The 30-year-old Finnish winger spent eight seasons with the Hurricanes.
When Teuvo Teravainen arrived back in Raleigh, it was almost like he never left.
It was an off-day for both teams, so the 30-year-old Finnish forward got up with some of the guys for a bit of golf and afterwards, they enjoyed dinner at Jesperi Kotkaniemi's place.
But when Teravainen arrived back in Lenovo Center this morning, it was clear that things were different. Not only was he adorned in new threads and practicing at a different time, but he was in a new place too: the visiting locker room.
"I've never really been in this locker room," Teravainen said Thursday morning. "I think only once before with Chicago back in the old days. It was a little bit weird to walk this way and not the other way."
The other way being toward the Carolina Hurricanes locker room. A place where Teravainen had had his tucked away corner stall for eight whole seasons.
The Hurricanes acquired the Finnish winger from the Chicago Blackhawks in the summer of 2016 as a sweetener to take on the full contract of forward Bryan Bickell.
Teravainen, who had helped the Hawks to yet another Stanley Cup in 2015 with four goals and 10 points during that run, was starting to really find his stride as an NHL player and he was someone the Canes had targeted.
In Carolina, Teravainen blossomed into a true top-six winger with multiple 60+ point seasons, a strong two-way game and a boon for special teams.
Across eight seasons, the Finn played 555 games with the Hurricanes, registering 138 goals and 415 points (8th all-time in franchise history) and mot notably, he was part of the group that ended the decade-long postseason drought, bringing playoff hockey back to North Carolina.
"I started my career with Chicago and, of course, in my first year, I was able to be a part of winning the Cup," Teravainen said. "It was special of course. There were so many great players that I learned the game with and then I went to Carolina. I tried to build my game every year and I got the experience from the older guys in Chicago back then, but I also feel like I got my two-way game and that sort of stuff way better during my years in Carolina. I got pretty close with a lot of people here. It's a fun place to be back for sure."
Despite assembling some of their most talented rosters, the Hurricanes just weren't able to get over the hump in the playoffs and after six-straight runs, the team decided to part ways with some of their long-term pieces, Teravainen being one of them.
The veteran Finn hit free agency and, before too long, it was announced that he had decided to return to his old team, signing a three-year, $16.2 million deal. His hope to be a similar type of player for the young Blackhawks core like he had had.
"It's been different, for sure," Teravainen said. "I was here for a long time, but it was time to go somewhere else. It was Chicago and I've been excited about that and excited about this thing we have going on here. We have a young team trying to get better and I'm trying to be a big part of that. It's a bit of a different situation then we had in Carolina, but excited about this."
For a player like Teravainen, who experienced the highest joy of hockey so early into his career, but at least had the chance to pursue it nearly after year after, joining a team like the Blackhawks, who are in line to once again finish as the worst team in the league, is difficult mentally.
"Yeah, of course," Teravainen said, when asked if the transition has been difficult for him. "You want to win every game and winning is so much fun and now I feel like we haven't been winning a lot of games. It's frustrating but it's still the process that we have to go through. Find ways to be better."
It's going to take some time yet for the Blackhawks to find their way back into the playoff picture, but the team at least has a generation talent like Connor Bedard to help them out and Teravainen hopes that he can be that guiding figure like he had back in his early days.
It's a new chapter for Teravainen, but for at least one more night, the fan favorite will get to once again hear the raucous crowd at Lenovo Center, the place he called home for so long, cheer his name as they all reminisce on the great moments that he had been a part of.
"It had been a lot of years in a row in the playoffs,' Teravainen said. "That was the normal for me and the team in Carolina. We just wanted to win the Cup. Too bad we weren't able to but still, great memories from those playoff runs. We had such a good team for so long, so of course I miss that too."
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