Aleksi Heimosalmi

Heimosalmi started ice hockey with the Porin Ässät as a four year old.

During the 2019–20 season Heimosalmi played with Ässät U18 for 25 games where he scored 15 points. He also played 3 games with Ässät U20 with no points. The next season Heimosalmi played fully with the U20 team. He played a 35 game and 21 point season.

In April 2021 Heimosalmi signed a 3-year contract with the Porin Ässät.[2]

The Carolina Hurricanes drafted Heimosalmi in the second round as the 44th player in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.[3] He was drafted somewhat unexpectedly as the first Finnish player at the drafting event, because e.g. Aatu Räty was already widely expected to be drafted in the first round.[4] Heimosalmi signed a three-year entry-level contract with the club in August, even before the first professional league match. His seasonal salary on the NHL side in the first two seasons of the contract is $750,000 and in the third season $775,000. On the AHL side, Heimosalmi's seasonal salary is $80,000. The contract also includes a $277,500 signing bonus.[5][6]

Heimosalmi played the 2021–2022 season on loan in Ässät. He made his Liiga debut in the opening round of the regular season on September 10, 2021 against Vaasan Sport. Heimosalmi was placed in Ässät's second line next to Roni Sevänen. He got 13.37 minutes of ice time in the match.[7] Heimosalmi had relatively high expectations due to the previous spring's successful U18 World Championship competitions and second-round NHL draft, but despite the expectations, he did not manage to fully meet them and Heimosalmi scored three assists in 47 regular season games during his rookie season.[8] He also strengthened the club's U20 team in the playoffs.

In the 2022–2023 season, Heimosalmi continued on loan at Ässät. He scored the opening goal of his Liiga career on October 1, 2022 against KooKoo.[9] In total, Heimosalmi played 45 regular season matches in the league during the season with points of 4+11=15 and eight playoff matches with points of 1+2=3. He scored the first playoff goal of his Liiga career in the second quarter-final match on March 20, 2023 against Tampereen Ilves. Heimosalmi's goal was the winning goal of the match, which ended in a 5–2 victory for Ässät, and it evened the series at 1–1. Ässät alumni Jokke Heinänen chose him as the number one star of the Alumni Stars of the Match.[10] However, Ilves eventually progressed to the semi-finals with a 4–1 series win. Heimosalmi shared the Ässät's playoff internal plus-minus stat win with Derek Barach and Ian McCoshen, reading +3.[11]