The Career of Paul Kariya 

Without injuries he is 100% a top 100 player of all time, no debate.

Paul Kariya used to eat at my restaurant in Tustin. His wife Valerie and Paul are class acts. They always enjoyed talking even though I'm a Kings fan.

Kariya and Selanne were one of the most talented duos ever. I loved watching them play together.

OFF THE FLOOR ON THE BOARD!!

My favourite NHL player. I remember watching a piece on NHL Center Ice where they compared him and Selanne to Gretzky and Kurri. Definitely a stretch, but it is no denying that Paul and Teemu tore up the league in the late 90s.

absolute stud, without injuries, top 100 for sure.

He doesn’t just not remember game 6. He doesn’t remember game 7 or about 3 days after game 7.

Paul Kariya was the reason I wear 9. I was beyond excited when him and Selanne came to Colorado. I still have my no. 9 Kariya Avs hat. But I'll always remember him for that incredible interview he gave during the 2nd intermission of the Eden Hall game.

Diehard Ducks fan since i was a kid, I remember sobbing when Paul Kariya left the Ducks, but I am glad he is being welcomed back finally

One of my favourite players growing up.

That one year in Nashville is still a record for points and assists in a season.

My favorite Paul Kariya memory: I was 10 years old and my first ever hockey game I attended was Mighty Ducks of Anaheim vs. Ottawa Senators. The Ducks took it 4-1. Their fourth goal was an empty netter by Kariya. This goal also happens to have been his 100th career goal. I remember waiting for him where the fans wait for players to drive out. Every car that drove up the ramp I watched, waiting for his red Lexus. Some players stopped to sign things--Dave Karpa, Teemu Selanne, but the red Lexus drove right on by...

Black Bears fan here. I followed the ducks for years because of him. One of the greatest.

That Stevens hit was brutal.

Great Video, thanks for putting this together. Paul Kariya and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks are the biggest reason I became a hockey fan as a kid. My family knew little to nothing about hockey before I became interested in the sport. I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and my dad was a big Cubs/Bulls/Bears fan, but for whatever reason had little interest in hockey and didn't know much about the Blackhawks until I started playing. (The fact that the owner Bill Wirtz didn't televise Blackhawks home games in the 90's may be one of the reasons). Even though I was living near an Original 6 franchise, I ended up getting introduced to hockey by watching the Mighty Ducks Disney movies of all things when I was about 5 years old and asked my dad to sign me up to learn to play. Naturally, when I found out there was a Mighty Ducks NHL team they became my favorite. My heroes became Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, Steve Rucchin, and Guy Hebert. Amazed by his speed, I modeled my game after Kariya watching VHS tapes my dad recorded for me on the rare occasion the Ducks were on national TV (past my bedtime back then lol). I was a smaller kid but i thought if a guy Kariya's size could dominate in the NHL with his speed and quick release then I could too. My parents took me to the United Center to see my first NHL game (Chicago vs Anaheim) in the late 90s. Kariya had a goal and 2 assists, Selanne had 2 goals and an assist and I was in heaven. Once Selanne was traded to San Jose in 2001 and I started going to more Hawks games, I eventually became solely a Blackhawks fan and lost interest in the Ducks. I was ecstatic to see Kariya/Selanne together again in Colorado even though that didn't pan out. I was also really happy to see Kariya in the Finals in 03 ("Off the Floor on the Board") and Selanne win the Cup in 07, even though I was no longer a Ducks fan at that point given I had an original 6 franchise to root for in my own city and my heroes were no longer together on the team. I never got into the new Honda Center "Anaheim Ducks" but will never forget the old days and the team that introduced me to hockey. Agree with a lot of the comments here that without the injuries/concussions Kariya would easily be a top 100 player of all time.

Thanks for making this video. Paul Kariya was my boyhood idol and the reason I'm a Ducks fan today. Now that I'm an adult it's interesting to hear about all the contract issues he had and his reputation for being a greedy player. I was heart broken when he left Anaheim. I wish he would of spent his entire career as a Duck. I'll never forget Bobby Ryan wearing #9 for the Ducks and the absolute backlash he received from the fanbase who had grown up idolizing Kariya. He truly was the face of the franchise and anyone I run into who is a Ducks fan always says that they are a fan because of Paul Kariya. As young as I was, I remember the Gary Sutter cross check being criminal. He missed the Olympics in Japan which was horrible because he is of Japanese ancestry. That cross check took years off his career. Add the Scott Stevens hit and it's no wonder that his career ended so soon. My favourite Paul Kariya memory is him scoring after that hit, as well as every year at the All Star Game skills competition when he would just absolutely school whoever he was against in the puck relay race. His dynamic duo goals with Selanne will also live forever in the hearts of Mighty Ducks fans. Kariya was incredibly fast, had a great shot, an even better back hand, and was all around one of the most upstanding players in the league. I couldn't of picked a better role model growing up and am grateful to have witnessed his entire career whether he played for the Ducks or not. When I bought my 25th anniversary Ducks jersey, I made sure to get Kayiya on the back with the #9 and the C. He will forever be my favourite player. Jersey retirement and HOF well deserved!

He'll be next to Selänne up in the rafters until the end of times. Pretty poetic in my opinion.

Favorite Anaheim Ducks player of all time. Wish he had a very long healthy playing career, but still a hell of a career. Good amount of Ducks related content today.

I really love a lot of your videos but this has to be one of my favorites you’ve ever done. Still crazy to me that Kariya’s 85 point total has never been topped in Nashville. Maybe Forsberg finally tops it this year

My favourite player of all time! This is now my favourite video on your channel!

I’ve been waiting so long for this.

Kariya was suppose to have the same type of career as sakic. 1-2 cups, multiple 50 goal, 100 point seasons, couple of Hart, Art Ross etc trophies, 1500-1700 career points and could go down in the top 20 players all time. But everybody wanted to his head and hurt him

Sports Illustrated did a future stars story on him my junior year of high school, and I freaked looking at his 75 assists and 100 points in 39 games for Maine, and he didn't disappoint the next year as a rookie on a bad team. After Bure, he was my favorite non-Wing, and in '03 I was rooting for him and against the Devils to win. A lot of great memories watching Kariya.

He also won The Hobey Baker Award in 1993.

When they both signed in Colorado I thought that was going to be a surefire Cup team.

When I watched the interview when he says he does not remember one of the most famous moments in the history of the game I was stunned. Most people should be in my opinion!

It sucks that he never won a cup or got to 1000 games and points. Great career. Deserved Hall of Famer.

Kariya is the reason I started watching hockey.

He had great speed and flow, and his passing was unreal. Loved him with Salani, they had ridiculous chemistry.

I'll be there tommorow!!!!

One of my favorite players to watch. Number should have been retired a long time ago.

Him and selanne my 2 favourite players as a kid

989pts in 989 games, that's dope

great player, he was the guy that got me into hockey as a kid. I too (as a Pittsburgh native) have said that if Crosby isn't careful, his career will end up similar to Kariya's. Great skater, great skill set, bad timing for hits. Can you imagine if Kariya played in this era now?

He was just amazing one of my fave players ever

Paul Kariya was the mightiest duck of them all and one of my faviourite players growing up

Kariya was my all time favorite player and the very reason I got super into hockey and to this day massive Ducks fan living in Kentucky. So glad to see his number retired in Anaheim.

He was my favorite player from Anaheim in 2003 I was 17 and I wanted to watch game 6 so bad but my parents made me do homework so I ran to my friends house to watch it and me like everybody else was in shock by Stevens and the aftermath Kariya was one of my all time favorite players I wish he could have won a cup

Imagine paul kariya playing today in the speed era on a line with mcdavid or Crossby

One of the best LW to play the game. I'd definitely put him on my all-time team.

Kariya is a great guy. I was never a Ducks fan but I loved watching The Dynamic Duo back in the day. I have never seen 2 players with better chemistry with one another, the Sedin's included. And my 2nd favourite duo ever next to Lemieux and Jagr.

My favorite player of all time.

This legend and the finnish flash made me love the ducks

Paul Kariya is one of the most underrated players of all time. If he played in today's NHL he'd be regarded as one of the best of all time.

Nice video. Kariya was my favorite player growing up and what he had with Selanne was special. Suter made me despise Blackhawks, it killed me when Selanne got traded, what a roller coaster their cup run and off-season was, and him abandoning ship for chump change was pretty dedevastating. All in all, he was an amazing player that just had the bad luck of playing in the wrong era. No question he would dominate in today's NHL.

Kariya-Rucchin-Selanne line in Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey was my auto-pick!

Rucchin did a ton of the unheralded dirty work to allow Selanne and Kariya to work their magic. What an amazing run between those two. Kariya was born 10 years too late or 10 years too early.

Lived in Maine and watched him play against the best players in the country. He was always the best player on the ice.

One of my favourite players growing up. He also shares my birthday.

I'll never forget that goal he scored in game 6 (off the floor and on the board) and in the Gold Medal game of the 2002 Olympics. Iconic!

As a kid discovering hockey in Southern California. Paul was the reason I even started watching hockey. Weirdly enough I grew up a kings fan tho.

always one of my favorites growing up. total class act

I remember after he hit Kozlov [in the 1995 Final] and turned his helmet sideways so his nose was sticking out the earhole, every Detroit player started chirping,” said Tom Chorske, who arrived in New Jersey the same week as Stevens in 1991. “Scott looked down their bench and said, ‘I’m coming after you next. Then you. Then you,’ and he went down the line. “That was the kind of leader he was. He made you stand taller.” He legitimately put fear in the hearts of some of the best players in the league at that time and that is not something any other player could do consistently and Scott Stevens did it regularly

He came back after the Stevens hit and scored the biggest goal of his career.

I would become a fan just to have that jersey lol

I remember the 03/04 Avalanche. Unbelievable roster. Saw their season premiere on tv, 5 - 0 crushing win, thought they were gonna cruise their way to the Stanley cup.

Could we see some more Paul Kariya content this summer please?

@Shannon: Very few people knew about the whole Kariya giving Selanne money for scoring the game winning goal vs Anaheim the first time around and the response from Ducks fans afterwards to raise money for the player who scored the game winning goal (Sergei Fedorov) the next time the Ducks played the Avs. I am glad you looked into this along with the Kariya vs Bryan Murray contract negotiations that neither side moved an inch on. I feel that Kariya's story was kind of a sad one in the sense that smaller, skilled, players had a harder time playing in the NHL due to their lack of physicality. In a way, I somewhat still feel that way for some of our younger players (Terry and Zegras). You never know when a year/career ending injury is lurking right around the corner.

He was never quite the same after the Suter cheap shot. He was pretty amazing to watch. His legs were huge. He would battle big guys for the puck and come out with it. Fast,, super skilled. Both him and his brother played Jr hockey in the Okanogan. Injuries are part of the game, it just sucks that every one of those hits that eventually ended his career were cheap shots. He still had a good career.

You should do a video on the career of Scott Stevens. He is definitely the most infamous villain of my life time as an NHL fan, but also a unique talent who achieved a lot of great things in his career. My first memory of him was fighting Billy Smith when he was with the Capitals.

Backyard Hockey 2002 legend!

I was fortunate enough to be a freshman in college in New Hampshire the same year Kariya was a freshman at Maine. Was just amazing watching him how much better he was than everyone else even on his own team. We knew immediately he would be an NHL player and one of the best at that.

When murray let kariya go because of money, they then proceeded to pay a pretty fair amount in context, to Sergei Fedorov. With the talk of player "greed" now a days a video talking about those old Sakic (when he almost became a Ranger), and Fedorov in the late 90s (Detroit) contracts (don't recall Theo Fleury's, but I think it would have qualified) amongst others, would make for an interesting video just to have some context as to how much money guys used to get paid, particularly with the recent comments by one Mr. Shanahan.

Suter cross checks him in the throat but yeah blame Steven's for throwing a clean hit. Yes it was very unfortunate that Paul kariya was severely injured on the play but if you watch it in regular time it was less than 1 second when he got rid of the puck and Stevens had his elbow flat against his body follow through with the shoulder his skates were on the ice and you can't say was unnecessary it was a 3 to 1 hockey game in game 6 in the STANLEY CUP FINALS take no prisoners. Respect to kariya on an amazing career.

Kariya did all this mostly during the Dead Puck Era. Amazing.

Favourite player when I was a kid. Rookie card, tons of other cards, posters, everything. Too bad he missed out on 1000pts

He was a major reason why Nashville didn't move. The team was in the playoffs and interest was picking up. Brought Nashville out of the expansion dark ages

A very well deserved honour for him. Real shame he never got to crack the 1000/1000 mark, but without a doubt, take those concussions away and he'd have flown past it.

If paul was playing in today's nhl he would be top 5 in scoring every year.

With the salary cap and the opening up of the game post lockout, his career would have looked so much different if he played in this generation rather than the one he did. Imagine Kariya and teemu in their prime with no 2 line pass. Would have been bananas.

Can you do a career of Patrick Elias

Kariya gets lost in the legend-heavy 90s crowd, but there is no questioning his heart.

Great review! I would love a career review of Craig Janney

The Stevens hit was late as fuck, but Suter cross checking him in the head I think was worse. What a brutal career. Kariya was a phenomenal talent.

I have hockey card of Kariya with every team he played with

Loved him ! When he scored that scf goal after the hit by stevens i thgt they were gonna win it.

I've met Paul surfing in Huntington Beach a couple times. Cool guy. Not the greatest surfer for a bro athlete , but I been surfing since 5th grade

In the 1997-1998 season, the Mighty Ducks should've gotten a better enforcer to protect both Kariya & Selanne, Ruchinn....Brent Severyn, Peter LeBoutlier, were not good enough to take care of both Kariya & Selanne...Jaime Pushor, Drew Bannister, Warren Rychel, David Karpa, Jason Marshall, Jeremy Stevenson were ok skilled players, who could also fight.

Shannon you are completely off about Selanne's contract with Colorado, it wasn't for around $1M, it was for $5.8M. You also completely left out the reason Kariya signed for just $1.2M, it wasn't out of the goodness of his heart, it was a smart plan, but one that didn't work out. First off Kariya and Selanne had the same agent as Sakic and Forsberg, and Kariya's low salary was for a reason, and not simply because "he didn't need the money". You are correct that he became as UFA because Murray didn't give him a qualifying offer (which had to be 85%, not 100% of his previous season's salary, if memory serves), but if he signed short term with another team he would end up in the same situation he was in with Anahiem, he'd end up a RFA, and surely with a lower salary, and therefore a lower, more reasonable qualifying offer, one that would surely be offered to him as well. Or he could sign long term somewhere, but not likely for the dollars he felt he was worth. Well, there was a way around that. If he signed a 1 year deal, and made less than the league average salary, he would end up as a UFA. By signing in Colorado, with his old pal and the high offensive power the Avs already had, he thought for sure he'd challenge his career bests, and could then parlay that into a big, fat contract. He took a gamble that didn't pay off like he expected, but I think more often than not, it would have.

damn players were making 10 million in the early 2000s? i didnt think that was possible only a handful of players are getting paid 10 million now. I remember seeing payrolls in the early 2000 and tkachuk getting 11 million dollars with the blues and that was before the 04 lockout. I wish there was more information on salaries before the 04 lockout and could compare them to now.

My first favorite player

I think in todays, fast paste hockey, paul kariya would dominate in this new era

You should do a pavel bure one =)

You say that he would have stayed a Duck but if you look at last off season we saw at least 3 big name talent changing teams. Karlsson, Travares for examples,

Kariya's Kariya. Pretty good.

I really want this guys jersey

Wait...I picked Buffalo to win on Paul Kariya retirement night?! *mixed feelings* *can't go back on it now*

holy crap kariya must be the richest NHL player of all-time #chching #$$$

I've never heard this about giving money to the guy who scores against your former team - Good colour comm!

2003-04 was also the year Gary Payton and Karl Malone joined the Lakers and they were thought to be super stacked. They at least made the Finals though.

On the board off the floor Paul Kariya

as much as its a small detail, when they both signed with avs, teemu's contract was 5.8 million, not around 1 million like kariya. which i always thought was cool that kariya was willing to take so much less to try and win, you don't see that these days.

“Off the floor, on the board, Paul Kariya!” The Suter hit ruined his career, far worse than the Stevens hit.

Will you be wearing a canucks jersey tonight!?

Thankyou for the hochey history lesson. Basicly, I think all good players in any sport are greedy especially in hockey and football which are both very dangerous sports. I don't really blame them. With all the cuncussions that lead to CTE, they want to be paid for taking those risks. I hope the new rules help to eradicate injuries so that players can play as longer. ~~~Peace~~~

Nice video, maths wrong on the 06-07 stats

I still have 4 paul kariya rookie cards.👍

pretty cool to average exactly 1 point per game

UMaine Legend

this bob hosting, forgets to mention, SUTER took out kariya 1 week before Olympics , kariya might've helped canada