Jokerit back to Liiga + finnish KHL players

[Jussi]

According to powerplaymaker at Jatkoaika (he posts here too with the same username, though not often), there's a plan A and a plan B that's independent of the people involved in plan A. Continuing at KHL is not an option. There's probably going to be an official announcement soon. All KHL logos and links have disappeared from Jokerit site and they're not following KHL on Instagram either.

 

[Jussi]

Also this:

 

[Jussi]

Liiga boss said last week that the schedule for Jokerit returning to Liiga next season would be tight as the season schedule is confirmed around May.

Nordis is I guess not an option as an arena. I wonder if Timtshenko and the Rotenbergs would throw a bone and donate the arena to the city of Helsinki? Move ownership to Roman Rotenberg and do it via him?

 

[Eye of Ra]

i guess jokerit will loose many players for the upcoming season. lots of players will go to NLA and SHL?

 

[Albatros]

I think the question is rather whether any players will remain even if they do manage to join Liiga this summer.

 

[JabbaJabba]

i guess jokerit will loose many players for the upcoming season. lots of players will go to NLA and SHL?

There's a good chance that Jokerit won't play anywhere next season. They need to sort things out. If they play next season I imagine they play in Mestis.

 

[mattihp]

I think the question is rather whether any players will remain even if they do manage to join Liiga this summer.

Not many players left to remain, really.

 

[Albatros]

There's a good chance that Jokerit won't play anywhere next season. They need to sort things out. If they play next season I imagine they play in Mestis.

Joining Mestis would seem less likely to me than either rejoining Liiga or suspending operations at least for a year. They remain one of the biggest brands in all of Finnish sports, and have little to gain by joining a low-quality league with a shoestring budget in a situation where their own organization is unstable. The aspiration should be to either rejoin Liiga in 2022 or in 2023 and focus solely on that.

 

[LukeSkywalker]

This could be the time for Euro Hockey league, that Harkimo was rooting for 10 years ago.
I'd be down with that.

 

[Exarz]

This could be the time for Euro Hockey league, that Harkimo was rooting for 10 years ago.
I'd be down with that.

This has been discussed in several forums here already and to summarize it's not happening for both legal and financial reasons

 

[Jussi]

This could be the time for Euro Hockey league, that Harkimo was rooting for 10 years ago.
I'd be down with that.

It's not happening, just let it go.

 

[JabbaJabba]

This could be the time for Euro Hockey league, that Harkimo was rooting for 10 years ago.
I'd be down with that.

They already have CHL.

 

[Rigafan]

They already have CHL.

Which is terrible and taken seriously by zero teams involved!

 

[Jussi]

Which is terrible and taken seriously by zero teams involved!

This is just blatant disinformation. Prize money is rising every year.

 

[filip85]

Which is terrible and taken seriously by zero teams involved!

You should back up your claims with the proof. I say CHL is not terrible (whatever that means, sure Rouen is not on the same level as Rogle or Frolunda) and I have proof in the link I posted.

 

[Rigafan]

This is just blatant disinformation. Prize money is rising every year.

You should back up your claims with the proof. I say CHL is not terrible (whatever that means, sure Rouen is not on the same level as Rogle or Frolunda) and I have proof in the link I posted.

Maybe 'terrible' was the wrong word. Still, the big teams don't take it seriously until they are within reach of the prize money. The format, while getting better, is still too clustered as well. Too many teams from the same league and too many games in such a short period. It's still a glorified pre season tournament until they can see the prize money!

Views are my own, of course

 

[Jussi]

Maybe 'terrible' was the wrong word. Still, the big teams don't take it seriously until they are within reach of the prize money. The format, while getting better, is still too clustered as well. Too many teams from the same league and too many games in such a short period. It's still a glorified pre season tournament until they can see the prize money!

Views are my own, of course

That is also not true.

The amount of teams from a league is determined by success. It's basically the same as in the UEFA Champion's League. You could have 5 teams from the Premier League for example if one team wins the UCL but fails to qualify domestically for it or another English team wins the Europa League.

 

[Rigafan]

That is also not true.

The amount of teams from a league is determined by success. It's basically the same as in the UEFA Champion's League. You could have 5 teams from the Premier League for example if one team wins the UCL but fails to qualify domestically for it or another English team wins the Europa League.

Yeah, which is fair, as the whole licence system they started with was even worse. Hockey though doesn't have as many leagues as soccer so the problem is, I find, allowing the 3rd place team, plus the cup winner, plus the league winner, plus the playoff winner from one league is too much.

It's almost a Scandinavian pre-season tournament, with prize money awarded at the end. Then we have the Russian team issue, anyway we gone way off-topic from Jokerit

as for Jokerit, taking a season out to prepare and find a new home would be good, don't scramble and have a disastrous season just because its an option.

 

[Jaska]

I believe it is not possible to enter Liiga with the current organization as Jokerit Hockey Club Oy is in tens of millions in debt to the oligarchs running the show. They need to start with clean sheet, which basically means starting a new franchise. This will take time finding management, investors etc.

 

[Albatros]

Jari Kurri now the sole owner of Jokerit.

 

[member 305909]

He will have to go. He's just too tarnished and viewed as a puppet of the oligarchs.

 

[Raimo Sillanpää]

Only hardcore fans see Kurri as being tarnished, it’s true he doesn’t have a clean sheet but everyone else will ignore the dirty laundry
The biggest issues are the arena and will they get sponsors or would it be better commercially to sit out a year, as sponsors won’t want to be associated with a brand that is seen to be Russified.

 

[Lainestache]

If and when they get the arena, i think it would be a logical choice to go through the Mestis path anyways. They've faced hardship before and they overcame it. I've been a die hard Jokerit fan ever since i started watching Liiga back in 2001 and i don't think that the brand is tarnished beyond repair. But maybe in the general view it might mend some bridges if they took the humble road and go and play in Mestis.. Who knows.

 

[JabbaJabba]

People who don't like Jokerit will use the KHL thing against them forever. Nothing can be done about that. Liiga people and sponsors won't care. Liiga sees money when they see Jokerit and once the team starts to figure things out the sponsors will come. A lot of the fans are happy that Jokerit is out of the KHL. I believe the move alienated some of the long term fans who likely want to come back.

Getting rid of the Russian owners is a good first step. Now Kurri can deliver the team to new (likely Finnish) owners and also work on getting Jokerit into some league. Playing in Liiga next season might be impossible because the schedule will be finalized in the Spring and the team doesn't even have an arena. I don't know when Mestis or Suomi -sarja finalize their schedules. I think it's likely that Jokerit won't play anywhere next season. Just too little time to sort things out.

 

[Albatros]

Indeed Mestis wouldn't really solve anything, either they have the money and infrastructure for Liiga or they don't. If they don't it's better to wait for a year, the brand is still extremely valuable by Finnish standards even without a team or an arena.