Finnish defenseman Ville Pokka, 30, has signed a contract to play the remainder of the current season with Kärpät Oulu, the Finnish Liiga club announced on Wednesday.
A free agent who grew up in the Kärpät organization but has played abroad for the past decade, Pokka has not played a game yet this season. He is set to make his season debut on Friday against Kiekko-Espoo.
“It’s great to have Ville back with Kärpät in the middle of an international tour,” said club sports director Mikko Myllykoski. “Our common interests have coincided, so the decision to sign the contract was easy for both parties.”
Originally from Torino, Finland, Pokka played for the Oulu-based club from age 15 to 20. Following his first full season as a pro in 2011-12, Pokka was selected in the second round, 34th overall, by the New York Islanders in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.
Pokka played in North America from 2014 to 2018. Just prior to the start of the 2014–15 season, Pokka was traded along with T. J. Brennan and Anders Nilsson by the Islanders to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Nick Leddy and Kent Simpson. During the 2017-18 season, he was traded to the Ottawa Senators for Chris DiDomenico.
In exactly 300 AHL regular-season and playoff games, Pokka scored 31 goals and added 111 assists for 142 points and 103 penalty minutes.
Pokka then spent the next four seasons playing in the KHL for Avangard Omsk, where he twice led the KHL in blocked shots and was part of Omsk’s 2020-21 Gagarin Cup championship team. He then spent the 2022-23 season in Sweden with Färjestad Karlstad and spent last season in Switzerland, split between EHC Biel-Bienne and SC Bern.
Internationally, Pokka represented Finland at two IIHF U-18 World Championships and three World Junior Championships, winning a gold medal in 2014. At the senior men’s level, Pokka has played in five World Championships and one Winter Olympics, winning gold in both in 2022.
Pokka joins a Kärpät team that currently sits 10th in the 16-team Liiga. Other defensemen that have joined the team mid-season include Czech Dominik Mašin and Swede Marcus Björk. The team’s defensive corps also includes 19-year-old Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Janne Peltonen.
Kärpät will play in this season’s Spengler Cup, from Dec. 26 to 31 in Davos, Switzerland.