Guildford Flames have strengthened their roster with the signing of two netminders.

Finnish goalie Joonas Kuusela has agreed to join the club, while EPL veteran Dean Skinns has also been added to the squad.

Kuusela (above) brings plenty of experience from around Europe to the Flames, having previously iced in Finland, Sweden and Kazakhstan in addition to representing his country from U16 through to U20 level.

Skinns has spent the last 11 seasons in the EPL, icing for a variety of clubs including Basingstoke Bison and MK Lightning.

The duo join Mike Will as Flames’ goaltending options following Richard Ullberg’s release earlier this week.

“Our reasoning here may not work for some people, but we have put ourselves in a position to have a short term trial, or a more permanent situation, where all options are open to us from game-to-game,” said Head Coach Paul Dixon.

“We now have the choice of icing a full non-British trained contingent up front and maintaining a pair of experienced British goaltenders in the line-up, which was not possible as of last week, or using non-British players in the split mode where one of them is the netminder.

“Using a non-British netminder can be a form of roster sacrifice, and at the end of the day that sacrifice at another position has to demonstrate that it is on par and competitive with other teams in the same situation.

“If that is not the case, then having the option to change the distribution of players, and keep your maximum available talent in the line-up at all times, is exceptionally valuable.

“This situation gives us better access to decisions that are based on current performance, and hopefully give us the best chance for success each night.”