habs rule Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 While I was never a fan of Saku Koivu the Captain, I have always had great respect for him as a person and hockey player. He did not have the easiest career with the Habs. He had to endure the personal injuries and cancer, some pretty bad teams. But he gave back to the city of Montreal in so many ways. I think the Habs should bring him back in some capacity, to be an ambassador of the game, much like Le Gros Bill was, whom he been compared to in some circles. I don't think his sweater should be retired not do I think he should be in the hall of fame. He is however beloved in Montreal and if he is willing the fans would be very overjoyed to know he would be around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs30/31 Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 Cant see it happening. I like Saku a lot. In 94 he was referred to as "the best player in the world not in the nhl". Never had quite the same jump and speed after tearing up his knee in 98. Then of course came the cancer, and the eye injury. Ten years captain of the Canadiens. Wow. What an honor and feat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeLassister Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 I wouldn't dislike if Koivu was hired at some kind of scouting level in Finland/Sweden/Norway/Danmark... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KoRP Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 I wouldn't dislike if Koivu was hired as some kind of scouting level in Finland/Sweden/Norway/Danmark... Makes sense, Saku is all character, great Hab, and a job if he wants it shouldn't be impossible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habs rule Posted December 18, 2014 Author Share Posted December 18, 2014 I don't know if he wants a job, or even if he is living in North America. But it has long been a thing for the Canadiens to make room for retired Habs to stay with the club, in some capacity. He is great in the community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted December 18, 2014 Share Posted December 18, 2014 I don't know if he wants a job, or even if he is living in North America. But it has long been a thing for the Canadiens to make room for retired Habs to stay with the club, in some capacity. He is great in the community. He still lives in Anaheim from the sounds of things. If he gets back into the NHL, one might think it'd be with them as things stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habs rule Posted December 18, 2014 Author Share Posted December 18, 2014 He still lives in Anaheim from the sounds of things. If he gets back into the NHL, one might think it'd be with them as things stand. Yeah but his house is up for sale. A cool 6.6 million and it could be yours. That doesn't sound like he plans on stay in Caleeforneea. As Arnold used to say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chicoutimi Cucumber Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 I too really doubt Koivu will end up in the organization...but I don't know why that is, really. We *did* bring back Muller as a coach, and a number of ex-Habs (Daigneault, Lefebvre, etc.) have been brought back in administrative/managerial capacities. Yet something as profoundly fitting as bringing back Koivu just doesn't seem likely. Too obviously crowd-pleasing or something. It would be very interesting to get Saku involved in the coaching system. He might be an example of a guy who - once he's learned the ropes and shown he can handle it - could have sufficient credibility with the fans to be permitted to coach the team even without being fully bilingual. But obviously I am now dreaming in colour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meller93 Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 He said himself that he wants to be involved with hockey in some capacity after his pre-game tribute. He also said he will always be a Hab at heart. Those to things make it seem really possible he could be with the team somehow. A scout in Finland would make a lot of sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbhatt Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 I hope not. I wasn't a fan of him as a captain, and he never lived up to his billing as a true #1 center. Positions within the club should be filled by proven winners and strong leaders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovett's Magnatones Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 I hope not. I wasn't a fan of him as a captain, and he never lived up to his billing as a true #1 center. Positions within the club should be filled by proven winners and strong leaders. My response to that comment? BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbhatt Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 My response to that comment? BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO That's pretty much my reaction every time I see Saku Koivu on my TV screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs30/31 Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 really. cant imagine what the reaction is to centers like gomer and dd then..........as Saku was a league above them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habs rule Posted December 20, 2014 Author Share Posted December 20, 2014 I hope not. I wasn't a fan of him as a captain, and he never lived up to his billing as a true #1 center. Positions within the club should be filled by proven winners and strong leaders. That is a pretty harsh assessment of a guy who gave his best every night. I was not a fan of him as captain. But say he couldn't play centre? He came back from some pretty devastating injuries. Knees, eye, cancer. Yeesh not sure what you wanted from the guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PMAC Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Sbhatt: I can understand some people not liking Saku Koivu as captain of the Habs (although, personally I think he gets far too much flack for having the misfortune of being part of Houle's rein of error and the painful mediocrity that followed) but I can't understand why anyone would personally dislike a player who gave his all for the team and did his best for the community off the ice? I' m curious why such antipathy towards Koivu? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovett's Magnatones Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Yeesh not sure what you wanted from the guy. Miracles. He was supposed to bring a Cup to an awful team, and be a number one center during the era of Gretzky and Lemieux. That's pretty much my reaction every time I see Saku Koivu on my TV screen. At least you're honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbhatt Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Sbhatt: I can understand some people not liking Saku Koivu as captain of the Habs (although, personally I think he gets far too much flack for having the misfortune of being part of Houle's rein of error and the painful mediocrity that followed) but I can't understand why anyone would personally dislike a player who gave his all for the team and did his best for the community off the ice? I' m curious why such antipathy towards Koivu? Saku the person I have no probem with; solid citizen who did a lot for the community. I just didn't like him as a #1 center...he was not 'that guy' and I think him being there led to the organization being complacent on finding that piece at all costs...which they should have been doing. He also drove me nuts with his boneheaded tendency to take lazy hooking penalties in the offensive zone...some of us called him "Captain Hook" for good reason. Add to that, my irritation with the hero worship the guy seems to get without merit; so he came back from illness and an injury...what other option did he have...to quit? I just bristle at the whole "little engine that could" thing. As for my reaction to DD and Gomez? This: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbhatt Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 I realize I am in the minority in my feelings about Koviu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habs rule Posted December 20, 2014 Author Share Posted December 20, 2014 Saku the person I have no probem with; solid citizen who did a lot for the community. I just didn't like him as a #1 center...he was not 'that guy' and I think him being there led to the organization being complacent on finding that piece at all costs...which they should have been doing. He also drove me nuts with his boneheaded tendency to take lazy hooking penalties in the offensive zone...some of us called him "Captain Hook" for good reason. As for my reaction to DD and Gomez? This: You should really take a look at the rosters we had when he was captain, talk about cruel and unusual punishment. I have no idea what DD and Gomer have to do with this. Gomer was the big mistake of Big Bob's time. The only thing you can say about that is "it seemed like a good idea at the time". DD is ok for what we pay and what he provides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbhatt Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 ^I'm aware we had some pretty sad teams during that time, habs rule: I haven't forgotten Petrov, Hoglund and the like Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habs rule Posted December 20, 2014 Author Share Posted December 20, 2014 I realize I am in the minority in my feelings about Koviu. Hey if we all agreed these threads would be pretty short. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toronthab Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 "reign of error"...Ha.. like that. The French Revolution's reign of terror was a godawful start to the so called "enlightenment", though much worse was to follow.. is that true of the reign of error as well? Hey if we all agreed these threads would be pretty short. Agreed. Ooops.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hab29RETIRED Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Saku the person I have no probem with; solid citizen who did a lot for the community. I just didn't like him as a #1 center...he was not 'that guy' and I think him being there led to the organization being complacent on finding that piece at all costs...which they should have been doing. He also drove me nuts with his boneheaded tendency to take lazy hooking penalties in the offensive zone...some of us called him "Captain Hook" for good reason. Add to that, my irritation with the hero worship the guy seems to get without merit; so he came back from illness and an injury...what other option did he have...to quit? I just bristle at the whole "little engine that could" thing. As for my reaction to DD and Gomez? This: koivu dominated as a #1 centre for Finland, when he had other 1st liners to play with. What did you expect from Koivu, what the players he had??? He turned Savage and Higgins into 20 goal men. Ryder was a 25-30 goal guy with Koivu. The scary thing is that these were the the BEST wingers he had, other than Kovolev, who he didn't have much chemistry with. Aside from that he had a cast of castoffs like Oleg Petrov, Bulis and similar players to play with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habs rule Posted December 21, 2014 Author Share Posted December 21, 2014 koivu dominated as a #1 centre for Finland, when he had other 1st liners to play with. What did you expect from Koivu, what the players he had??? He turned Savage and Higgins into 20 goal men. Ryder was a 25-30 goal guy with Koivu. The scary thing is that these were the the BEST wingers he had, other than Kovolev, who he didn't have much chemistry with. Aside from that he had a cast of castoffs like Oleg Petrov, Bulis and similar players to play with. That is all true, the Kovelev thing, they hated each other. But they were pros and played together when they had to. You notice at the tribute the other night Kovalev was a nonentity. Probably the 2 best like players from that time in Montreal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hab29RETIRED Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 That is all true, the Kovelev thing, they hated each other. But they were pros and played together when they had to. You notice at the tribute the other night Kovalev was a nonentity. Probably the 2 best like players from that time in Montreal. I loved watching him play when he showed up, but he pissed me off 4 out of 5 nights. I think Gainey made him flakier by babying him. I've never heard of any other GM constantly having to be the "prima donna whistler" like Gainey was for Kovy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.