TAMPERE, Finland -- Jari Kurri walked in carrying the Stanley Cup with Queen's "We are the Champions" playing over the sound system. It was a fitting welcome for the five-time Stanley Cup champion to the ceremony honoring him as the second recipient of the Borje Salming Courage Award.
The award is presented by the NHL Alumni Association to the Europe-born NHL alum who has been a positive influence in their community and best embodies Salming's legacy of courage, bravery and dedication on and off the ice. Retired Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom was the first to receive it last season.
Kurri won it not only for being one of the best NHL players from Finland, but also the role he played helping pave the way for others from his country, like Salming once did for all European players.
"It's a great honor to receive this award named for Borje Salming," Kurri said at the ceremony at Tampere City Hall. "We all know what he did for hockey not only for Swedish players but European players. During the '70s, we don't really know what was expected of him. He endured the players. He had to fight night after night, go through battle, abuse.
"Players tried to take advantage of him because he was from Europe, and he had to earn the respect from the League and from the players and he did that for so many years and made it for today's players much easier to jump to the NHL."
Salming died Nov. 24, 2022, after battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The native of Kiruna, Sweden, signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs on May 12, 1973, and became the first player born and trained in Europe to play 1,000 NHL games on Jan. 4, 1988. The defenseman was also the first NHL player from Europe to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame with the Class of 1996.
"I didn't have a chance to play with Borje, but I met him many times," Kurri said prior to dropping the puck for the ceremonial face-off before the Florida Panthers defeated the Dallas Stars 4-2 at Nokia Arena on Saturday to sweep the 2024 NHL Global Series Finland presented by Fastenal. "Very classy guy. Always a smiling face, fun to be around. … He was a warrior, and this award means a lot for me."
Kurri, a forward, became the first Finland-born player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001. The 64-year-old Helsinki native played 17 seasons (1980-98) for the Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and Colorado Avalanche and finished his NHL career with 1,398 points (601 goals, 797 assists) in 1,251 regular-season games. At the time, Kurri had the most points by a player born and trained in Europe.
A longtime linemate of Wayne Gretzky, Kurri played his first 10 NHL seasons with Edmonton, which selected him in the fourth round (No. 69) of the 1980 NHL Draft. He had six 100-point seasons and four 50-goal seasons with the Oilers, including an NHL career-high 71 goals in 1984-85, and helped them win the Stanley Cup in 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1990.
Kurri remains third in NHL history with 233 points (106 goals, 127 assists) in 200 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He played in the NHL All-Star Game eight times, representing Colorado in his final season in 1998, and won the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship, gentlemanly conduct and playing ability in 1985.
"I think the more important elements of this award, the Borje Salming Courage Award, are his attributes," NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. "Jari was humble, is humble, is hard working and is conscientious and that goes into how he played the game every night. He's earned the respect of everybody in hockey."
More than 65 NHL alumni from Finland attended the ceremony with dignitaries such as President of Finland Alexander Stubb, Tampere mayor Kalervo Kummola, Deputy Commissioner Daly, NHL Players' Association senior director of international strategy and growth Rob Zepp and NHL Alumni Association executive director Glenn Healy.
Congratulatory messages from Gretzky, former Oilers defenseman Kevin Lowe and former Oilers coach and general manager Glen Sather were also played on a video screen.
Stubb was a surprise last-minute guest, arriving directly from the airport after returning from a trip to China.
"It's a great honor to be present at an event where Jari gets commemorated," Stubb said. "I remember when I was a young kid, when I was an aspiring NHL player (in 1978), I came from one of our junior matches to the Helsinki arena and I think that was the year when Finland won its first European (junior) championship and Jari was a big part of that team. … When I grew up, of course, Jari was one of our big heroes."
Healy called Kurri "arguably the best Finnish player who's ever put skates on." In addition to scoring the double-overtime goal against the Soviet Union to give Finland its first gold medal at the European Junior championship in 1978, Kurri helped Finland win its first medal (silver) at the 1980 IIHF World Junior Championship.
A 2000 inductee into the IIHF Hall of Fame, Kurri represented Finland in the IIHF World Championship four times (1982 1989, 1991, 1994), the Canada Cup three times (1981, 1987, 1991), the Olympics twice (1980 and 1998) and the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
"He's a big, big part of Finnish hockey," said Esa Tikkanen, Kurri's former Oilers' teammate and, like him, a five-time Cup winner. "He was the first (Finnish player) to score 500 goals. After that, you had players like Jaromir Jagr from [Czechia] coming into the League. Jari paved the way for all of us. He gave us a one-way ticket.
"Today, many Finnish players and European players say, 'Thank you, Jari Kurri.'"
