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Teemu Selanne will return for a 21st NHL season this year with the Anaheim Ducks after signing a one-year, $2-million contract.

That means his old Jofa helmetwill also be back for another year.

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The Jofa helmet was made popular by Wayne Gretzkyduring his playing days, even though it didn’t provide much protection. Basically, it was a margarine bowl with a chinstrap. Selanne’s model provides more protection, but you don’t see many Jofa helmets around anymore.

Mark Messier wore the Gretzky Jofa model when he broke into the NHL, but switched after getting into a fight with Willi Plett.

“I wore the old Jofa when I first broke in (the NHL in 1979-80) because Wayne Gretzky was wearing it, and I thought if he can wear it and is doing that well, maybe it will help me,” Messier told me in an interview a couple of years ago. “Then I got in a fight with Willi Plett, and he punched me in the forehead and cut me for eight stitches right through the helmet. So I went back into the equipment room and found the biggest (helmet) I could find, and back then it was the Winnwell (model). There were no choices … all the helmets might have looked a little different, but they were protecting you with the same kind of foam.”