Jesse Winchester has returned home for the holidays.

"I guess that's one good thing about the (National Hockey League) lockout," said Winchester, who is from Long Sault, ON. "I've never really had the chance (in recent years) to be home for Christmas, so this is nice." He recently posted 11 points in 11 games with TuTo in Finland's second division. Winchester has appeared in 233 career games with the Ottawa Senators, but due to the uncertainty of the lockout he is presently a free agent. Winchester expects to get a job with another NHL team once the lockout is over and he's hopeful that will happen soon. If the work stoppage cancels the season then he'll probably head back to Europe.

Finnish second division team TuTo announced the signing of Jesse Winchester on Tuesday.

It was originally reported that the team had signed former San Jose winger Brad Winchester to a lockout deal, but there may have been a mix-up with the names. Both of them started the work stoppage as unrestricted free agents. Winchester skated in 32 games with Ottawa last season and missed 44 with a concussion.

Jesse Winchester is waiting patiently to be signed as an unrestricted free agent.

He has reportedly passed his baseline test and has been cleared by doctors to return from a concussion. Winchester isn't expected to be back with the Senators because they have a plethora of forwards already in the mix and would need to free up a spot via a trade to get him back into the fold.