The last NHL appearance for Markus Nutivaara came on Oct. 29, 2021. He played seven minutes for the Florida Panthers.
Nutivaara was trying to come back from multiple hip surgeries, and he recorded an assist, but he hasn’t played an NHL game since.
The San Jose Sharks had signed him to a contract the following offseason, but he never got on the regular season ice for them.
Now, more than three years later, Nutivaara is trying to get back on the ice.
He retired two seasons ago, but he’s unretired and heading to play for his Finnish hometown’s team Karpat. The club announced it had signed Nutivaara to a one-year deal.
Nutivaara is 31 years old now, and this will be his first pro hockey action since announcing his retirement two years ago.
He was originally a seventh-round pick by the Blue Jackets in 2015 and came stateside a year later. He was a reliable depth piece for Columbus, playing in 244 games across four seasons.
Nutivaara was then traded to the Panthers, where he played 30 games in the 2020-21 season before his lone game the following year.
The announcement from Karpat in Finland indicates that Nutivaara had a hip procedure in Nov. 2024 that got an artificial joint installed. He’s put a lot into this comeback try, for sure, and although he likely won’t ever get back to the NHL, at least now he’s back on the ice.
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