Saku Koivu Spin-Off

[seventieslord]

So for my roster are there any super obvious standout options for letters?

Info from Eliteprospects.com

Demitra, 03/04 onward wore a letter internationally for Slovakia, single season captain for the Wild

Tavares, from 11/12 onwards wore a letter for his teams. Team never made it passed the second round

Bellows, Captain in 83/84 and then didn't have letter for 8 years

Whitney, intermittent letter holder from 02/03 till retirement. Only actual captain for a single season

Seguin, letters in 5 seasons with Dallas. Team never made it passed the second round

O'Reilly, two season captain at the end of his career

Koivu, has worn a letter in the NHL since 07/08. But his team has never gotten passed the second round. Candidate for an A perhaps?

Ohlund, four seasons with an A.

Huddy, nothing

Smith, one season captain, on season A

Green, two season with an A

"Worn a letter", seriously? Koivu has been a captain for an NHL team for 10 consecutive years. He seems like an obvious choice as your most experienced leader. If you want to play it safe and go with a "gud Canadian boy" then take Tavares, but Koivu is, at worst, your second best bet.

Click to read more...

 

[Theokritos]

"Worn a letter", seriously? Koivu has been a captain for an NHL team for 10 consecutive years. He seems like an obvious choice as your most experienced leader. If you want to play it safe and go with a "gud Canadian boy" then take Tavares, but Koivu is, at worst, your second best bet.

On top of it, he served as captain of Team Finland in 6 international tournaments (Olympics 98, 06, 10; World Cup 04; World Championship 99, 03). Finland won medals in 5 of those tournaments, which by itself could already be considered an overachievement relative to the countries' talent pool. Particularly impressive is that Finland won 2 silver medals and 2 bronze medals in 4 best-on-best tournaments with Koivu as the captain. Definitely not what you expected when you only look at the rosters and, certainly, not the least the result of hard work and team work. And Koivu was the captain of those teams. IMO that's a pretty nice (and rather easily overlooked) feather in his cap.

 

[seventieslord]

On top of it, he served as captain of Team Finland in 6 international tournaments (Olympics 98, 06, 10; World Cup 04; World Championship 99, 03). Finland won medals in 5 of those tournaments, which by itself could already be considered an overachievement relative to the countries' talent pool. Particularly impressive is that Finland won 2 silver medals and 2 bronze medals in 4 best-on-best tournaments with Koivu as the captain. Definitely not what you expected when you only look at the rosters and, certainly, not the least the result of hard work and team work. And Koivu was the captain of those teams. IMO that's a pretty nice (and rather easily overlooked) feather in his cap.

Absolutely right. Finland has a reputation for overachieving internationally (relative to the on-paper talent) so the leaders on those squads deserve extra credit.

 

[ResilientBeast]

Excellent then, thanks @Theokritos and @seventieslord

 

[Theokritos]

RB drafted Mikko Koivu. You’re describing an undrafted.

Oh damn. I'm sorry. I was only looking at the post by seventieslord.

 

[seventieslord]

Oh damn. I'm sorry. I was only looking at the post by seventieslord.

and I only used his last name and what I said applied to Saku almost perfectly...

 

[Theokritos]

and I only used his last name and what I said applied to Saku almost perfectly...

Yes, that was the starting point.

 

[Theokritos]

Absolutely right. Finland has a reputation for overachieving internationally (relative to the on-paper talent) so the leaders on those squads deserve extra credit.

I just realized that I didn't even mention Koivu was named all-star at both the 2004 World Cup and the 2006 Olympics.

 

[BenchBrawl]

I have the impression that Koivu disliked players that threatened his spot as the team's top player. Ribeiro and Kovalev comes to mind.

In Ribeiro's case we can give Koivu the benefit of the doubt given what we know about Mike's problems.

For Kovalev, I feel Koivu didn't take very well that he was more popular than him in Montreal. Kovalev's love affair with the Montreal crowd was huge. In 07-08, Kovalev's career season, he even got the "C" on his jersey when Koivu was injured (see picture below). I think this speaks volume considering Koivu had been captain for like 8 years by then.

To be fair to Koivu, he explicitly said to the medias that he had no problem with Kovalev, so perhaps this was a case of the crazy Montreal medias looking for problems (hardly unheard of).

 

[BenchBrawl]

That being said among the candidates Koivu is obviously and by far the best choice for captain.

Koivu is still the second longest-serving captain in Montreal Canadiens history, not a small feat. OTOH, he captained them during their darkest years. Not his fault.

Edit: Oops, I see RB had Mikko. Still the best choice.

 

[BenchBrawl]

Interesting twist: If I had the choice between Saku and Mikko for captain, I'd still pick Saku, because captaining Montreal is a tougher job than captaining Minnesota. Plus the international resume.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Interesting twist: If I had the choice between Saku and Mikko for captain, I'd still pick Saku, because captaining Montreal is a tougher job than captaining Minnesota. Plus the international resume.

But you probably shouldn't have both because Mikko gets drafted as a role player in a higher draft

 

[tinyzombies]

I have the impression that Koivu disliked players that threatened his spot as the team's top player. Ribeiro and Kovalev comes to mind.

In Ribeiro's case we can give Koivu the benefit of the doubt given what we know about Mike's problems.

For Kovalev, I feel Koivu didn't take very well that he was more popular than him in Montreal. Kovalev's love affair with the Montreal crowd was huge. In 07-08, Kovalev's career season, he even got the "C" on his jersey when Koivu was injured (see picture below). I think this speaks volume considering Koivu had been captain for like 8 years by then.

To be fair to Koivu, he explicitly said to the medias that he had no problem with Kovalev, so perhaps this was a case of the crazy Montreal medias looking for problems (hardly unheard of).

i think Koivu didn’t like that Kovalev took a lot of games off. That should only enhance Koivu as a leader because Kovalev did put in a better effort afterwards.

koivu always lifted his game when it mattered and look at all the upsets Mtl had when he was captain- esp against Boston.

 

[Theokritos]

I have the impression that Koivu disliked players that threatened his spot as the team's top player.

i think Koivu didn’t like that Kovalev took a lot of games off. That should only enhance Koivu as a leader because Kovalev did put in a better effort afterwards.

A little late, but here's something from Wikipedia:

Koivu has represented Finland on several occasions and was the national team's captain (...) Koivu's first duty came in 1998 when the 1998 Winter Olympics took place in Nagano. He has held the post ever since, with one exception—for the 2008 IIHF World Championship—when he joined the team in the middle of the tournament. He was offered the "C" but declined, pleading, "It would only stir things up and the team has already a great captain, Ville Peltonen."