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At the Board of Governor’s meeting taking place during the All-Star festivities in Tampa, Florida, the National Hockey League has announced that the league would have another set of games slated for Europe in 2018-19. The Florida Panthers will play the Winnipeg Jets in a former Southeast division clash of titans.
Per Pierre LeBrun of TSN:
News from Board of Governors meeting today: confirmed teams for Europe next season, Edmonton-NJ play regular season game in Sweden at start of season; Wpg-Florida reg season game in November in Finland
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) January 27, 2018
To clarify: Jets and Panthers to play 2 reg season games in Finland in November, not just one
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) January 27, 2018
The choice of Finland to host these two clubs is a no-brainer. The NHL is likely capitalizing on the fact that both hockey clubs are led by two budding Finnish superstars in Aleksander Barkov for the Kissat (that’s “Cats” in Finnish), and Patrick Laine for the Suihkukoneet (“Jets” in Finnish).
Please comment on what you think of this news and more on the All-Star celebration at Tampa Bay. Keep it here at LBC for more on these future games.