Teemu Selanne is skating but has yet to make the “biggest decision of my career,” he said to Iltalehti, a newspaper in his native Finland.
Selanne, who turned 43 on July 3, is an unrestricted free agent and hasn’t determined if he will return for a 22nd season in the NHL. He had 12 goals and 24 points in 46 games for the Anaheim Ducks in 2012-13.
“This is the biggest decision of my career. I have three options,” Selanne said to Iltalehti, which was translated by NHL.fin correspondent Risto Pakarinen. “It’s up to me, if I feel like it, I can focus on golf.”
Anaheim general manager Bob Murray told NHL.com he will welcome Selanne’s return to the Ducks if the likely Hall of Fame member is “100 percent sure he wants to play.” Selanne has spent the past eight seasons with Anaheim, winning the Stanley Cup with the Ducks in 2007, and has crafted one of the greatest late-career runs in League history.
Selanne has scored 69 goals since turning 40 in 2010, which is second all-time to Gordie Howe. Selanne’s 31 goals and 80 points in 2011-12 represent the third-best season by a 40-year-old.
“I’m healthy, which is a good thing,” said Selanne, who skated four times per week in July with his sons. “I don’t do any running anymore, or play tennis, so I’ve skated a lot more this summer.”
Selanne’s options include returning to the Ducks, signing with another NHL team, return to Finland to play a season in SM-liiga (which would almost certainly mean playing for Jokerit in Helsinki given his ties to the franchise), or retiring, which would make him a virtual lock for the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2016.
If he continues to play, Selanne would seem a sure thing to make Finland’s entry at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Selanne is arguably the most decorated player at the international level in the history of the sport.
He has 66 goals and 131 points in 124 games in a Suomi sweater, including 37 points and three medals for Finland in five appearances at the Winter Olympics.
“I’m interested in the Sochi Olympics,” Selanne said.
