Teemu Selanne reveals former Jets GM Mike Smith threatened his wife
Photo credit: DEFA
On a recent edition of the Spittin' Chiclets podcast, NHL legend Teemu Selanne revealed that former Winnipeg Jets GM Mike Smith threatened him and his girlfriend.
Teemu Selanne is by all accounts, a true NHL legend. Selanne is regarded as hockey's best-ever Finnish goal-scorer, having recorded 684 in 1451 career games, the twelfth-most of all time. Understandably, years after winning his Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017.
However, despite his impressive production rate, he still faced pushback as a player for not doing enough. In a recent interview with Paul Bissonette on the Spittin Chiclets Podcast, Selanne shared that in his mind-boggling 76-goal rookie NHL season with the Winnipeg Jets, GM Mike Smith threatened him with a demotion to their farm team in Moncton. Selanne had already recorded 47 goals by that point in the season but caught two consecutive pointless games.
" It was funny story because I had forty-seven goals. There's two games I didn't score, and Mike Smith called me in his office and he said 'What are you doing?' and I said 'What do you mean?' 'You haven't scored two games,' I said 'Yeah, I did have some chances, but you�' 'No, you got to start scoring. Otherwise, I have to send you to Moncton in the farm team.' I'm like, ' I have forty-seven goals.'"
However, Smith took this threat beyond his office. After Selanne had left for the day, his wife and then-girlfriend, shared that the former Jets GM had met her in the mall and dealt her with the same threat.
"So then I go home and my girlfriend at the time, wife now, but she came home and said 'You have no idea what happened. I'm in the mall. Your GM Mike came there and� he didn't even say anything. He came to me and asked 'Do you know where's Moncton?'' I was like 'Jesus, I can't believe this.'"
Fortunately, Selanne was able to kick his game up into high gear, going on to break Mike Bossy's goal record. Naturally, he stated that he is pretty sure that Mike Smith took credit for this uptick that later resulted in a 132-point rookie season,
"Then we have two games left before we went to like five or six on the road., and all the fans and media said 'You know [you're] going to probably break Mike Bossy's record on the road.' So then we played Minnesota. I scored four goals, so now I have 51 goals. Still, he needs a hat trick to break the record. So then, I broke the record at home. I got three goals in the next game. So then, Mike Smith probably thinks that it was because of him, you know?"
Though Mike Smith likely stepped outside of appropriate bounds, there is no doubt Teemu Selanne had one of the best rookie seasons in NHL history. Now, he has a Stanley Cup, a place in the Hall of Fame, and a great story from Winnipeg to share for the rest of his life.
Source: House of Hockey
Teemu Selanne details crazy story with former Jets GM and his wife
Teemu Selanne details crazy story with former Jets GM and his wife
| POLL | ||
7 AOUT | 85 ANSWERS Teemu Selanne reveals former Jets GM Mike Smith threatened his wife Did Mike Smith step out of line with this threat to Teemu Selanne and his girlfriend? | ||
| Yes | 72 | 84.7 % |
| No | 13 | 15.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
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