Koivu a duck

Should be interesting to see 2 nice lines on the ducks.Yeah they probably will miss the defence mountains on defence but 2 good scoring lines should prove to be sweet to watch.Koivu and selanne together should equal some nice plays and beauty goals.
Still it's going to be hard not to see him in a habs jersey though.
 
While I realize he was quality player and a terrific community member, I am not sure I'd put him into the realm of "one of the greatest Canadiens" there ever was, as someone else did.

I kind of agree with drkicker on this one. The Habs are one of my fall-back favorite teams, and since he has been the captain, they have been a less than outstanding club. In fact, under Saku's captainship, they have had arguably their worst stretch in team history. Do I blame him for all of that? No, of course not. But he was never good enough as a player or a leader to get them out of it, either.

When I think of great Canadiens, I think of the Richards, Beliveau, Lafleur...not Saku Koivu.

His best years are wayyyy behind him, but I hope he has a good season in Anaheim beofre hanging them up. He is a quality man, and that counts for a lot.
 
DredJAw said:
One of the Ducks' big problems last season was finding secondary scoring.

They now have:

Ryan-Getzlaf-Perry
Lupul-Koivu-Selanne

So it looks like they've managed to correct that issue. They did, however, lose Pronger and Beauchemin so they've been severely weakened on the backend. Having Whitney and Wisniewski all season will help some but likely not enough to overcome losing those big 2.
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Remember that they didn't have Beauchemin all year long as a result of his knee injury. Niedermayer, Whitney, and Wisnewski are not too shabby as three of your top 4 defensemen. Ducks should be a very competitive team next year.
 
Koivu is a class act and gives 110% EVERY night on the ice. He plays bigger than his size and will never shy away from physical play. I think the fans and media in Montreal were way too hard on him but, then again, who aren't they hard on? I would have gladly welcomed him on my team but not as a #1 center. I don't think he ever really had the talent to be a #1 but he always had the heart...
 
Burner said:
Do you know anything about Koivu? I don't think you do.
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Ok Burner, let's assume I know just enough about Koivu to sound ignorant. On the other hand, do you know anything about the kind of players the Ducks prefer? Brian Burke (I'm going to assume you know all about him) was loosely quoted as chasing players with the requisite level of size, skill and belligerence. It's that last quality that I'm stuck on. Now if you tell me Saku's going to fill in the nasty gap that Pronger left then I'll defer to your superior knowledge and look forward to seeing him bring it in the Fall.
 
ramador565 said:
Ok Burner, let's assume I know just enough about Koivu to sound ignorant. On the other hand, do you know anything about the kind of players the Ducks prefer? Brian Burke (I'm going to assume you know all about him) was loosely quoted as chasing players with the requisite level of size, skill and belligerence. It's that last quality that I'm stuck on. Now if you tell me Saku's going to fill in the nasty gap that Pronger left then I'll defer to your superior knowledge and look forward to seeing him bring it in the Fall.
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Pronger is a defenseman, Koivu's a forward. I know perfectly well what kind of player Burke wants, and I have no doubt Koivu would be on that list if the spot was available for him.

Afterall, Burke also signed Grabovski to a 3 year extension. He brought in Andy McDonald and Chris Kunitz. Teemu Selanne and Branden Morrison. He also drafted the Sedins. So how is Koivu any different?

Did you expect to replace Pronger's physical edge by acquiring a 6'4 center like Lecavalier or something? I don't get it.

Regardless of what Burke likes or not, because, afterall he is no longer with the team if you haven't heard, Koivu is a PERFECT fit for Anaheim. He'll be the #2 center. He's smallish but plays a honest, hardworking game and goes to areas of the ice players twice his size refuse to do so. He's playing with his countrymen who he has amazing chemistry with. Signed for a relatively cheap price. So how is that exactly not a perfect fit?

You needed depth at center, and you got one heck of a center. You also need to replace the hole left by Pronger. That's 2 completely separate things. If you want to replace Pronger's toughness and his other intangibles, don't think for a second it will be fixed by any forward in this league.
 
fly4apuckguy said:
While I realize he was quality player and a terrific community member, I am not sure I'd put him into the realm of "one of the greatest Canadiens" there ever was, as someone else did.

I kind of agree with drkicker on this one. The Habs are one of my fall-back favorite teams, and since he has been the captain, they have been a less than outstanding club. In fact, under Saku's captainship, they have had arguably their worst stretch in team history. Do I blame him for all of that? No, of course not. But he was never good enough as a player or a leader to get them out of it, either.

When I think of great Canadiens, I think of the Richards, Beliveau, Lafleur...not Saku Koivu.

His best years are wayyyy behind him, but I hope he has a good season in Anaheim beofre hanging them up. He is a quality man, and that counts for a lot.
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Very well said!
 
drkicker said:
I must be the only one happy about this.

See ya !

:beer: :dance:

15 years of mysery, 6-7 coach , 4-5 G-M and 2 playoffs apperance in round 2 since he became our first center can now be forgotten.
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You're seriously putting all of that on him? Here I thought hockey was a team sport.
 
frankiefives said:
Koivu is a class act and gives 110% EVERY night on the ice. He plays bigger than his size and will never shy away from physical play. I think the fans and media in Montreal were way too hard on him but, then again, who aren't they hard on? I would have gladly welcomed him on my team but not as a #1 center. I don't think he ever really had the talent to be a #1 but he always had the heart...
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Truly very well said.

If Koivu played for any other team than the Habs, he would get a far better shake. During the worst period in Habs history, he did score .8 points a game. Is that superstar calibre, no, but in this day and age it is highly productive and of star calibre. What made him a superstar in Montreal went beyond the score sheet.

At $3.25 million, I'd rather see Koivu as the #2 centre, the captain, and then have Plekanec (who I think is a great player) as our 3rd liner though with Gomez and Koivu on hand he would like be expendable, especially since Lapierre has really shown what he can do.

The Ducks got themselves a a great second line centre at a great value.
 
I don't get attached to players (Patrick Roy fixed that for me) . They come and go.

It would have been different I suppose had he help brought some Cups to Mtl, but he didn't.

He's a hard working, loyal player, who in my opinion has always been a second/third line player.

So good luck to him in Anaheim, he'll do OK there.
 
As a Ducks fan Im stoked to see that we will have dynamite offense and even though our Dfence is weaker I cant see it being that big of a problem with 2 great goalies! GO DUCKS GO!
 
FrankToronto said:
You're seriously putting all of that on him? Here I thought hockey was a team sport.
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The organisation could be blame for making him the `core`, dont know if its the right english term for `noyau` , he never had super skilled wingers, didnt make them look better either.

Expectation where so high when he was draft, similar to Price.He was supposed to bring us to the promise land, or atleast he was presented that way.

I admire his courage, the fact he always seemed to give all he add, he was also very good to the community.

I think he would of have better numbers as a second center, he was taxed to much in Montreal, he will be very good playing 15 minutes or so for the Ducks.
 
I can't believe I am saying this, but he will be one of my 4 centers for my cap hockey pool this year...career year for Koivu with Selanne taking his passes....

He had some crazy injuries, cancer, almost lost an eye, knee injuries earlier in his career, but he was "le p'tit guerrier" - the little warrior....he came to play hard all the time and showed his leadership on the ice....unfortunately, he just couldn't win a Cup in Montreal.

Good luck Saku! Enjoy Teemu this year and hopefully you sign to play with your brother next year.
 

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