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Avalanche
make splash, sign Kariya & Selanne
July 5, 2003 - By David Smith
Denver, CO
(AZ) -- The Avalanche made the biggest splash of the free
agent period, and in the process reunited one of hockey's
most dynamic duos of the 1990's. Thursday, the team
announced it had reached one-year contract agreements with left wing Paul Kariya and right wing
Temmu Selanne. The two played together in Anaheim for six
seasons from 1996 to 2001.
The bold move gives the
Avalanche the most impressive group of top six forwards in
the entire NHL. Taking out youngster Alex Tanguay for a
second, the five men have recorded seven 50 goal seasons
and eleven 100 point campaigns.
The transaction is sending
shockwaves through the entire league, it's not so much of
a shock that Kariya and Selanne would want to play in
Denver, but has more to due with how much, or rather how
little the duo signed for. Kariya is under contract for a
paltry $1.2 million dollars, Selanne got a pretty
respectable $5.8 million dollars. The combined total for both
players is $1.5 million
less than goaltender Patrick Roy would've made had he
not retired, and $3 million less than Kariya's 2002-03
salary.
"When we both became free agents, we made a
hockey decision," Kariya told reports at a news
conference. "We both said, 'Forget about the money,
where's the place we want to play?' And Colorado jumped
out at both of us immediately. So we made things work
monetarily."
The signings are a definite shift from the philosophy of
management to not sign high-profile unrestricted free
agents. Perhaps the reason for the change was simply that
it was Kariya and Selanne's (Joe Sakic and Peter
Forsberg's, too) agent Don Baizley who approached general manager
Pierre Lacroix with the idea, and the fact that they were willing to take
significant pay cuts to sign with the Avalanche.
"When Paul became a free agent also, it was like automatic
that we wanted to play together somewhere," Selanne said
via satellite hookup from Espoo, Finland. "The first
choice was Colorado right away. We were dreaming to play
together, but we didn't know if it was going to be
possible."
Kariya, the Ducks' franchise player
in its 10-year history, totaled 25 goals and 56 assists in
82 games last season and helped Anaheim reach the Stanley
Cup Finals. He has recorded 300 goals and 369 assists in
606 NHL games.
Selanne registered 28 goals and 36
assists in 82 games for the Sharks. He broke into the NHL
with the Winnipeg Jets in 1992-93, when he scored 76 goals
and won the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year. Selanne,
a native of Helsinki, Finland, has totaled 436 goals and
483 assists in 801 career games.
"When I was made unrestricted, I spoke to Teemu and we
talked about what would be the best situation for us
hockeywise, taking out everything else. Both of us (said)
Colorado instantaneously," Kariya said. "It's nothing
against Anaheim. It's a hockey decision that we wanted to
come here."
Kariya
and Selanne
played together in
Anaheim for six seasons from 1996 to 2001. During those
six seasons the duo combined for a staggering 335 goals,
and 379 assists. That was without an elite center to
support them, with the Avalanche they'll likely have Joe
Sakic as a linemate, not bad eh?
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