Sunday, January 20, 2013
Selanne's place in history
By Luke Lapinski
Following his four-point outburst in Vancouver last night, Teemu Selanne now has a remarkable 1,410 career NHL points to his name. How remarkable? With his performance in the season opener, he jumped past Dale Hawerchuk and into the No. 18 spot on the league's all-time scoring list.
All indications are that this is Selanne's final year before retirement. In fact, had the whole season been scrapped, he may have called it quits right then and there. But hockey's back, he's never shown any signs of slowing down and the Anaheim Ducks still need him.
So just how much farther can the Finnish Flash move up that storied list? Assuming he stays healthy and this is, indeed, his final run through the league, No. 15 is well within his reach. Doug Gilmour is four points ahead of him at No. 17, Adam Oates sits 10 points ahead at No. 16 and Bryan Trottier is currently slotted in at No. 15 with 1,425 career points -- 15 ahead of Selanne. Considering he's put up 146 points over the last two years, 15 more seems likely. And, had this been a full season, he would have had a shot at catching Stan Mikita (1,467 points) for No. 14.
