Jari Kurri

Jari Pekka Kurri (born 18 May 1960) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player.

Taking advantage of this information, the Oilers waited until the fourth round before selecting Kurri with the 69th overall pick.

Kurri remains regarded as one of the greatest "steals" in the history of the NHL draft.

When Kurri joined the Oilers, he was soon paired with Wayne Gretzky.

Kurri and Gretzky became one of the most prolific scoring duos ever to play in the NHL.

Despite not always playing on the same line, Gretzky assisted on 364 of Kurri's 601 career goals, while Kurri had an assist on 196 Gretzky goals.

During his career in Edmonton, he was nicknamed the "Finnish Flash" (a title since bestowed on Teemu Selänne).

Kurri was "by far our most complete player", according to Oilers' director of personnel Barry Fraser.

Although Kurri never won the Selke Trophy, he was regarded as one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL.

Alongside Kurri, Esa Tikkanen and Gretzky, Edmonton had future hall-of-famers Paul Coffey, Grant Fuhr, Glenn Anderson and Mark Messier.

The team won four Stanley Cups during Gretzky's tenure.

After an eleven-point rookie season for Jokerit in 1977–78, Kurri scored 30 and 39 points the next two years, playing all 33 games in each season.

The Oilers, who had joined the NHL after the WHA merged following the 1978-79 season, had closely tracked Kurri's career after watching him play in Edmonton.

They made discreet inquiries to the Finnish government and were able to determine that Kurri had already fulfilled his military service obligations.

On March 20, 1979, in a game of seemingly minor consequence at the time, Kurri accompanied the Finnish national team to play in Edmonton, Alberta.

The Finns had been invited by the World Hockey Association to play the WHA-leading Edmonton Oilers - while essentially an exhibition game for the Finnish team, the WHA counted the game in its standings.

Finland lost the game 8-4, nevertheless Kurri impressed Oilers' management.

His performance in Edmonton that night would have a profound impact on his later career.

Beginning in 1980, he played right wing for five National Hockey League (NHL) teams: the Edmonton Oilers, the Los Angeles Kings, the New York Rangers, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and the Colorado Avalanche.

After his third professional season, Kurri was eligible for the 1980 NHL Entry Draft.

However, he was also widely believed to still be liable for military service in NHL circles, and thus was ignored by most NHL teams.

He scored five goals in a single game, on November 19, 1983.

Kurri won five Stanley Cups, all with Edmonton (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1990).

In 1984–85 he had 135 points and scored 50 goals in his first 50 games; however, his 50th game was the Oilers' 53rd game so it does not count as an official 50 goals in 50 games.

A year later, he led the league in goals with 68.

In 1984–85 Kurri set a record for goals by a right winger when he scored 71, which was broken by Brett Hull when he scored 72 goals in 1989–90 (Hull's 86 goals in 1990–91 is the current record).

He won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy in 1985, and was the NHL goal scoring leader in the 1985–86 season.

Kurri's jersey # 17 was retired by the Edmonton Oilers and Jokerit.

Kurri's 19 goals in the 1985 post-season (18 games played) tied an NHL record set by the Flyers' Reggie Leach in the 1976 playoffs (16 games played).

Those 19 goals included four hat tricks, a still-standing record in a playoff season.

Kurri scored three of the hat tricks against the Blackhawks in the conference finals, also a feat that no player has ever equaled.

Kurri also scored the Stanley Cup winning goal in game seven against the Philadelphia Flyers in 1987.

In 1988, Gretzky was traded, along with team enforcer Marty McSorley, to the Los Angeles Kings.

Following Gretzky's trade, Kurri recorded 195 points in 154 games, leading the Oilers to their fifth and last Stanley Cup in 1990.

Internationally, Kurri played on the Finland men's national ice hockey team, and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2000.

Kurri played 17 seasons in the NHL and was the first Finnish player to be enshrined into the Hockey Hall of Fame, in 2001.

He was a member of a Stanley Cup–winning team five times, all with the Oilers.

In 2017, Kurri was named one of the '100 Greatest NHL Players' in history.

Since 2019, Kurri is the general manager and owner of Jokerit.

He began his pro career with Jokerit in the Finnish SM-liiga.