Teemu Selanne can remember it well. It was the first reward hockey afforded him in a career full of them. He was 18, had just signed his first professional contract with Jokerit, the top professional club in his native Finland, and he was ready to splurge.
Boys love their toys and Selanne spent the entire value of his contract on the car of his dreams: a 1961 Lincoln Continental convertible.
“All my money went to [the car],” the 43-year-old was saying Tuesday before he made his farewell appearance against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre. “I have always liked that car and when it went for sale, every penny went to that. I forgot that I had to live, and I had to borrow some money from my parents.”
He has since paid them back. A 22-year NHL career as one of the most prolific goal-scorers in league history (678 and counting, second to Jaromir Jagr among active players and 11th all-time) has afforded him that as well as the opportunity to further indulge his boyhood fantasies: He once had 42 exotic cars in his collection, everything from early American muscle to hand-crafted Italian. It’s down to a more modest 25 now.
It can all seem a bit dizzying. Troy Bodie played briefly with Selanne in Anaheim before coming to the Leafs. He was seven years old and growing up in Portage la Prairie, Man., when Selanne took the NHL by storm with his rookie-record 76 goals with the Winnipeg Jets in 1992–93.
“I was all about the Jets and Teemu,” Bodie said.
But his favourite story about the Finnish legend has nothing to do with hockey.
“My Dad is a car guy,” says Bodie. “And when I told him Selanne drove a Ferrari to the rink sometimes he wanted to know what kind, so I asked Teemu and he says: ‘Which one? I have three.”
Selanne laughs when told about Bodie’s recollection of his collection. He laughs a lot, which explains a lot. You don’t spend all your money from your first pro contract on a cherry-red Lincoln with suicide doors if you don’t like to have a good time.
You don’t race rally cars in your spare time if you don’t have a twinkle in your eye, and it goes without saying you don’t lead the Ducks in smiles at the pre-game skate before your 1,395th NHL game if you don’t love hockey.
“He was a guy who when he came to practice was there to have fun,” says Leafs coach Randy Carlyle, who won a Stanley Cup coaching Selanne in Anaheim. He was supposed to retire then, but never quite got around to it.
The Ducks had won a franchise-record seven straight games before the Leafs upended them 4–2 at the ACC. Selanne was mostly ordinary, his most dangerous moment when he nearly buried what would have been a tying goal on a 2-on-1 with seven minutes played in the third period.
The Ducks’ level of play is part of the reason Selanne came back for one last go around. Having blown his chance to retire on top once, he’s hoping to get a second opportunity.
“I didn’t get the feeling that I’m done,” he said. “I made the decision to make one more push and we have a really good team here. There’s a lot of hard work to be done, but hopefully it will end well.”
Playing so long creates some strange moments. Selanne is old enough that he played with Carlyle for the Jets as a rookie.
“It was a little weird in the beginning, when he didn’t have a helmet on,” says Selanne of his future coach’s unprotected flow.
“I was on my own farewell tour, but no one knew it but me,” Carlyle jokes about his year with Selanne. “He’s an old bugger.”
Age in Selanne’s case is truly just a number in a career defined by some remarkable statistical heights.
He’s not quite at those levels any more. He’s productive — six points through eight games so far — but no longer under pressure to produce. It suits him fine.
“Every player who plays at this level, the passion is why you are here,” he says. “But it’s funny, the older you get the more you start enjoying everything, you know? I enjoy this game way more know than when I was 25.”
He’s determined this is his last season. He announced that up front when he told the world he was coming back via a pretty hilarious YouTube video in which his return to the NHL for one last ride is sparked by a disastrous round of golf (another Selanne passion.)
Selanne conceived of the gag. It ends with him tossing his clubs in a pond in anger; realizing his cell phone was still in with his clubs; wading in to retrieve it and making the call announcing his return. But only for one more year.
It’s time. Recovery between games is getting harder. This coming Olympic tournament will be his sixth, so that provided another bone. But his kids are growing up too quickly. Two of his three boys are already old enough to sample their Dad’s remarkable car collection. The youngest will be soon.
“It’s scary,” says Selanne, sounding for a moment more like a father of teenagers than an NHL legend. “They know if they screw up they don’t drive or they drive really bad cars. They have pressure on them. So far they’ve done a really good job.”
The best things in life often occur in a blur — or a flash in Selanne’s case. Your own youth, the precious moments when your kids were young. There is always something coming that seems urgent that distracts from the moment.
It’s the fortunate few who are able to find the joy at the heart of the present. Teemu Selanne is one of them.
The guy could always play, but most importantly through 22 seasons and nearly 1,400 games, Selanne has made a point of enjoying the ride.