Esa Tikkanen was a go-to guy in so many ways for Glen Sather during a tenure that saw him win four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers — he’d score big goals, excel in a checking role and drive opponents to distraction because he’d never shut the hell up. Not so much if you were a reporter toting a notepad or a microphone in search of a juicy quote before deadline during the glory days of the Boys on the Bus.
What you got then was Tikky Talk, some kind of gibberish in-between Finnish and, well, I’m not really sure, that left scribes bewildered and even drew nods of disbelief from countrymen like Jari Kurri. Some examples of Tikkanese here and here. When it came to the universal language of hockey, though, the abrasive and talented Finn opponents called the Grate One had the jargon down pat. What a helluva player Tikkanen was.

Esa Tikkanen

Left Wing
Born Jan 25 1965 — Helsinki, Finland
Height 6.01 — Weight 200 [185 cm/91 kg]
Drafted by Edmonton Oilers
Round 4 #80 overall 1983 NHL Entry Draft

BY THE NUMBERS

Season
Age
Tm
GP
G
A
PTS
+/-
PIM
S
S%
Awards
1985-86
21
EDM
35
7
6
13
5
28
44
15.9
1986-87
22
EDM
76
34
44
78
44
120
126
27.0
AS-3
1987-88
23
EDM
80
23
51
74
21
153
142
16.2
1988-89
24
EDM
67
31
47
78
10
92
151
20.5
AS-5,Selke-2
1989-90
25
EDM
79
30
33
63
17
161
199
15.1
AS-10,Selke-3
1990-91
26
EDM
79
27
42
69
22
85
235
11.5
AS-4,Selke-2
1991-92
27
EDM
40
12
16
28
-8
44
117
10.3
1992-93
28
TOT
81
16
24
40
-24
94
202
7.9
1992-93
28
EDM
66
14
19
33
-11
76
162
8.6
1992-93
28
NYR
15
2
5
7
-13
18
40
5.0
1993-94
29
NYR
83
22
32
54
5
114
257
8.6
Selke-15
1994-95
30
STL
43
12
23
35
13
22
107
11.2
Selke-2
1995-96
31
TOT
58
14
30
44
1
36
95
14.7
1995-96
31
STL
11
1
4
5
1
18
19
5.3
1995-96
31
NJD
9
0
2
2
-6
4
15
0.0
1995-96
31
VAN
38
13
24
37
6
14
61
21.3
1996-97
32
TOT
76
13
17
30
-9
72
133
9.8
1996-97
32
VAN
62
12
15
27
-9
66
103
11.7
1996-97
32
NYR
14
1
2
3
0
6
30
3.3
1997-98
33
TOT
48
3
18
21
-11
18
67
4.5
1997-98
33
FLA
28
1
8
9
-7
16
34
2.9
1997-98
33
WSH
20
2
10
12
-4
2
33
6.1
1998-99
34
NYR
32
0
3
3
-5
38
25
0.0
8 yrs
EDM
522
178
258
436
100
759
1176
15.1
4 yrs
NYR
144
25
42
67
-13
176
352
7.1
2 yrs
STL
54
13
27
40
14
40
126
10.3
2 yrs
VAN
100
25
39
64
-3
80
164
15.2
1 yr
FLA
28
1
8
9
-7
16
34
2.9
1 yr
NJD
9
0
2
2
-6
4
15
0.0
1 yr
WSH
20
2
10
12
-4
2
33
6.1
Career
877
244
386
630
81
1077
1900
12.8

PLAYOFFS

Season
Age
Tm
GP
G
A
PTS
+/-
PIM
S
S%
1984-85
20
EDM
3
0
0
0
-1
2
3
0.0
1985-86
21
EDM
8
3
2
5
1
7
19
15.8
1986-87
22
EDM
21
7
2
9
1
22
39
17.9
1987-88
23
EDM
19
10
17
27
2
72
42
23.8
1988-89
24
EDM
7
1
3
4
-1
12
17
5.9
1989-90
25
EDM
22
13
11
24
12
26
54
24.1
1990-91
26
EDM
18
12
8
20
3
24
76
15.8
1991-92
27
EDM
16
5
3
8
-1
8
37
13.5
1993-94
29
NYR
23
4
4
8
1
34
56
7.1
1994-95
30
STL
7
2
2
4
-1
20
19
10.5
1995-96
31
VAN
6
3
2
5
-3
2
13
23.1
1996-97
32
NYR
15
9
3
12
2
26
45
20.0
1997-98
33
WSH
21
3
3
6
-2
20
23
13.0
Career
186
72
60
132
13
275
443
16.3

NOTABLE

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I’ve got to admit, the first time I tried to interview Tikkanen – it was a post-game scramble during the 1990 playoffs – I thought I was having a stroke because I didn’t understand a single word he said. All that was missing as I stood there looking befuddled was the smell of burnt coffee. A knowing grin from colleague Jim Matheson sent me elsewhere looking for something I could make sense of. I was not alone.
“He brings something special,” Wayne Gretzky once said of the unique language Tikkanen spoke. “I don’t know what it is, but if you ask him, you couldn’t understand his answer.” Or, as former teammate Craig MacTavish put it, “Esa talks twice as much as anybody else. That’s because you can understand just half what he says.” Watch Tikkanen play, though, and there was no confusion.
Put on left wing with Gretzky and Kurri when he first arrived in Edmonton from HIFK Helsinki, Tikkanen could play the game any way you wanted. During a stretch from 1986-87 to 1990-91, Tikkanen scored 30-or-more goals three times and at the same time finished among the top-three in voting for the Franke Selke Trophy as top defensive forward three times. He could score. For opposing forwards, he was a skating set of hand-cuffs – yapping handcuffs. Gretzky got a taste of that in the 1990 and 1991 playoffs after he was traded to Los Angeles. Tikky stayed closer to him out on the ice than when they played together.

THE STORY

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What made Tikkanen so special is that he always seemed to find another level in the post-season, when games matter most. In the 1988 playoffs, he had 27 points in 19 games. In the 1990 post-season, with Gretzky gone, Tikkanen had 24 points in 22 games as the Oilers won their fifth Cup. In 1991, he had 20 points in 18 games, including this Game 7 overtime goal to eliminate the Calgary Flames in the first round. Tikky was post-season money.
Tikkanen still holds the record for the fastest two shorthanded goals by one player in a single game – 12 seconds, against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1988. While Tikkanen never won the Selke Trophy, he was runner-up twice and finished in the top-five in voting four times. Tikkanen sits sixth in franchise playoff scoring with 97 points (he’s fifth in goals with 51).
In an era that would produce future HHOF players like Gretzky, Kurri, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson and Grant Fuhr, Tikkanen played well down the marquee when it came to being a big name. Still, he was always a force – a big goal, another opposing forward checked to a standstill, another opponent taking a penalty for punching him in the mouth because he just wouldn’t shut the hell up. There was always clarity in Tikkanen’s actions, if not his words. 
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.

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