represented the Finland junior team at the 2006 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships as the back-up goaltender to Tuukka Rask.

After HPK's championship victory, Rämö signed a two-way contract with Tampa Bay. Playing in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Norfolk Admirals, Tampa's top minor league affiliate, he made his NHL debut on 2 December 2007 against the Ottawa Senators, replacing Johan Holmqvist. On 19 December, Rämö was again called up by the Lightning. The next day, he won his first career NHL start in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, which finished 2–1. He went on to record 7 wins and 11 losses in the 2007–08 season.

Rämö after a game with Avangard Omsk in 2011.

After the Lightning signed NHL veteran Olaf Kölzig as the backup goaltender to Mike Smith, Rämö began the 2008–09 season with Norfolk. He was recalled multiple times by the Lightning throughout the season and finished the year playing 24 games, though he posted just 4 wins.

With the prospect of another return to the AHL for the 2009–10 season, on 23 June 2009, Rämö signed a two-year contract with Russian team Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).[1]

On 16 August 2010, Rämö's NHL playing rights were traded to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for goaltender Cédrick Desjardins.[2]

In January 2011, Rämö, for the second consecutive year, was selected to be the starting goaltender for the Eastern Conference in the KHL All-Star Game, collecting more fan votes than any other player in the league.[3] However, he was unable to participate due to an injury.[4]

On 12 January 2012, Rämö was traded (along with Michael Cammalleri and a fifth-round pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft) to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Rene Bourque, Patrick Holland and a second-round pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. On 5 July 2013, Rämö signed a two-year, $5.8 million contract with Calgary, paving the way for his return to the NHL. Ahead of the 2013–14 season, during the pre-season, he won the job to replace the retired Miikka Kiprusoff as Calgary's starting goaltender over Joey MacDonald and Reto Berra.

Rämö recorded a 15–9–3 record during the 2014–15 season, splitting duties with the newly-acquired Jonas Hiller, though Hiller started more games and also started in the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs. Rämö was not called into action by the Flames until he replaced Hiller early in Calgary's Game 6-clinching Western Conference Quarterfinals victory over the Vancouver Canucks. After Hiller's sub-par performance in Game 1 of the subsequent Conference Semifinals against the Anaheim Ducks, Rämö would start the remainder of Calgary's playoff games, though the Flames eventually lost the series in five games. He finished the playoffs with a 2–3 record and a 2.86 goals against average (GAA).

On 1 July 2015, Rämö signed a new one-year contract with Calgary reportedly worth $3.8 million.[5] He struggled early in the season and was sent down to the AHL. However, after being called up after an injury to Hiller, Rämö played most of Calgary's games until a serious knee injury suffered in a game against the San Jose Sharks ended his season.

Having returned to health, as a free agent into the 2016–17 season, Rämö signed a professional try-out (PTO) contract with the AHL's Toronto Marlies on 6 December 2016. On 7 February 2017, having played three games with the Marlies in which he remained winless, he was released from his PTO contract and returned to Finland to continue his recovery to full health.[6]

In the 2018-19 season, Rämö was contracted for a second stint with Russian club, Avangard Omsk of the KHL, however injury ruled him out for the entirety of the season without featuring for the club.

As a free agent in the 2019–20 season, Rämö signalled his return to health in agreeing to a one-year contract with Swedish club, Djurgårdens IF of the SHL on 4 October 2019. Signed as an injury replacement, he agreed to an initial break of contract after six weeks if his injuries re-occur.[7]

Career statistics

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Regular season and playoffs

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP W L T OTL MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV%
2003–04 Pelicans SM-l 3 0 2 0 138 10 0 4.34 .861
2004–05 Pelicans SM-l 26 4 12 4 1267 84 1 3.98 .898
2005–06 HPK SM-l 24 7 8 7 1359 49 2 2.16 .929 3 2 1 204 5 1 1.46 .947
2006–07 Springfield Falcons AHL 45 15 24 1 2432 127 1 3.13 .906
2006–07 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 2 0 0 0 70 4 0 3.43 .826
2007–08 Norfolk Admirals AHL 6 2 4 0 342 19 0 3.33 .898
2007–08 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 22 7 11 3 1269 64 0 3.03 .899
2008–09 Norfolk Admirals AHL 26 7 14 4 1507 95 0 3.78 .884
2008–09 Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 24 4 10 7 1312 80 0 3.66 .894
2009–10 Avangard Omsk KHL 44 21 17 4 2582 91 4 2.11 .913 3 0 3 158 8 0 3.04 .886
2010–11 Avangard Omsk KHL 44 33 5 4 2592 85 5 1.97 .925 14 6 7 891 32 1 2.16 .914
2011–12 Avangard Omsk KHL 45 19 17 9 2666 87 5 1.96 .925 21 14 6 1209 31 3 1.54 .940
2012–13 Avangard Omsk KHL 40 26 9 5 2401 80 4 2.00 .929 12 5 7 725 24 3 1.99 .917
2013–14 Calgary Flames NHL 40 17 15 4 2194 97 2 2.65 .911
2014–15 Calgary Flames NHL 34 15 9 3 1732 75 2 2.60 .912 7 2 3 336 16 0 2.86 .906
2015–16 Calgary Flames NHL 37 17 18 1 2134 94 1 2.63 .909
2015–16 Stockton Heat AHL 1 0 0 0 20 0 0 0.00 1.000
2016–17 Toronto Marlies AHL 3 0 3 0 174 11 0 3.80 .880
2016–17 Pelicans Liiga 7 1 1 5 436 17 0 2.34 .919
2017–18 Jokerit KHL 18 7 9 1 1021 33 1 1.94 .930 6 4 2 457 10 0 1.31 .954
2019–20 Djurgårdens IF SHL 18 7 8 0 990 46 1 2.79 .888
2020–21 TPS Liiga 11 5 5 1 621 28 1 2.71 .888 7 4 3 1 1.96 .929
2021–22 ERC Ingolstadt DEL 11 3 8 0 654 34 0 3.12 .856
KHL totals 191 106 58 23 11,264 376 18 2.00 .924 54 29 25 3,440 105 7 1.61 .930
NHL totals 159 60 63 18 8,721 414 5 2.85 .906 7 2 3 336 16 0 2.86 .906

References

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  1. ^ "Karri Ramo signs two-year contract with Omsk". (in russian) hawk.ru. June 23, 2009. Archived from the original on June 26, 2009. Retrieved June 24, 2009.
  2. ^ "Habs acquire Karri Ramo from Tampa Bay for Cedrick Desjardins". Montreal Canadiens. August 16, 2010. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
  3. ^ "Fans' Choice". KHL. January 14, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2011.
  4. ^ Замена в команде Ягра (in Russian). KHL. February 4, 2011. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
  5. ^ "Ramo signs one-year contract with Flames". National Hockey League. July 1, 2015. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
  6. ^ "Ramo formally released from PTO". Twitter. February 7, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  7. ^ "Distinguished goalkeeper signs for DIF" (in Swedish). Djurgårdens IF. October 4, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
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