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There was some outrage in Winnipeg when it was announced that Finnish-born players Sami Niku and Kristian Vesalaninen would be staying in North America while the Jets battled the Panthers in Helsinki earlier this season. While hindsight may be 20/20 in knowing what happened over in Finland with Brendan Lemieux, it's hard to believe that the Jets wouldn't call up two of the most popular young Finns to join them in their native country. Today, however, it was announced that the Jets had re-assigned Kristian Vesalainen to Jokerit of the KHL after his latest demotion to the AHL's Manitoba Moose. It seems Vesalainen will get to play in Finland after all.

Look, I'm not an NHL general manager nor will I ever claim to be one, but we had heard in the summer that if the Jets plan to keep Vesalainen in the AHL this season, he'd return to the KHL. Knowing this threat was out in the public forum, the Jets astonishingly assigned him to the AHL while keeping a player like Brendan Lemieux in the press box. And while the idea of having Vesalainen play in the AHL to allow him to develop in the North American game is one used by many teams, it's not one that Vesalainen was willing to accept when he had a ton of success in Finnish Elite League.

In knowing that, it was likely that Vesalainen's agent told GM Kevin Cheveldayoff that his point-per-game player in the AHL was heading home to play in the KHL after his most recent demotion from the NHL club, using an out-clause that had been negotiated before Vesalainen signed his entry-level deal. Cheveldayoff isn't willing to let Vesalainen walk, so he did the best thing for his club's interest in re-assigning him to Jokerit in order to keep him under contract with the Jets and maintain his rookie status without burning the first year of his entry-level contract.

In other words, it's likely a win-win for both the Jets and Vesalainen.

Vesalainen will go home to join Jokerit, who recently acquired his rights from SKA St. Petersburg, and will join the team immediately as Jokerit prepared to play Barys Astana tonight. If he's ready to go, I assume he'll be in the lineup for Jokerit tonight, but I expect Vesalainen to make his debut at home against Dynamo Moscow on Monday. This blog will keep an eye on the Finn as the season progresses.

For the Jets, I'm certain they aren't going to complain about Vesalainen playing against men who are older and just as good as those in the AHL, but they do lose some control of Vesalainen's future for the short-term. He cannot be recalled to the Jets until Jokerit's season is over, so they likely wouldn't be able to recall him until late in the season or until the Stanley Cup Playoffs start. This is similar to what Eeli Tolvanen did in signing a deal with the Nashville Predators last season prior to the playoffs on March 29 after Jokerit was eliminated from the KHL's Gagarin Cup Playoffs.

It's not the end of the world in not having Vesalainen available for a recall for the Jets, but this is the only season where the out-clause was available and Vesalainen used it in the belief that his game will progress faster in the KHL than it would in the AHL. I don't fault the Finn or his agent for that belief, but we'll have to see what the results are once he returns to Winnipeg. It will be an interesting case study after seeing players like Tolvanen and Shipachyov sent to the AHL after their lauded signings, but this "opportunity" afforded to Vesalainen means that Kristian Vesalainen needs to work as hard as he can when it comes to cracking the Jets' roster.

Joining the Finnish KHL club and playing in his home country means that hard work starts now for Vesalainen. Here's hoping he returns and wows everyone next season with his development.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!