The NHL says it will take a close look at Finland’s new restrictions on Russian athletes before deciding whether to bring more regular-season games to Helsinki in the future.
That comes after Finland and Norway announced Thursday that they would refuse entry to Russian athletes. Finland’s restrictions are set to begin Monday, just after the Carolina Hurricanes and Seattle Kraken finish their two-game set in Helsinki on Thursday and Saturday.
The Finnish foreign ministry’s statement does not separate Russian athletes by category. It makes no distinction between national-team players, competitors entering as neutrals or athletes tied to club teams such as NHL franchises. Officials said Russians may enter Finland only for work essential to the country’s national interests and accused Russia of using sports as a propaganda tool.
The timing matters for the NHL, which already has two games in Helsinki this week and has staged regular-season games in Finland in 2022 and 2024. No future games in Finland have been announced.
Russian players remain a notable part of the league’s makeup. On opening day of the 2026-27 season in September, 53 Russian players were active, accounting for 7.3% of all NHL roster spots and ranking as the fourth-largest nationality group in the league.
That presence was on display Thursday in the Hurricanes’ 4-1 win over the Kraken. Forward Andrei Svechnikov picked up an assist for Carolina, while goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov was the backup. The teams meet again in Helsinki on Saturday.
The Finnish move follows domestic backlash over Russia’s reinstatement to the IIHF World Championships, a non-NHL event, and it could spill into other international competitions. The International Skating Union has already warned of possible consequences for its March figure skating world championships in Finland. Estonia also informed the International Ski and Snowboard Federation that it will bar Russian and Belarusian athletes from its January world junior Nordic skiing championships.
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