The Hockey Writers » Winnipeg Jets 2.0

Teemu Selanne’s Unbreakable Record

Rafal Ladysz — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:56:45 +0000

Everyone has a sport record locked in their mind that will live with them forever. Somebody asks a question regarding it; you automatically yell out the player, year, stats and what they accomplished that was so incredible.

For myself, it’s Teemu Selanne’s rookie campaign with the Winnipeg Jets in 1992/1993 which stands on top. Maybe the finest Finn to ever step foot on the ice, Selanne has been as classy a person as his scoring pedigree.

Teemu Selanne remains a threat to goaltenders. (Photo courtesy of Gosh@/ Flikr.)

Rookies aren’t presumed or really meant to dominate however he used determination, speed and an appetite for scoring to guide Winnipeg to a playoff berth. As Teemu blossomed, so did the Jets with No.13 leading the attack.

Murphy’s law reads as: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. In contrast, it was reversed for Selanne with everything occurring marvellously as if he couldn’t make a mistake with the puck.

That season, the Finnish Flash burned out the red lights with 76 goals, 56 assists for 132 points in 84 games. Previously, Mike Bossy held the accomplishment in tallies, 53, and Peter Stastny’s 109 points were cancelled out as well. Selanne incredibly demolished both by 23 points and describes the experience as you’d expect a 76-goal scorer to; tons of chances.

“I remember every goal that year,” he said. “I remember getting, like, two, three breakaways every game. Nowadays, you get three, four the whole season? That’s pretty good.”

Having set the rookie record for both goals and points convincingly, he became an instant legend to not only Winnipeg’s faithful but the hockey universe capturing the Calder Trophy.

And Selanne did it before the lock-out when grabbing, obstructing and slowing players down was as legal as a stick-check. Which brings us to this question: with the game as opportunistic for forwards to score as it is currently, how secure are Teemu’s numbers? Is a young hot shot waiting for his time to come and capable of eclipsing that total?

I think not. Alexander Ovechkin is the elite goal-scorer of our decade and possibly the best of the best once his career ends. The Russian fired in 52 goals, 54 assists and 106 points while shooting the puck 425 times in 2006; most ever by a rookie and fourth-best among everyone who’s played.

That’s the closest a freshman has flirted with Selanne’s feat and Ovechkin’s 65 goals in 2008 ranks best since 2005 altogether. As for points, Joe Thornton’s 125 four years ago have been the most we’ve seen post lock-out.

If someone is to tackle the record, look for it to be a first-round draft pick somewhere near the middle of the pack because that’s how Selanne did it as the tenth overall choice in 1988. Joining a club that was decent and could make the postseason with another key ingredient, he was put into the perfect position.

While his numbers were incredible, he had some great teammates like Phil Housley, Keith Tkachuk, Alexei Zhamnov and Thomas Steen feeding him the puck. Then, the likes of Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby were thrown onto the scene as rookies to basically shoulder the load automatically.

Yes, they are both superstars but they could’ve used a lot of help in 2006 just as Selanne received. Crosby finished with 44 more points than the remaining Penguins and Ovechkin was 49 points ahead of all Capitals skaters.

With many terrific seasons produced by Teemu, it’s that first one where he was unstoppable that still gathers the most accolade. Until any player reaches 70 goals or 130 points, Selanne doesn’t have to worry about a rookie erasing his historic achievement.

As if he ever did or will. There are no guarantees in life but Selanne hanging onto this piece of history seems like the exception to the rule. By announcing 2010 as his final NHL schedule, we inevitably find ourselves witnessing the conclusion of a legendary career.

There’s another record possibly ahead of him and that’s Jari Kurri’s 601 career goals; the most ever compiled by a Finnish born player. With 588 markers, he is just 14 shy of becoming the highest scoring player to come out of Finland and has 67 games to do it.

It appears as though Teemu Selanne will exit the game of hockey the same way he entered it: on top.

Winnipeg: Hockey Central

Darren Ford — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:08:46 +0000

Calder Cup 2009

Hockey isn’t over for all cities in Canada. It is alive and well in Winnipeg.

The Manitoba Moose have made it to the Calder Cup finals, the AHL’s version of the Stanley Cup, for the first time in franchise history. And the buzz is significant around Winnipeg.

Add to that the world spotlight being cast on the city by endless NHL talk and the admission by Gary Bettman that Winnipeg is the NHL’s desired destination choice should a team need to relocate. Not only the Coyotes, but any team. And there will soon be others in similar situations as Phoenix finds itself in. As www.JetsOwner.com has long predicted, the NHL will find its way back to where it belongs. Everything has fallen into place very nicely over the past 6 years and we are in prime position to snatch a relocated franchise, sooner than most would anticipate. Now, finally, more people are talking as if this former pipe dream can and will happen, where as before, I was a nut case to even suggest such a thing.

Meanwhile, our existing hockey team is about to do battle for the AHL championship to sold out crowds of over 15,000 fans. Yes, you heard correctly. Fifteen thousand fans for AHL hockey. I dare you to reference another time that has happened. That’s because, despite being June, Winnipeg still breathes hockey 24-7.

And so this next two weeks will not only be about the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins, but about the Hershey Bears (Wsh) and hometown Manitoba Moose (Van), who are not surprisingly in the finals being that they held the best record in the AHL regular season with 50 wines and 23 losses for 107 points.

So while the world reads about Winnipeg in the headlines day-in and day-out, they will now see why Winnipeg is in the headlines. Die hard hockey fans, at any level.

We’re ready here in Winnipeg. Not only to win the Calder Cup, but to become the loudest and proudest NHL city once again.

Saturday night is Game One here in Winnipeg. It is sold out with ticket prices ranging from $24-$44, which is the price you can catch NHL hockey for in Phoenix. That is if you even like hockey, want to drive 40 miles to the rink, and really, really like Wayne Gretzky.

In Winnipeg...

Darren Ford

Founder

Return of the Jets Campaign

www.JetsOwner.com

NHL Favours Winnipeg For Relocation Destination

Darren Ford — Mon, 18 May 2009 02:39:53 +0000

Starting To Date Again

Gary Bettman hasn’t exactly been Winnipeg’s favourite character since his NHL tenure began in 1993. That’s why it’s so ironic that we may see him in a favourable light as of yesterday.

For the past few years I have been assuring supporters of the Return of the Jets Campaign that Winnipeg was higher on the NHL’s agenda than most, if not all other possible cities with regards to a relocation destination. (Notice I said relocation, not expansion. No, expansion will be saved for the Southern Ontario market at an inflated rate). And that’s if they even believed that a team would come back to Winnipeg at any point in time, ever.

So yesterday’s leak of court documents that contained Gary Bettman’s declaration that “if a team did return to Canada, it would be Winnipeg”, was in many ways a load off my back, and yet one more piece of this puzzle proven to be correct by www.JetsOwner.com.

NHL VP Bill Daly confirmed Bettman’s statement and said he wasn’t surprised by it. Frankly neither am I. That’s because Winnipeg has been working behind the scenes on this for longer than most people realize. We are also taking the correct approach, that being waiting patiently in line at the front door of NHL headquarters rather than trying to (repeatedly) sneak in through the side door. The NHL is an exclusive club and clubs have rules. They have a protocol and due process that must be followed. Jim Balsillie either hasn’t figured this out or enjoys challenging Gary Bettman in his own backyard. Assuming the enormously successful entrepreneur from Harvard is a very savvy businessman, I’ll go with the latter.

Never-the-less, it is a distraction welcomed by interests in Winnipeg, who as a group will play their cards right and come out on top in the long run. Manitobans can rejoice that Mr. Balsillie isn’t in our corner because if he was, our name would be mud as well.

The fact is, the NHL is fully aware of Winnipeg’s potential to be successful now that we have a modern building that would be fully owned and operated by it’s NHL tenant, therefore generating revenue streams necessary to sustain a healthy franchise. The fans are here, the corporate community is here, the ownership is in place and the arena is ready to roll. Just print the tickets and they’ll be gone. Remember, hockey is #1 here with the next popular sport a distant 2nd.

Right now in Arizona, hockey falls well behind the other three major pro sports, racing and any number of college sports. The fact is, people would hardly notice if they left town. A rally today of around 130 people in a restaurant parking lot made up the desire for the Coyotes to stay in the desert. For those of us who remember being at The Forks in the spring of 1995 along with 35,000 other fans can giggle a little at this. Will they move to Winnipeg? My guess is no. But there will be other teams following suit sooner than most people realize. The Coyotes will be in a legal mess for a while. We will watch it play out.

At least we know where the NHL stands, officially finally, with regards to WinterPeg.

I guess all those folks who insist on telling me MTS Centre is too small or that the NHL would never consider Winnipeg as an option can start eating their words.

I’ve spent the better part of 6 years leading people down a path I strongly feel will succeed. I’m not about to start misleading people now.

Winnipeg is not only an option in the NHL’s mind…it is considered THE option. Oh how times come full circle.

Still think it can’t happen?

In Winnipeg...

Darren Ford

Founder

Return of the Jets Campaign

www.JetsOwner.com

Do Fear The Reaper: Coyotes Under League Control

Darren Ford — Mon, 04 May 2009 03:33:02 +0000

A Visitor No Sports Team Wants

The NHL won’t speak about it. It’s too embarrassing.

At a time of the year when the spotlight shines brightest on hockey the last thing the league needs is more dire news headlines to dim the lights.

My guess would be that someone will have to speak about it soon after Lord Stanley has been awarded to its champion.

The topic is the fact that the operation of one of the NHL’s most struggling teams has been placed in the hands of the league itself. Unprecedented. The Phoenix Coyotes have hit rock bottom, unable to pay their bills, make the playoffs, or draw flies. Now the NHL has put the franchise on life support, covering anything from payroll to lease payments to the city of Glendale. A real shocker? Nope.

This last happened in pro sports with the Montreal Expos of MLB. And we all know what happened to them soon after. The hard reality of this situation is the bigger picture. The Cactus Jets are just part of the house of cards that is about fold into itself. One might think this hopeless situation in Phoenix is exactly what Winnipeg needs to regain (its former) team. After all, league control may very well mean a reasonable sale price under desperate circumstances and receivership. I would agree. But as ironic and Cinderella as that may sound, the fact is the legalities of this mess could drag on for a while. There is no easy way to up and leave, however it is now inevitable that they will indeed relocate.

Before you cry for the state of Arizona, read through Dan Bickley’s recent column in the Arizona Republic about how little the Coyotes would really be missed. It is a saturated market full of sporting options that rank far higher than hockey in most people’s minds and that take far less time to travel to.

So if not the Coyotes that Winnipeg preys on, then who? Well there is still a considerable list of candidates that are in worse shape than Phoenix, only they are managing to pay their debts. For now.

We are about to embark on a very interesting off-season in 2009. The mix of bad market and bad economy has finally brought several teams to the brink of collapse and Winnipeg, a good market and far less damaged economy will be there to pick up the pieces. When the bell tolls, Winnipeg will step up and answer the call.

Our time could be fast approaching. We’ve waited and we are ready. We have the arena, the fans, the corporate support and an ownership group well poised to sustain such an investment. An investment that will mean the world to people in this province and put Winnipeg back on the map again.

Get ready, the NHL could look very different inside of two years. It’s about time, too.

In Winnipeg...

Darren Ford

Founder

Return of the Jets Campaign

www.JetsOwner.com

Bett (on this) Man, No NHL Team in Vegas

Darren Ford — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:22:46 +0000

After being in Las Vegas this past week, I am more certain than ever that an NHL team in that city would be more of a bust than all my hands at the Blackjack table at the Golden Nugget.

First of all, the city is currently taking a massive economic hit from what I experienced. People are being begged to stay at top hotels and walk the strip with any disposable money they can part with, and part with it they will. One walk up and down the strip will drain a couple hundred bucks out of your wallet even if you take things at a medium pace.

Which brings me to the notion of a Sin City NHL team.

Like most American cities, hockey is the last thing on people’s minds. Add to that the fact that since so many locals work in the tourist industry on or near the strip at night, you can scrap a good percentage of a potential fan base. Which leaves the tourists themselves. You aren’t going to see more than a handful of visitors take one of their (on average) 3 nights transporting to wherever an arena would be built to go see a hockey game between the Las Vegas Spurs and the Columbus Blue Jackets. After all they came to Vegas to gamble, drink too much and maybe catch a nudie show. They didn’t come to catch an “ice hockey” game for $300. So if the locals can’t support it and neither can tourism, then where does Vegas get 17,000 fans 42 nights a year?

The only relatively sane answer would be corporate, which would mainly be made up of the hotel industry. There are endless monster hotels and resorts in Vegas and the natural thought would be that they could buy up large chunks of seats and give them to guests of a certain level or as incentives in their packages. There are two problems with this solution and seemingly only way an NHL team could survive.

First, the hotel industry is already discounting their inventory as it is. Now this is not to say things won’t turn around economically in the US, because inevitably it will. But to think that it will consistently buy up thousands of seats and hand them out to virtually un-interested patrons who don’t put much value in the giveaway anyway might be a stretch.

Second, the freebie ticket thing with package-stay at a hotel would almost instantly cheapen the sport right off the hop. And going back to a prior point, many won’t take one of their evenings on an already short stay to go the game, leaving an all-to-familiar empty building on game night.

Even with a courtesy shuttle to the game, there is just too much going on in Vegas at every turn to think about hockey, not to mention more popular sports in the region, like UNLV sports for example.

In addition, to have a pro sport in THE city of sports gambling would make the NHL look extremely desperate. Recall XFL? CFL? No other major pro sport has put a team in the bookie capital of America and there are reasons for that. Besides looking desperate, it carries with it too much danger of betting scandal.

No, I think the NHL may have finally seen the light with regards to placing teams in non-traditional hockey markets. There are far too many better places to put them.

Ahem, ‘Lil Dubya.

Jets on the Strip

In Winnipeg...

Darren Ford

Founder

Return of the Jets Campaign

www.JetsOwner.com

No Playoffs = Bad To Worse

Darren Ford — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:53:50 +0000

Missing Playoffs?

As the playoffs are set to commence in 3 weeks, the races remain tight for the eight spots in each conference. One thing is certain, out of the league’s six most struggling franchises, four are cetain to miss the playoffs with the other two on the brink of 8th place or bust. This moves their financial situations from bad to worse. With no additional playoff revenue coming in there will be no means to chip away at certain losses on the 2008-09 season.

No icing for that non-existant cake. The plate may even be on credit if it isn’t already re-possessed.

In the East:

Atlanta, Tampa Bay and the New York Islanders make up the basement of the Eastern Conference and all three teams fall on the list of most troubled franchises. No more revenue means their bottom line will remain deep into the red. Will anyone notice? Likely just the owners. And us Canadians (Winnipeggers) waiting to see when this nonsense will end and a team will finally realize where the books will balance. In a hockey market.

Meanwhile Florida is sniffing at the 8th and final playoff spot but, as it stands today, are out of a playoff spot.

So out of four teams in the east that are on shaky ground, all four are heading towards an early tee time.

In the West:

Phoenix took a nose dive the past 8 weeks slipping into an abyss they can’t climb out of. They have only managed to win 5 of their past 23 games, leaving them one point out of the absolute basement in the west. This is a massive slide from a healthy playoff standing around the All-Star break.

Meanwhile Nashville is hanging onto 8th spot by a thread as St. Louis, Anaheim, Dallas and Minnesota are all hot on their tail with a game in hand.

If all six of the league’s most troubled franchises miss the playoffs this year (and a minimum of four will) it will only serve to speed up and increase the odds of these teams leaving their current markets. Honestly, it is only a matter of time anyway.

Stop the bleeding now.

What’s more sad is that I’m not sure qualifying for the post-season would do much for these teams anyway. It would soften the blow for yet another year, but the hard reality would still be there. These markets will not support pro-hockey in the long-term. And having to give away playoff tickets or offer four tickets for $39 would be insult to injury.

In Winnipeg we have the AHL’s #1 team. We are heading into the Calder Cup playoffs with all seats sold. Besides the salary obviously, I’d bet the players on those struggling NHL teams would rather be here in Winnipeg in a hockey atmosphere.

So why not be here and make the salary?

I’ll give you directions. Just get to Minneapolis and keep going north until you see white. White-Out that is.

In Winnipeg...

Darren Ford

Founder

Return of the Jets Campaign