Selanne Is Turning On the Jets

Right wing Teemu Selanne has scored an NHL-leading 30 goals in 37 games, which puts him one game ahead of his pace during his rookie-record 76-goal season with the Winnipeg Jets in 1992-93. He had 28 goals after 37 games as a rookie, then scored twice in his 38th game to reach 30.

In ‘92-93, he had 16 games with two goals or more. He already has nine multiple-goal games this season, including two three-goal games.

“He’s playing unbelievable,” left wing Paul Kariya said of Selanne, who has six goals and three assists during a five-game point streak. “He’s lighter. He’s healthier. So much of his game is speed. Having the strength back in his legs helps. If your knees hurt, you can’t shoot, you can’t skate.”

Selanne refuses to acknowledge it, but Kariya says his linemate was troubled by nagging knee pain for several seasons and also was slow to recover from a severed Achilles’ tendon, suffered as a member of the Jets in a Jan. 26, 1994, game against the Ducks.

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Winger Warren Rychel was among many players pleased the Ducks rebounded from Sunday’s 4-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks to defeat the Calgary Flames, 5-1, Monday.

“The guys responded pretty well after some pretty bad luck--well, not bad luck, but a bad performance,” Rychel said. “We had a good reason to have extra jump tonight.”

Center Mark Janssens put it this way: “Maybe we went back to basics and it worked. It’s Christmastime. You lose and you’re [ticked] off for three or four days. Now, we can start anew, take a little break and get refocused again.”

The Ducks didn’t practice Tuesday and don’t play again until starting a six-game trip Saturday at St. Louis.

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Coach Pierre Page hopes the Ducks can upgrade their roster by making trades, but he’s not counting on it. After all, only 13 players have changed teams in the NHL so far this season.

“Three weeks ago, we pretty much identified what we need to do,” Page said. “It seems a lot of teams are waiting for the summer [to make moves]. I think if you see teams that don’t re-sign three or four guys, then you’ll know [general managers] have been told to take care of their business [and trim payrolls].”