From the Slam! Sports Hockey website...

Karalahti wants to leave NHL

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) -- Suspended Nashville Predators defenseman
Jere Karalahti wants to quit the NHL and return to his native
Finland.

Karalahti, 27, received a six-month suspension without pay two
weeks ago for a third violation of the league's substance abuse
policy.

He isn't sure whether he will be permitted to play even if he
participates in a rehabilitation program.

"One option is to have the contract with Nashville terminated. Then
I could play in the domestic league already this season," Karalahti
said in an interview with Finland's TV4.

Karalahti added that if he were to continue in the NHL "I would
have to be a teetotaler."

"I don't really believe I can do that, and I don't even have the
will to try", Karalahti told the Ilta-Sanomat tabloid in an
interview published Friday.

Karalahti, who wrestled with drug addiction before playing in the
NHL, said his current problems concern only alcohol.

"If I know myself at all, I know that zero tolerance with alcohol
won't work," he said in the television interview.

"I'm not ready to go through the treatment program. There are other
leagues in which to play in this world," Karalahti told the tabloid
Iltalehti.

Karalahti joined the Los Angeles Kings in the 1999-2000 season,
recording eight goals and 17 assists in 101 games. He joined
Nashville last season and played 45 games for the Predators with two
assists and 41 penalty minutes.