InglewoodJack
Registered User
Saku was an inspiration, and like everyone else has said here, he was pretty much the only bring spot on really, really really bad teams. When we look back on the period between pretty much our last cup and the free agent boom of 2009, the thing people remember is "Saku Koivu"; he was our definitive player, team identity and by definition our generational great for that period. Sure if you threw Koivu on one of the hall of fame teams during the golden years he gets overshadowed by Habs legends, but for a very long period of time, he was the Montreal canadiens. He embodies all the values the team is allegedly built upon, he was directly responsible for garnering a hockey interest in pretty much any fan born between 1990-2000, he was one of the most, if not the most significant athlete in Montreal in the past 25 years, and he pretty much represents a huge period of time in Habs history. Sure it's been a rough couple decades, but he was responsible for so much joy to so many people in such a dark period.
I think that coming back from cancer and the impact he made on Montreal's community is icing on the cake. I think the biggest knock on him is that people deify the greats who won all the cups all those years ago, and underrate the newer guys because they were guys who they actually saw play, not just a part of habs folklore. How many retired numbers were part of the supporting cast on the cup runs? How many retired numbers would've done a better job than Koivu given the same tools he was? We all want to cling to this identity of the Habs as a team with a long tradition of winning, but the reality is, we haven't won a cup in 21 years which as of this season is exactly 20% of our history. So for 20% of our history, the best player and pretty much team identity was Saku Koivu, and I think that he's played too much of a significant part in our history to be snubbed from a number retirement just because he didn't win a cup.
Now guys like Markov or Theodore and to a lesser extent Plekanec, Damphousse, Gionta, Ribiero, they've all played a big part in the successes of the team in that span, but no one in my opinion comes close to being as definitive and as important to the Canadiens of the last two decades as Saku Koivu.
As for his remaining years, I dream of signing him as a 3rd line support player and winning a cup with him, but either way I think that giving him a 1 day contract to have him retire as a Hab is a must. That being said, if he plays say, 3 more years he'll have 8 years as a Duck. At that point, he could just retire as a duck because that's a pretty significant chunk of his career spent on another team.
I think that coming back from cancer and the impact he made on Montreal's community is icing on the cake. I think the biggest knock on him is that people deify the greats who won all the cups all those years ago, and underrate the newer guys because they were guys who they actually saw play, not just a part of habs folklore. How many retired numbers were part of the supporting cast on the cup runs? How many retired numbers would've done a better job than Koivu given the same tools he was? We all want to cling to this identity of the Habs as a team with a long tradition of winning, but the reality is, we haven't won a cup in 21 years which as of this season is exactly 20% of our history. So for 20% of our history, the best player and pretty much team identity was Saku Koivu, and I think that he's played too much of a significant part in our history to be snubbed from a number retirement just because he didn't win a cup.
Now guys like Markov or Theodore and to a lesser extent Plekanec, Damphousse, Gionta, Ribiero, they've all played a big part in the successes of the team in that span, but no one in my opinion comes close to being as definitive and as important to the Canadiens of the last two decades as Saku Koivu.
As for his remaining years, I dream of signing him as a 3rd line support player and winning a cup with him, but either way I think that giving him a 1 day contract to have him retire as a Hab is a must. That being said, if he plays say, 3 more years he'll have 8 years as a Duck. At that point, he could just retire as a duck because that's a pretty significant chunk of his career spent on another team.
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