THN Archive: Super-Pest Esa Tikkanen Had Terrific Career in NHL, Europe

When it comes to Finnish hockey players, there aren’t many more famous than Esa Tikkanen. 

In this feature story from THN’s Nov. 18, 1994 edition – Vol. 48, Issue 10 – THN writer Mark Brender put together a terrific profile of Tikkanen, who was on his third NHL team, the St. Louis Blues, at the time. This look into Tikkanen in the Finnish league also came during the 1994-95 NHL lockout that lasted until Jan. 11, 1995. 

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Tikkanen wasn’t a shy player by any stretch, often chirping at his opponents game in and game out. Even his own team admitted they knew the abrasive effect he had on the ice.

“His mouth never rests.” Frank Moberg, GM of the Finnish league’s HIFK team – the team Tikkanen often played on – said of Tikkanen. “He’s a showman.”

Tikkanen was 29 years old at the time the story was published, and even at that later stage of his career, he impressed just about everyone who watched him perform as a force with the puck and an agitator away from it.

“He has got all kinds left,” Blues coach Mike Keenan told Brender. “Esa is really a very important member of any hockey club because he has a great deal of hockey intelligence, first of all, and he’s very adaptable to different situations.”

“I think he’s underrated as a player and overrated as an antagonistic, yapping player,” added Vancouver Canucks forward Tim Hunter. “People tend to blow the other stuff out of proportion.”

Vol. 48, No. 10, Nov. 18, 1994

By Mark Brender

Back home in Helsinki, Esa Tikkanen says he is making compromises for the good of the game. He has taken a vow of silence.

To hear him tell it, the only chatter coming from the NHL’s biggest needier these days is the crunch of his skate blades on European ice.

Just following rules, Tikkanen explains. Flapping tongues aren’t permitted in Finland.

“Oh, no,” says the left winger for the St. Louis Blues/HIFK, “you’re not allowed to do that.”

The thought of Tikkanen skating with his mouth closed would rank among the strangest outcomes of the NHL’s season of strife.

Others see it a little differently. HIFK general manager Frank Moberg maintains Tikkanen’s larynx is getting a full workout every game.

“His mouth never rests.” Moberg says.

After five games, Tikkanen had three points and two minor penalties, one for roughing. “I just ran over him, hit him too hard.”

For his part, Moberg would like to see more points. “The crowd loves him, but he hasn’t been that effective,” Moberg says. “He’s a showman.”

The showman is simply happy to be playing, particularly with friends and family nearby to watch him perform. His mother and father both came to his first game against Jokerit and fellow NHL stars Teemu Selanne and Jari Kurri. After games he goes home and eats meals with his parents and stays at their home.

“Mom and Dad have been taking care of me,” he says. “Little boy again.

“The fans are unbelievable here, a full house (8,000 to 9,000) every night. It has been great.”

Weekend games in Finland begin at four o’clock in the afternoon at the Helsinki Ice Hall, where his father retired from a few years ago as caretaker, so nights are free for frolic. Weekday games start at 6:30 p.m.

Hundreds of kids line up for autographs after the game, some wearing shirts bearing his name (Selanne is the most popular hero). Some of his teammates are friends from childhood and the three years he played for HIFK before jumping to the Edmonton Oilers for the playoffs in 1985.

But a strange thing has happened over the past nine years. Helsinki is still his home, but it’s not home to his brand of hockey.

Wide ice surfaces and tight, inconsistent refereeing have forced him to back off on the physical play. “Figure skating hockey,” he calls it.

“It’s not like the NHL (where) you can just run everybody,” he says. “You have to be a little more careful of yourself. If you touch somebody and he falls down you get a penalty. It’s unbelievable.”

The only respite comes when playing against the NHLers on other teams. Nine were playing in Finland by the beginning of November, including Chicago Blackhawk Christian Ruuttu on HIFK.

Ruuttu was leading the NHL brigade with six points in five games.

“They let us play really hard (against each other), but a lot of teams don’t have NHL players. Referees are up and down, you don’t know what they’re going to call,” Tikkanen says.

Tikkanen, 29, still earns respect around the NHL by playing full steam ahead. He had 114 penalty minutes last year with the New York Rangers, his highest total since 1989-90.

But his value was put in question when he was sent from the Rangers to the St. Louis Blues along with Doug Lidster this past summer for Petr Nedved as part of the Mike Keenan compensation package.

Tikkanen’s skating and checking skills remain formidable and he has enjoyed Stanley Cup success with the Edmonton Oilers four times and the Rangers last season. He rebounded for 58 points last season after slumping to 28 and 40 points in the previous two.

Tikkanen has two years left on his contract, which he says might be his last. A retreat to the Finnish League is possible thereafter.

In the interim, it will be up to Keenan and the Blues to find out how much he has left.

“He has got all kinds left,” insists Keenan, who supported Tikkanen’s quest to play during the lockout. “Esa is really a very important member of any hockey club because he has a great deal of hockey intelligence, first of all, and he’s very adaptable to different situations.”

Vancouver Canuck forward Tim Hunter says Tikkanen - along with Mark Messier, Brian Leetch and Craig MacTavish - was one of the Rangers’ five best players in last year’s Stanley Cup final.

“I think he’s underrated as a player and overrated as an antagonistic, yapping player. People tend to blow the other stuff out of proportion,” Hunter says.

“I don’t pay that much attention to him out there. He’s Finnish and you can’t understand him when he’s talking.”

Meanwhile, Tikkanen talks twice a day to his Swedish wife, Lotta, who remains at home in Edmonton with their two daughters, seven-year-old Stephanie and three-year-old Sabrina until a December visit.

By then he will have started earning his HIFK salary, which only kicks in after the team recovers the $30,000 (U.S.) it paid for his insurance. “He’s not making a dime until we recover the expense he’s incurred for the club,” Moberg says.

Moberg wouldn’t say how much Tikkanen will earn, but he will receive a percentage of the gate revenue if attendance reaches a certain level.

Calgary Flames’ center Michael Nylander - skating with JyP HT Jyvaskyla - is the only NHLer playing particularly well in Finland, Moberg says, but they have all had an impact.

“Our other guys are doing even better. They don’t want to be in the shadow of these pros.”

Even so, Moberg is unsure whether allowing NHLers to play in the league was a wise decision. He worries about competitive balance once NHLers find their legs.

“If the fans love it it’s okay by me, but I don’t think it’s very fair,” he says.

Each team is allowed two imports, but native Finns such as Selanne, Kurri, Ruuttu and Tikkanen are exempt from the rule.

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