Buffalo Sabre's Teppo Numminen and His Hockey Career

Teppo Numminen has been a big name in the NHL for over twenty years. Teppo Numminen was born in Tampere, Finland on July 3, 1968, making him forty years old. This defenseman is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 198 pounds. Teppo Numminen began playing profession hockey in his home country of Finland for the Tappara, which is a team in the SM-liiga. The SM-liiga is the professional hockey league of Sweden, and is the best hockey league in the country.

In 1986, Teppo Numminen was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets, 29th overall. He is the only player who was drafted in 1986 who is still playing in the NHL. Although he was drafted in 1986, Teppo Numminen did not actually start playing with the Winnipeg Jets in the NHL until 1988. Once Numminen started playing with the Winnipeg Jets, he played almost every regular season game with them. After the 1991-1992 season, Teppo Numminen started playing less and less games with the Winnipeg Jets, playing only 42 in the 1994-1995 season. In the 1994-1995 season, after his forty games with the Winnipeg Jets, Teppo Numminen went back to his home country, Finland, to play with TuTo in the SM-liiga.

After finishing out the 1994-1995 season with the TuTo, he went back to the Winnipeg Jets for the 1995-1996 season, where he played the majority of the games. In 1996, the Winnipeg Jets ran into financial trouble because of the high salaries and Winnipeg could no longer support the Jets, so they became the Phoenix Coyotes in Arizona. Teppo Numminen moved with the Jets as they became the Phoenix Coyotes. Numminen remained with the Phoenix Coyotes until the 2002-2003 season. For the 2003-2004 season, Teppo Numminen played with the Dallas Stars for his first and only season with them. During the 2004-2005 NHL Lockout, Teppo Numminen did not play.

Once the Lockout was over, Teppo Numminen began playing with his current team, the Buffalo Sabres. Before the 2007-2008 season started, it was discovered that Teppo Numminen had a heart problem and needed surgery to repair a valve. Due to his surgery, he had to sit out for most of the season, but he did get to play the very last game with the Buffalo Sabres. Being in the NHL so long, Teppo Numminen earned the title of the most NHL games played by a European player. He is also the (active) player who has played the most NHL games without ever winning a Stanley Cup.

In addition to his long career in the NHL, Teppo Numminen has also been a part of Finland's Olympic Team three different times. In 1998, Team Finland took home a silver medal in hockey. In 1998, Team Finland walked away with the Olympic bronze medal. In 2006, Teppo Numminen was again a part of Team Finland at the Olympics, where they won another silver medal.

ref-www.nhl.com