Valtteri Filppula doesn’t have a contract to play hockey next season, but the 40-year-old Finn is still in good shape and seems to be strongly considering playing next season. But only if the conditions are right.

“I’m just figuring out what to do,” he said a few weeks ago at the European Hockey Awards in Prague, where he won the Warrior Career Excellence Award. “I’ll probably wait until a little later this summer before I make up my mind.”

He was recently playing tennis in Helsinki with Teemu Selänne and brother Ilari Filppula, himself a former professional hockey player. There he was interviewed by Finnish media outlet MTV Uutiset.

“I’ve been giving myself time to think about whether I can still make a full commitment,” he said, adding that he feels fine physically.

Other than a 16-game stint for Jokerit Helsinki during the 2012-13 NHL lockout, Filppula has spent all of the last 19 seasons playing abroad. However, partway through last season, he informed Genève-Servette that he wouldn’t be returning to the Swiss club for 2024-25. It seems that he’d like to finish his career at home, but where?

Jokerit, where he also spent several formative years before going to the NHL, but currently plays in the second-tier Mestis league, was mentioned to him. So was cross-town rival IFK Helsinki, where former teammate Jori Lehtärä currently plays.

“We were still on the same line with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2017-18,” Filppula said. “I usually played center but Jori also took faceoffs. I really liked playing with him, but now we haven't talked (about playing together again).”

Filppula denied there had been any serious offers from Jokerit. As for IFK, he joked, “It’ll have to be a pretty good offer. Let’s see what Ville has to say,” referring to coach Ville Peltonen.

Asked if he had any advice, Selänne said, “I always say, you play as long as you feel good.” He added that Filppula “is a smart man – he knows what he’s doing.”