Ice hockey | The star players of the SM league are going to Russia

In sneer defender who played last season Adam Clendening and a striker who played in Tappara Nicholas the Baptist will continue their careers in the Russian hockey league KHL.

Clendening will continue his career at Kunlun Red Star, while Baptiste will play for HK Vitjaz next season. Kunlund confirmed Clendening’s contract in X, Vitjaz Baptiste’s contract on his website.

Neither team advanced to the KHL playoffs last season.

Transfers from the Finnish league to the east and the KHL can be considered special, because after Russia started the war of aggression in Ukraine, Russian hockey has also been strongly isolated and player traffic from the Finnish league to the KHL has been almost non-existent. Individual foreign players have been exchanged from Finnish clubs to the KHL in recent seasons.

Only one Finnish player has played in the KHL in recent years Teemu Pulkkinen, who represented Clendening’s new club Kunlun last season. However, Pulkkinen will not continue with the club next season.

Kunlun will play in the coming season as well In Mytishtsh in Russia, although the club joined the KHL initially as a Chinese club.

31 years old Clendening made a splash in Ilves, especially at the beginning of his Ilves career, when he moved to the Tampere club at the beginning of the season. He scored 28 points in 40 regular season games. In five playoff games, Cledening collected three assists.

Before his move to Ilves, the Canadian had played his entire career in North America.

28-year-old Baptiste celebrated the Finnish championship at the end of last season in Tappara. The winger scored 27 points in 50 regular season games and six points in 16 playoff games.

Baptiste previously also played in Finland for Ilves in the 2021–22 season. That’s when he won the SM bronze. After that, he played a season in Germany before his transfer to Tappara.

Baptiste has played 47 NHL games for the Buffalo Sabres. Clendening has played 90 games in the NHL for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Arizona Coyotes, New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks.