Former NY Islanders forward continuing his career with famous Finnish club at 40 years old

It wasn’t a long tenure, but Valtteri Filppula was a more than serviceable forward for the NY Islanders in his one season with the organization.

This upcoming season, the Finnish center will return to his home nation, playing for Jokerit, one of the most prestigious clubs in Finland according to IS.fi

Filppula played five seasons within Jokerit's organization from 2000-05 before heading to North America.

While Liiga is the top division of Finnish hockey, Jokerit will play in Metsis next season, the second-tier league.

Jokerit returned to Finnish hockey last season after the Helsinki-based team played eight seasons in the KHL.

Scheduled to partake in the 2022 Gargarin Cup playoffs, Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, with Jokerit electing to pull out of the playoffs and ultimately leave the KHLall together.

Helping return his old club back to greatness

Last season was the club's first season back playing in Finland, and Fillpula will look to play a major role in returning Jokerit to the top division. 

When Frans Nielsen left the Islanders in the summer of 2016 to sign a 5-year, $5.25M with the Red Wings, Lou Lamoriello brought in the veteran Filppula who took over as the third-line center while wearing Nielsen’s number 51.

After recording 31 points (17G, 14 A) with the Islanders in 2018-19, Fillpula returned to the Detroit Red Wings for two seasons, Fillpula took his career overseas, playing with Genève-Servette of the Swiss National League for the last three years. 

Oddly enough, this isn’t the first time the Islanders and Genève-Servette have been mentioned together, as rumored Islanders free agent target Andrea Glauser agreed to join the club for the 2024-25 season.