Former Jokers defender and captain Antti-Jussi Niemi wonders whether the Jokers are even smart to continue in the series after the Russian hostilities.
Jokerien companion legend Antti-Jussi Niemen believes the Jokers have no future in the KHL if Russia continues on the line it has chosen.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin announced on Thursday morning that Russia would launch a military operation in eastern Ukraine. According to Ukraine, Russia started a full-scale war against Ukraine.
The Jokers announced Friday that it will leave the KHL season. KHL is a Russian-led league with close ties to Vladimir Putin.
Do the Jokers have a future at KHL?
– If the hustle and bustle of Russia continues as it has been, then I don’t think so. I would not go to anticipate or speculate terribly about the future, but if we talk about what is happening in Ukraine at the moment, and it may not end there, Antti-Jussi Niemi will answer the question.
According to Niemi, it’s a shame, because good hockey is played at KHL, and there are a lot of skilled players in the series.
– As for the future of the Jokers, time will tell if there is a chance to continue. Is it even smart to continue there after these events, Niemi asks.
Niemi, who also served as the Jokers ‘deputy captain and captain for one season, was still in the team in the Jokers’ last Finnish Championship league season. The Jokerit moved to KHL for the period 2014–15, after which many political crises have taken place.
“Sad Timeline”
Even before the start of the Joker’s first KHL season, Russia conquered the Crimean peninsula. The Jokers’ connections to Russia have since been criticized year after year.
Last year and the second year, the unrest following the rigged presidential election in Belarus, when protests led to arrests and police violence, made headlines. In the fall of 2020, the Jokers did not go to Minsk to play against the local KHL club.
The Jokers were most recently affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
– They can’t be tolerated or watched in any way, Niemi regrets.
– From a political point of view, I think that the whole timeline has been quite sad. A lot has happened and happened compared to the starting points from which the Jokers joined KHL.
Niemi has been following the Jokers’ KHL for a long time as a television commentator. However, he says he can’t describe himself as an active hockey consumer or that he would no longer have “terribly emotional ties to the Jokers.”
– Of course, it has been sad to follow this situation of the Jokers, you can’t get anywhere. That sky has been painful.
– Even jokers have a lot to do with information and clarity. They would have been able to play these things much better in the past since the change of ownership. How to come out, how openly and how honestly. I think they have been a little too secretive. It has a lot of work to do. This latest thing went just fine, Niemi says.
Niemi, who has played in more than 500 games in the playoffs in the Jokers, says that the Jokers’ decision to suspend the season was the only right one. He considers the events in Ukraine to be gruesome.
– Many suffer, but considering what is happening in the world, the Jokers are a very small victim in this situation, Niemi says.