Saku Koivu Signs With Ducks, I’m Not Happy

Saku Koivu spent all of his 13 years in the NHL with the Montreal Canadiens and become the second-longest serving captain in the team’s history (nine seasons – Jean Beliveau led for 10 years).  Now, he’s been signed by the Anaheim Ducks who offered him a one-year, $3.25 million contract.

image: TSN

I know some people are glad that he’ll get to play with Teemu Selanne.  Many Habs fans had hoped they would become teammates but not with the Ducks, of course.  They worked well together when they helped Finland capture the silver medal at the 2006 Olympic Games in Turin so hopefully they can turn on the magic again before Selanne retires.  Even Koivu seemed happy with the news.  In a statement he said: “I’m very excited to join the Ducks this coming season.  I’m also looking forward to a full season with Teemu Selanne as a teammate.”

I know that he must be relieved to, at least, be going to a team where he feels he might be welcomed but at the same time, I’m slightly furious with this decision.  Okay, I’m irate.  Koivu knew that his days with the club might be numbered after they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs but there were a million factors that led to that.  Uh, let me think – their coach was fired and replaced by Bob Gainey, their goaltender Carey Price seemed to forget he was on the ice half the time, there was so much pressure to perform during their 100th anniversary and the players knew that the team was being sold.  That’s a lot of stress.  I’m not making excuses but I don’t think the solution was to completely dismantle the team.  Yes, they have a new coach and new owners and they’ve let star players like Alex Kovalev go but do you really think with all of those changes that it is the right time to take the team’s anchor, their captain, away?

When you do too much with a team (Tampa Bay Lightning and the Calgary Flames three seasons ago come to mind) it can lose its identity.  It’s not like Montreal failed to make the playoffs – they just didn’t advance.

I’m from Montreal and I know how much he is loved there.  I also know that he’s had to take a lot of flack from the media and some fans because he doesn’t speak French very well but that’s par for the course in La Belle Province.  When he was diagnosed with intra-abdominal non-Hodgkins lymphoma everyone was so stunned and worried but he pulled through and when he came back to the team, he was greeted by an incredible welcome.  My brother was the national anthem singer that year and I remember how energized the place was.  He got an eight-minute standing ovation.  He even earned a Masterton Trophy that season after showing extreme courage and dedication to his team.

Now, he’s going from being the captain to being on the roster.  He’s going from a city with a huge, overwhelming even, hockey market to a city where I was shocked last summer to discover that most people couldn’t care less about hockey.  I couldn’t find any merchandise at the three, count ‘em THREE, malls I went to and when I did make it to the Ducks store (there’s only one and it’s at the Honda Center) it was closed.  It was daytime!

At least the Ducks seem to know what they have.  General manager Bob Murray made the following statement:  “Saku Koivu’s character and leadership qualities are unquestioned.  He is a skilled playmaker and we are thrilled to add him to our team.”

In 13 NHL seasons, Koivu has dressed for 792 games and has scored 191 goals with 450 assists.  A foot injury limited him to playing only 65 games for the Habs in 2008-09 but he managed to score 16 goals and posted 36 assists.

Koivu is a class act and a well-respected player.  I hope he accomplishes great things over in Anaheim.