My admittedly long-shot dream of having Teemu Selanne end his career where it began has gone up in smoke.
With the Jets signing RW Blake Wheeler via salary arbitration, there's no room on the depth chart for the Finnish Flash. Selanne, 41, broke Mike Bossy's rookie goal scoring record when he broke into the league with Winnipeg.
The top two slots on Winnipeg's right wing are now filled by Wheeler and Nik Antropov. Wheeler's numbers are dwarfed by the Duck great:
SELANNE
Goals: 31
Assists: 49
Points: 80
Power play goals: 16
WHEELER
Goals: 18
Assists: 26
Points: 44
Power play goals: 0
Granted, Wheeler has many more NHL years to come. Selanne had considered retirement after helping the Ducks to their Stanley Cup win in 2007. He's now contemplating his future with the Ducks, and may not return for the 2011-12 season.
Selanne in Blue and Red was always going to be a long shot. But how terrific it would have been to have him play with 1300th NHL game in Jets colours.
And perhaps see that machine-gun celebration one more time.
