He finished that season and one other with the North Stars before heading back to Europe, having posted 14 goals and 82 points in 290 NHL games. Siren didn't get to see those memorable squads, though, as he was traded to Minnesota in December 1988. The squad had a young star named Mario Lemieux, though, and would slowly but surely start to build its way to Stanley Cup wins in 1991 and '92.
He arrived in Pittsburgh not to play for a dynasty but on a team that finished 10th in the 11-team Prince of Wales Conference. "It's pretty much everybody's dream to play in the NHL," Siren said. Still, crossing the Atlantic to play in the best league in the world was something Siren had circled. The Penguins would add Swedish wing Willy Lindstrom that season as well, but of the top 20 scorers on the squad, those were the only two Europeans 16 were Canadian, with other two Americans. By the start of that 1985-86 season, his rights had been traded from Hartford to Pittsburgh, and when he arrived in the Steel City, he was the only European on the roster. Siren played three total seasons on the blue line with Ilves and skated in the 1984 Olympics before he headed to North America. Eight Finns were taken in that 1983 draft, all in the first seven rounds of what was then an 11-round affair.
There weren't a ton of Finns in the NHL at the time - the first NHL great from the country, Edmonton star Jari Kurri, debuted in 1981 with the Oilers - but the floodgates of Europeans crossing the Atlantic to come to the North American ranks were starting to open.
#Pins easton hours pro
He's relentless in doing that." A Life in HockeyĪ native of Tampere, Finland, Siren began his pro hockey career during the 1982-83 season with Ilves in his hometown, and at the end of his first year with the club, he was chosen in the second round of the 1983 NHL Draft by the Hartford Whalers. I know I can trust 100 percent that Ville is always going to do the work. "We're always going to make mistakes in scouting, and as long as we do our work and do our due diligence and watch the games don't take any shortcuts, if we make a mistake, so be it. "He doesn't leave any stones unturned," Kekalainen said of the former NHL defenseman. Rookies Kent Johnson (2021 draft) and Kirill Marchenko (2018) are coming off breakout seasons, Cole Sillinger (2021) has already spent two seasons in the NHL, David Jiricek (2022) had an All-Star season at the AHL level, and a bevy of other youngsters have helped Columbus put together one of the top prospect pipelines in the game.Īnd as Siren gets set to captain the ship for his 10th draft with the Blue Jackets, general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said there's no one else he'd rather have leading the way.
The reality is, though, that the Blue Jackets have done a solid job in recent seasons when it comes to handling the draft. READ MORE: CBJ draft hub | Get to Pins Easton for the draft party There's a lot of moving parts before they make it to the NHL if they make it." It's very challenging because we are looking at 17- and 18-year-old guys. "Because let's say if two players each draft make it to the NHL, then we did a really good job. "We are more wrong than we are right," Siren said. But, as Siren is aware, it doesn't always work out that way.
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