Michelle Karvinen is Finland's all-time leading scorer, and one of the most decorated European players to ever play women's hockey. When the 35-year-old decided to declare for the 2025 PWHL Draft, it was another chapter and adventure for the veteran. Going to Vancouver with the 7th overall pick [https://thehockeynews.com/womens/pwhl/finnish-legend-michelle-karvinen-joins-vancouver-in-first-round-of-pwhl-draft], was also a bit of a full circle moment for Karvinen in the City. Karvinen was re-united with former teammates from KRS Shenzhen in China including Hannah Miller and Michela Cava. She was also brought back together with new Vancouver head coach Brian Idalski, who not only coaches Karvinen with Shenzhen, but also recruited her to play NCAA hockey for him at the University of North Dakota. According to Karvinen, she was first recruited by Idalski while playing in Vancouver as a member of Team Finland. Michelle Karvinen discusses joining PWHL Vancouver "Obviously, Brian (Idalski), I have a long history with, and it's kind of full circle he recruited me when we had a tournament in Vancouver with the National team," Karvinen explained. "He recruited me to North Dakota, and now we're sitting here, and he was a part of picking me in the in the 1st round to Vancouver. So super cool." Karvinen played for Finland at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and joined North Dakota just over a year later for the 2011-2012 season. The 2010 Olympics in Vancouver were also memorable for Karvinen because she won her first Olympic medal, a bronze. Now, she's back in Vancouver alongside familiar faces and former teammates including Miller and Cava who each signed with Vancouver during free agency. "Those players, you know, amazing players being able to play with them again and hopefully be able to win another championship. It's something very cool, so super excited to join them," said Karvinen. Karvinen's career was taken her across the globe from Denmark to the NCAA, the SDHL in Sweden, SWHL in Switzerland, and ZhHL in Russia and China. Last season she captained Frolunda in the SDHL to the club's first ever championship. Karvinen believes she can bring this wealth of experience to North America and the PWHL to help her new team succeed. "I think it's a perspective. I played in a lot of different leagues with a lot of different like playing styles. So I think like having having a bigger toolbox if you can say it like that, I think it's something very valuable," said Kavinen. "I also think, obviously my college experience is going to be easy to kind of come over and kind of have this transition to this kind of style of hockey that you have in the PWHL." " I think hopefully, we can get a leader out of any player on the team. I think the most important is that everybody is taking ownership and responsibility for the team, and then, obviously, you will have a couple players who might be a little bit more experienced, and we'll be able to kind of take the leader role," she said. "But I think for me, at least it's about having a lot of leaders in the group having everyone just to kind of have ownership of the team. I think that will be the most important super exciting." Karvinen was one of two Finnish players selected in the 2025 Draft, with the other, goaltender Sanni Ahola going to Ottawa. Whether this is Michelle Karvinen's last chapter, or just another chapter, hockey fans are excited to see one of the best all-time join the best right now in the PWHL with Vancouver. Michelle Karvinen is flanked by PWHL Vancouver general manager Cara Gardner Morey (left) and PWHL executive vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford (left) - Photo @ Ellen Bond [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/4139d449-2f9e-4eea-a5de-2a1d2280f4c5.jpeg] Michelle Karvinen is flanked by PWHL Vancouver general manager Cara Gardner Morey (left) and PWHL executive vice president of hockey operations Jayna Hefford (left) - Photo @ Ellen Bond
