Top 100 Oilers: Jari Kurri (3)

Photo credit:NHL.com

6 years ago

Peanut butter and jelly. Bacon and eggs. Scotch and a fine cigar. Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri. Sure, either one is still damn good without the other, but put them together and now you’ve got something going on. Such was the case with the tandem of Gretzky and Kurri, his right winger, back when the Edmonton Oilers were getting that Boys on the Bus juggernaut rolling in the 1980s on the way to winning all those Stanley Cups.

From being something of an afterthought in the 1980 Entry Draft when he was selected in the fourth round, 69^th overall – during the days when many NHL scouts were still casting doubting glances at players from across the Atlantic – to a career that saw him inducted into the HHOF in 2001 as one of the best European players ever to cross the pond, Kurri was both magnificent and understated as Gretzky’s triggerman. They were so damn good together it almost wasn’t fair.

Jari Kurri

Right Wing — shoots R
Born May 18th, 1960 — Helsinki, Finland
Height 6.00 — Weight 190 [183 cm/86 kg]

Drafted by Edmonton Oilers

Round 4 #69 overall 1980 NHL Entry Draft

BY THE NUMBERS

Season	Age	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S	S%
1980-81	20	EDM	75	32	43	75	26	40	202	15.8
1981-82	21	EDM	71	32	54	86	38	32	211	15.2
1982-83	22	EDM	80	45	59	104	47	22	218	20.6
1983-84	23	EDM	64	52	61	113	38	14	194	26.8
1984-85	24	EDM	73	71	64	135	76	30	261	27.2
1985-86	25	EDM	78	68	63	131	45	22	236	28.8
1986-87	26	EDM	79	54	54	108	35	41	211	25.6
1987-88	27	EDM	80	43	53	96	25	30	207	20.8
1988-89	28	EDM	76	44	58	102	19	69	214	20.6
1989-90	29	EDM	78	33	60	93	18	48	201	16.4
1991-92	31	LAK	73	23	37	60	-24	24	167	13.8
1992-93	32	LAK	82	27	60	87	19	38	210	12.9
1993-94	33	LAK	81	31	46	77	-24	48	198	15.7
1994-95	34	LAK	38	10	19	29	-17	24	84	11.9
1995-96	35	TOT	71	18	27	45	-16	39	158	11.4
1995-96	35	LAK	57	17	23	40	-12	37	131	13.0
1995-96	35	NYR	14	1	4	5	-4	2	27	3.7
1996-97	36	MDA	82	13	22	35	-13	12	109	11.9
1997-98	37	COL	70	5	17	22	6	12	61	8.2
10 yrs		EDM	754	474	569	1043	367	348	2155	22.0
5 yrs		LAK	331	108	185	293	-58	171	790	13.7
1 yr		MDA	82	13	22	35	-13	12	109	11.9
1 yr		COL	70	5	17	22	6	12	61	8.2
1 yr		NYR	14	1	4	5	-4	2	27	3.7
Career			1251	601	797	1398	298	545	3142	19.1

PLAYOFFS

Season	Age	Tm	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	PIM	S	S%
1980-81	20	EDM	9	5	7	12	12	4	14	35.7
1981-82	21	EDM	5	2	5	7	2	10	10	20.0
1982-83	22	EDM	16	8	15	23	16	8	31	25.8
1983-84	23	EDM	19	14	14	28	9	13	60	23.3
1984-85	24	EDM	18	19	12	31	24	6	89	21.3
1985-86	25	EDM	10	2	10	12	1	4	25	8.0
1986-87	26	EDM	21	15	10	25	11	20	52	28.8
1987-88	27	EDM	19	14	17	31	15	12	57	24.6
1988-89	28	EDM	7	3	5	8	-2	6	17	17.6
1989-90	29	EDM	22	10	15	25	13	18	58	17.2
1991-92	31	LAK	4	1	2	3	1	4	10	10.0
1992-93	32	LAK	24	9	8	17	2	12	50	18.0
1995-96	35	NYR	11	3	5	8	-2	2	31	9.7
1996-97	36	MDA	11	1	2	3	2	4	18	5.6
1997-98	37	COL	4	0	0	0	-1	0	2	0.0
Career			200	106	127	233	103	123	524	20.2

AWARDS

1984-85 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy

NOTABLE

Failed to load video.

“Gretzky to Kurri . . . he scores!” How many times did Oilers’ fans hear Rod Phillips and others make that call during the glory years? On well over half of Kurri’s 601 career goals, it turned out. Gretzky assisted on 364 of Kurri’s red-light specials (with Edmonton and Los Angeles). There’s about 11 minutes of that right here. If there’s been a more lethal combination than No. 99 and No. 17 in the history of the NHL, I can’t think of it.

Kurri was a master at reading Gretzky, finding open ice and getting square to the puck so he could tee-up that trademark one-timer of his when the Great One drew defenders and eventually delivered the rubber. “Wayne and I were no secret, really,” said Kurri with his usual modesty. “He was a great passer and I liked to hit the holes and shoot the puck.” Sure. Everybody knew what Gretzky and Kurri were up to when they rushed up ice together. Doing anything about it was another matter completely. Good luck with that.

“What people tended to overlook was that to play with Gretz, a guy needed a lot of natural ability just to be able to read what he was going to do,” said teammate Kevin Lowe. “People just thought ‘Well, no wonder he scores. He’s out there with Gretzky all the time!’ Sorry, but it wasn’t that simple. Nobody could see a game, think a game, like Wayne. A lot of guys would get out there with him and just be totally lost. He was so far ahead of them. He wasn’t ahead of Jari. There were on the same wave-length.”

THE STORY

Failed to load video.

Kurri’s bread and butter, obviously, was putting the puck in the back of the net. He had four consecutive 50-plus goal seasons with the Oilers, with highs of 71 and 68 in that stretch. Then, there was the 1985 playoffs as Kurri ran amok – he scored 19 goals in 18 games to tie the NHL playoff mark set by Philadelphia’s Reggie Leach. That postseason, which culminated in Edmonton’s second Stanley Cup, included four Kurri hat-tricks.

What was sometimes overlooked because of all those goal celebrations was that Kurri was a terrific defensive player. His ability and willingness to take care of business at both ends of the ice and play a two-way game allowed Gretzky to roam as he pleased. Kurri finished in the top-five in voting for the Frank Selke Trophy four times (he was runner-up to Bobby Clarke in 1982-83 but he never won it). Big oversight there from where I sit.

While Kurri was at his very best in tandem with Gretzky, it’s worth noting that he didn’t exactly struggle to score in the two seasons he spent with the Oilers after Gretzky was sold to Los Angeles. In those 154 games, Kurri had 195 points, including 77 goals. Kurri had 25 points in 22 games in the 1990 playoffs as the Oilers won their fifth Cup before he rejoined Gretzky in Los Angeles. Kurri’s 1,043 regular season points as an Oiler is second only to Gretzky in franchise record books. What a player.

This series will look at the top 100 Edmonton Oilers from the NHL era 1979-80 to 2014-15, starting with 100 and working up.

PREVIOUSLY:

Nation Takes

Oilers Talk