My Chat with LA Kings’ Legend Jari Kurri at the Hall of Fame
- Updated: November 15, 2017
*Featured photo by Denis Brodeur/NHLI via Getty Images
Jari Kurri was already a hockey superstar when he joined the Los Angeles Kings back in 1990. As an Edmonton Oiler, Kurri had won the Stanley Cup five times, scored 474 regular season goals and 474 points, along with 92 goals and 202 points in the playoffs,(he would go on and finish his career with 1,251 games, 601 goals, 979 assists, 1,398 points, and a plus-298 in the regular season. He finished with 200 games, 106 goals, 127 assists, 233 points, plus-103, and 14 game winning goals in the playoffs). Playing with that dynasty, Kurri’s best seasons were when he played alongside the “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky, and together they would wreak havoc on opposing teams with their psychic like connection and Hall of Fame level skills. After Gretzky was sold, I mean traded to the Kings in 1988, Kurri stayed with Edmonton for two more years before playing in Italy and then reuniting with Wayne in LA, helping lead the Kings to the 1993 Stanley Cup Final. Also as a King, Kurri became the first European born and trained player to score 500 career goals on October 17, 1992. He deservedly was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001.
I was fortunate enough to briefly chat with the NHL/Hockey/LA Kings’/Finnish/Hall of Fame Legend while he was in Toronto in support of the Hall of Fame Inductions of two other talented players Mr. Kurri played with in Anaheim, (and in Teemu’s case, with him on the Finnish National Team), Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya.
(Kurri talking strategy with 2017 Hall of Fame Inductees Paul Kariya & Teemu Selanne at the Hall of Fame Legends Game in Toronto)
After playing in Edmonton for 10 seasons, and then playing a year in Italy with HC Devils Milano (not Alyssa), you signed with the Los Angeles Kings and was reunited with some old friends and teammates like Wayne Gretzky and Marty McSorley. Why did you choose to play in LA instead of back in Edmonton or to anywhere else?
Oh, to play with Wayne again. Wayne Gretzky was the reason why I went to LA. The hockey in California was growing after Gretzky was sent to Los Angeles and I knew I’d have a great time there with their great fans. And playing with Wayne again was fun and easy. It was like no years had passed since we last played together. We picked it up right away again. And you’re in Southern California, I mean, it’s a great place to play.
(photo credit to kings.nhl.com)
The Kings finally won the Cup in 2012 and then did it again in 2014, as someone who was a part of that 1993 playoff run with the Kings that went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, what feelings and thoughts did you have when you saw that franchise finally win it all?
I was so happy, I was so, so happy. I mean, some people ask me what my toughest memory of my career was and it was losing to Montreal, and [the] three overtimes, coming so close, we really wanted to see how crazy LA would be if we won. So they being able to win that Cup twice now, and see how happy LA was, it made me feel really good and happy for the fans and for the organization. For them to have hockey for so many years, it was deserved.
You had also played with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and there you played with Paul Kariya and with your fellow countryman from Finland, Teemu Selanne, who you also played with internationally. What are your thoughts and feelings about them both getting inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this weekend?
I am happy for them. Selanne, I think his career was unbelievable. For him to be able to play that long and at the level of hockey for many years, for the NHL and for international hockey, I know this is a really special weekend for him. I went to Anaheim and I made a lot of friendships there including Paul, and we had a lot of fun and we played some really good hockey. It’s good to see them both have this special weekend and be appreciated for their careers. It’s so good to see and I am happy for them.
(Kurri, the Captain of the World Legends team against his former Oilers’ teammate and Captain of the Canadian Legends team, Mark Messier at the 2017 Hockey Hall of Fame Legends game)
*Special thanks to Jari Kurri, Bob Stellick, Craig Mills, Ryan Cowley, Mario Hicks, Theresa Walsh Duarte and the Hockey Hall of Fame for their contributions to this article.
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