Aalto Is Starting to Develop an Act of His Own

He’s the Mighty Ducks’ other Finn. The one who isn’t a laugh riot.

Antti Aalto tries, though. He attempted a joke about his teammate and road roommate, Teemu Selanne. As a favor to Aalto, there is no need to repeat it.

On the other hand, there’s Selanne . . .

“The first time I saw Antti, I thought, ‘Here’s a little overweight Finnish kid,’ ” Selanne said.

Rim shot, please.

Selanne, though, looked across the dressing room to Aalto and dropped the schtick.

“He has improved so much,” Selanne said. “Last year, he was watching and looking, not reacting all the time. This year, he knows exactly what to do and he wants more responsibility.”

So what if Aalto doesn’t have Selanne’s hockey skills, or talent for the quick quip? What he does have is a 6-foot-2, 210-pound body that he throws around the rink.

Players buzzing around the net? Aalto can usually be found there. An opposing player gets crunched into the boards? Aalto often is seen skating from the scene.

Those are things that serve him well on the ice.

“He uses his size pretty well,” Duck Coach Craig Hartsburg said. “He’s a young guy and he has a long ways to go. But he’s certainly made some good strides this year.”

A year ago, Aalto was playing out of position at right wing. He had three goals and eight points in 73 games.

This season, the 24-year-old Aalto was moved back to center and has five goals and 10 points in 37 games.

OK, so that is usually only a couple weeks’ work for Selanne.

Aalto contributes in other ways.

“I have to clean up the room,” Aalto said. “He doesn’t pick up after himself.”

Not bad.

“They pay me to look after Antti,” Selanne said. “The first year and a half, I had to look after Paul [Kariya]. Now it’s Antti. Life is full of changes.”

Better.

Establishing Himself

Aalto missed 16 games with a strained ligament in his left elbow and was cleared to return on Jan. 13. Four games later, he whipped a shot into the upper corner of the net a little more than a minute into the third period against Dallas.

It tied the score, 1-1.

It ended a Duck scoreless streak that had reached 128 minutes 56 seconds.

It started the Ducks toward a 3-1 victory, ending an 0-15-1 streak when trailing after two periods.

Each, a small step.

“Antti’s goal this year was to help us win more rather than just being a guy in the lineup,” Hartsburg said. “He’s been more assertive and played with a lot more confidence.

“Last year, he played hard, finished his checks and was pretty good along the boards. But he was coming into the league and just trying to earn a spot. Now, he skates more with the puck and does more things.”

Aalto has had a tutor for that, even if the guy doesn’t make his bed.

“Teemu helps me if I have some problems,” Aalto said. “I always ask him questions. On the road, we can speak our own language. He tells me who hits hard and all that stuff.”

Their relationship has been strong since Aalto came to the Ducks as a rookie in 1997. The two had met once in Finland.

His first NHL point? An assist on a Stu Grimson goal. What are the odds on that? In 11 seasons, Grimson has 13 goals.

Selanne has taken Aalto into his Orange County home during training camp the past two years. It wasn’t so much to help him with the hockey as it was to help him adjust to the United States.

“Stuff like what you needed to live and cars,” Selanne said. “When you come here, it’s important to keep your focus on hockey and not worry about the other things.”

So Selanne must have plenty of Aalto stories, right?

“Ones I can tell?” Selanne said . . . then paused for 30 seconds. “Nope, he’s a pretty boring guy.”

Striving to Improve

The first month of the season, the Boring Guy centered the Ducks’ most consistent line.

“I had to learn what type of player they wanted me to be,” Aalto said. “They want me to be a good defensive center, play a good checking line and get the other teams tired.”

Teamed with left wing Mike Leclerc and right wing Ladislav Kohn, they did just that, harassing the opposing team’s top line. As a bonus, they produced some offense.

Aalto’s line had the game-winner, a Leclerc goal, in a 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay on Oct. 15. They had three goals, two by Leclerc and one by Aalto, in a 7-1 victory over Washington on Oct. 19.

The only thing that slowed them was injuries. Leclerc had elbow surgery in late October. Aalto, who had surgery on his right elbow in 1997, injured his left one on Dec. 4.

True, Aalto has been far from perfect since his return. His turnover against San Jose led to a costly goal by Tony Granato on Jan. 22. But the upsides are more evident.

Aalto’s pivot-and-fire power-play goal gave the Ducks a 2-0 lead against Pittsburgh on Jan. 29. The Ducks won, 7-1.

“He’s still learning things centermen need to do in this league, like faceoffs,” Hartsburg said. “But I think he’s on the right track to be a real solid player for a long time.”

Just like his roommate?

“He has improved a lot from last season, but he can be better,” Selanne said. “He has to stay hungry. He can’t be satisfied with where he is at right now.”

Watch and Learn

Aalto dreamed about playing in the NHL ever since he was a kid.

“I was a big Edmonton fan,” Aalto said. Sure, Finland’s Jari Kurri was a star for the Oilers when Aalto was growing up.

“No, Gretzky,” Aalto said. “I still have a big poster of him at my parents’ house. I spent seven hours every day skating and practicing. When I was 8, I told my mom that I was going to play in the NHL. She just laughed.”

The chuckling stopped when the Ducks made Aalto a sixth-round draft pick in 1993. Of course, his parents shouldn’t have doubted. What Aalto wants, he almost wills into reality.

“The first time I ever went skating was with my dad when I was 3,” Aalto said. “I thought everything was easy. Of course, I fell down as soon as I stepped on the ice. I stood in the snow and watched other people for three hours. I jumped back on the ice and started skating. Pretty amazing, but that’s how it happened.”

Coming from Selanne, you’d doubt that one. Coming from Aalto?

“Well, it could have happened that way,” Selanne said.