Ahead of the 2026 IIHF World Championships, four teams will be competing in the Fortuna Hockey Games which are being hosted in Jonkoping, Sweden and České Budějovice, Czechia.
There will be one former Lightning player participating in the tournament, forward Waltteri Merela. Merela, who played one season with the Lightning, will likely also compete in the 2026 IIHF World Championship for Finland.
The Lightning signed Merela to a one-year contract in the summer of 2023 and he did spend some time in the NHL during the 2023-24 season. He scored one goal, which came against the Minnesota Wild, in 19 games.
Merela spent the majority of his time in North American on the Lightning's American Hockey League affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, where he had 15 goals and 34 points in 55 games.
After the 2023-24 season, Merela returned to Europe, however he went to SC Bern in the Swiss National League rather than returning to Tappara in the Finnish Liiga. He has also been a regular in the World Championship for Finland, appearing in both the 2023 and 2025 tournaments.
Merela and Finland were defeated by Czechia in their opening game, with a final score of 3-2. They'll play their next game on Saturday, when they face off against Sweden.