Harri Säteri and his agent explain the process and motivation for returning to the NHL

If you think you have stress and chaos in your life, talk to new Coyotes goaltender Harri Säteri. You might feel better by comparison.

In the past six and a half weeks, Säteri has skated on three continents: Asia, Europe and North America. He posted the sixth-best goals against average (2.02) and the seventh-best save percentage (.926) for Sibir Novosibirsk, which is every bit the KHL outpost that it sounds.

He won a gold medal as Finland’s goaltender at the Beijing Olympics in China in February. He returned to Novosibirsk and played a couple of playoff games, but when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, he and his agent, Todd Diamond, orchestrated a mutual termination of his contract due to his discomfort with the situation in Russia.

The plan, Diamond said, was to return to Finland, take a little time off and then start training again and be ready for the IIHF World Championship, which will take place in May in Helsinki and Säteri’s hometown of Tampere, which also produced Coyotes Ring of Honor member Teppo Numminen.

“Several days before the trade deadline, I got a call from a Maple Leafs personnel asking what was going on with Harri,” Diamond said. “They had some goaltending injuries and goaltending issues that they wanted to reinforce. It was not on our radar at all and not something that we were pursuing, but we discussed it with Harri, Harri discussed it with his wife, and they decided that it would be worth it for them so we executed the NHL contract with the Maple Leafs.”

The pinballing didn’t stop there. NHL rules stipulated that Säteri had to pass through waivers before re-entering the NHL (San Jose drafted him in 2008 and he also played a stint for the Florida Panthers in 2017-18). Diamond said that four or five teams put in claims on Säteri but the Coyotes were at the top of the list due to their place in the reverse NHL standings so the same fate that befell Evgeni Nabokov in 2011 befell Säteri.

In the blink of an eye, he went from a playoff push for a Stanley Cup hopeful in hockey’s premier market to a rebuilding club still trying to secure a foothold in a nontraditional market.

“At the beginning, for sure, it was a shock,” Säteri said after the Coyotes held an open practice at Ice Den Chandler on Wednesday. “I was all packed and ready to go to Toronto and then the night I got picked up it was a shock for sure for me and the family. 

“But pretty fast, we turned it around to a positive thing. We’re just excited about being here now.”

It took about two weeks for Säteri to get his visa and emigrate, but when he arrived last week, he hit the ground running, traveling with the team on its recent trip to Chicago and St. Louis.

“It’s been quite a ride,” Säteri, 32, said. “When I started here (in the NHL) with San Jose, I was a young guy, and I think I’m a whole lot different person and goalie now. It’s been a process to grow up as a human and as a hockey player. It’s been a good journey. I’ve been enjoying life.”

One thing that Säteri said helped ease the transition to Arizona was goaltending coach Corey Schwab. When the Sharks drafted Säteri, Schwab was San Jose’s goaltending development coach (2008-2015). 

“I spent a lot of time with him in Worcester (Massachusetts), seeing him progress,” Schwab said. “He got to the point where he wasn’t quite ready for the NHL so he chose to go to the KHL, which was becoming an option for some of the guys who had American league experience.

“I like to keep an eye on guys that were over here and then go over to Europe and see how they’re doing to just kind of give you a gauge on what the level of play is like over there. He always put up some really good numbers over there.”

Had Russia not invaded Ukraine, Säteri might never have come to the NHL. He was playing well in Novosibirsk, he was making good money there, and despite its location as one of the easternmost Russian cities in the KHL, he enjoyed it.

“He was happy in the KHL, no question about it,” Diamond said. “The city was a little far away, but they treated him very well and he had a good goalie coach (Vadim Tarasov) this season. The only reason he wanted to leave was just a little bit of discomfort.

“After the Olympics, his family was back in Finland, so he was there alone. They were a little bit nervous about his safety. Whether it was warranted or not, it just didn’t feel right. Like Ukraine, Finland is also a border country of Russia, so it hits them a little bit differently than you and me. The geography is a little bit uncomfortable.”

Schwab had the chance to work one-on-one with Säteri over the past week. That assessment as well constant communication between the two and coach André Tourigny convinced everybody that he was ready to start against the Vancouver Canucks at Gila River Arena on Thursday.

“He moves really well and he’s always been pretty calm; he has some good poise for an athletic goalie,” Schwab said. “I can see changes in his game, which a lot of times comes as a guy matures, the game starts to slow down for you and it helps your reads and just being patient.

“He hasn’t played a game in a while so we have talked a lot, just to know that his body feels good and he has adjusted to the time difference from coming over from Europe. It’s a collective decision, which he’s on board with and he said he feels good to play.”

In a perfect world, Tourigny said he would have liked to get Säteri more practice time with the team, but the NHL schedule is anything but perfect and with three weeks left in the regular season, the Coyotes didn’t want to wait any longer.

“After the trade deadline, I think we had four practices remaining this season,” Tourigny quipped. “We had one last week, one this week and I think we have two or three of them until the end of the season so if we wait for him to have a few practices under the belt, the next start is Oct. 20.”

Säteri is only signed through the rest of the season, which could mean a short stay in the NHL if things don’t go as hoped. But that’s a problem for another day. Säteri has logged enough miles and he has witnessed more than enough changes in the past two months. He is focused solely on the present.

“I have nothing to lose here,” he said. “I’m just excited to play some games, do as best as I can out there.

“You never know what’s gonna happen. I’m open to everything for the future so we’ll see.”

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