Five Questions with Teemu Selanne

NHL.com's Q&A feature called "Five Questions With ..." runs every Tuesday. We talk to key figures in the game and ask them questions to gain insight into their lives, careers and the latest news.

The latest edition features Teemu Selanne, who retired in 2014 after playing 21 NHL seasons. The Finnish Flash won the Stanley Cup with the Anaheim Ducks in 2007 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2017, the same year he was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players during the League's centennial celebrations.

Teemu Selanne has found ways to remain busy while much of the world is in a holding pattern, dividing his attention between his family, his business and hockey.

With the NHL season paused since March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, Selanne's family is together in Southern California. He said he and his wife, Sirpa, have enjoyed having their four children, Eemil, 24, Eetu, 22, Leevi, 20, and Veera, 12, around home.

"They are back, but you might see them for half an hour, one hour a day," he said. "They come and go, but they are back at home. Family time is good."

Selanne, who turns 50 on July 3, is also trying to keep an eye on his restaurant business, Selanne Steak Tavern in nearby Laguna Beach, California. Founded in 2013, the restaurant has been accepting only takeout orders during the pandemic.

"Hopefully our restaurant can be (fully) open by the end of this month," Selanne said. "We're hoping. I think it's time."

The Finnish Flash played 21 seasons for the Winnipeg Jets, Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks and Colorado Avalanche, scoring 1,457 points (684 goals, 773 assists) in 1,451 games.

He won the Calder Trophy voted the NHL rookie of the year with the Jets in 1992-93, when he set NHL rookie records with 76 goals (tied for the League lead with Alexander Mogilny of the Buffalo Sabres) and 132 points. Selanne then tied for the NHL lead with 52 goals in 1997-98 (Peter Bondra, Washington Capitals) and led the League with 47 in 1998-99, each time with the Ducks

Selanne, who won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication in 2005-06, scored 88 points (44 goals, 44 assists) in 130 Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Here are Five Questions with ... Teemu Selanne:

It's been six years since you retired. Will you be ready to accept a hockey job anytime soon?

"I'm hearing lots about that. And now that (former Jets teammate) Dallas Eakins is coaching the Ducks and he lives close to where I live and we see him all the time, he's anxious to get me involved in things. I have been waiting for the time that I get the feel I want to get back and I don't want go if that's 50 percent. It's a big commitment. So far, I've been quite selfish about my time and I thought I'd maybe take a couple of years off and play golf and tennis and that would be more than enough, and then I would start thinking about doing something. But you know what, I haven't gotten that feel yet. I think as long as it's this way, I don't believe I will do much. I keep hearing that, 'Hey, you can decide and you don't have to do much and come when you want.' I think [Eakins] wants to suck me in. All or not, that's how I feel. I'll really, really enjoy it if I were to go a little. I know that for a fact and it would be fun, but life in retirement has been fun, so I don't know if I compromise. [My family] is happy I'm home. There are a lot of things to do with them. I know coaching is a huge commitment. They spend more time in the rink now than ever. I'm not ready for that."

Games from the past have been front and center recently, rebroadcast in many places. Have you been watching any of these classic games?

"The only ones we're seeing here are a lot of Ducks games, 2007, the (Stanley Cup) Final and the first playoff series ever against Phoenix (1997). But it's really interesting, especially when you go back to the '90s, because people keep telling me how much faster the game is today and I don't really know how much faster it is. I think the third and fourth lines are for sure better than they used to be but I think the first and second lines, I don't think there's much difference, to be honest. And how much tougher the game was physically, all that holding and traffic … you had to earn your space. It's a totally different era and I think back then it was way harder to play. My opinion."

Have you been reliving the day you won the Stanley Cup with the Ducks?

"I was so excited about that day. The whole playoffs, it was hard for me to sleep because you're so focused and you just can't wait to get to the rink. And then after the games, it's tough to go to sleep because you're so fired up. The night before that Game 5, it was so hard to fall asleep, just thinking about tomorrow and having the chance to make some history as a hockey player. I don't know how many hours I slept because it was so on my mind. And I've always said this, that the hardest thing was waiting on game days. They were long days and sometimes you wished the games would come a little bit quicker. That day was a long day. But we had the confidence. We were up 3-1 in the series and we had the confidence it was going to happen. The locker room was a bit quiet before but you felt that the guys were ready. It was a good feeling. And to be honest, that game was weird. There were weird goals. I remember they made it 3-2, we were only ahead by one now, and Ottawa had the puck and it turned into an own goal. You don't see those very often. So it's 4-2 and then we didn't look back. We got it to 5-2 early in the third and you could almost enjoy it as it was going. It didn't need a big push for all 60 minutes and I know in the last five minutes, I didn't even want to get out there. I just wanted to enjoy it, look around, enjoy my teammates, but (coach Randy) Carlyle just kept putting me out there. It's a pretty funny memory right now. Especially because the whole thing was pretty special and we were really trying to enjoy every second of it."

There's hope that the NHL will be able to restart the season at some point. How difficult will this be for the players to come back after the pause and get quickly into playoff mode?

"It's going to be tough for players, but everybody wants to finish the season somehow. But even if they start in August, I think most players will have the attitude, 'Whatever it takes.' And I think it will be kind of weird playing. I watched the UFC a couple of weeks ago when it was on in an empty building. That's going to be weird for hockey. People have no idea how much energy the fans bring to a building. So the game will be a bit different that way, something else the players and teams will have to deal with."

During your retirement, you've said staying active includes a lot of golf and tennis. How are your games these days?

"Golf, I hadn't been playing too much but slowly I'm getting back to it. My tennis has been really, really good. I've been playing almost every day with my 12-year-old (Veera) and she's getting pretty good. Right now, as we speak, we're practicing every day. She doesn't beat me yet but she's getting closer. She hits the ball as well as I do. Her mistakes are different than mine and I move a little better and my service is a little better, of course, but her groundstroke, she hits a lot of better strokes than I do. I can still beat her."