Teemu Selanne is ready to give it one more go.
The 42-year-old winger signed a one-year contract with the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday worth $4.5 million, returning to the Ducks for his 19th NHL season.
Selanne scored 20 goals and handed out 46 assists last season, and his 66 points were tops on a Ducks team that went 34-36-2. Head coach Randy Carlyle was fired 24 games into the season and replaced by former Washington Capitals bench boss Bruce Boudreau. In 1341 games with the Ducks, San Jose Sharks, Colorado Avalanche and the original Winnipeg Jets, Selanne has 663 goals and 743 assists, ranking him second among active players in goals and points behind newly-signed Dallas Stars winger Jaromir Jagr.
Re-signing Selanne certainly makes sense for Anaheim. Not only was he the Ducks' leading scorer last season, but he's an institution in Anaheim. Twelve of his 19 NHL seasons have seen him suit up for the Ducks, both during his initial run with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and his second act with the de-Disneyfied Anaheim Ducks, which saw him hoist the Stanley Cup in 2007 after posting 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in 21 playoff games. Anaheim, meanwhile, is at a crossroads: they've missed the playoffs in two of their last three seasons, fired their Stanley Cup-winning coach, and are considering trading Bobby Ryan, their No. 2 goal-scorer last season. It's certainly a good time to have an enduring face of the franchise like Selanne around in southern California. If new Ducks are coming in, he's a great example to learn from, and even if the Ducks struggle again in 2012-13, he'll still be an attraction as he pushes his name up further on the all-time goals list, where he currently sits 12th and has Jagr, Luc Robitaille, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman and Mark Messier in his sights.
At the moment, though, Selanne isn't in California. He's in Italy, where he took time out from a vacation to speak to reporters on a conference call. However, come the fall, he'll be right where he belongs: with the rest of the Ducks at the Pond.
