Esa Tikkanen—Super Pest

Every championship team needs a player who pesters his opponents. A player who can get a rise out of the most even-headed players and draw the opposition into stupid penalties.

In Esa Tikkanen, the Oilers had arguably the best pest that ever played the game. Although hated on the ice, Tikkanen was a true character in the dressing room; his personally concocted pidgin of Finnish and English confused everyone from compatriot Jari Kurri to his Canadian-born teammates.

Although the Oilers selected him as a defensive-minded forward, Tikkanen became a fan favourite as one of the Oilers clutch scorers. He scored five playoff winning goals, including the famous Game 7 overtime winner at Calgary’ Saddledome in 1991. His 436 career points ranked him seventh on the Oilers all-time list as of 2003.

Tikkanen, a heralded Finnish junior star, spent time as a teen playing junior hockey in Saskatchewan. In 1983, the Oilers drafted "Tikk" in the fourth round of the draft. Still in Europe, he did not return to North America right away, choosing instead to play in the Finnish Elite League. In 1985, after the Finnish national team had ended its springtime run in the World Championships, Tikkanen signed with the Oilers and arrived in time to participate in three playoff games and hoist the Stanley Cup. He spent most of the 1985-86 campaign with the Oilers’ minor-league team in Nova Scotia. After the Oilers’ had lost to the Flames in the 1986 playoffs, he was inserted alongside Kurri and Gretzky to add some grit to the Oilers’ top line. Tikkanen's role was to act as defensive cover for the two offensive dynamos. Over the next two seasons, Tikkanen would earn 152 points, 273 penalty minutes and finish with a +65 rating. The Finnish national team noted his success and selected him for the 1987 Canada Cup. That same season, he played for the NHL All-Star team that faced the Soviet National side in the Rendezvous series.

Tikkanen never lost his effectiveness after Gretzky was traded in 1988. He relished the pressure of having to produce more offence for the team, and raised his level of play. He had arguably his finest run of games in the 1990 playoffs, as the Oilers won the Cup for the fifth time (Tikkanen’s fourth ring). He registered 24 points in just 22 games.

The Oilers traded Tikkanen to the Rangers on March 17, 1993, in exchange for young American prospect Doug Weight.  Tikkanen faced his old Oiler teammates in his first-ever game as a Ranger and even though the Blueshirts lost out in the 1993 playoffs, Tikkanen played a key part of the team’s Stanley Cup win in 1994. He left the Rangers the next season, and then became a journeyman. Over the next seven years, he spent time with the St. Louis Blues, New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers (again), Florida Panthers, Washington Capitals (who lost the Cup final in 1998 to the Detroit Red Wings), HIFK Helsinki, Jokerit Helsinki and Essen of the German league. Tikkanen even tried to make a comeback with the Oilers late in his career by coming to their training camp.  He never made the team, and in 2001, he hung up his skates for good.  He ended his career with 630 points in 877 career NHL games and five Stanley Cups.

Despite spending much of his career in North America, Tikkanen never lost touch with his homeland. He played for Finland in five World Championships, two Canada Cups, the 1998 Olympics and three World Junior tournaments.

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