Eetu Tuulola has been called back to Finland

Calgary Flames prospect Eetu Tuulola will be tackling a new challenge next season as he’s left the Western Hockey League’s Everett Silvertips and returned to his Finnish club team, HPK.

Everett Herald reporter Jesse Geleynse broke the news earlier today.

Here’s what happened:

Tuulola signed a three-year contract with HPK in 2015, with the deal running through 2015-16 until 2017-18. He was loaned to HPK’s junior club for 2015-16 and then loaned to Everett for 2016-17 after Tuulola’s selection in the CHL Import Draft. He has one year left on his deal.

The Flames drafted Tuulola in the 2016 NHL Draft and because he was drafted from a European club they retain his rights for four years. My understanding is this has not changed, even with his sojourn to (and from) North America.

That said, because the Flames didn’t sign Tuulola to a contract by June 15 HPK still has an active contract with him – for the Flames to sign Tuulola they would’ve had to negotiate a termination of that deal – and because that contract still exists, HPK has the ability to call him back from his North American loan. They did so.

As of right now: Tuulola will play 2017-18 for HPK, but the Flames retain his NHL rights.