Detroit – When Teemu Selanne was a rookie with the Winnipeg Jets in 1992-93, Randy Carlyle was in the final year of his NHL playing career. Selanne scored 76 goals that season, still the league record for rookies.
The only difference between that Selanne and the current version with the Anaheim Ducks, Carlyle said, is the size of his bank account and his garage.
“He only had one car then. I think he has 25 now,” said Carlyle, now Selanne’s coach with the Ducks.
Wrong, Selanne said. “I think it’s around 30 right now.”
But who’s counting? The man they call the Finnish Flash is too busy trying to get something that no amount of money can buy – a Stanley Cup. It’s the one piece of silver he has never gotten his hands on, and he wants it, badly.
“You get to be my age, and done a lot of the things you want to do when you first come into the league, like just surviving the first few years and scoring some goals, things like that, now all you want is that Cup,” said Selanne, 36. “It would be nice to see my name on that thing. They just have to make sure they spelled it right. Two e’s and two n’s.”
Selanne is the latest older NHL player to be a sentimental, people’s choice to win a Cup. He hopes to join Ray Bourque, Dave Andreychuk, Luc Robitaille and Rod Brind’Amour in that club, and the Ducks enter tonight’s Game 3 with home-ice advantage in the Western Conference finals with Detroit. The series is tied 1-1.
Selanne completed his second consecutive superb season with Anaheim, eclipsing the 40-goal mark again. This comes just three seasons after his disastrous one-year stint with the Avalanche in which he scored a career-low 16 goals and was a healthy scratch for one game in the playoffs.
Selanne credits the NHL lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 season for much of his current success. He underwent surgery on his right knee, and the lack of pressure to play hockey allowed him to focus more on rehabilitation and getting more mentally centered.
Selanne blames his poor play in Colorado and, previously in San Jose, on the troubled knee, which begs the question: Why didn’t he get the same surgery before playing with the Avs?
“Well, I did,” Selanne said. “I had a surgery right about a month before training camp in Denver. But they said it might take a year before it was perfect again. So we tried to buy time and play through it, but it didn’t get any better. It got worse.”
Selanne was ready to quit the game after the season with the Avs, but gave one more surgery a chance. He finally found himself pain-free when he resumed skating during the lockout, and his agent, Don Baizley, convinced Anaheim – where Selanne wanted to play again – to give him a one-year contract.
He has arguably been the NHL’s biggest bargain since.
“He’s found a way to re-energize his body, to re-energize his mind, and he feels really good about playing the game,” Carlyle said. “He still possesses the passion to play. He has that two steps and he’s in full flight. He’s a very powerful skater.
“When you look at guys like Selanne and you look at players that have that out-and- out explosive speed, they’re strong skaters and they’re not easily knocked off balance and they don’t lose their stride.
“The thing that you can always say about Teemu is he’s a fun guy at the rink. He comes to play the game. He comes to practice. He doesn’t like to practice long, mind you, but he does like to come to the rink. That’s a special quality.”
Former Avs winger Brad May, now with Anaheim, never realized how good Selanne was until he played with him.
“He’s got some of the best hands I’ve ever seen on a hockey player,” May said. “And the people who say he’s not gritty enough or anything, they obviously have no idea what they’re watching. He’s a great guy to be around and to play with.”
Selanne owns a huge home in the ultra-exclusive Orange County enclave of Coto de Caza. That’s another thing he didn’t have when he went from his native Helsinki to Winnipeg.
“I don’t know what it’s worth, but I know it’s lots,” Carlyle said. “He’s got a lot more money now. He’s had some hurdles to get over, through injury and inconsistent play. But he has found a home with us, and we’re sure happy to have him.”
Staff writer Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
