Esa Tikkanen - a unique player

[Jumptheshark]

Wayne Gretzky took time out of his calendar to say hi to the American team in Junior goodwill games. Returning a favour?

Pens in 91 were the first nhl team to go.

 

[Albatros]

Wayne Gretzky took time out of his calendar to say hi to the American team in Junior goodwill games. Returning a favour?

Gretzky actually got to go as Reagan invited the NHL All-Star Game teams when the game took place in Washington.

 

[karhukissa]

There is so much wrong with this post. But besides a Canadian team visiting the white house, why was Ford hanging around the joint?


FYI. The Pens were the first hockey team to go

As far as i understood from Tikkanen's tiki-talk Finnish, it was some kind of a golf event. They played golf first and then they had some kind of a cocktail event in the white house. Afterwards Tiki also saw some kinda golden eagle statue where was Gerald Ford's name and he realized that he was a president not a car salesman.

But he also said that it was after his first stanley cup win during offseason.

 

[Jussi]

Funniest comment comes from Kurri. A player came up to Kurri and asked what Esa was saying. Kurri replies " no idea, it's not Finnish". The player responded "it's not English.. what language is it?" Kurri goes " no idea. But if you figure it out let me know"

During the '93 Worlds in Germany, Tikkanen said in a taxi he took with other players: "hey, this German language is pretty easy, just mix Swedish and English and you're good."

 

[JackSlater]

Pens in 91 were the first nhl team to go.

The Islanders went to the white house with the Stanley Cup.

 

[Albatros]

The Islanders went to the white house with the Stanley Cup.

Only the team leadership group though. Bush invited the entire Penguins team but not everyone attended, Barrasso with his family got a private meeting with the President.

 

[Fourier]

I would take that with more than a grain of salt as Canadian teams such as the Oilers never visited the White House.

The story, which may well be false, (who knows), but it is from a Palm Springs golf event well after Ford's term was over. But it is not at all inconsistent with the player.

 

[mattihp]

Pens in 91 were the first nhl team to go.

https://cdn.quotesgram.com/img/10/56/344353382-12cc7102fc4ff772f668598103edc9cf.jpg

 

[FerrisRox]

Goon - not a fighter. Dirty as F, and plays on the edge. Marchand would be something close, but Tikkanen was on a whole other level with his Tiki-talk. Not even Finns would understand his Finglish on the ice.

A goon in hockey is only good at one thing and it's not hockey.

Tikkanen was never anything close to approaching being a goon.

 

[FerrisRox]

Bobby Clarke would just chop around with his stick and then hide behind the big boys of his team. A bitch for sure, though not sure how much of an achievement that was even compared to the likes of Claude Lemieux.

I agree with you. Bobby Clarke's "toughness" is grossly over-rated around here and if he was drafted by say, the St. Louis Blues instead of the Flyers his legend would be a lot smaller. He needed the protection he was provided in order to play the way he did, but really he was just a talented offensive player who was allowed to be dirty as hell because he was heavily insulated by much bigger, stronger, tougher players.

 

[Hockey Stathead]

Tikkanen has the highest career Selke vote % for a player who never actually won the award.

 

[SML2]

Ya never visited the White House, but Gerald Ford did hang out with the Oilers, and got Stanley cup rings.

Has any U.S. President in history loved hockey?

Even though each U.S. President welcomes the Stanley Cup champion to the White House, it doesn't necessarily mean there has been a hockey fan among them. Has there ever been a hockey fan residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., or have the hockey lovers been shutout?

thehockeynews.com

Are you sure about this? Gerald Ford

He really can't speak any language properly, other than tiki-talk. He also said that after 84-85 Stanley Cup win he met the ex-president Gerald Ford in the White House and tried to buy a mustang from him because he thought he was a car salesman. Oilers owner at that time said to Kurri that "Jari take Tiki out of here".

What was Gerald Ford doing in the White House in 1985? The guy was done being President in 1977.

 

[mattihp]

Are you sure about this? Gerald Ford

What was Gerald Ford doing in the White House in 1985? The guy was done being President in 1977.

It does Ay ex-president. Was he there to kick back?

 

[Golden_Jet]

Are you sure about this? Gerald Ford

What was Gerald Ford doing in the White House in 1985? The guy was done being President in 1977.

Lmfao dude , are you drunk.

You even quoted, where I said he never visited the White House.

Then I provided a link with proof he wasn’t.

Obviously you didn’t read what I wrote or what was in the link.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

if you made a tikkanen vs marchand poll, probably most people would probably take marchand because scoring race placements and “he played on gretzky’s line”

but i would take tik all day long. him vs gretzky in 1990 and 91 are all time performances. if only the oilers would have had more in the tank in 91 and 92 because i would have loved to see tikkanen vs peak mario.

 

[golfortennis]

if you made a tikkanen vs marchand poll, probably most people would probably take marchand because scoring race placements and “he played on gretzky’s line”

but i would take tik all day long. him vs gretzky in 1990 and 91 are all time performances. if only the oilers would have had more in the tank in 91 and 92 because i would have loved to see tikkanen vs peak mario.

One of Tikkanen's big selling points for me is the fact there is no known record of him ever licking another player.

 

[The Panther]

if you made a tikkanen vs marchand poll, probably most people would probably take marchand because scoring race placements and “he played on gretzky’s line”

I hope not. He played on Gretzky's line for only two seasons, neither of which was his offensive peak season.

 

[crobro]

I’m sure this will stir up some laughs but…

Those 40 games he played for Vancouver after successful knee surgery was a sight to behold,he was scoring,Running the point on the power play as good if not better than Reinhart.it must of been a flash in the pan thing for Esa but that back h as ld of the season he might of been the most COMPLETE player in the league.

Next year and onward he sucked

 

[TomppaKoo]

Has there ever been another player like him?
- Goon
- Trashtalker/Tiki-talk is a legend among players
- Defensively elite
- Used to take out the best opponents and effective at it
- Contributed on the scoresheet too

877gp 244g 386a 640p 1077pmin

Playoffs:
186gp 72g 60a 132p 275pmin

4x selke finalist
5x Stanley Cup

Gretzky named Tikkanen the most annoying player to play against.

Here is an extract from Tikkanen interview from Oilers - Kings series 89-90 - funny stuff.

- My job was to keep a clean sheet and score goals myself. That year, everything worked (in the series, Tikkanen's results were 4+0 and Gretzky's results were 1+0). Tikkanen's duty was crystal clear.

Tikkanen played practically all of Gretzky's shifts in the series. Finally, Gretzky lost his nerve in his overcoat.

- Gretzky tried to fool me by going for a change and suddenly jumping back into the game when I went for a change. However, it didn't work, and soon I was next to Gretzky again. That's when Gretzky blacked out, and he hit me in the head with a club.

- Well, the referee saw that and gave Gretzky two minutes. Well, it took almost a minute of PP until Tikkanen had his hands up as a sign of a goal. When Gretzky came off the ice, I told him: "Nice job Wayne!"

- In the next exchange (Kings' tough guy and Tikkanen's old teammate from Edmonton) Marty McSorley came to say: "Hey, do not bully Wayne anymore", Tikkanen laughs.

After that series, however, Tikkanen was like dead to Gretzky.

- I don't know what I did to it. I did try to be Gretzky's friend (off the court) myself, but he didn't even say hello for me for probably five years after that series.

 

[popo]

I’m sure this will stir up some laughs but…

Those 40 games he played for Vancouver after successful knee surgery was a sight to behold,he was scoring,Running the point on the power play as good if not better than Reinhart.it must of been a flash in the pan thing for Esa but that back h as ld of the season he might of been the most COMPLETE player in the league.

Next year and onward he sucked

Tikkanen played the point a bit on the PP in Edmonton as well. Not in the Gretzky years, but the 90-93 range.
Pretty versatile guy who could do it all - PK, PP, first line, checking line... Score, shadow, agitate, skate, hustle, and be a leader.

My one critique might be that he was often like a PeeWee player and just tried to do it all himself. He liked the carry the puck, and was capable with it, so got away without using his linemates as much. For stretches him and Petr Klima played together, which was not a great match - two guys who wanted to do it all themselves.

 

[karhukissa]

Are you sure about this? Gerald Ford

What was Gerald Ford doing in the White House in 1985? The guy was done being President in 1977.

I double checked it from another interview Tikkanen gave, so it wasn't a white house it was Ford's personal apartment. They were hanging out in Palm Springs with Oilers then owner Peter Pocklington and playing golf and Ford was there too. Later they went to Ford's apartment where he saw statue which said he was a president and not a car salesman.

Tikkanen was in the White House later with the Rangers.

 

[quietbruinfan]

Fwiw, I would absolutely take prime Tikkanen over prime Marchand. Oddly, Tik was much more disciplined about line changes, and avoiding giveaways when possible.

 

[EpochLink]

Loved Tikkanen, super pest but an effective player. Clutch as well, always there for the big moments.

 

[CrosbyIsKing87]

Tikkanen was not a goon. He was an agitator. Big difference. An agitator hovered around the border between clean and dirty and trash talked all game. A goon just beat the crap out of people. Tikkanen could skate and keep up with the star players and check (re: interfere consistently) with them the whole game. Then he could also screw a huge goal. He was pretty unique BUT he couldn't do that crap in today's NHL with the rules changes. Sometimes he would literally have his stick up underneath a guys arm or between his legs for 15-20 seconds. Total interference.