Thank you Shelly Thread

[Oleg Petrov]

I agreed with so much of what you said until the surly contempt of teammates part aobut Koivu... Not gettin' it: what do you mean?

An impression based on watching his on-bench behaviour (on tv, admittedly), second-degree hearsay, and my imagination. Everything I've heard and observed about Koivu is that he is not a particularly glad-handed sort - I remember a couple of years ago when he had Bulis on his wing for a little while, Koivu had made a nice play to set up the speedy Jan Bulis for one of Bulis' trademarked wildly-errant shots, missing an open net. Koivu was back on the bench first, and as Bulis made his way to the gate, the camera caught Koivu look Bulis in the eyes, purse his lips, and shake his head slightly in disgust. Reports I've heard that he is just not a nice guy (which is different from saying he's not a good person - his yeoman charity work is testimony to that) coalesce with what I've seen of him on the ice.

That's certainly not my style - when a teammate messes up the way Bulis did, I clap them on the back and tell them they'll get it next time, or that it was a good effort. But I acknowledge that when you've lost season after season to knee injuries, battled cancer and won, and had your eye poked out and come back with a career season, that you can pull off that style of leadership and make it work for you. When Koivu reacts to your mistakes like that - by showing how little he thinks of you - you want to be better.

And, to follow on the point I was making in the earlier post, it makes your teammates a lot less worried about treading on your tender feet.

[Habitforming]

An impression based on watching his on-bench behaviour (on tv, admittedly), second-degree hearsay, and my imagination. Everything I've heard and observed about Koivu is that he is not a particularly glad-handed sort - I remember a couple of years ago when he had Bulis on his wing for a little while, Koivu had made a nice play to set up the speedy Jan Bulis for one of Bulis' trademarked wildly-errant shots, missing an open net. Koivu was back on the bench first, and as Bulis made his way to the gate, the camera caught Koivu look Bulis in the eyes, purse his lips, and shake his head slightly in disgust. Reports I've heard that he is just not a nice guy (which is different from saying he's not a good person - his yeoman charity work is testimony to that) coalesce with what I've seen of him on the ice.

That's certainly not my style - when a teammate messes up the way Bulis did, I clap them on the back and tell them they'll get it next time, or that it was a good effort. But I acknowledge that when you've lost season after season to knee injuries, battled cancer and won, and had your eye poked out and come back with a career season, that you can pull off that style of leadership and make it work for you. When Koivu reacts to your mistakes like that - by showing how little he thinks of you - you want to be better.

And, to follow on the point I was making in the earlier post, it makes your teammates a lot less worried about treading on your tender feet.

I didn't see the event with Bulis and Koivu that you mention but I would think that the 20-30th time that Bulis managed to bungle a perfect pass or scoring attempt you would forget the "get it next time" line and start to get frustrated.

Bulis is one reason that Koivu talked to Gainey this offseason about rebuilding because he is sick of playing with guys that should not be on the first line wings.