Jari Kurri

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Position	Right Wing
Shoots	Right
Height Weight	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 198 lb (90 kg)
NHL Team F. Teams	Retired Edmonton Oilers Los Angeles Kings New York Rangers Anaheim Mighty Ducks Colorado Avalanche Jokerit (SM-Liiga) HC Milano Vipers (Serie A)
Nationality	Finland
Born	May 18, 1960, Helsinki, FIN
NHL Draft	69th overall, 1980 Edmonton Oilers
Pro Career	1977 – 1998

Jari Pekka Kurri (born May 18, 1960, in Helsinki, Finland) is a retired Finnish professional ice hockey right winger. He is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. During his career in the NHL he played for the Edmonton Oilers, L.A. Kings, New York Rangers, Colorado Avalanche and Anaheim Mighty Ducks.

He began his pro career with Jokerit in the Finnish SM-liiga, played his first nine and a half NHL seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, and was then traded to the Los Angeles Kings where he was reunited with Wayne Gretzky. He was traded to the New York Rangers in 1996, where he played for a half season. He was then dealt to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim where he played for 1 season, before finally signing with the Colorado Avalanche, where he would play 1 season.

Kurri won five Stanley Cups, all with Edmonton (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, and 1990). His best season was 1984-85 when he had 135 points and scored 50 goals in his first 50 games, however his 50th game was the Oilers' 53rd game so it does not count as an official 50 goals in 50 games. A year later, he would lead the league in goals with 68. In 1984-85 Kurri set a record for right wingers in goals when he scored 71 goals. The record lasted for five years and was broken by "The Golden Brett" Hull when he scored 72 goals in 1989-90 (Hull's 86 goals in 1990-91 is the current record).

Kurri's 19 goals in the 1985 post-season (18 games played) tied an NHL record set by the Philadelphia Flyers' Reggie Leach in the 1976 playoffs (16 games played). He also had four hat tricks in the conference finals, another feat that no player has ever equaled.

During his tenure in Edmonton, he was nicknamed the "Finnish Flash" (a title since usurped by Teemu Selänne). While he was definitely a very talented player, Kurri was helped by the fact that he often played with Gretzky (every 5th goal Gretzky scored was assisted by Kurri, while he assisted on 60% of Kurri's goals). Kurri was often the recipient of Gretzky's passes, but he turned chances into goals with his brilliant finishing ability. Kurri was not a lone sniper; he was "by far our most complete player" according to Oilers' director of personnel Barry Fraser. Although Kurri never won the Selke Trophy, he was regarded as one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL.

Although past his prime when he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings, he still had a strong postseason which helped the team make the Stanley Cup finals for the first time.

He is the first Finn to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. His 1398 points are 18th all-time, and the second highest among Europeans behind Jaromir Jagr. He is 14th in all-time goals with 601. He is the second leading scorer in Oiler history, with 1,043 points in 754 games, behind only Gretzky. His #17 is retired by the Oilers and the Finnish national men's ice hockey team.

Olympic medal record
Men's Ice Hockey
Bronze	1998 Nagano	Finland

He has a trophy named after him in the SM-liiga, the Jari Kurri trophy. Kurri is currently the General Manager of the Finnish national men's ice hockey team. He married former Miss Finland, Vanessa Kurri, née Forsman, in 2004; they have two daughters, Odessa and Alissa. Kurri also has twin boys (Joonas and Ville) from his first marriage to Tiina Kurri. Gretzky is the godfather to Kurri's children — not surprising, as during their prime in Edmonton, Kurri was always closest to Gretzky, who himself has always been the first to acknowledge his teammates for their success, and frequently fed Kurri goal opportunities. Coming from "The Great One", the compliment "Jari and I see the game the same way"^{[citation needed]} is very generous.

But just once, even Kurri forgot how Gretzky could fool people. The major source of proof for this comes from the 1998 NHL All-Star Game, when Kurri played for the World Team (players born outside North America), against Gretzky (now with the New York Rangers) and another former Oiler teammate, Mark Messier (Vancouver Canucks). Kurri's defensive game had by now become his primary contribution and he was now with the Colorado Avalanche.

Even while "The Spicy Finn" scored a goal, Gretzky managed to neutralize it by slipping a pass by Kurri to Messier, where the "Moose" sealed the game for the North American Team. “Wayne still fools even me,” laughed Kurri afterward. “I told him at the face-off: ‘I back-check all those years for you, and that's how you treat me?’”^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Achievements 2 Career statistics 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Achievements

• 1978- European Junior Hockey Championship All-Star Team
• 1978- Named best forward at the European Junior Hockey Championship
• 1983- Played in NHL All-Star Game
• 1984- NHL Second All-Star Team
• 1985- Lady Byng Memorial Trophy
• 1985- NHL First All-Star Team
• 1985- Played in NHL All-Star Game
• 1986- NHL Second All-Star Team
• 1986- Played in NHL All-Star Game
• 1987- NHL First All-Star Team
• 1988- Played in NHL All-Star Game
• 1989- NHL Second All-Star Team
• 1989- Played in NHL All-Star Game
• 1990- Played in NHL All-Star Game
• 1991- World Hockey Championship All-Star Team
• 1993- Played in NHL All-Star Game
• 1994- World Hockey Championship All-Star Team
• 1998- Played in NHL All-Star Game: World Team (players born outside North America)
• 1998 - Ranked number 50 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players, the highest-ranking Scandianvian player.
• 2001- First Finn inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame

[edit] Career statistics

				Regular Season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1977-78	Jokerit	SM-liiga		29	2	9	11	12		6	1	7	8	2
1978-79	Jokerit	SM-liiga		33	16	14	30	12		--	--	--	--	--
1979-80	Jokerit	SM-liiga		33	23	16	39	22		--	--	--	--	--
1980-81	Edmonton	NHL		75	32	43	75	40		9	5	7	12	4
1981-82	Edmonton	NHL		71	32	54	86	32		5	2	5	7	10
1982-83	Edmonton	NHL		80	45	59	104	22		16	8	15	23	8
1983-84	Edmonton	NHL		64	52	61	113	14		19	14	14	28	13
1984-85	Edmonton	NHL		73	71	64	135	30		18	19	12	31	6
1985-86	Edmonton	NHL		78	68	63	131	22		10	2	10	12	4
1986-87	Edmonton	NHL		79	54	54	108	41		21	15	10	25	20
1987-88	Edmonton	NHL		80	43	53	96	30		19	14	17	31	12
1988-89	Edmonton	NHL		76	44	58	102	69		7	3	5	8	6
1989-90	Edmonton	NHL		78	33	60	93	48		22	10	15	25	18
1990-91	HC Milano	Italy		30	27	48	75	6		10	10	12	22	2
1991-92	Los Angeles	NHL		73	23	27	50	24		4	1	2	3	4
1992-93	Los Angeles	NHL		82	27	60	87	38		24	9	8	17	12
1993-94	Los Angeles	NHL		81	31	46	77	48		--	--	--	--	--
1994-95	Jokerit	SM-liiga		20	10	9	19	10		--	--	--	--	--
	Los Angeles	NHL		38	10	19	29	24		--	--	--	--	--
1995-96	Los Angeles	NHL		57	17	23	40	37		--	--	--	--	--
	NY Rangers	NHL		14	1	4	5	2		11	3	5	8	2
1996-97	Anaheim	NHL		82	13	22	35	12		11	1	2	3	4
1997-98	Colorado	NHL		70	5	17	22	12		4	0	0	0	0
NHL Totals				1251	601	797	1398	545		200	106	127	233	123

[edit] See also

• List of NHL players
• 50 goals in 50 games
• List of members of the Hockey Hall of Fame
• Hockey Hall of Fame
• List of NHL statistical leaders
• List of NHL seasons
• List of NHL players with 1000 points
• List of NHL players with 500 goals

[edit] External links

• Video: Gretzky to Kurri
• Gretzky to Coffey to Kurri
• Jari Kurri player page in Hockey Hall of Fame
• Jari Kurri at nhlfinns.com

Preceded by: Wayne Gretzky	NHL Goal Leader 1986	Succeeded by: Wayne Gretzky
Preceded by: Mike Bossy	Winner of the Lady Byng Trophy 1985	Succeeded by: Mike Bossy