Before Finland, there will be Russia for the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes' itinerary for their trip to Europe in the fall will include a preseason exhibition game in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Canes will face SKA St. Petersburg on Oct. 4 at Ledovy Arena, the NHL announced Friday.
SKA St. Petersburg plays in the Bibrov Division in the Western Conference of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), Russia's top professional league. The NHL also said the Phoenix Coyotes would play an exhibition game Oct. 6 against the KHL's Dinamo Riga in Riga, Latvia, as part of the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Challenge.
The Hurricanes will open the regular season with a pair of games against the Minnesota Wild in Helsinki, Finland, in the Compuware NHL Premiere. Those games are set for Oct. 7 and Oct. 8 at Hartwall Arena.
The pair of exhibition games may signal the beginning of a period of detente between the NHL and KHL, which have haggled the past few years over player movement and player contracts. It will mark the first time in 20 years that NHL teams have played exhibitions in either Russia or Latvia.
"It should be a great experience for our players to take that trip, to go into Russia and play that game," Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford said recently. "There could be a little more at stake, going into Russia to play a KHL team. It will be good for us and the league."
In September 1990, the Montreal Canadiens and Minnesota North Stars played games in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and Riga as part of "Friendship Tour '90." The Soviet National League teams won five of the eight games against the Canadiens and North Stars.
In other team news Friday, the Hurricanes announced the signings of forward Jiri Tlusty and defenseman Jay Harrison to one-year, one-way contracts. Each will receive a salary of $500,000 for the 2010-2011 season.
Tlusty, 22, came to the Canes in a Dec. 3, 2009 trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs' former first-round draft pick was obtained in an exchange for the rights to forward Philippe Paradis, the Canes' first-round selection in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.
Tlusty scored in his first game with the Canes and had a goal and five assists in 18 games with Carolina. He also played a combined 39 games in the American Hockey League with the Toronto Marlies and then the Albany River Rats.
Rutherford noted that Tlusty, a 6-foot, 209-pound winger, was ready to "become an everyday NHL player."
Harrison, called a "character guy" by Rutherford, was due to become an unrestricted free agent in July. Harrison, 27, played in a career-high 38 games for the Hurricanes and another 32 for Albany last season.
