Teemu Selanne was elected 10th overall in the 1988 NHL Draft. However, his debut in the league came four years later, and as a 22-year-old, the Finn had a debut season to remember. He absolutely dominated, and with a whopping 76 goals and 132 points, he carried the Winnipeg Jets to the playoffs.
After the 2013-14 season, Selanne retired as one of the all-time greats. He played in 1451 games, scoring 684 goals–12th all-time in the NHL – and 1457 points.
Selanne is an Anaheim Ducks legend, but he wasn’t just fantastic on the ice. He was a great guy off the ice, and everybody who’s shared a dressing room with him can attest to what a great teammate he was.
The Swede Andreas Lilja played with Selanne at the Ducks during the 2010-11 season and shared a great story about him.
”We were invited to his place, and he had a huge house. Like, an actual mansion, with pools, tennis courts, and a putting green. He also had three golf holes in his backyards,” Lilja said in a Swedish podcast.
The teammates started hitting golf balls, and then Selanne made a daring bet to make it a little more interesting.
”He had like 20-something cars, and five-six motorcycles. So he just put one of his motorcycles on the green, and said, ’Whoever get’s an whole-in-one, gets the bike.’ We were just standing there, hitting ball after ball after ball. Nobody even came close, but it was a cool moment after all. He’s a legend.”
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