Selanne Trade Adds Insult to Injury

The Mighty Ducks’ trade for Teemu Selanne has left two jilted cities in its wake--Winnipeg, the frigid outpost where he became a star, and Phoenix, the Sunbelt city where he was supposed to sell the game of hockey next season.

Selanne was already being promoted in Phoenix as the new team’s marquee player. Now he’s history, and people had hardly learned to pronounce his name.

“I was shocked,” said Gary Narinyan, a serious hockey fan who is a salesman at a sports apparel store in Phoenix. “I was like, how stupid can these people get? You don’t trade Selanne for Oleg Tverdovsky, who is going to be a good player one day. Not at this moment, when you’re moving to a new city and starting a new franchise. You need scorers, an offensive attack, so people will say, ‘Oh, look at this, look at that.’ ”

Winnipeg fans were going to have Selanne for only a few more months anyway, but in a city that was already losing its team, it felt as if the last shred was being torn away.

“THE FINNISHED FLASH,” proclaimed the tabloid Winnipeg Sun, with a huge picture of Selanne waving goodbye. “Mood is glum in Jetsville.”

“This was a trade for the future,” hockey writer Ed Willes said. “The problem is, there’s no future for the Winnipeg Jets.”

Kelly Moore, the play-by-play announcer for CJOB radio, said the Jets’ flagship station got 100-125 calls about the trade, 80-85% against the trade.

“The whole town’s really upset,” Moore said. “They feel that this is the final season, and whatever positive aspect there was for this final two months has been taken away with the trade of Selanne.

“It tends to get emotional because he is such a class act. He’s probably the most unassuming superstar in pro sports today. If he was a jerk or not approachable, fans might not be nearly as emotional.”

Winnipeg still has two offensive stars in Keith Tkachuk and Alexei Zhamnov. But the youngsters from the Ducks, Tverdovsky and center Chad Kilger, won’t hit their prime until after the team has flown south.

“It makes it a difficult situation for Kilger and Tverdovsky, heaven forbid if the Jets fall flat on their faces,” Moore said. “These two kids might have to weather pretty tough times.”

Jet President Barry Shenkarow denied theories that the deal was the idea of new Phoenix owners Richard Burke and Stephen Gluckstern. But unhappy fans in both cities had their doubts.

“I’m just curious now if the owners know about hockey,” Narinyan said. “It was like Detroit letting go of Sergei Fedorov and bringing in Tverdovsky, or Vancouver letting go of Pavel Bure. I think it was a very, very, foolish move.”