Thanks to Koivu

[lynxrattle]

So, Koivu decided to retire. I feel frustrated by how it went for him. He could have been a Selke winning centre in a Stanley Cup team. Instead he ended up as a Wild poster boy, a pretender 1C when his team lacked a true 1C. All the best for him, though. He ended up in a difficult situation. Earlier he could have solved the dilemma by asking to be traded. Not an easy thing to do.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Happy retirement to Mikko.

And I mean that sincerely.
Lots was heaped on him, especially when given that large contract that he was given, and he in fact, played almost his entire career a role which wasn't the best suited for him (top line C).

But he did a pretty good job in all facets of the game given the situation he was in and as a Wild fan since 2005, I can certainly appreciate his contributions to the team.

I am glad though, that he decided not to 'hang on', especially during a time when the Wild, as an organization, are in transition.
Looking at things honestly, there really isn't a place for him on the roster....not if the Wild want to actually move the needle forward anyways.

Mikko probably had the option of playing elsewhere as a 3C or 4C on a deep team, and do well in that role, but obviously, his heart is Minnesota forest green.

Best of luck and lots of family and friends enjoyment time as he moves on to the next phases of his life.

[Hockey-78]

I don't know... he got paid, handsomely. 15 seasons and the team didn't really advance, anywhere.

 

Over $ 70 million dollars for three 20+ goal seasons (20, 20, 22) and never over 50 assists in a season. Pretty rough...

 

A true leader willing to sacrifice his body and drop his gloves or just a yapper who had his gloves cemented throughout his career?

 

Which was bigger; his love for the green team or love for his role as an unquestioned captain in an NHL team? G

 

I think I'll save any high praises of him. 

[radoran]

No surprise I've always been fond of the Koivus.

 

Mikko was miscast throughout his tenure in Minnesota. The Wild like so many orgs have needed a 1C for a decade or so and kept insisting he was it.

 

He wasn't.

 

Shows the limitations of "GM through declaration" and chasing shiny objects through free agency. Parise and Suter ensured the Wild would never be able to get a true 1C.

 

Koivu was the prototype of a 2C and would have (as TFG notes) a more than serviceable 3/4 had he wanted to chase a Cup or get another paycheck.

Edited September 11, 2020 by radoran

[EmptyShelf]

8 hours ago, Hockey-78 said:

I don't know... he got paid, handsomely. 15 seasons and the team didn't really advance, anywhere.

 

Over $ 70 million dollars for three 20+ goal seasons (20, 20, 22) and never over 50 assists in a season. Pretty rough...

 

A true leader willing to sacrifice his body and drop his gloves or just a yapper who had his gloves cemented throughout his career?

 

Which was bigger; his love for the green team or love for his role as an unquestioned captain in an NHL team? G

 

I think I'll save any high praises of him. 

Absolutely agree.  I would have had more respect for him if he ever showed that he had a pair and that they had dropped.  Also, I would have been more of a fan if he neutered the Suter/Parise entitlement as soon as they arrived.  It did NOT happen.  He was the core of the Country Club, and a very assumptive 'Kaptain.'  So, I wish him well, but have no sympathy for him in soaking the Wild for so many years.

[CreaseAndAssist]

17 hours ago, Hockey-78 said:

I don't know... he got paid, handsomely. 15 seasons and the team didn't really advance, anywhere.

 

Over $ 70 million dollars for three 20+ goal seasons (20, 20, 22) and never over 50 assists in a season. Pretty rough...

 

A true leader willing to sacrifice his body and drop his gloves or just a yapper who had his gloves cemented throughout his career?

 

Which was bigger; his love for the green team or love for his role as an unquestioned captain in an NHL team? G

 

I think I'll save any high praises of him. 

 

This is pretty much my feelings on it all.  I am not in the least sad to see him go.  Heck back when they solved the last lockout I had hoped the team would use a compliance buyout on him.  And then in 2017 I wrote this for Gone Puck Wild.  If anything, hearing it was finally over brought a smile to my face, the way it might be when you finally pay off a car or something like that.  Not a big smile, but one that was a sign of glad that is now behind us.  

 

Like Hockey_78 said, Mikko was very well paid in his time with the Wild and more or less given 100% autonomy and top ice time for the majority of his career.  

 

I don't think we ever saw Mikko really stand up for his teammates despite being team captain.  We saw him yap at guys from time to time, but we didn't see him do anything really selfless for the team.  

 

But hey, because this organization hasn't accomplished much in 20 seasons, lets retire his jersey!?!?  I think there is a fair chance I might just miss paying attention to that cheesy and predictable Wild moment.  

[CreaseAndAssist]

16 hours ago, radoran said:

No surprise I've always been fond of the Koivus.

 

Mikko was miscast throughout his tenure in Minnesota. The Wild like so many orgs have needed a 1C for a decade or so and kept insisting he was it.

 

He wasn't.

 

Shows the limitations of "GM through declaration" and chasing shiny objects through free agency. Parise and Suter ensured the Wild would never be able to get a true 1C.

 

Koivu was the prototype of a 2C and would have (as TFG notes) a more than serviceable 3/4 had he wanted to chase a Cup or get another paycheck.

 

This is some pretty woke commentary by radoran and I'm not being even slightly sarcastic.  Koivu also insisted he was the #1 center for about a decade too.  He'd get pouty / angry if the team didn't have him on the board as the top line center.  But hey, some Wild fans really believed he was the best captain ever.  

[CreaseAndAssist]

23 hours ago, lynxrattle said:

So, Koivu decided to retire. I feel frustrated by how it went for him. He could have been a Selke winning centre in a Stanley Cup team. Instead he ended up as a Wild poster boy, a pretender 1C when his team lacked a true 1C. All the best for him, though. He ended up in a difficult situation. Earlier he could have solved the dilemma by asking to be traded. Not an easy thing to do.

 

Its actually pretty easy to ask to be traded.  The question you should ask, why didn't he?  

[Hockey-78]

4 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

 

Its actually pretty easy to ask to be traded.  The question you should ask, why didn't he?  

Yes... I`ll go out on a limb and answer "because he was not willing to leave his comfort zone". For him it would've been a high reward-high risk type of move. 

 

On Koivu's defense I do like to point out that he was no glass groin Gaborik and kept himself in shape. Out of 1230 regular season games he played 1028 which IMO is a pretty decent number, probably better.

 

And although he wasn't willing to taste anyone's fist he did play hard in terms of effort and at times he was pretty physical although because of his slowness his hits never made it to the highlight reels. Well maybe Kronwall's KO did.

 

In any case IMO overpaid and overrated.

[lynxrattle]

I think you are right about the comfort zone. By asking to be traded he would have broken against the team first code that until recently has been very strict in Finland. Koivu is a son of an old school hockey coach, the little brother of a Finnish hockey demi-god Saku. Asking for a trade would have meant admitting he failed.

[hf101]

On 9/11/2020 at 3:42 PM, Hockey-78 said:

I don't know... he got paid, handsomely. 15 seasons and the team didn't really advance, anywhere.

 

Over $ 70 million dollars for three 20+ goal seasons (20, 20, 22) and never over 50 assists in a season. Pretty rough...

 

A true leader willing to sacrifice his body and drop his gloves or just a yapper who had his gloves cemented throughout his career?

 

Which was bigger; his love for the green team or love for his role as an unquestioned captain in an NHL team? G

 

I think I'll save any high praises of him. 

I think he did the job he was paid to do to the best of his abilities.   Mikko logged a lot of minutes probably too many too often.

 

It isn't MIkko's fault the Wild never went out and gained #1 and #2 centers to build the future on.   And it isn't Mikko's fault that management never obtained nor nutured another player to take over the C role during his reign..  

 

I believe he does deserve to have his jersey lifted to the rafters.  He deserves to be honored and remembered for his career and legacy that he will leave in Minnesota.

 

 

[EmptyShelf]

5 hours ago, hf101 said:

I think he did the job he was paid to do to the best of his abilities.   Mikko logged a lot of minutes probably too many too often.

 

It isn't MIkko's fault the Wild never went out and gained #1 and #2 centers to build the future on.   And it isn't Mikko's fault that management never obtained nor nutured another player to take over the C role during his reign..  

 

I believe he does deserve to have his jersey lifted to the rafters.  He deserves to be honored and remembered for his career and legacy that he will leave in Minnesota.

 

 

I don't think he should have his jersey retired.  His contract and self-imposed whiny entitlement to the #1 C position was as much of the obstacle as Suter/Parise acquisitions.  Also, he felt that he DESERVED PP time, in spite of all the listless shifts passing the puck along the boards.  Outside of some decent defensive play on PK and winning face-offs (when he could cheat), the only value he had was being there every game (almost).  And, I would have rather seen him out more often to see what else we had at Center.  I think he was too smart for that, and knew he would lose his spot and probably played in some games that he should not have.  To me, he was the most overrated player in the NHL over an extended period.  He was also the least deserving captain, given his demeanor and overall game.  To LIG's point, I felt a sense of relief when he retired like you would dumping some old junk out of the garage that you had held onto too long and never served the purpose that you acquired it for.  Maybe we can now jettison another 1/3 of the Country Club before next season and refresh the locker room. 

[Gnarkill]

Thanks for the time and loyalty, Koivu. That being said.. this was fantastic news! 

[radoran]

On 9/12/2020 at 9:15 AM, CreaseAndAssist said:

Koivu also insisted he was the #1 center for about a decade too.  He'd get pouty / angry if the team didn't have him on the board as the top line center. 

 

Obviously not a lifelong Wild fan, nor did I watch on a regular basis or read the Minnesota press, but I couldn't find many examples of his pouty/angry approach. Happy to learn.

 

I've been a fan of Finnish hockey since 1980 and for the past 20 or so years you couldn't spell Finnish Hockey without "Koivu".

 

It was rare to find a petulant Finn. Which, it must be said, has changed somewhat over the past few years as the system has bent more towards individual talent than team cohesion.

[Math]

Some bittersweet taste for sure. I respect the fact he remained loyal to the team, having player all his games with a unique team, which is rare, but before you all jump on me but yeah, for the rest, you all made good statements in the previous posts.

 

And he will his jersey retired for sure. 20 Years of history and the only number is still that silly #1 for fans.

 

It's maybe a borderline comparison, but this reminds me Modano.

• Both wore #9
• Both spend all (or almost) all their carrier with the same franchise
• Both generates mixed-feelings in their own team community towards them about their personality. None of them are/were fan favorite.
• Both have/will have their jersey retired, being like: "Ok, thank you, blah blah blah, good success in the future" and that's it.

Funny thing is, Modano could be the one on the ice for the ceremony. 

[ClusterChuck]

I feel bad for Koivu for this being his last season with such a screwed up one. A sudden stoppage and months later a paltry 5 game playoff.
I hope he goes back home and picks up a season with someone there, If he feels like competing still.
Had many good moments here but a couple rule changes took away some of his pluses quickly.

[Fargocase]

On ‎9‎/‎11‎/‎2020 at 9:13 AM, lynxrattle said:

So, Koivu decided to retire. I feel frustrated by how it went for him. He could have been a Selke winning centre in a Stanley Cup team. Instead he ended up as a Wild poster boy, a pretender 1C when his team lacked a true 1C. All the best for him, though. He ended up in a difficult situation. Earlier he could have solved the dilemma by asking to be traded. Not an easy thing to do.

 

I agree.  It wasn't his fault the Wild grossly over-paid and over-hyped him. 

[radoran]

The thick plottens

 

 

[CreaseAndAssist]

I can't imagine too many NHL teams would want to add him at this point.  There just isn't a whole lot there anymore.  Russo speculated that he probably isn't going to be going back to play in Finland this year since that season has already started, but I'm sure those clubs would let him join late.  Either way, I think he might be waiting a while in free agency before someone calls for his services.  

[Hockey-78]

4 hours ago, CreaseAndAssist said:

I can't imagine too many NHL teams would want to add him at this point.  There just isn't a whole lot there anymore.  Russo speculated that he probably isn't going to be going back to play in Finland this year since that season has already started, but I'm sure those clubs would let him join late.  Either way, I think he might be waiting a while in free agency before someone calls for his services.  

Kurt Leavins is painting a picture where Koivu is needed in Edmonton:

https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cult-of-hockey/in-times-anything-but-normal-might-the-edmonton-oilers-off-season-not-be-9-things

 

Is there anything concrete behind this? Sounds to me he's just daydreaming. But some Oil fans are agreeing with him on Twitter. Koivu in Edmonton, that'd be something.

[lynxrattle]

9 hours ago, Hockey-78 said:

Kurt Leavins is painting a picture where Koivu is needed in Edmonton:

https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cult-of-hockey/in-times-anything-but-normal-might-the-edmonton-oilers-off-season-not-be-9-things

 

Is there anything concrete behind this? Sounds to me he's just daydreaming. But some Oil fans are agreeing with him on Twitter. Koivu in Edmonton, that'd be something.

To me Leavins is pipe dreaming. Laine has made it clear that he wants to play with Scheifele, and if not him, then a 1C in another team.

[Hockey-78]

10 hours ago, lynxrattle said:

To me Leavins is pipe dreaming. Laine has made it clear that he wants to play with Scheifele, and if not him, then a 1C in another team.

Laine? You tired bud? 

[Hockey-78]

Koivu heading to Columbus according to LeBrun. One year, $1.5 million.

 

Just looking at that salary I reckon the Wild were very anxious to get rid of him. 

[Hockey-78]

Now Russo tweets the Wild are anxious, again, to hire him BACK!