When Markus Nutivaara other players of the age group (1994) were reserved for the NHL in the summer of 2012, the Haukiputa Ahmojen academy was just moving from its academy club to Oulu’s Kärppie B-juniors. It took another four years for the man’s league debut in Oulu.
The momentum grew quickly: debut, securing a place in the game, successes in the playoffs and the Finnish championship in the spring of 2015.
The Columbus Blue Jackets booked Nutivaara into the NHL as an overage, 21-year-old, right after the championship in the seventh round.
Just a year later Nutivaara was already skating on NHL ice and two years later Jarmo Kekäläinen rewarded Nutivaara, who made a spectacular entry into the NHL, with a four-year extension worth almost 11 million dollars.
It was quite a growth story for a player who was not among the top players in his age group when he was younger.
However, Nutivaara’s great journey came to an end. Due to severe hip problems, the defender had only played one match in the previous two seasons. When there was no solution to the problems even from the best doctors in North America, Nutivaara decided to hang up the skates.
The man made the decision in April and made it public now in this story.
– My goal for my career was to play one game in Oulu Kärpi. Anything on top of that would be a bonus. It went quite well, Nutivaara laughs at first but then gets serious.
– I didn’t get to the full impact at all. I was able to pull through one shift at full strength, but after that I had to suffer the rest of the game with pain. This went on for a long time. The hip has been operated twice. Attempts were made to repair the osteoarthritis and implant new cartilage. During the last season, the doctors said that they can’t help anymore.
“It will be difficult to go to the hall”
Nutivaara’s hip problems started in the last Columbus season (2019-2020) and never subsided. In his first season in Florida, Nutivaara played another 30 games, but only one in the latter. In the season that ended in San Jose, the defender played one training match.
– When I got to the corner, I was afraid that my hip would fail and the guy would come over. It got dangerous. In Florida, I was really good in the first elimination game. A terrible cold for the second game, of course, but the body was completely broken. I was the worst in the field in the next one. The lenses in the booth were foggy and I was in the stands at the next game. That tells you how the injury affects you.
– Then the back started to fail and there were other problems when the hip did not recover. I skated on one leg for three years, says Nutivaara.
Mentally, the situation became difficult for the player during the last couple of seasons.
– The most important thing is that you take more from the team than you give. When you’re injured, you’re out of the team and trying to stay out of the way. With two years out of the way, going to the hall becomes difficult. In San Jose, it was already really difficult, after all, a new team and stuff.
– I still have to give a big thank you to the entire San Jose organization, how they welcomed me there and also took these mental things into account. I couldn’t give much, but I got a lot myself. If they hadn’t been there for support, the white coats would have come to collect at some point.
Nutivaara says that he will finish with a calm mind, because he feels that he has turned over all the stones.
– That’s what he learned to lie to himself that his hip is fine. He explained to himself that the leg doesn’t move because I haven’t trained well and so on. However, I turned over every stone and flew around the United States with different specialists. But if you can’t even do snow work, then it starts to be there, Nutivaara laughs.
Nutivaara also wants to remind young players about the dangers of the painkiller jungle in the NHL.
– In my last year in Columbus, I took a lot of painkillers, but after that I decided that I would no longer operate with them. I made a decision that if the pain is too bad, I will stay away from the games and start rehabbing. You should be careful with these.
“I want to help”
No professional ice hockey player would want to end his career due to injury, but you can’t hear even a hint of bitterness in Nutivaara’s voice, more gratitude. Nutivaara entered the NHL world so far from the top that he can appreciate every 275 games he played in the taala league.
– An acquaintance asked if you would take care of yourself when this happened to you. I was really left wondering why I wasn’t taken to the head. I’m not a worrier. And I’m not sad, but happy that I can open a new page in life. I turned over every stone in my career and got nothing for free. I can walk there with my nose up, Nutivaara grins.
– I am in a fortunate position to have been able to make such a trip.
The new father of a boy does not yet have exact information about his future plans, but there is enough interest in working with the sport.
– I’m in Oulu with the NHL boys on the ice. In the future, I want to help somehow and I am really interested in physical training, rehabilitation and so on. It feels like a passion already and I really want to study it. The guys have received the summer ice very well. It’s a bit forgotten there that I don’t play anymore.
– I’m there “Sepen” (Sebastian Aho) filled with a drinking bottle, Nutivaara laughs.
Markus Nutivaara played 275 games in the NHL in Columbus and Florida and scored 17+54. In the playoffs, two (1+1) power points were accumulated in 17 matches. In Finland, Nutivaara represented Kärppi in the SM league and Jokipoiki in the Mestis and Hokki in Kajaani.