Valtteri Filppula conducted a fair amount of interviews recently, but the spate of Finnish-language discussion has more to do with Filppula’s participation in the annual, NHL-alumni-laden Bermuda tennis tournament in Helsinki than anything else.
What I’m assuming to be the last of Filppula’s tour of the Finnish hockey press comes from MTV.fi, where Filppula spoke in video (regrettably unavailable outside of Finland) and text form. What follows is roughly translated:
Valtteri Filppula returns home and is thinking about life after hockey–“I hope I will remain healthy for at least two years”
Valtteri Filppula talked about his participation in the Bermuda tournament on Saturday.
Valtteri Filppula left the Detroit Red Wings in 2013 after six seasons. After winning a Stanley Cup there, the two-way forward played in Tampa Bay, Philadelphia and for the New York Islanders before returning to the Motor City for the upcoming season.
Filppula said that he was particularly pleased with the two-year contract.
“It’s a familiar place and there are still some familiar players left there. It’s nice to see that it went smoothly,” said Filppula to MTV Sports in the suburb of Helsinki on Saturday.
Filppula admits that the return of Steve Yzerman to Detroit was important for the Finn’s decision. Yzerman has been the GM of Tampa Bay since 2010.
“That was one thing. Otherwise, it was an old and familiar team. And the two-year contract was a big part of the decision.”
The Finn has not yet had more detailed discussions about his role in Detroit.
“I’m playing in the middle. It’s really the only thing that we’ve talked about,” Filppula laughs.
“In the early stages, your role can go different ways, but the smooth playing of the games will ultimately determine how big it will be.”
After the two-year contract, Filppula can’t say what will happen.
“It was nice to get a deal. I’ve played hockey for so long that I started to think I couldn’t do it any more. Hopefully for two more years I’ll stay healthy, and after that I’ll reconsider,” Filppula said.
If he wants to play more that two more, I kinda hope it isn’t with us. Nothing against Val, but hopefully in three years, there’s no room for him because of the young guys who have developed and have pushed him off of the roster.