Juha Metsola, Teemu Hartikainen, Sakari Manninen and Jussi Olkinuora are leaving Russia.
Several Finnish hockey players are leaving their KHL club and Russia. Secretive Yulayev Ufa confirms that the goalkeeper Juha Metsola as well as attackers Teemu Hartikainen and Sakari Manninen have left Ufa and are leaving Russia. According to current information, Ufa’s head coach Tomi Lämsä has not left Russia.
Sports has been targeting these players and their representatives, but so far no one has confirmed the news.
According to ‘s information, Finnish players other than Metsola, Hartikainen, Manninen and Olkinuora also want to leave KHL in the middle of the playoffs.
The boss of Magnitogorsk Sergei Laskovin According to him, all Finnish players are leaving KHL. This information has not been confirmed.
Many foreign players have left KHL since Russia invaded Ukraine. The first Finn was Ufa Markus Granlundwho confirmed to Sport on Wednesday that he has left his club.
Neftehimik Nizhnekamski goalkeeper Frans Tuohimaa Earlier this week, told Sport Sport that he wanted to leave Russia as soon as possible, but had not reached an agreement with the club leadership.
– Of course we are trying to get out by peaceful means to get permission to leave, but it is not really coming from this direction. If it was just about paying off one month’s salary, if it were that easy, I would leave right away. It is also about non-financial risks, Tuohimaa said.
– There is also uncertainty about what kind of regulations we are under and what kind of fines are threatened if you leave here on your own. We are in the machinery of a foreign country, under the rules of a foreign country and under great threat of fines.
The situation is not easy either, because moving from Russia to Finland is not quite simple at the moment.
At the time of the interview, for example, Tuohimaa was in Chelyabinsk, which is about 2,800 kilometers by road from Helsinki. As the European Union has closed its airspace to Russian planes, it will not be possible to return home by air.
The situation of the players is difficult
On Thursday, Sports reached the CEO of the Hockey Association Matti Nurminenaccording to which Finnish KHL players have not directly asked the Hockey Association for help.
– Of course, we have discussed with the agents, the International Hockey Federation and the players’ association and together we have tried to find models that can help players playing in Russia, Nurminen said.
– In my opinion, the players’ association has been in contact with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and through it the players have been helped in arranging how they could get to Finland.
Executive Director of the Players’ Association Risto Kauppinen confirmed to earlier this week that the players’ association has helped players get in touch with the State Department.
According to unconfirmed information, there is a clause in the contracts of KHL players that they would have to pay back a significant portion of their salary for the entire season if they terminated their contracts.
– We have had a lot of discussions with the International Hockey Federation (IIHF), because at least for some players, the clubs have made different threat demands if the agreement is broken. We have left to ask the IIHF about its legal background, because we ultimately follow the rules of the International Hockey Federation. That investigation is still in progress, Nurminen says.
The teams that survived the KHL playoffs included 17 Finnish hockey players. According to current information, at least six of them have left or are trying to leave Russia.
In addition, five Finnish hockey players representing the Chinese KRS Vanke Rays Shenzhen play in the Russian women’s league.