KHL's Jokerit are pulling out all of the stops in their effort to recruit Selanne
Jokerit Helsinki, probably the best known and wealthiest professional hockey team in Finland, is poised to join the KHL next season. With the start of their inaugural KHL campaign drawing near, Jokerit is determined to land Finnish legend Teemu Selanne and team ownership is pulling out all the stops in an effort to entice Selanne to play a victory lap season in his hometown.
In late July, Jokerit co-owner Roman Rotenberg made it clear in an interview with Finnish media outlet Ilta-Sanomat that money isn't an issue for his club in their pursuit of Selanne.
The club, it would seem, has gone beyond offering Selanne the equivalent of a blank cheque. They've also made it clear to Selanne that he can pick and choose which games he wants to play in, and have even invited him to skip extended road trips and dress in home-games only.
"I've got a free hand to decide what to do and how many games I want to play," Selanne confirmed in a recent interview with Ilta-Sanomat per Aftonbladet (via google translate).
Oddly enough, it's an arrangement that doesn't necessarily appeal to Selanne.
"Everything is possible, that's the problem," Selanne said. "I have promised to consider the agreement. Less play time may not necessarily be positive. It's hard to only play half of the games, the foundation of this is that it is much matches. It would be too long breaks."
The 44-year-old sniper - a surefire first ballot Hockey Hall of Fame inductee once he becomes eligible - appeared in just 64 games with the Ducks during the 2013-14 campaign, and was held out of the second game of back-to-backs. For the first time in his career, he failed to record 10 goals in the regular season and finished with 27 total points.
KHL clubs are already in the midst of training camp and the KHL season is set to kick off with the 'opening cup' on September 3rd. The full schedule for the 2014-15 KHL season has not been published as of Tuesday, but if Selanne is going to play for Jokerit Helsinki next season, presumably he'd need to decide soon.