Contract cancellation due to military service

[swissdude]

The SCL Tigers and Aleksi Saarela have cancelled their two-year contract with immediate effect. This is due to the fact that the Finn will have to do mandatory military service for at least six months from July 2025

I don't think that would have happened if he played in the NHL instead of swiss league... Is this standard procedure in Suomi? Last time I heard anything comparable was with young russian players

Imagine that would happen to Heiskanen etc.

 

[ThirdPeriodTurtle]

Miltary service (or civil service at double the length) is mandatory for all Finnish men. Athletes typically go to a specific 'athlete' division and there's plenty of stories how it's been fairly lax, and allowed training and all that. There's an age limit (30 maybe?) before which you have to do the service.

Many star players get out of it completely by way of some injury. Erik Haula for example never went because he had a bad knee injury some years back.

Plenty of articles and debate around this but especially for smaller non-star players, it's probably just best to get it out of the way when you're young and not yet in the NHL. The army has been trying to stricten the rules recently as well.

Heiskanen, Rantanen, Barkov, Laine, Aho... haven't done it (afaik). Aho is interesting because he doesn't have many injuries I believe, so might be tougher to wiggle out of it. We'll see in time. One article in Finnish here from 2024 (HS, paywall).

On the NHL level I believe the contracts always stay in force unless the player is a free agent. There's plenty of players who have done the service in the summer months "only", it's been possible to sort of agree on these things with the army in the past. Afaik Mikko Koivu did his service in the summer of 2011, for example.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Miltary service (or civil service at double the length) is mandatory for all Finnish men. Athletes typically go to a specific 'athlete' division and there's plenty of stories how it's been fairly lax, and allowed training and all that. There's an age limit (30 maybe?) before which you have to do the service.

Many star players get out of it completely by way of some injury. Erik Haula for example never went because he had a bad knee injury some years back.

Plenty of articles and debate around this but especially for smaller non-star players, it's probably just best to get it out of the way when you're young and not yet in the NHL. The army has been trying to stricten the rules recently as well.

Heiskanen, Rantanen, Barkov, Laine, Aho... haven't done it (afaik). Aho is interesting because he doesn't have many injuries I believe, so might be tougher to wiggle out of it. We'll see in time. One article in Finnish here from 2024 (HS, paywall).

On the NHL level I believe the contracts always stay in force unless the player is a free agent. There's plenty of players who have done the service in the summer months "only", it's been possible to sort of agree on these things with the army in the past. Afaik Mikko Koivu did his service in the summer of 2011, for example.

As I understand it, athletes are able to split their service between two summers. Aho turns 28 next month so he would be taking care of it some time soon, unless he already did it quietly while nobody was watching.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

The guitar player for Sonata Arctica got kicked out of the band because he got arrested for dodging military service to be on tour

 

[Kahvi]

Miltary service (or civil service at double the length) is mandatory for all Finnish men. Athletes typically go to a specific 'athlete' division and there's plenty of stories how it's been fairly lax, and allowed training and all that. There's an age limit (30 maybe?) before which you have to do the service.

Many star players get out of it completely by way of some injury. Erik Haula for example never went because he had a bad knee injury some years back.

Plenty of articles and debate around this but especially for smaller non-star players, it's probably just best to get it out of the way when you're young and not yet in the NHL. The army has been trying to stricten the rules recently as well.

Heiskanen, Rantanen, Barkov, Laine, Aho... haven't done it (afaik). Aho is interesting because he doesn't have many injuries I believe, so might be tougher to wiggle out of it. We'll see in time. One article in Finnish here from 2024 (HS, paywall).

On the NHL level I believe the contracts always stay in force unless the player is a free agent. There's plenty of players who have done the service in the summer months "only", it's been possible to sort of agree on these things with the army in the past. Afaik Mikko Koivu did his service in the summer of 2011, for example.

Also Olli Jokinen, whose knee was so bad he couldnt do military service, but good enough fo score 40 goals and 80 points.

I dont know the details, but Saarela’s contract was probably cancelled because he wouldnt have been able to do the work he was hired, because he had other commitments. This time it was military service, could have been something else.

Only ones to blame here are Saarela and his agent, a shitload of athletes have been able to sort this out. Do your service over two summers, ask for leave for training every day etc.

If you dont do that and leave it for the last moment, then you need to do the whole thing.

 

[Sasha Orlov]

The guitar player for Sonata Arctica got kicked out of the band because he got arrested for dodging military service to be on tour

Elite ball knowledge

 

[The Shadow]

we might see some American players going to war pretty soon.

 

[Son of Nogatco]

we might see some American players going to war pretty soon.

We already have

Auston Matthews proud veteran of the Battle of Ontario

 

[The Shadow]

We already have

Auston Matthews proud veteran of the Battle of Ontario

I wouldn’t call anything he does in the playoffs proud

 

[Voight]

Miltary service (or civil service at double the length) is mandatory for all Finnish men. Athletes typically go to a specific 'athlete' division and there's plenty of stories how it's been fairly lax, and allowed training and all that. There's an age limit (30 maybe?) before which you have to do the service.

Many star players get out of it completely by way of some injury. Erik Haula for example never went because he had a bad knee injury some years back.

Plenty of articles and debate around this but especially for smaller non-star players, it's probably just best to get it out of the way when you're young and not yet in the NHL. The army has been trying to stricten the rules recently as well.

Heiskanen, Rantanen, Barkov, Laine, Aho... haven't done it (afaik). Aho is interesting because he doesn't have many injuries I believe, so might be tougher to wiggle out of it. We'll see in time. One article in Finnish here from 2024 (HS, paywall).

On the NHL level I believe the contracts always stay in force unless the player is a free agent. There's plenty of players who have done the service in the summer months "only", it's been possible to sort of agree on these things with the army in the past. Afaik Mikko Koivu did his service in the summer of 2011, for example.

Didn't Barkov do his service a couple of years ago?

 

[Kahvi]

Didn't Barkov do his service a couple of years ago?

No. He’s over 28 so most likely he was released because of medical reasons.
Finnish article from last year, mentions Aho and Rantanen in similar situation

Suomen NHL-tähdillä armeija käymättä – näin Puolustusvoimat kommentoi

Useimmat ammattiurheilijat suorittavat asepalveluksen Kaartin jääkärirykmentin urheilukoulussa.

www.is.fi

 

[Summer Rose]

Hey y'all, let's not touch on the topic of the merits (or lack thereof) of mandatory military service, and keep this thread about what happens to a player's contract.

 

[SantosHalper]

Military service for athlete's is nearly a joke, they barely has to be there. Contract termination is odd.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Miltary service (or civil service at double the length) is mandatory for all Finnish men. Athletes typically go to a specific 'athlete' division and there's plenty of stories how it's been fairly lax, and allowed training and all that. There's an age limit (30 maybe?) before which you have to do the service.

Many star players get out of it completely by way of some injury. Erik Haula for example never went because he had a bad knee injury some years back.

Plenty of articles and debate around this but especially for smaller non-star players, it's probably just best to get it out of the way when you're young and not yet in the NHL. The army has been trying to stricten the rules recently as well.

Heiskanen, Rantanen, Barkov, Laine, Aho... haven't done it (afaik). Aho is interesting because he doesn't have many injuries I believe, so might be tougher to wiggle out of it. We'll see in time. One article in Finnish here from 2024 (HS, paywall).

On the NHL level I believe the contracts always stay in force unless the player is a free agent. There's plenty of players who have done the service in the summer months "only", it's been possible to sort of agree on these things with the army in the past. Afaik Mikko Koivu did his service in the summer of 2011, for example.

I think Rask did his no?

 

[Kahvi]

Military service for athlete's is nearly a joke, they barely has to be there. Contract termination is odd.
View attachment 1053085

Yes, they can do it the easy way and do it off-season, or try to get released for medical reasons. Saarela didnt do it and now he has to do the full thing. f*** around and find out. Only himself to blame

 

[ItWasJustified]

we might see some American players going to war pretty soon.

Rich people don't go to war unless they want to.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

we might see some American players going to war pretty soon.

Probably not

 

[LOFIN]

Military service for athlete's is nearly a joke, they barely has to be there. Contract termination is odd.

Things have changed since Koivu and Granlund served. Athletes nowadays actually have to be there, and participate in exercises. Lauri Markkanen (Utah Jazz) spent like 160 days actually in service (he got 20 days of leave for Euroean Championships), and he makes more money than like 3 of the top earners in the NHL put together.

 

[The Shadow]

Probably not

World war 3 isn’t far off.