Johannes Kinnvall has finally arrived.
The 24-year-old right-handed defenceman made his North American professional hockey debut with the Stockton Heat on Friday, assisting on Jakob Pelletier’s game-winning goal late in the third period to help Stockton dispatch the Henderson Silver Knights by a 3–1 score.
Kinnvall’s AHL debut has been a long time coming. He first skated in a Calgary Flames jersey way back at the team’s 2019 summer development camp before signing a two-year entry-level deal with the team the following summer.
Instead of coming over to North America right away, Kinnvall remained in the Swedish Hockey League with HV71 for the 2020–21 season as the first year of his Flames ELC elapsed.