Topi Ronni, whose rights were renounced by the Calgary Flames following a conviction on a serious crime, has managed to find a new employer for 2024-25
A former second round NHL draft pick has found a team willing to take him on after he was dropped by both the Calgary Flames and a team in the Finnish Elite League after he was convicted of se--al assault back in March. The Flames took Topi Ronni, now 20, 59th overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, but renounced his rights after his conviction.
In a release on Instagram, HK Dukla Michalovce of the Slovak Extraliga said it has signed Ronni for the 2024-25 season, and is well aware of his conviction.
It's not the first time the Slovak Extaliga has taken on a player with a controversial past. The league has also signed Carson Briere and Mitchell Miller to contracts in recent years. Briere, son of Philadelphia Flyers GM Danny Briere, was dropped from his college team after throwing a wheelchair belonging to a disabled woman down a flight of stairs during a party and breaking it. Miller was essentially blacklisted by the NHL after it came to light that he had been convicted in court of severely bullying a classmate in high school.
