Sources: Wild-Hurricanes expected to open next season in Finland

by TonyO on Dec 17, 2009 1:22 PM CST

According to Russo

Good afternoon from beautiful but frigid Montreal, where the Wild hopes to continue its winning ways against the struggling Canadiens tonight.

Before I get to today's news, according to league sources, it is "highly likely" that the Wild will open the 2010-11 season in Helsinki, Finland. It's not finalized yet, but it's very close, sources say.

The Wild has Finns Mikko Koivu, Antti Miettinen and Niklas Backstrom; the Hurricanes have Koivu's good pal, Tuomo Ruutu, Joni Pitkanen and Jussi Jokinen.

When I gave Koivu the news this morning, he smiled brightly and gave me a fist pump. I'll have Koivu's quotes in tomorrow's paper, as well as more details about how this works.

There's expected to be six teams opening next season in Europe. The other four teams are reportedly Columbus (Stockholm was confirmed by the Columbus Dispatch), Boston, San Jose and Phoenix.

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