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Saku Koivu Retires


Lovett's Magnatones

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Would of loved the Habs to sign him to a one day contract so he could retire a Hab. His comeback story is one that will always be remembered. Good luck in the future with whatever you do Saku.

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A true hero. My hero. If others played with his intensity and showed his class, the NHL would be worth watching all the time.

:clap:

Although he never won a Cup, there are still plenty of great memories from his time as a Hab. I don't have too many favourite players - when most move on from the Habs, I don't room for them too hard - but Koivu was the exception. Here's hoping he stays involved in hockey in some capacity...better still, here's hoping he one day returns to Montreal to work for the Canadiens.

Koivu's full statement:

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Saku will always have a special place in my heart. He exemplified heart, class, dedication and perseverance. I regret that he never got to hoist the Cup or retire as a Canadien.

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A truly incredible story is Saku's, and a great hockey player and man he is as well, I would have to echo Colin... one of my all time hero's in any sport.

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Nobody will remember him as an Anaheim Duck. I was watching a replay of "Vintage Koivu" on the NHL Network, and I was taken aback by how good he was pre-knee injury. He was everywhere at once, almost like a Gallagher/Galchenyuk combined. I'll never forget him shutting down Joe Thornton in the '03-'04 playoffs.

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Nobody will remember him as an Anaheim Duck. I was watching a replay of "Vintage Koivu" on the NHL Network, and I was taken aback by how good he was pre-knee injury. He was everywhere at once, almost like a Gallagher/Galchenyuk combined. I'll never forget him shutting down Joe Thornton in the '03-'04 playoffs.

Yep, Koivu without the knee injury would have been a superstar. Top-5 in the NHL. He was leading the league in scoring before that blow-out. It's really just a crying shame, but he made himself a damned good player regardless of that injury and all the other injuries - to say nothing of his return from cancer, of course, surely one of the most moving Habs moments ever.

In any other organization, he'd be a candidate for jersey retirement.

I've always felt bad that Koivu was so let down by the organization over his career. We never did put him in a position to contend. I used to image him raising the Cup with us, what a mind-bending moment that would have been. Obviously it was never in the cards.

As it is, I think the Habs should organize something special - Saku Koivu Night - to recognize the special contribution of an outstanding player who gave Montreal everything he had for 15 years and was one of the only bright spots in a dark decade.

EDIT: what a classy retirement statement, by the way. Heartfelt, generous and open. The man's a class act all the way.

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Classy right to the end. He should have retired a hab - thank you Bob Gainey for the wonderful Gomez chemistry experiment that prevented that from happening AND giving away a top prospect to boot!

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Agree with all your comments, great player and great person unfortunately robbed of being a superstar by injury.

I wonder if there is a place for him within the habs organisation? Surely a classy guy like that would make an excellent player development guy (didnt bresbois have a role like that?)

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Agree with all your comments, great player and great person unfortunately robbed of being a superstar by injury.

I wonder if there is a place for him within the habs organisation? Surely a classy guy like that would make an excellent player development guy (didnt bresbois have a role like that?)

I'd love to see it, but I suspect he'll end up back in Finland. Maybe doing work for their national program.

I remember one time - I guess I had more free time back then - really crunching Koivu's seasonal production for us. He had an interesting recurring pattern: he would be close to a point-per-game player every season EXCEPT for these long droughts of something like 15-25 games per season when he would hardly put any points on the board at all. Those annual slumps depressed his overall numbers; if it hadn't been for them, he'd have been about an 80-point guy, even with the ruined knee. I'm not sure what caused the slumps, though.

One thing's for sure, he was a hell of a playoff performer. :thumbs_up:

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I'd love to see it, but I suspect he'll end up back in Finland. Maybe doing work for their national program.

Finland tried to have him come over for a tournament featuring Selanne and some other Finn veterans and he turned it down because he didn't care to go back.

The whole reason he said he retired was because he didn't want to pack up and leave to somewhere else. He'll likely live the rest of his days in California, or at least until his kids are grown up.

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Finland tried to have him come over for a tournament featuring Selanne and some other Finn veterans and he turned it down because he didn't care to go back.

The whole reason he said he retired was because he didn't want to pack up and leave to somewhere else. He'll likely live the rest of his days in California, or at least until his kids are grown up.

His house (mansion?) is up for sale in california so that may not be the plan. Can you call it a house when it is worth 6 million?

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His house (mansion?) is up for sale in california so that may not be the plan. Can you call it a house when it is worth 6 million?

In Vancouver the dumpsters are worth $6 million

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Maybe we should not retire his jersey, but maybe we could do something else in addition to the Ceremony night.

Maybe rename the section where Dr. Mulder and Dr. Lacroix sit in the stands the "Saku Section".

I could see the seats being painted in baby blue, just like hospital clothing colors...

No ?

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Maybe we should not retire his jersey, but maybe we could do something else in addition to the Ceremony night.

Maybe rename the section where Dr. Mulder and Dr. Lacroix sit in the stands the "Saku Section".

I could see the seats being painted in baby blue, just like hospital clothing colors...

No ?

I agree should not retire his jersey.

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