News Article: Mikko Koskinen Retiring at End of Year

[OfCorsiDid]

Oilersnation Article



Fair winds and following seas Mikko!

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[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

He can probably get a pretty sweet gig as a short order cook with that frying pan of his.

 

[Messrules11]

Who cares?

 

[ZJuice]

I liked Kosko. Not as much as Chiarelli did but I thought he was great with how the team played in front of him...

 

[PositiveCashFlow]

Kostko glove save

 

[oXo Cube]

Got a lot of deserved crap because of the contract but on his own merit was a perfectly fine backup goalie in the NHL.

 

[Behind Enemy Lines]

A low maintenance player and class act. Wish Koskinen well in retirement.

Fare thee well Three Metres of Kostinen: Standing tall in Oilers' crease, Koskinen dispels stigma of being a bad contract

 

[The Nuge]

Got a lot of deserved crap because of the contract but on his own merit was a perfectly fine backup goalie in the NHL.

Yep. He was a lot like Lucic, where he wasn’t remotely worth his contract, but he wasn’t necessarily that bad either (at least not to the extent people thought). It makes you wonder if he would still be in the NHL this year if he was making backup money. But he’d probably still make less money than by taking the bag when it was on the table

 

[Satoru Gojo]

Wish him all the best, not his fault Chia had one last dumb move up his sleeve

He was not it thought, possibly the worst goalie in the NHL his final two seasons with the team

 

[bellagiobob]

All the best. Have to admit, I thought he had already retired.

 

[Davo Ikinzom]

Okay?

 

[Rpenny]

And..?

 

[29Beast97Mode]

Only goalie that managed to win a playoff game under Tippett

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

doesn't deserve a thread

 

[Arty Spooners Bsmnt]

Too Bad it isn't a Jack Campbell retiring thread.

 

[McDNicks17]

Say what you want, but he did have a good stretch of games for the Oilers.

It's pretty wild looking at wins per season over the years. Only Talbot, Salo, Skinner, CuJo and Roloson had a season with more wins than Koskinen did going all the way back to the days of Moog and Fuhr.

 

[joestevens29]

Say what you want, but he did have a good stretch of games for the Oilers.

It's pretty wild looking at wins per season over the years. Only Talbot, Salo, Skinner, CuJo and Roloson had a season with more wins than Koskinen did going all the way back to the days of Moog and Fuhr.

I mean we've had pretty shit goalies going back to those days though too. Dubnyk is really the only one that couldn't get traction going here

As for Mikko good for him. The guy got to play in many different leagues and had a chance to finish it off in Switzerland where by all accounts is a must play for guys that want to continue to play, but also want to have a fun experience.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

I was unfairly hard on him. That idiotic extension was a killer. I hope he has a good post career with his tiny dog lol.

 

[K1984]

If we had him as our backup this year we would all be singing his praises. He's actually almost the perfect backup, just the money and number of games he played here killed him.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I was unfairly hard on him. That idiotic extension was a killer. I hope he has a good post career with his tiny dog lol.

Good job Jimmi. I was too. But the guy was a pro, knew he wasn't well liked by the fan base and rarely let it get to him. As a person you can respect that. My memory of Koskinen most involves how Duncan Keith taught the younger upstarts on this team that everybody, even when struggling has to be supported to be a team, to build team. I remember Koskinens game improving after that and the players remembering to give him pats etc.

The dislike of the player really had more to do with Chiarelli. If he retired I wouldn't have such kind words.

 

[Slats432]

Mikko got way too much grief because Chia gave him way too much money which handcuffed us in other areas. Then again, I would love to get paid $13M+ regardless of how anyone else felt about it.

Played OK for the Oil, and was probably better than most of us felt he was.

 

[Zenos]

I mean we've had pretty shit goalies going back to those days though too. Dubnyk is really the only one that couldn't get traction going here

As for Mikko good for him. The guy got to play in many different leagues and had a chance to finish it off in Switzerland where by all accounts is a must play for guys that want to continue to play, but also want to have a fun experience.

Not just that, but Mikko played in Lugano - a city on the lake in the absolutely gorgeos Italian-speaking region of Swizerland - surrounded by rolling hills and vineyards. There's definitely worse places to wind down your pro career!

Anyways, Koski seemed like a good guy and his teammates like him. I wish him all the best in retirement.

 

[brentashton]

He can probably get a pretty sweet gig as a short order cook with that frying pan of his.

When I started reading your post my mind jumped to, he’s gonna say “goalie coach”, before I read the last half of the sentence.

I was ready to come off the top rope.

 

[guymez]

If we had him as our backup this year we would all be singing his praises. He's actually almost the perfect backup, just the money and number of games he played here killed him.

Pickard has done pretty well though so I am not at all sure if (hypothetically) replacing him with Koskinen would have improved anything.

 

[K1984]

Pickard has done pretty well though so I am not at all sure if (hypothetically) replacing him with Koskinen would have improved anything.

Koskinen is hands down a better goalie IMO. I think you could rely on Koskinen to play more than Pickard and against opponents that aren't complete shit. Pickard has been heavily sheltered here to say the least.