This Day in Hockey History – April 15, 1993 – Finn Begins

Apr 15, 2020

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Is it any wonder that “The Finnish Flash” rushed to make records right off the bat? When Teemu Selanne joined the NHL for the 1992-93 season, he set a rookie record for most goals and points. Thanks to two games played on April 15, he even tied Alexander Mogilny as the top goal-scorer in the league. While it wasn’t all downhill from there, Selanne certainly hit some of his highest heights in his very first year.

Jokes about speed aside, Selanne actually took his time joining the NHL. After the Winnipeg Jets drafted him 10th overall in 1988, he kept playing for his Finnish club. Since he took a while, the Calgary Flames tried to scoop him up, but the Jets held on matching the offer.

As soon as Selanne made it for the start of the 1992-93 season, he netted 11 goals in his first 12 games. Come February, he scored 11 goals in five games leading up to his hat trick on March 2, when he broke Mike Bossy’s rookie record of 53 goals. His celebratory “shooting” of his tossed left glove remains iconic. Throughout the rest of March, he had another 20 goals. By the end of the season, he was on the way to the scoring title.

On April 15, for the last game of the regular season, Winnipeg Arena held 12,229 spectators. The home team shut out the Edmonton Oilers 3-0, thanks to Bob Essensa’s 31 saves. The Jets had won 8 of the 9 matchups between the teams, which was part of why they were going into playoffs instead of the Oilers. Coach Ted Green noted, “Our inability to beat Winnipeg was really the reason we’re out (of the playoffs) and they’re in.” The Edmonton Journal called it the worst season in Edmonton’s 14 years in the NHL.

Of the three goals by Winnipeg, Selanne scored the second and assisted on the third. His 76th goal came at 5:25 of the second period. Goalie Bill Ranford said afterward, “I thought I had him on the one he got, too.” Selanne’s 56th assist (for Alexei Zhamnov) came in the final moments of that period. Out of the Jets’ 42 shots on goal, Selanne had 11 of them. As one newspaper pointed out, he probably had 20 “shots at goal.” He finished the season with a 17-game points streak.

The game would be remembered equally for the goal Selanne scored as well as the ones that got away. When Ranford was “down and out,” Oilers defenseman Dave Manson blocked a shot. “He was trying to go five-hole on me but I shut him down,” said Manson. “I’m just glad he didn’t get it against me. My goals against and minutes played are pretty good right now.” Had Selanne made the goal, he would have won the season’s goal-scoring race. “Of course I had the chance to win that bleeping race, but I bleeped it up,” Selanne swore. “My teammates were setting me up all night.”

Instead, in another game in another country that same night, Alexander Mogilny of the Buffalo Sabres scored his 76th goal in a 7-4 loss against the Philadelphia Flyers. He first scored during a power play at 18:56 of the second period and then matched Selanne with a goal at 5:24 of the third. Mogilny made good on two of his four shots on net. Even though Selanne and Mogilny tied at 76 goals, neither had enough points to steal the Art Ross Trophy from Mario Lemieux (69G, 91A, 160P).

In his rookie season, Selanne had a total of 132 points. While that put him in fifth for the scoring race, it gave him two records. Team-wise, Selanne’s 76 goals and 132 points is still the highest for that Winnipeg (and later Arizona) franchise. He beat Dale Hawerchuk’s 130 points from the 80-game 1984-85 season. League-wise, both totals still stand as NHL rookie records. Bossy had set his 53-goal record back in 1977-78, and Peter Stastny had set a 109-point record for the Quebec Nordiques in 1980-81. That meant that Selanne beat each by exactly 23.

Naturally, Selanne earned the Calder Memorial Trophy. Much later, Selanne reminisced, “It was unbelievable. Something that you couldn’t even realize what I did until next year or the year after. … The whole year was like a dream.”

Although Selanne never matched those results, no rookie has come close to toppling his records. The closest was in 2005-06, when Alex Ovechkin had 52 goals and 106 points. In fact, in all of NHL history, only three players have scored more than 76 goals – Lemieux in 1988-89 (85), Brett Bull in 1990-91 (86), and Wayne Gretzky in 1983-84 (87) and 1981-82 (92). So no one has surpassed Selanne since 1993.