With the NHL joining the other sports leagues on hiatus, we thought it would be a great time to take a look at how an international presence has changed the game for the Vancouver Canucks. Today, it’s all about the Vancouver Canucks best ever Finnish player.
Personally, I’ve always liked watching the Finnish team in international competition. To me, they were the closest to Canada in terms of style and attitude: physical, scrappy, and maybe carrying a national inferiority complex because of proximity to an international superpower. Maybe.
It’s a fascinating contrast because the Finns who make the biggest impact on the NHL are absolute artists. Teemu Selanne with a goaltender’s nightmare 76-goal rookie season. Jari Kurri meshing perfectly on Wayne Gretzky‘s wing. Teppo Numminen‘s smooth glide and unflappable puck control. The Goalie Factory of the 2000s producing Tuukka Rask, Pekka Rinne, Kari Lehtonen, Antti Niemi, Mikko Koskinen… Even now, Aleksander Barkov and Patrik Laine are top scoring threats in the league.
Oh, yeah! And some guy even Gretzky had a hard time saying something nice about despite being a linemate: Esa Tikkanen. The chief rival for Claude Lemieux‘s spot when someone mentions the word “pest” Tikkanen exemplifies the other side of the Finnish character. They’re the ones who weren’t stars of the league, but they’ll happily take part in any battle.
(Find the Canucks best ever Russian here.)
(Best Swede is here.)
(Best American is here.)
(And best Canadian is here.)
Vancouver Canucks Best Ever Finnish Player
For a nation of fewer than 6 million people, Finland’s impact on the NHL is probably the most outsized of any nation. The Canucks have only had 13 Finns play for them in 50 years, but that Nordic country provided them with a few stars.
So from those players, which personality did Vancouver get? Who is the Vancouver Canucks best ever Finnish player and how did they play? For the record, Tikkanen did play for Vancouver and did reasonably well with 64 points in 100 games. Unfortunately, the team he joined was on the downslope from the high of the 1993-94 Stanley Cup Final appearance. And Tikkanen… well, he might not be the guy you want in a dressing room when things are going wrong. He’s not making the list.
Petri Skriko
Vancouver had used draft picks taking chances on Europeans a couple of times. The year before they had struck gold with Swede Patrik Sundstrom with a ninth-round pick. Why not try again? The first Finn they ever drafted was Petri Skriko “Streak-o” 157th overall in 1981.
Skriko joined a Canucks team that was in the doldrums of the mid-’80s. In each of his six years in Vancouver, they finished either fourth or fifth of the five-team division. Still, after his rookie season he led the team in points twice and was a top-three in goals four times. He had four 30+ goal seasons, and by the time he left Vancouver, he had played 472 games with 171 goals and 373 points. Whether that’s good enough to be considered the Canucks best ever Finn has to be balanced against how bad the team was.
As for his character, he did get a couple votes for the Lady Byng in the 1986-87 season when he recorded 74 points and 44 penalty minutes. Yeah, the 80s were a different time.
He was eventually traded away to the Boston Bruins for the pick that would bring Michael Peca, who in turn would bring Alexander Mogilny. Not a bad farewell wave.
Jyrki Lumme
Until recent years – or, more accurately, year – there are a few players who could be considered the Canucks best offensive defenceman. The injury-shortened career of Paul Reinhart always has question marks attached. Christian Ehrhoff‘s two years culminating in their last Stanley Cup run. If you stitched Jeff Brown‘s bits-of-seasons together, you could come out with 54 points in 72 games, with 15 more in the 1994 Cup run.
One thing that makes Jyrki Lumme different is how long he lasted. A steal from the Montreal Canadiens in 1991, Lumme finished the season in Vancouver with 10 points in 11 games. That’s a heck of a first impression! Obviously, he didn’t keep that pace up, but he did have two seasons with more than 50 points and two more over 40 points. He was often criticized for his disdain for playing defence, acting most effectively as a rover (ask your great-grandparents). While that often put the silky-smooth skater in conflict with his despairing coaches, it was a lot more fun for the fans.
Lumme ended his time in Vancouver with 83 goals and 321 points in 579 games. But his legacy was made in the playoffs where he scored 40 points over 72 games. And if you’re going to decide the Canucks best ever Finn – or any other nationality – you have to include playoffs.
Sami Salo
Often Vancouver’s best defenceman… when he made it to the ice. Sami Salo had an absolute hammer of a shot from the point, even if it didn’t always get on net. For an amazing nine years, he was the choice for the Canucks when the last-minute announcement happened. His big frame could effectively clear the front of the net, block out opposing forwards, and block shots. He’d never cringe when he blocked a shot, but the fans would.
It was an “amazing” nine years with Vancouver because by the end of any season he was held together with carpenter’s glue and baling wire. He played in 79 games his first season with the Canucks, 74 games the next, then never reached 70 again. Eventually, as good as he was on the ice, the team decided they couldn’t rely on him being there and he was allowed to walk/limp away as a free agent in 2012.
While numbers only tell part of Salo’s story, he finished with 566 games in Vancouver, scoring 74 goals and 236 points. That he played such an important role for the team while only getting 202 minutes in penalties is downright shocking. How much should defensive play count when considering the Canucks best ever Finn? For Vancouver, for nine years, the answer was “a LOT!”
Want to Mention…
The Canucks have clearly taken the “skilled” side over the “agitating” side for their Finns, with one very notable exception. On a team that has had more than their share of incredibly annoying players (we see you, Matt Cooke) Jarkko Ruutu stands out. He led the team in penalty minutes in 2005-06, was second in 2003-04, and finished his time with Vancouver with 453 in just 267 games. Definitely a Finn in the mould of Tikkanen rather than Kurri.
Olli Juolevi has finally played a more-or-less full pro season after repeated injuries and has a chance to take a role next season. Definitely more of an intelligent defender than an overpowering one, the team is hoping they have a successor to Alexander Edler.
Verdict
Who the Vancouver Canucks best ever Finnish player is comes down to a matter of taste, really. Lumme is a solid choice if you want the puck carried out of your zone; Skriko if you want someone to round out your scoring; Salo if you think the best defence is never letting your goalie see a shot. For now, we’re going with Jyrki Lumme because of how long he entertained Vancouver fans – for better and worse.
Main Photo
