Winnipeg Jets Antti Miettinen signs with HPK in Finnish League -NHL Update
Winnipeg Jets Antti Miettinen, according to EliteProspects.com, has signed on with hometown team, HPK Hameenlinna of the Finnish Elite League, SM-liiga, in Finland on November 4, 2012, and will continue to play overseas during the lockout.
This raises the amount of Jets gone abroad to play to seven now with the addition of Miettinen. Jets teammate, Eric Fehr, is also reported to be on the team, reuniting the two to continue playing together.
It will not be the first time Miettinen will be playing for the HPK Hameenlinna of Finland as he has done so for a number of seasons prior to joining the National Hockey League (NHL) back in the 2003-2004 regular season with the Dallas Stars.
The 32-year-old native of Hameenlinna, Finland, was drafted as the 224th overall played during round seven of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft by the Dallas Stars and moved on to play with Minnesota Wild after four consecutive seasons with his original
draft team. It was prior to the 2011-2012 NHL regular season that he was signed on to the newly relocated Winnipeg Jets at the time, his first season in Canada.
Miettinen’s best season was back in 2008-2009, in which he potted 44 points (15 goals, 29 assists) in all 82-games played, but has not been able to match his record ever since, along with play a full regular season. Last year, he played 45 games with the
Winnipeg Jets and potted 13 points, consisting of five goals and eight assists. He also played 20 games with AK Bars Kazan of the Russian, Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), during the same season and had two goals and six assists.
The veteran right winger boasts a career total of 517 major league games played during his career and has 225 points in all, which consist of 94 goals and 131 assists with 232 minutes in the penalty box.
Miettinen is also under contract with the Winnipeg Jets until the end of the next season, which he signed on prior to the previous hockey year for $2.7 million, making him an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2013.
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