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3 days ago
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How Nightwish become the planet's most epic symphonic metal band with Endless Forms Most Beautiful
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The couple huddled on the bench gaze open-mouthed at the scene in front of them. Parading along the shore of one of the crystal-blue lakes that sandwich the Finnish city of Tampere are six people dressed like they've just wandered in from an episode of Game Of Thrones: leather, buckles, beards, hair. All that's missing are a dwarf, a couple of eunuchs and a three-eyed raven. 'Is that really them?' asks the woman in accented but perfect English. Her companion peers closer through the late-afternoon sunshine and nods uncertainly. The two of them look like students in their early 20s: tidy haircuts, unassuming clothes, warm jackets to defy the brisk air. If there's an air of uncertainty about them, it could be because, by their own admission, they've 'had a little smoke'. 'It is,' he says. 'Nightwish.' 'Holy shit,' she says. 'Holy shit,' he reiterates, just to make sure. 'Can we get their autographs?' By the lake, the six members of Nightwish – and it is definitely them – appear oblivious to the attentions of these two unlikely fans as they line up for a photoshoot. Either that or they've learned to take it in their stride. Already today, they've had their photos taken by a pair of middle-aged women in a hotel lobby, been congratulated on their achievements by the owners of the oldest sauna in Finland, and been watched from afar by a group of dog-walkers near an old observation tower deep in the woods. But then that's life when you're the most successful band Finland's ever produced. Since they formed almost 20 years ago in the sleepy town of Kitee, eastern Finland, they've done more than any other group to turn symphonic metal from a cult concern into a worldwide commercial juggernaut. Tomorrow, they'll play their biggest-ever headlining gig at a 25,000- capacity athletics stadium here in Tampere, bringing along enough pyrotechnical firepower to wipe out neighbouring Sweden. 'We're country boys from Finland,' says Tuomas Holopainen, the keyboard player, musical mastermind and king of understatement who's steered Nightwish from the backwaters of the Northern European symphonic metal ghetto into the wide open seas of international success. 'Here we are now, after 20 years and all the ups and downs, doing these kinds of shows. It's odd.' Or, as the couple on the beach would have it: 'Holy shit.' If you were asked to pick out the leader of Nightwish from a police lineup, it's unlikely that you'd choose Tuomas Holopainen. You might go for Floor Jansen, the statuesque Dutch singer who officially joined the band before this year's Endless Forms Most Beautiful and who everyone else can't help but seem to orbit. Or it might be fork-bearded bassist and co-vocalist Marco Hietala, who permanently looks like he should be beating a large drum on a Viking longboat as it sails across the North Sea to raid some unfortunate hamlet near Sunderland. It might even be Troy Donockley, the band's honorary Brit, who combines the role of multi-instrumentalist and court jester. But no, it's the man with the measured baritone speaking voice and the floor-length black dust coat lurking quietly on the fringes of the group who runs the show. 'I would say I'm the leader of the pack,' he says in a deep, measured voice. 'But not a tyrant or dictator.' We're sitting in a darkened room in a hotel off Tampere's main shopping drag. Outside, the streets of Finland's third-largest city look like they've been taken over by an invading army ahead of tomorrow's show; one clad head-to-toe in black and sporting t-shirts emblazoned with his band's logo. Tuomas knew his band had become truly famous when the Prime Minster of Finland started giving his opinion. It was 2005, and their most recent album, Once, was on its way to selling more than 2 million copies worldwide (and at a cost of more than €1,000,000 to make, including videos, it's a good job it did). The PM, Matti Vanhanen, was an enthusiastic metal fan, but it wasn't Nightwish's music that had caught his attention. No, it was their messy split with singer Tarja Turunen, the classically trained soprano who helped bring Tuomas's ornate visions to life, that prompted him to speak out. Despite the band's unprecedented success, Tarja had unexpectedly been fired by the rest of the band following what should have been a triumphant end-of-tour gig in Helsinki. The PM's quote itself was fairly innocuous. 'I'm not for either side,' he told the press. 'They are young people, and hopefully will manage to go forward in this difficult situation.' But the fact he had chipped in was a sign of just how big a deal Nightwish had become in their home country. It would be like David Cameron telling The Sun how much he likes the new Bring Me The Horizon record. A decade, and one further period of singer- related upheaval, down the line, Tuomas is still perplexed by the reaction. 'The funny thing is that I never ever thought it would be such a big deal,' he says of the PM's would-be intervention. 'We just thought, 'OK, we're a rock band, nobody really cares.' Then the tabloids started commenting on it. It became a national tragedy. There's a metal band with four neanderthals and a princess, and the princess gets hurt.' In the end, Nightwish pulled through – as they did seven years later when they parted ways with Tarja's replacement, Anette Olzon (today, Tuomas politely but firmly declines to go over the specifics of either departure, pointing out that 'they've already been written about'). Unforeseen media storms aside, Nightwish's tribulations have barely troubled their rise. Their most recent album, the grandiose Endless Forms Most Beautiful, consolidated the band's position as mainland Europe's most successful metal band, give or take a Rammstein, while the presence of controversial evolutionary biologist Professor Richard Dawkins on the album lent the band a gravitas their symphonic metal contemporaries often lack. 'I wish I knew,' says Tuomas, when asked about the reasons behind his band's popularity. 'Perhaps it's the sincerity of the whole thing. That's the biggest strength of the whole band. I mean, in many aspects we are a naive band. I still didn't feel like I was going to work when I hopped on the train this morning.' Troy has a different theory. A redoubtable, folk-and-prog loving northerner who's played with everyone from Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys to former Young One Adrian Edmondson ('Ade came to Brixton Academy the last time we played there. He absolutely loved it'), he suggests it's down to the intelligence that lurks behind Nightwish's Andrew Lloyd Webber-meets-Dungeons & Dragons facade. 'It's intelligent music in every respect,' says the man who contributes everything from Uilleann pipes (Irish bagpipes) to bouzouki (a long-necked lute). 'It's intelligent, complex, orchestral, but human at the same time. Not every band who does this sort of music has that.' All of those things may well have played a part in Nightwish's rise. But by far the biggest reason is that they do everything bigger and better than everyone else: stage shows, pyrotechnics, albums, movies, songs, solo albums about Scrooge McDuck. Tuomas smiles. 'Well, you've got to give people something to remember,' he says. Nightwish are indisputably Tuomas's band, and their history is inextricably bound to his own. The keyboard player formed the band in August 1996. He'd previously played with various largely forgotten Finnish groups, including teenage black metal outfit Darkwoods My Bethrothed and Nattvindens Gråt, before being conscripted for National Service in the Finnish army. 'It wasn't my cup of tea,' he says of the latter, eyebrow raised. 'I actually got accepted in the military band, which was a blessing because I'd just play my clarinet for nine and a half months, so I didn't have to play around with guns and all that.' One positive thing did come out of his time in the army. It was there that he wrote the music for what would become Nightwish's debut album, Angels Fall First, released on New Year's Eve 1996. That album was an out-of-the-gate success in Finland, entering the national Top 40. Their two successive albums continued the young band's dramatic upswing: 1998's Oceanborn reached Number Five in the charts, while Wishmaster made it all the way to Number One. As is the way of these things, Germany was quick to latch on. The UK was slower. It wasn't until a headlining turn at 2003's Bloodstock, on the back of their fourth album, Century Child, that British fans began to embrace them en masse. Since then, the gigs have become bigger, and the albums more successful, culminating in the Top 20 success of Endless Forms Most Beautiful. Even more remarkably, North America hasn't been much further behind – their last two albums both entered the Billboard Top 40, which is some feat in a musical climate that's largely ambivalent to rock and metal bands. But through it all, there's been the perception to the outside world that Tuomas runs the band with a rod of iron. The evidence for the prosecution rests on the apparently brutal dismissal of the band's first two singers, not to mention former bassist Sami Vänskä, who was forced out before Century Child due to 'musical differences' with Tuomas. He counters that not only were the changes necessary, but the band have emerged stronger from them. And anyway, someone has to have final say. 'I mean, a band is not a democracy, but certain things are,' he says. Are you saying that Nightwish is or isn't a democracy? 'I deliberately give a lot of space to everybody in the band, artistically and in other senses,' he says after a thoughtful pause. 'During the past few years, we've actually talked about this – that maybe other people should step up a bit more. I feel it's a bit too identified by me as my band. Which it's not. I do 90% of the songs, yes, but it's still a band.' Floor Jansen was at her sister's wedding in 2012 when she got the call asking if she'd sing for Nightwish. She knew who they were, of course – her previous band, After Forever, had toured with them a decade earlier. And she was aware of the problems they'd had with both of her predecessors. But it still took her by surprise. 'I was like, 'What?!'' If Tuomas is thoughtful and intense, Floor is efficient and direct. Our conversation isn't helped by the fact that she's having her hair and make-up done for our photoshoot, though you get the feeling she'd be the same if she wasn't. An easy question about her background is met by an arched eyebrow and the words: 'You haven't read much about me, have you?' Her first show with Nightwish was in Seattle in October 2012. She describes 'a sense of primal fear' going through her mind in the minutes before she took the stage. 'There was this evil voice in my head that said, 'What on earth do you think you're doing? You don't know these songs, you've had no time to learn them',' she says. 'And everybody in the venue was holding a cell phone, so it would be on YouTube straight away.' She survived the gig with dignity intact, as shaky phone-cam YouTube footage indeed shows. But at that early point, there was no sense that it would lead to a permanent position. 'No, no, no,' she says firmly. 'At that point it was more survival. I wasn't thinking any further than tomorrow.' It was actually following a festival here in Tampere that the rest of the band asked her to become their permanent singer. 'It was in the bar of a hotel that they popped the question: 'Do you want to join?'' she says, with a laugh. 'I can't remember much about what happened after that. I can only remember that I couldn't tell too many people.' Joining a band who got through singers like a bottom-of-the-league football team gets through managers must have been a concern. Especially since both of her predecessors left in less-than-friendly circumstances. 'No, not really,' she says, with a firm shake of her head. 'I'm not like the other two – they might not be like each other either. So there's different chemistry there, and in time we all grow more mature, we all learn from mistakes, so it would be unfair to think: 'What if they treat me bad?'' There's a perception that this is Tuomas's band. Is that accurate? 'Yeah, I think it's his band,' she says, then adds diplomatically: 'But it's also [guitarist] Emppu [Vuorinen]'s band and it's Marco's band and it's Troy's band. Every band needs a leader, and Tuomas is the band leader. He's the shaper, but without the input of other people it would not be where it is today. So it is his band, yes.' Is he a hard man to be in a band with? '[Emphatically] No, not at all.' If he came up with a terrible idea, would you say, 'That's a terrible idea?' 'Yeah, I think so. Do you feel like a hired hand in Nightwish? 'No, not at all. Why should I?' So is Nightwish permanent for you? Will you be here for the next album? 'I surely hope so,' she says. 'Yeah.' It's something that Tuomas backs up, albeit with the polite weariness of a man who has lost track of how many times he has said it . 'Tarja wore me out big time,' he says. 'There's no way that I could personally take another one of those, so I have said that Floor is the last singer of Nightwish. Period.' There are a few things you might not know about Tuomas Holopainen. Beginning around the time of 1998's Oceanborn, he worked as a stand-in teacher in his hometown's high school for two-and-a-half years. He's a fan of Formula 1 racing: he has the phone number of Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen in his mobile phone, and there are pictures of him rubbing shoulders with Lewis Hamilton in Brazil a few years ago. Less glamorously, it was his ill-advised decision for the band to take part in the televised competition to become Finland's entry in the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest, in which they came second ('It seemed like a good idea at the time, though I was the only one who thought so'). He also claims he can name any capital city in the world, which is only partially correct – he gets Mongolia right (capital: Ulaanbaatar), but falls down on Malawi (correct answer: Lilongwe). These days, he lives in a house he built himself near the town he grew up in. He has a horse ('My wife rides it, not me') and, given his public persona as a kind of gothic Andrew Lloyd Webber, an unlikely fondness for horticulture. 'I love gardening,' he says, as if it's the most natural thing in the world. 'I grow my own chilli peppers and tomatoes and potatoes. Nightwish isn't my whole life. It used to be my whole life.' Was there a point where you felt trapped by the band? 'At some points during the past, yes. There have been times where it was all about music and I didn't think about anything else.' Did part of you enjoy that? 'Back then I did, but it cost me a lot of relationships, some bridges were burnt. The same old story.' In 2001, Tuomas came close to splitting Nightwish. It was just after the tour for the Wishmaster album. They had no manager; Tuomas and drummer Jukka Nevalainen (currently on indefinite hiatus from the band, though still involved behind the scenes) were taking care of the band's business affairs. Adding to the stresses, relationships between bandmembers were starting to fracture. 'You know, the classic, 'You're earning more than I am, what's this all about?' nonsense,' says Tuomas with a sigh. ''Well, actually, I do the songs…' It all piled up. I just thought it was easier to let go than try to work things out.' It was his friend Tony Kakko, singer with Finish band Sonata Arctica, who persuaded him to keep going during a hiking trip in Lapland. There were casualties, most notably original bassist Sami Vänskä. 'It was just that one time, 15 years ago,' he says. 'But after that, no, I've never doubted what we were doing. Not even during the change of the vocalists.' Do you read your own reviews? 'Sometimes, yes.' Do negative reviews affect you? 'They do, yes. I admire people who say that criticism doesn't touch them at all. I don't know how they do it. Though it depends on how the argument is presented. If it makes sense, I'm OK with it, but sometimes it gets really personal.' What's the worst thing you've ever read about Nightwish? 'Well, about 10 years ago, when the big drama happened, there was a lot of writing about us being women-haters. What's the word in English?' Misogynist. 'Misogynist. Yes, all that kind of stuff. And a lot of death threats.' And are you a misogynist? '[Aghast] No, of course not.' Can you see why someone might think you're a misogynist, having fired two female singers? 'No, no, not at all. I mean, we have a female singer in the band now.' You said you received death threats. How did that make you feel? 'You mean was I scared? No. [Laughs] In fact, it made me feel like people were noticing us.' Looking back, could you have handled the situation differently when it came to the singers? Were there things you could have done beforehand to stop these situations building up? 'I'm sure there could have been,' he says. 'That goes for both sides. But do I have regrets? The way we handled Tarja's departure was bad. We could have handled it better, but when you're trapped in a corner, you just want to get out as quickly as possible, by any means. Then you make hasty decisions.' Have you spoken to her since she left? 'No.' Do you think you will? He smiles wryly. 'I think it's highly unlikely.' The Ratinan Stadion – to give this 1960s football ground its official name – was formerly the home to Tampere United, a team who played in the Finnish premier league until they were busted on suspicion of money laundering in 2011 and subsequently dissolved. This would be the single most rock'n'roll thing about the city, were it not for the existence of a strip club named Big Tits, above which Nightwish's guitarist and sole Tampere resident Emppu Vuorinen lives. In a few hours' time, Nightwish will take to the vast stage set-up at one end of the playing field, currently being loaded with its own battery of lights and fireworks. Right now, the band are perched patiently behind a hastily stuck-together desk waiting to greet the first of a 200-strong queue of people who have paid for a pre-show meet and greet. Even for a band like Nightwish, who seem to exist in a musical Narnia of their own creation, it's an easy way to make extra money. But then Nightwish have never been about the sort of rebellion that most of their peers pay lip service to. This is purely about an audio and visual spectacle. 'This is an interesting subject,' Tuomas says when the topic is brought up. 'I've never really seen Nightwish as a rock band – or as a rebellious band. We've never had the urge to shock people or be 'rock'n'roll'. It's never been of value to us. That's not our thing.' So what is your 'thing'? 'Just a really strong passion to tell stories and write music. It's the only thing that I feel like I'm good at. It's the only way I can function as a human being.' In fairness, no one quite tells stories like Tuomas Holopainen and Nightwish, and they come wrapped up in the sort of extravagance that no one outside of your high-end Broadway show does anymore. Onstage in Tampere, the sheer magnitude of it all lives up to the billing of The Greatest Show On Earth. In fact, the only thing missing is an appearance from Richard Dawkins (interestingly, there is talk of the estimable professor attending the Wembley show, though Tuomas can't confirm if he'll actually join them onstage). Back in the hotel room, Nightwish's leader is pondering his band's place in the scheme of things, and his own place within it all. Is there ever a time when Tuomas Holopainen wakes up and thinks, 'I'm bored of this'? 'Not like that,' he says, shaking his head. 'There are better days and worse days. Sometimes, I might think: 'This has become so big that I can't handle this monster any more.' That's a really weird thought, and every now and then I have some trouble comprehending it.' Holy shit, indeed. Originally published in Metal Hammer issue 276, December 2015
Globe and Mail
7 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
15 Years of Inventing Quiet: How Framery Created the Office Pod
TAMPERE, Finland, June 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Framery, the global leader in designing, manufacturing, and marketing soundproof office pods, is proud to announce its 15th anniversary, a milestone that also marks 15 years since the company invented the office pod, fundamentally changing how millions work. Founded in 2010, Framery was born out of the shared frustrations of working in a distracting open-plan office environment. Samu Hällfors, CEO and co-founder, then in his early twenties and working in an open-plan office, experienced firsthand the challenges of maintaining focus amidst constant noise. "The constant noise, particularly from our boss's phone calls, was incredibly frustrating," recalls Hällfors. "My friend and I suggested he take his calls elsewhere, and he responded, 'Well, buy me a phone booth.' The request ignited an idea. Since no such options existed, Framery's founders recognized a big opportunity. In their garage, they built the first office pod prototype, affectionately named "Pömpeli" (a Finnish word for "box"). This became the world's first commercial office pod, launched in 2010. It not only met a key need for quiet, but also created a whole new product category and the company Framery. This led to more models and continuous innovation. In 2013, Framery launched the Framery O, the first pod to achieve a 30dB speech reduction, and it remains one of the world's best-selling pods to this day. Since those humble beginnings, Framery has grown exponentially, becoming synonymous with high quality and effective soundproof spaces. What started as a solution for a few colleagues is now a necessity for millions of knowledge workers in over 100 countries, utilized by most of the world's leading companies, including industry giants like Nvidia, Puma, BCG and Microsoft. Today, approximately 70% of all Forbes Top 100 companies rely on Framery's products to create more functional and productive workspaces. Last year marked the most significant milestone for the office pod industry since Framery invented the product category with the launch of the first smart pod. Building upon Framery's renowned acoustic privacy, these next-generation pods incorporate smart office solutions that address the most pressing challenges of today's hybrid work environments. "This seamless fusion of smart features with our physical pod design became a true catalyst for the industry," says Samu Hällfors. "Just as smart features have become standard in many other product categories, we saw this as an expected and necessary evolution for office pods to truly support the modern workplace." Celebrating 15 years since creating the office pod industry, Framery views this milestone as a launchpad for future innovation and leadership. What began in a garage has become integral to modern workspace design, and Framery continues to drive the evolution of how we work. ABOUT FRAMERY Framery is the global leader in soundproof pods and smart office solutions, enabling people to focus on what truly matters and get things done. Framery is a necessity for a successful workday for millions of knowledge workers in over 100 countries and within most of the world's leading companies including Nvidia, Puma, and Microsoft. In fact, around 70% of all Forbes Top 100 companies use our products.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Unikie aims to become the leading AI Lab in the Nordics: The company increases investments in AI development
The company's Chief Technology Officer Niko Haatainen will take charge of the AI Lab and Peter Sarlin will invest in the company. Unikie's logo on our office building From left: Niko Haatainen (CTO, Unikie), Peter Sarlin (CEO, AMD Silo AI), and Juha Ala-Laurila (CEO, Unikie) TAMPERE, Finland, May 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Technology and innovation company Unikie has made a significant investment in artificial intelligence by establishing a new AI Lab that aims to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence by customer companies and expand the use of artificial intelligence in its own product development and business. The new AI laboratory will serve as the spearhead of Unikie's artificial intelligence expertise. Its operations are led by the company's CTO Niko Haatainen, and Silo AI's founder and AMD Silo AI's CEO Peter Sarlin invests in the company. "Using artificial intelligence in our own development has given us an understanding of what AI really changes. This allows us to help our customers on a genuinely practical level – not just based on theory," says the company's CTO Niko Haatainen. A strong foundation for an international-level AI player Unikie has a strong track record of developing and utilizing artificial intelligence extensively – from serving Europe's largest automotive companies to smart drones and other smart devices, such as mobile phones. The company's CTO Niko Haatainen, who is responsible for artificial intelligence, leads the AI team, as part of an international technology organization of about 600 people. Unikie's team has implemented numerous concrete AI projects, for example, for autonomous driving, drone technology and manufacturing applications, covering machine vision, the use of language models, traditional machine learning, and model architectures related to deep neural networks. The company serves clients in the network and communications, automotive, transport and logistics, and manufacturing and retail industries, including several Fortune 500 companies. The company's own product for autonomous driving, Unikie Marshalling Solution, is an example of the deep integration of AI into a productized solution, which revolutionizes the logistics of car factories, ports and logistics compounds by automating, for example, the transfer of cars from factories to dealerships. In addition, AI has been widely implemented across the company's own software and product development processes – from coding and testing to HR processes by utilizing various language models and AI-based tools. "Unikie is an excellent example of Finnish technology expertise that is strongly tied to practical work. The company has deep experience in demanding AI projects in industry and vehicle technology, a strong internal development team and its own product with artificial intelligence at its core. These are exactly the building blocks that will create the next generation of European AI operators," Sarlin says. The AI Lab supports customers' AI journey Unikie plans to increase its AI team to 100 specialists over the next twelve months. "Unikie's strong investment in the concrete use of artificial intelligence will bring significant business benefits to our customers. I am particularly pleased that we have Peter as our AI laboratory advisor to support our growth," says , CEO of Unikie. The aim of the AI Lab is to bring artificial intelligence solutions closer to customers' business and product development. Focus areas include the following AI-enabled solutions: Device-centric AI applications, such as autonomous vehicles, computer vision solutions, drone technology, and industrial automation. Real-time quality assurance and process control using AI, delivering measurable cost savings to clients. Internal AI tools that accelerate software development and improve work quality. "I believe that the value of AI will ultimately be measured by how deeply it is integrated into products and processes. Unikie is now in an excellent position to take the next growth leap and become one of Europe's top AI players," Sarlin concludes. More info:Unikie's AI offering: cases: Elina Mansner, Communications, Unikie, +358 44 044 7767, Juha Ala-Laurila, CEO, Unikie, +358 50 553 4773, Unikie is a global software engineering and innovation company that provides intelligent solutions for the automotive, logistics, manufacturing, smart devices, and defence industries. The company makes extensive use of its expertise in advanced technologies, data analytics and the application of AI in embedded software development The company aspires to be the preferred partner for leading players in their fields and a recommended employer for experienced software experts. Unikie's customers include companies like BMW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, Cariad, Scania, Cargotec, Valmet, Sandvik and Nokia. Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Järventie Brothers Reuinited In Finland
Finnish winger Roby Järventie, 22, has signed a three-year contract with Tappara, the Liiga club announced on Tuesday. A Tampere native, Järventie is returning to his hometown after spending the past four seasons in North America in the Ottawa Senators and Edmonton Oilers organizations. Advertisement 'Really good feeling – it's nice to be home,' Järventie is quoted on the Tappara website. 'It's always been a dream to play together with my brother, so this is a great opportunity to make that dream come true.' Roby's younger brother Emil, 20, was a seventh-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2023. The two brothers are actually products of rival club Ilves but Emil transferred to Tappara last season, where he split time between the club's Liiga and top junior teams. This will be Roby's first tour of duty with Tappara. Due to their age difference, this will be the first time the brothers have played together on the same team. Roby Järventie was chosen in the second round, 33rd overall, by Ottawa in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. He then went to North America late in the pandemic-delayed 2021 season to play for the AHL's Belleville Senators, recording three points in four games. After playing a full season with Belleville in 2021-22, Järventie missed significant amounts of the next two campaigns with a recurring knee injury. He managed to play seven NHL games with Ottawa in 2023-24, recording one assist. Advertisement In the summer of 2024, he was traded to Edmonton. Järventie missed training camp after another knee surgery but only managed to play in two AHL games with the Bakersfield Condors in November before re-injuring his knee and has not played since. According to an Ilta-Sanomat article in March, Järventie's rehab has been going well and he is expected to be ready for the start of training camp in late summer with Tappara. In addition to the Järventie brothers, Tappara has also signed veteran defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka, who played 150 NHL games for the Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames. The club also has Calgary prospect Eetu Tuola and Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Oiva Keskinen under contract for 2025-26. Topi Rönni's Contract With Finnish Club Terminated Due To Public Uproar Topi Rönni's Contract With Finnish Club Terminated Due To Public Uproar Finnish center Topi Rönni, who recently signed as a free agent with Liiga club Vaasan Sport, has agreed to part ways with the club after the signing drew intense criticism from the Finnish public and media.
