The owner of Team Jokerit Oy, Joel Harkimo, does not answer – to anyone.
Hopefully, the Joker’s organization will soon put a credible ownership, financing and operating plan on the table, and the criticism will end. The club’s representative team will continue its activities in the 2023-24 season from Mestis. ELMERI ELO / AOP
- The new arrival of the jokers’ representative team seems like the work of amateurs.
- The staff of the club’s new background company have not responded to anyone’s contacts during the fall.
The Jokerit played in the KHL from 2014 to 2022. The team left the Eastern League in the spring because of the war started by Russia.
The rebuilding of the club’s representative team is underway behind the scenes, but there has been zero level of communication.
From the outside, the hustle and bustle looks more like a mess.
The club’s junior community, fans, partners and the entire people who follow hockey are waiting for information from the direction of the Jokers – what will happen in the future, who will be the financiers and owners of the club in the long run, who will lead the operational activities?
And at some point, everyone is also interested in the club’s coaching and players. Joker’s men’s team will return to top hockey for the 2023–24 season through Mestis, possibly.
However, Joker’s representative team does not even have a home hall at the moment, and almost nothing else, and there is less than 10 months until the start of Mestis’ next season. Hurry up.
The league closed the door on the Jokers at least for the 2023–24 season.
No answers
Joel Harkimo does not answer any question about Jokers. It’s strange. TIMO KORHONEN / AOP
According to the information obtained by Iltalehti, the Jokers have coaching contracts Pekka Kangasalustan and Tony Virran with. Both signed contracts that extend until spring 2024 Jari Kurrin with owned Jokerit Hockey Club Oy.
Both coaches were laid off at the beginning of May, and neither of them has been able to negotiate with the representatives of Team Jokerit Oy despite numerous attempts. Of course, there haven’t been any answers to questions about their future, for example, or both have reportedly received one answer from the Jokers during the fall, which was completely circular.
There has been no progress, even though the two have been assisted by a lawyer from the Finnish Professional Coaches Association.
Both believe that the agreement is still valid. The coaches have their own workplace.
People laid off
Joker’s staff transferred from Kurri’s company to Team Jokerit Oy in a business deal. The staff from “Kurrin Jokers” was laid off until the end of August.
After that, everyone got paid for eight days. That salary was still paid by Kurrin Jokerit Hockey Club Oy.
The staff was laid off from September 9 by Team Jokerit Oy until further notice, but for a maximum of six months.
So this is the situation regarding the office staff now. Also, the office staff has not heard practically anything from the new owner for months, Iltalehte is told.
Terrible communication
The members of the board of Team Jokerit Oy or the main owner Harkimo do not simply answer any questions to the media, and apparently neither do their employees.
Jokerien’s A-junior team operates normally, and someone pays for the team’s season, which costs more than 200,000 euros.
In late summer, the junior hockey organization Helsingin Jokerit ry, which owns the club’s brand, chose as its future construction partner a company that, according to the association, was “clearly better” than, among others, Teemu Selänten and Keijo Säilynojan puuhaama Naurava Narri oy. So that party seems to be Joel Harkimo and Team Jokerit Oy.
Judge from outside
Junnu-Harkimo is the sole owner of Team Jokerit Oy. Iltalehti reported the matter in a commentary published in September. The information has also been confirmed by the Patent and Registration Office (PRH).
But Joel Harkimo apparently does not intend to become the ice hockey club’s CEO.
And it’s not worth it. Harkimo probably does not have the experience or qualifications required for the job. According to the information received by Iltalehti, son-Harkimo and his partners are currently looking for a CEO for the club, who will start moving things forward.
In the background of Team Jokerit Oy, Joel Harkimo is also a regular member of the board Jorma Mäkinen. Mäkinen represents Jokerit ry. Last week a third person emerged, Sarah von Weissenbergwhich Team Jokerit Oy named in the official document as the provider of additional information.
Leif Itäinen is a deputy member of the board.
Joel Harkimo and Mäkinen will surely build the new arrival of the ice hockey team. The work has gone farcically slowly, shadowed by secrecy and accompanied by a practically non-existent line of communication.
It’s challenging to talk about unfinished business, but the club’s supporters and hockey fans deserve some information.
Who gets the hall?
The Helsinki Hall is in good condition, but closed. There is no information about the next owners of the multipurpose arena. And not even about whether, for example, the US administration will release a sales license. PDO
The fate of Helsinki Hall is also connected to the whole big picture. The entity that will buy it in time will also invest in Joker’s background company, as Jokerit ry announced on September 1: “An important part of the project is that the future main financier would also be the new owner of the Helsinki hall.”
Gennadi Timčenko and Roman Rotenberg are still the largest shareholders of Helsinki Hall.
The wait around the Jokers continues.