Finnish defender Teppo Numminen spent 15 years in the Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes organization. That tenure culminated in Numminen being named captain of the Coyotes at age 33 after the departure of Keith Tkachuk to St. Louis.
Teppo’s tenure as captain was brief compared to Tkachuk and his successor Shane Doan. He spent just two seasons wearing the “C” in the desert before being traded to the Dallas Stars.
The 2002-2003 season saw Numminen’s production decline. He scored 6 goals and added just 24 assists to finish with 30 points in 78 games. It was a steep drop from the 48 points he’d produced in his first year as Captain Coyote.
The jersey itself has fairly moderate wear for a jersey from that era.
There are a smattering of puck/stick marks on the right and left sleeves, as well as an unrepaired hole on the left sleeve just below the elbow. The front of the jersey has stick marks below the collarbone on both sides of the jersey, with the most notable being a collection of two or three marks near the captain’s “C”.
The back is relatively clean. There are a few marks just above the patterned band on the bottom left hand side, and a white mark on the #2 on the back.
His short tenure with the “C” has made his captain’s gamers fairly scarce, with him having worn somewhere in the neighborhood of six to eight jerseys each in 2001-2002 and 2002-2003. As with many NHLers from Finland, the majority of those are likely stashed away in collections in his homeland.
Teppo Numminen was inducted into the Ring of Honor by the Coyotes in 2010.
His time in Winnipeg and Phoenix saw him set the franchise record (since broken by Shane Doan) for games played and points by a defenseman (534). He was also a three time All-Star in the desert.
Numminen was a huge part of kick-starting hockey in the desert. It’s fitting that his game worn jersey is also the final piece in my quest to add a gamer from each captain in the franchise’s history.