The new group uses the working name Jokerit Helsinki Oy and it includes former and current NHL players with a Jokerit background.
On Tuesday, February 21, Helsinki Jokerit submitted a completed application to the Jääkieksoliitto’s federal board regarding Mesti’s league place for the 2023–24 season. Jokerit announced on Wednesday that the background is a completely new company, which includes, among other things, several NHL players with a Jokerit background.
The owners of the new background company are at this stage Ossi Väänänen, Teuvo Teräväinen, Esa Lindell, Mikko Saarni, Markus Selin, Timo Mäkelä, Max Seeck and Jokerit ry.
Joker fans are also invited to join the background company with a directed share issue.
The new company has signed an agreement with the Helsinki Jokerit ry on the Jokerit trademark. Team Jokerit Oy, which previously managed the trademark, has terminated the trademark agreement on its part and is not involved in the new project.
Was the owner in the Team Jokerit Oy project Joel Harkimo is also not involved in the operations of the new company.
– In this situation, a new company without my participation is the best option for the Jokers. I am sincerely happy about the new group that is going to pull the Jokers towards the future, Joel Harkimo commented in the press release.
A new group came into being just under a week ago
Profiled as the frontman of the Jokers comeback project Jarmo Koskinen told Urheilu that the new group only took shape a little over a week ago.
Just a month ago, Team Jokerit Oy withdrew its application because it did not believe that the application would pass the Jääkieksoliitto’s processing.
According to Koskinen, a month and a half ago, the opinions against Joel Harkimo grew to such proportions that continuing with the same composition was not possible.
– In the background is the image of people that there might be Russian money in the background, which was certainly not a fact. More than a month ago, more serious thinking began. Last week, decisive progress was made with this new group, Koskinen said.
– But we have to thank Joel Harkimo. After all, he saved the club and left to run it in the fall. He has a big Joker heart and has done a good job.
Koskinen says that a decision has not yet been made about the future home hall of the Jokers.
– Those are the kinds of things that the Ice Hockey Federation deals with. We are not going to open them because the union can deal with it in peace. Not creating false pressure for them about it. There are still a few options.
– I believe that we will play for Mest next season. It was good that we took the application out of consideration for a while. We were able to supplement it and hopefully we will get to the license procedure, where we will take a closer look at, for example, the venue. Of course, the association has already gone through the possibilities with us.
The job title is Jokerit Helsinki Oy
According to Koskinen, the name of the new background company has not been finalized yet.
– There is one company in the background that is just being capitalized. The name doesn’t matter yet. Let’s use the working name Jokerit Helsinki Oy, it’s been pretty busy here. The existing company is changed to, for example, Jokerit Helsinki Oy. There is no final decision about it yet, but such a working name has been used.
The new group is the third party trying to bring back the Jokers. Joel Harkimo’s group started pushing for the return of the Jokers in August, when Jokerit ry chose it Teemu to Selänte instead of the merged Naurava Narri Oy.
The Jokers’ completed series place application will be processed by the Jääkieksliiott’s federal board on February 28.