While we’re waiting to see what will happen with Teemu Selanne and whether he’ll play again this season or retire, he’s having some fun in southern California and participating in a charity game. In Anaheim, they hold the Fedorin Cup, a game that features a host of former and current NHL’ers playing hockey for charity.
Selanne was there at this year’s game and he was even suiting up and giving it a go on his surgically repaired left knee. While Selanne is hoping to play one more season in the NHL, the one thing that could prevent that from happening is his knee. We’ve heard from Selanne already courtesy of a Finnish TV station blog he wrote saying how he was working out hard to be ready for another season, but still there’s a possibility he might not be able to give it another go. We should know by the time Ducks training camp starts on September 16 what his decision will be.
Randy Youngman of the Orange County Register caught up with Selanne to see which way he’s leaning when it comes to playing next season or retiring. For fans hoping to see Selanne play for one more year, hope is still very much alive.... He wants one more shot at glory. He was hoping his longtime friend and former linemate, Paul Kariya, would join him for one final season, too, but Kariya decided to retire from the NHL after sitting out the entire 2010-2011 season recovering from concussion symptoms.
“We talked a couple of times and we had lunch with Bob Murray (Ducks GM) to talk about it,” Selanne said. “I was hoping PK could play one more year, but he told me all the stories about the problems he’s had (related to concussions). There are more important things than hockey.”
Selanne knows that, too, but he wants one more tour around the NHL, which this season will include a stop in Winnipeg, where his NHL career began nearly two decades ago.
“I know I don’t really have to play; it’s a ‘gift’ kind of thing,” Selanne said. “But I’m really optimistic about the team we have. We have a chance to do something big here.”
It sounds as if Selanne already has made up his mind about coming back; now he’s waiting for his knee to deliver a second opinion.
Selanne has won just one Stanley Cup in the NHL back in 2007 with the Ducks. Getting a shot to win it one more time before calling it a career, a career that’s seen him score 637 goals, would be the best way to go out with style. With Jonas Hiller being ready to comeback from vertigo and having the reining league MVP ready for another big season in Corey Perry, Selanne is right about the Ducks being a potentially great team.
If Selanne can come back and produce another 30+ goal season and contribute 80 points again, the Ducks could be a team that forces their way into the discussion as potential Stanley Cup finalists with the likes of Vancouver, Chicago, Detroit, and San Jose. A Selanne “victory tour” kind of season that culminates in one more spin around the ice carrying the Cup would be the best way to sending the Finnish Flash off into the sunset.