Beginning in 1980, he played right wing for five National Hockey League (NHL) teams: the Edmonton Oilers, the Los Angeles Kings, the New York Rangers, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and the Colorado Avalanche.

Internationally, Kurri played on the Finland men's national ice hockey team, and was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2000.

[citation needed] On March 20, 1979, in a game of seemingly minor consequence at the time, Kurri accompanied the Finnish national team to play in Edmonton, Alberta.

The Oilers, who had joined the NHL after the WHA merged following the 1978–79 season, had closely tracked Kurri's career after watching him play in Edmonton.

They made discreet inquiries to the Finnish government and were able to determine that Kurri had already fulfilled his military service obligations.

Alongside Kurri, Esa Tikkanen and Gretzky, Edmonton had future hall-of-famers Paul Coffey, Grant Fuhr, Glenn Anderson, Kevin Lowe and Mark Messier.

[citation needed] After a season in Italy, Kurri's rights were traded to the Philadelphia Flyers and then to the Los Angeles Kings on the same day.

The pair had a fairly successful campaign in 1993 leading the Los Angeles Kings to the Stanley Cup Finals where they faced off against the Montreal Canadiens.

Kurri played alongside Teemu Selänne, the 1993 winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy who had established himself as one of the top stars in Finland during early success in the NHL.

Kurri played against his former Oilers linemate Esa Tikkanen and another Finnish NHL player, Christian Ruuttu.

[citation needed] After the lockout, Kurri returned to Los Angeles but was traded to New York Rangers in 1996 for their playoff run.

[citation needed] Kurri played the remainder of the 1995–96 NHL season with the Rangers and posted one goal and four assists in 14 games.

Kurri intended to play alongside Teemu Selänne and Paul Kariya, but was ultimately reduced to a smaller role on the second and third lines, despite a newfound confidence from rigorous summer training.

[citation needed] After his single season with the Mighty Ducks, Kurri was signed by the Colorado Avalanche, the 1996 Stanley Cup champions.

Despite having a strong team with players like Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Patrick Roy, the Avalanche were eliminated quickly in the playoffs by the Oilers.

[citation needed] Kurri finished his career as the highest-scoring European-born-and-trained player in NHL history, with 601 goals, 797 assists, and 1,398 points.

(Stan Mikita, who was born in Slovakia, but raised in Canada, retired 18 seasons before Kurri with 926 assists and 1,467 points.)

[citation needed] After the Oilers were eliminated in the 1982 NHL playoffs, Kurri was able to join the Finnish national team in 1982 World Championships.

Kurri formed Finland's top line along with SM-liiga players Reijo Leppänen of TPS and Kari Jalonen of Kärpät.

The lineup led the Finnish team in points and played well during the tournament but Finland was not able to advance to the medal round.

[citation needed] At the 1994 World Championships, Kurri managed to get his first international medal when Finland earned silver after losing 1–2 in a shootout against Canada.

[3] After being long-time general manager of the Finnish national men's ice hockey team, scouting players and assisting the head coach.