It’s been a pretty quiet summer for the Anaheim Ducks and their fans, so much of the focus for them has swirled around the future of veteran forward Teemu Selanne.
Selanne, at 41 years old, spent much of the summer pondering his future and whether or not he would return to Anaheim this season. That question was answered with the one-year, $4 million deal that Selanne signed with the Ducks on Thursday.
If you watched Selanne at all next year, you wouldn’t think he was a day past 30, let alone over 40 years old. He posted 80 points for the high-powered Anaheim offense, his highest total since 2006-2007. Selanne’s been with four teams over his illustrious career, but 12 years of that has been with the Ducks, in two separate tenures.
There’s little doubt that The Finnish Flash has a spot in the Hall of Fame, and you need look no further than the level he played at last year for the evidence of that. Only two players had more than the 31 goals over age 40, and one of them was the great Gordie Howe.
Over the course of his career, which spans 1,259 games since the 1992-93 season, Selanne has 1,34o points, including 637 goals. He’s the franchise leader in career goals and assists.
The Ducks open training camp up on Friday, which makes the timing of Selanne’s announcement impeccable. If he’s fully recovered from offseason knee surgery, we could see a brilliant end to the storied career of Teemu Selanne, who has already declared this his last season.
