The Career of Saku Koivu
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- čas přidán 3. 06. 2022
- He played through and despite a lot of injuries throughout his career. He became a legend in Montreal.
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Saku is an absolute legend in Finland. He was the leader of our national team for more than a decade, only dethroned by his younger brother. We had the pleasure to be captained by Koivus for such a long time. A heart of a lion.
As a Sens fan I was raised to hate the Leafs and Habs, but I couldn't hate Koivu. Nothing but respect for him.
As a Flames fan, was neat to find out that the Koivus and Kiprusoffs grew up playing hockey together and showcases how strong that area of Finland was, haha. Something in the water.
the line of Lehtinen-Koivu-Peltonen pretty much won the first World Championship for Finland in 95
I had some Finnish friends talk smack about him, and I could never understand why. Dude was a legend, on top of battling cancer
He's a legend among Habs fans too. Ranks right up there with Richard and Beliveau as Habs captain.
I never clicked so fast on a video ever before.
Growing up in Montreal I started watching hockey in the beginning of the Koivu era as a captain.
He was my favorite player despite not always being the best on the team.
What I will never forget is the standing ovation he received at the Bell center when he returned from his fight to cancer.
I still wear the 11 to this day because of him.
screw bill 96
I hope Koivu is kept in memory with the best captains of the habs history, he deserves it.
His Montreal seasons were even more impressive when you realize his best linemates were Chris Higgins and Michael Ryder (Kovalev usually played with Ribeiro/Plekanec).
@Angry JayByrd Ryder? Barely knew 'er.
Couple of missing details:
1. In 1996 he was injured to his knee. This was his first knee injury, he was tearing up the league before that injury, and many people noticed he wasn't the same player since that injury.
2. In 2002, his return from cancer helped the 8th seeded Habs beat the heavily favored 1st seeded Bruins in the playoffs. I'd be surprised if Shannon doesn't remember this. Koivu had 2G 5A in that series.
PS: Koivu is a hero
I was heartbroken when he signed with the Ducks. Heart and soul of Montreal during the dark years.
As a small player during the holding and grabbing era, he performed at a high level. As a player with 'heart', us lesser mortals would require a wheel barrow to carry around what he had. 100% gamer and 100% winner. No quit. The size of the fight in this dog was bigger than any I've ever watched. Played cleanly too.
Under coulda/woulda/shoulda, the eye injury against Carolina and Justin Williams possibly nixed a Montreal Cup win. Just sayin'.
On my all time Captains list. On my all time players-you-gotta-have team.
Never saw a more emotional scene than him coming back from cancer. Wish I'd been there.
Watched Koivu growing up in Finland. TPS had some monster teams in the 90s but it was widely understood there was Koivu and then there was everyone else. He dominated the Finnish league and won two championships with the team. Then he dominated the 1995 World Championships and won Finland it's first ever gold.
This was all before he played a single game in the NHL. He would never win anything again.
His NHL career is just a huge 'what if' thing. What if he stayed healthy (he permanently messed up his knee in December 1996 when leading the NHL scoring charts)? What if he played during any other era?
Still he continued to shine in international tournaments. World Championship all star player 1994, 1995, 1999. Olympic games leading scorer in 1998, 2006 (injured in 2002). World Cup leading scorer 2004.
I honestly don't think people in NA or even in Montreal really understood what they had.
People in Montreal definitely did know. Read Jack Todd columns about him. Watch the *several* standing ovations he got throughout his career. This is as close to Rocket-level as you can have.
It's well known in Montreal that he wasn't the same player after his first knee injury in 1996. People watched his every move, on every radio call in show.
So yes, of course they knew who they had. He is loved to this day despite not being from there, not winning anything, and not being part of the everyday culture as he doesn't live there, unlike Guy Lafleur was, or Chris Nilan (who immigrated after his retirement).
His career however seemed cursed with weird injuries. If only it was his knee, but also that cancer and that scary eye injury.
Saku and Mikko are my favorite hockey brothers 🇫🇮
I think it’s impossible to not respect the man. Even if you didn’t like the team he played for you were cheering for him. Glad he finished his career as a Duck.
In case anyone is wondering, Koivu is still active in hockey. He's one of the owners of TPS (the team he played for in Finland) and works as a senior advisor to them.
I know he won't get his number retired. But he was the best player during the Dark Era. Longtime Habs player.
Why not? What does it take to retire a number, a true leadership with bad team or a stanley cup?
Koivu was amazing, a true leader and very skilled
A very underappreciated player. Dude was Lightning in a Bottle when he played
My favorite player of all time! I'm never gonna forget this amazing leader and player. He's a big part why I like hockey so much.
He had the World Championship gold but it wasn't mentioned that his national team career had otherwise 2 pretty painful final losses as Finland lost the World Cup final to Canada in 2004 and Olympic final in 2006 to Sweden. The 2006 Olympic team was a Finnish "dream team" of veteran players like Koivu and Selänne and ended up only losing one period in the tournament which was the last period of the final. Finland got the first Olympic gold 16 years later.. Great national team player same as his brother Mikko who is also a world champion and Olympic medalist.
Ps.When looking at Koivu's points only, it should be mentioned that he was probably never placed on the best scoring 1st lines, and him being a center who was also a help for the defense and a type of player to play some penalty kill too. In the national team games he was a 1st line scorer plus playmaker and even made his line legendary in Finland and won multiple top scorer titles on tournaments. He formed a line with Ville Peltonen and Jere Lehtinen that everyone remembers in Finland.
To those who don't know, the Lehtinen-Koivu-Peltonen line was dubbed the Huey-Dewey-Louie -line (Donald Duck characters) in the 90's and they helped lead Finland to their first ever World Championship in 1995.
Finlanders are obsessed with Donald Duck, lol
@@robertrouthier2603 We are
Amazing career when he had so many health issues. Respect.
I pretty much grow up watching Saku Koivu he was always my favorite habs player growing up, I was sad and excited he moved on to the ducks sad I lost my favorite Habs player excited for Koivu to play with has close friend Teemu, unfortunate he never won the Stanley Cup which he did would have been the icing on the cake on has career
My favorite! A true role model. He was my favorite player as a kid. Watching him grow from rookie through injuries, becoming team captain, his battle with cancer.. Will always be my favorite. Thanks for the vid!
thx. shannon the best hockey youtuber (on the internet). greetings from swizerland 🇨🇭,luis.
I think the year he was a point per game in 96-97, he was 1st overall in points at the time he got injured.
Per statmuse, Dec 7th 1996, Saku was tied 2nd with Jagr at 38pts, trailing Forsberg who had 39. Gretzky, Sakic and Sundin had 37 while Teemu, Lemieux and Yzerman had 36.
That's terrific company for a 21-22 year old.
Do we know who injured him? I was thinking Kasparitis but that was not the case.
If I remember correctly, Koivu had a point or two in the game in which he got injured, and for a brief moment during that night he was tied 1st in points, before Forsberg played.
@@salmonof Just checked and you're correct. CHI @ MTL at 730, COL @ LAK was at 1030. And Forsberg got his assist in the 3rd.
Koivu lead the NHL in points in his second season until he got injured. Also worthy of mention is that he left Montreal because the management opted not to re-sign him. Koivu and Selänne had great chemistry when they played for Finland in the international tournaments. In Anaheim it didn't really work out exactly like that (maybe due to past injuries and mileage). He ended up filling the role of a 2nd/3rd line center pretty well though.
Gainey did him wrong. He should have retired a Hab. Absolute legend. Loved his character and drive.
Gainey replaced Koivu with Gomez...what a time
@@lankancheetah he replaced him with Gionta. He dealt Higgins and McDonough for Gomez... Absolute bullshit of a trade. I'm not sure how the Habs had a playoff team with them... And Jacques Martin behind the bend! Only made worse when they rehired Therrien... Hoping this management squad is more competent
I think Koivu had a say in it as well. It was a beautiful swan song for an era of Finnish hockey when we got to see him play with Selänne for a couple of years. It was like every late-80's kid's wet daydream, to see him and Selänne together, both at the peak of their powers. Two icons who inspired probably like 95% of the Finnish players in the NHL today.
@@Peksisarvinen Selanne was well past his peak. As was Koivu. They had to change the Calder Trophy rulebook for Selanne. His peak was in the mid-90s.
As for Koivu his peak was in 1996 before his first knee injury. He wasn't the same player after that. Athough for me his most impactful play was during the 2002 Habs-Bruins playoff series.
There was a mini documentary thingy I seen on it. He wanted to retire with less pressure and live the beach life. I remember he said something like how he couldn't go out shopping or anything in Montreal without fans always bugging him and asking him why the team wasn't winning, etc.
Jarome Iginla and Miika Kiprusoff videos would be cool.
My first memory of Saku is him being a 17-yr old carrying TPS in the Jr A finals (against JYP, as I recall) in the early 90s. I witnessed live his first goal in the TPS men's team (against Tappara) in the 92-93 season and ever since then he was my hockey hero. People outside of Turku can't understand how huge TPS and hockey was in the early to mid 90s and Saku was the center of all that excitement. The 1994-95 TPS roster was absolutely sick on a Finnish scale, when you look at it now 30 yrs later.
I never understood why he wasn't drafted earlier, I guess it was his size or not being North American. In that sense he reminds me of Maxim Afinogenov whom I saw destroy the adult competition as a 17-yr old and somehow dropped all the way to the 3rd round, if my memory serves me correctly.
@sveijala, Koivu was a player to respect just using with the hockey talents he had leadership, bravery to go through treatment of cancer aligned to his fluctuating contribution in the games he managed to play. I dunno for sure? am I wrong to say wasn't this Koivu era in the finnish ice hockey team when they had the huey, dooey and louie line in on the Finland national team.
That's the only thing Shannon could of mention, do you think?
Very skilled player. I know some Fins worship Koivu just the same way as Selanne, Kurri. I think he was underrated given the cirumstances and what stats otherwise might give you an indication of. Very impressive during internatinal play and a player with a lot of character, determination and dedication.
Thanks for the look back, Saku was indeed a great hab. I miss seeing him play....no matter where he would play.
One of my childhood heroes. Silent leader. Love Saku!
Next inductee will be the big Five O!
THG Hall of Fame:
1 Tiger Williams 11.9.2017
2 Pat Verbeek 27.9.2017
3 Esa Tikkanen 25.11.2017
4 Jere Lehtinen 26.11.2017
5 Chris Osgood 22.1.2018
6 Sergei Zubov 12.3.2018
7 Tim Kerr 3.5.2018
8 Curtis Joseph 22.5.2018
9 Cliff Ronning 1.6.2018
10 Alexander Mogilny 17.7.2018
11 Rick Middleton 2.8.2018
12 Rick Martin 19.8.2018
13 Tim Thomas 23.8.2018
14 Brian Gionta 24.9.2018
15 Ray Whitney 8.10.2018
16 Scott Hartnell 17.10.2018
17 Martin Gelinas 11.11.2018
18 Gilles Meloche 28.1.2019
19 Dale Hunter 21.3.2019
20 Rick Vaive 18.5.2019
21 Geoff Courtnall 24.5.2019
22 Russ Courtnall 24.5.2019
23 Andy Moog 7.6.2019
24 Roberto Luongo 27.6.2019
25 Laurie Boschman 30.8.2019
26 Brian Bellows 27.9.2019
27 Vyacheslav Kozlov 7.11.2019
28 Patrik Elias 13.3.2020
29 Ryan Walter 6.4.2020
30 Gary Roberts 11.4.2020
31 Steve Sullivan 28.7.2020
32 Stan Smyl 28.8.2020
33 Craig Hartsburg 31.8.2020
34 Pekka Rautakallio 30.9.2020
35 Steve Duchesne 5.10.2020
36 Vladimir Konstantinov 16.11.2020
37 Johnny Boychuk 25.11.2020
38 Kirk McLean 18.6.2021
39 Greg Adams 18.6.2021
40 Milan Hejduk 9.8.2021
41 Neal Broten 18.8.2021
42 Jason Arnott 25.8.2021
43 Sergei Gonchar 17.9.2021
44 Scott Mellanby 27.9.2021
45 Tomas Holmstrom 17.10.2021
46 Jamie Langenbrunner 21.10.2021
47 John Vanbiesbrouck 3.4.2022
48 Markus Naslund 11.4.2022
49 Saku Koivu 4.6.2022
Assuming it even counts, my vote for next THG HOF goes to Theo Fleury: Junior Gold, Canada Cup Gold, Stanley Cuo, was 5'6 but played like he was 6'5, little warrior was tough as nails
He holds the dubious distinction of being the greatest Captain in Montreal Canadien's team history who did NOT win a Stanley Cup. He came to Montreal at the worst possible time, right as Serge Savard was fired and the team entered into it's current 30 year quagmire of mediocrity. He deserved much better.
One of my biggest role models growing up, alongside Yzerman and Messier. Just an absolute trooper, nothing bad you can say about the guy. Too bad his career was plagued by injuries and cancer, who knows what he could've accomplished without them.
Koivu was my favourite player growing up. Always gave it his all.
I will always remember the time the Habs came back from being down 5-0 against NYR to win it in OT.
Great player for sure!
Wow I started watching hockey late, I do remember his name but I didn't follow the sport do closely when I started. Just hearing you talk about this man... wow makes me wanna go into battle or something really raises morale
Most underrated captain In habs history I grew watching him
impossible to not love Saku... not really a fan of the Canadians or Ducks, but Saku had a special place in my heart, as i'm sure he did for a lot of hockey fans that weren't necessarily fans of his teams... didn't they beat the Bruins in the 1st round that year when he came back from his cancer battle?
2002 Playoffs. That team barely qualified for the playoffs. His return in game #80... there was not a dry eye in the building.
Also little known outside of Quebec, at the time of his diagnosis in 2001, Montreal didn't even have a PET scanner, because socialized medicine. He had to travel to a different city to be even diagnosed, and probably skipped waiting times because he's Captain of the frickin Montreal Canadiens. He raised money and matched them with his own salary to buy Montreal's first PET scanner for 3.5 million dollars, which became operational in 2005. Literally, dozens of people are alive today thanks to him.
Saku Koivu would also be inducted in the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2017.
I grew up watching hockey during his captaincy and his return from cancer marked my childhood as a Canadiens fan.
Being born in ‘92, I didn’t get to see the Richards, Beliveau, Lafleur, Roy and so on. Saku was my Lafleur, and I’m happy with that.
Why I started playing Hockey... #respect
Saku Koivu was and still is my favorite player ever in the history of the NHL, and I wasn't and never was a Montreal fan for whatever that's worth. The guy was the epitome of guts and hard work and playing through what was seemingly never ending injury issues of some type throughout his career. When he WAS ACTUALLY healthy the guy was an absolute beast, not that he wasn't when he was dealing with an injury, but man he was on another level when his body was right. His two way game and defensive ability was so under rated in my opinion and it really didn't get appreciated until later in his career. Really miss watching him, great player, but an even better human being, and example for all of us to look up to.
I'm an habs fan since 1989 so I don't think i've missed a lot of Saku Koivu games in the CH jersey. I'm also french canadian and we have a bit of a different perspective on Saku. I thought i'd share some here.
Saku was a very spectacular player to watch, very exciting. If the game was tied late in the third, most often than not, Saku would get that goal on in OT. I loved watching him play.
However, he is the only Montreal Canadiens Captain in recent memory who always systematically refused to speak a few words in french when speaking to french media ( we're talking basics here : Hi and thank you ) which is a big deal for us. Every captain since did. Shea Weber was really good at this. Also, since his retirement, there have been a few of his ex teammates who went on La Poche Bleue, a french speaking equivalent of the Spilling chicklets podcast, to tell some not so flattering stories about Saku in the locker room. It was well knows that Saku and Craig Rivet divided that locker room back in the day which really hurt the team, and as a Captain, I expected more out of Saku.
I know i'll probably get a lot of hate for this post since Sake is seen as a god. All I can say is that I respect the man, I loved the player, but the Captain in Montreal? I've seen better unfortunatly.
O captain my captain.
Growing up as a Leafs fan with a best friend who's a Habs fan, Koivu was a big part of our childhoods. I didn't realize that he played 5 seasons with Anaheim, dang.
Saku Koivu was always one of my favorite players alongside with Teemu Selänne. Here in Finland many people called Koivu "The lion king." He was one of the best captains and leaders in finnish hockey. His younger brother Mikko was very similar as a player. Both Koivu brothers were excellent captains.
Favourite player of all time
Great video Shannon, when you talk about the team in Turku everybody calls it TPS.
In 1995 when he won the world championship was Finlands first and played in I line called Huey,Dewey and Louie. With Jere Lehtinen and Ville Peltonen.
He retired at the same time as Teemu Selänne who had requested that the Ducks sign him.
Koivu is one of the greatest hockey players from Finland and probably the best leader.
Straight up legend!!!
The Koivu brothers are absolute warriors, if you combine both of their traits into one person you might have one of the best players ever. Two captains who carried two franchises during their worst years and played their asses off every game.
Fittingly next career video should be on Andrei Markov..
He was leading the league in points when he had his first knee injury. He was never the same afterwards (still a pretty good player nonetheless, but he could have been a point a game player, I think).
I was almost a little worried about this one but wearing the habs jersey was absolutely the right call.
I think even in Finland people remember Saku for very different things but I was (somehow) a Canadiens fan before Koivu and having him as captain just made my world.
Ducks Legend
I'll watch this after I get off work, just thought I would put this first.
I didn't get into Hockey until 2006, and wasn't even really aware of Koivu until he played in anaheim.
My teams were usually Phoenix, for Doan, and Calgary, for Iginla, though watching Crosby in his early years in shitsburg was pretty fun too.
Every time Saku's name gets brought up, people talk about him with such reverence, which is great to see. With the rapidly increasing presence of Social Media it seems like the old ways of worshiping hockey legends, almost deifying them seems to be falling to the wayside.
Thank you so much for doing this.. Saku is a legend!
It would be interesting to take a look at what kind of linemates he had with the Habs.
His best and most consistent linemate werre probably Martin Rucinsky, After he left it's probably Michael Ryder. With Richard Zednik also in there. And those are without question the best 3 he played with. Kovalev played mostly with Pleky and Mike Ribiero because they were seen as the more offensive minded guys, where Saku was seen as the 2-way C
One point of time here at Finland was debate who was better Kurri or Koivu. That comparison tells everything about Koivus game and personality, because he wasn't that huge point scorer or didn't win SC.
Unbelievable player at his best and huge winner on life!
Might not be the first video it’s exactly there but that Gary “Batman” picture placement is golden.
I forgot all about him thats whats awesome with the hockey guy
One of my favorite players besides Teemu from Finland!
From what I remember, he was often described as a “silent leader”. Also, in the late years in Mtl, fans were criticizing him for not speaking French (although he did speak some French but was kind of a shy guy)
Legend
My favorite finnish player.
Underrated
Koivu was my absolute favourite growing up. Still love the guy, such a class act. Way more slick than he ever got credit for. I still take #11 every time I get the chance 👌
We sadly never got to see Koivu's full potential realized. I truly believe that with better injury luck he would have been as dynamic an offensive a player as Marty St Louis was for Tampa.
Also, as great as Koivu was, he was miscast being forced to play as a number one centerman for both Montreal and the Finnish national team. He was the perfect ideal number 2 center, but instead he was always asked to play 20 minutes a night against every opposing team's best checking forwards and D pairs. This may also have been a factor in him getting frequently injured. He did the best he could and played with all his heart, but it was unfair asking him to do that much. It's a shame that Montreal was never able to draft, trade for, or even sign a true number one centerman to play in front of Koivu during his years there. Alas, those players don't grow on trees and not all teams get them.
Legend. Inspirational stuff
love saku 😍😍😍😍. great player.
Always will be my captain
Im actually surprised you hadn't done this before.
Good video, man. I used it to educate some youngsters who think Weber will have a better legacy as Habs captain than Saku Koivu. #GoHabsGo
Do another Saku Koivu video 🤗
Great video, a great player! The injuries made me think how there used to be many players similar to Koivu, who seemed to always be going through something. My feeling is that it's not as common lately. Could that be due to the style of play in the NHL changing to be less injury causing? Of course injuries still happen all the time, but I feel like not as much as say 10 years ago.
While the game has become less physical, it has also gotten faster at the same time, so I don't think that is the main reason. I think the most important factor is the transition to safety rinks and goals alongside some rule changes like hybrid icing and the crackdown on head hits. The boards used to be like stone walls and the goals were almost like bolted onto the ice and wouldn't easily budge if a player crashed into them. Nowadays the boards flex a lot and absorb a lot of the force of a player run into them, while the goals pop off their place very easily if anyone runs into them.
@@romaliop That's true! The new boards must have a big impact on this. Either way it's nice that more players are able to have full seasons with minimal damage!
In an all-time Finland team only Mikko Koivu would perhaps be ahead of him when talking captaincy. His international career was very successful too. Was there to win Finland's first world championship in 95.
95-96 Habs centres- Turgeon, Damphousse, Koivu, Conroy. What could of been 😒🤦♂️
@@matthewdaley746 true but before the trade they had a solid team but management was trigger happy.
Let's not forget that he was really good in Shootouts too.
Need another Cale Makar video. This time on Conn Smythe possibility. The guy got 5 points last night and eliminated the Oilers he dominated McDavid.
Omg my favorite player!!!!!!!!!!!
As a Wild fan Mikko Koivu was my favorite of the brothers can you do a video on Mikko
My brother and I would listen to the Habs games on the radio while playing NHL 95. I remember the game where Koivu first injured his knee. I think it was a knee on knee with I
My favorite player ever best hab
Please look at the career fellow under appreciated Fin Sami Kapanen (and please wear a Whalers jersey when you do).
Thank you so much for this video!
If you take request please do career of Craig Janney
“THC hall of fame” 11:46 I really thought he said that 🤣
Koivu rules!!!! 🙌
I’m surprised that Shannon didn’t do a video on Saku earlier
Can you do one on Chris Neil? He wasn’t the flashiest or best but was such a great guy in Ottawa
I was gonna request that, too. I miss enforcers.
#11 in Montreal seems to go on players who had great careers but not HOF caliber. Claude LaRose, Yvon Lambert, Saku Koivu and Brenden Gallagher. 11:33-European players seem to be more willing to play for their country more than Canadian or American players.
Nice video
How many jerseys do you have?
Funny this video was just uploaded I just found a koivu rookie card in my old collection of cards lol
How about a career video on Ilya Bryzgalov? Could be interesting.
I for one wouldn't be mad!
@@TheJohtaja Why would you be mad? It's only a game!
Another day of asking about Dave Andreychuk's career video.
Has everyone forgotten maxim affenagenoff
Solid player. Please do a career video on his brother Miko
Done already :) czcams.com/video/FmUkC0jGd7k/video.html
He already did.
m.czcams.com/video/FmUkC0jGd7k/video.html
You mean Minnesota Mikko !
He scored such a clutch goal in my nhl 14 franchise
I feel that Saku had befallen what I like to call the "curse of the Captaincy" in Montreal. As a Habs fan I believe going forward they should no longer be naming Captain's and only run with 2 or 3 Assistants, it all started back in the 88-89 season going forward.
I'm getting career video deja vu again here, but I don't care. Welcome to the THG HOF, Koivu. Now to go and collect on that THG BETX wager. I've had trouble collecting on the last few winnings there. I wonder why...
Alex Kovalev video next!
Can you do one of these on Doaner please
Still have a 2002 Saku Koivu poster with the word "Courage" up on a wall somewhere i don't belong (ex-wife got the house).
Torille!