Saku Koivu

**Saku Antero Koivu** (born November 23, 1974 in Turku, Finland) is a former Finnish professional ice hockey player and an alternate captain of the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He began his NHL career with the Montreal Canadiens in 1995–96 after three seasons with TPS of the Finnish SM-liiga. Koivu served as the Canadiens' captain for nine of his thirteen seasons with the club (not including the locked-out 2004–05 season), which makes his the second longest captaincy tenure in team history after Jean Béliveau. Koivu was the first European to captain the Montreal Canadiens.

On September 6, 2001, Koivu was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma, a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and he nearly all of the 2001–02 season. After he had been suffering serious pains in his stomach and was vomiting went to see the Canadiens' physician David Mulder, who, after many tests discovered the cancer. He was expected to miss the season but he made a comeback in time for the last few games. The fans gave Koivu an eight-minute standing ovation when he skated onto the Molson Centre ice for the first time on April 9, 2002. For both his courage and his off-ice team leadership while he was undergoing cancer treatment, Koivu was awarded the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy following the 2002 playoffs.

### SM-liiga

- Kultainen kypärä award (Players choice for the best player) - 1995
- Jari Kurri trophy (Best player in playoffs) - 1995
- Lasse Oksanen trophy (Most valuable player) - 1995
- Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy (Most points in regular season) - 1995
- President's Trophy - 1999

### NHL

- Voted to the NHL All-Star Game by the fans - 1998, 2003 (did not play due to injury)
- Bill Masterton Trophy - 2002
- King Clancy Memorial Trophy - 2007
- First ever European-born captain of the Montreal Canadiens - 1999-2009

### International

- Ice Hockey World Championships Tournament All-Star - 1994, 1995, 1999
- Ice Hockey World Championships Tournament's Best Forward - 1995, 1999
- Ice Hockey World Championships Tournament's Top scorer - 1999
- Finnish Ice hockey player of the year - 1994, 1995
- Turin 2006 Winter Olympics - Tournament All-Star
- Turin 2006 Winter Olympics - Top scorer
- Captain of Team Finland - 1998-2010

## Career statistics

|colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff"||rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff"||colspan="6"|Regular season|rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff"||colspan="5"|Playoffs|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1992–93|TPS|SM-L|46|3|7|10|28|-5|11|3|2|5|2 </td>|
|1993–94|TPS|SM-L|47|23|30|53|42|+27|11|4|8|12|16|
|1994–95|TPS|SM-L|45|27|47|74|73|+33|13|7|10|17|16|
|1995–96|Montreal Canadiens|NHL|82|20|25|45|40|-7|6|3|1|4|8|
|1996–97|Montreal Canadiens|NHL|50|17|39|56|38|+7|5|1|3|4|10|
|1997–98|Montreal Canadiens|NHL|69|14|43|57|48|+8|6|2|3|5|2|
|1998–99|Montreal Canadiens|NHL|65|14|30|44|38|-7|—|—|—|—|—|
|1999–00|Montreal Canadiens|NHL|24|3|18|21|14|+7|—|—|—|—|—|
|2000–01|Montreal Canadiens|NHL|54|17|30|47|40|+2|—|—|—|—|—|
|2001–02|Montreal Canadiens|NHL|3|0|2|2|0|0|12|4|6|10|4|
|2002–03|Montreal Canadiens|NHL|82|21|50|71|72|+5|—|—|—|—|—|
|2003–04|Montreal Canadiens|NHL|68|14|41|55|52|-5|11|3|8|11|10|
|2004–05|TPS|SM-l|20|8|8|16|28|+11|6|3|2|5|30|
|2005–06|Montreal Canadiens|NHL|72|17|45|62|70|+1|3|0|2|2|2|
|2006–07|Montreal Canadiens|NHL|81|22|53|75|74|-21|—|—|—|—|—|
|2007–08|Montreal Canadiens|NHL|77|16|40|56|93|-4|7|3|6|9|4|
|2008–09|Montreal Canadiens|NHL|65|16|34|50|44|+4|4|0|3|3|2|
|2009–10|Anaheim Ducks|NHL|71|19|33|52|36|+14|—|—|—|—|—|
|2010–11|Anaheim Ducks|NHL|75|15|30|45|36|-8|6|1|6|7|6|
|2011–12|Anaheim Ducks|NHL|74|11|27|38|50|+7|—|—|—|—|—|
|2012–13|Anaheim Ducks|NHL|47|8|19|27|18|+4|7|1|2|3|6|
|2013–14|Anaheim Ducks|NHL|65|11|18|29|46|+3|13|0|1|1|8|

### International

|Year|Team|Event|Result|rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff"||GP|G|A|Pts|PIM|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1993|Finland|WC||6|0|1|1|2|||
|1994|Finland|OLY||8|4|3|7|12|||
|1994|Finland|WC||8|5|6|11|4|||
|1995|Finland|WC||8|5|5|10|18|||
|1996|Finland|WCH||4|1|3|4|4|||
|1997|Finland|WC||6|2|2|4|2|||
|1998|Finland|OLY||6|2|8|10|4|||
|1999|Finland|WC||10|4|12|16|4|||
|2003|Finland|WC||7|1|10|11|4|||
|2004|Finland|WCH||6|3|1|4|2|||
|2006|Finland|OLY||8|3|8|11|12|||
|2008|Finland|WC||6|0|3|3|4|||
|2010|Finland|OLY||6|0|2|2|6|||

## Other websites

- Saku Koivu on nhlfinns.com

## Infobox (ice hockey player)

- **image**: Sakukoivu_halifax2008.png
- **image size**: 200px
- **position**: Center (ice hockey), Center
- **shoots**: Left
- **height ft**: 5
- **height in**: 10
- **weight lb**: 178
- **team**: Anaheim Ducks
- **former teams**: Montreal Canadiens
TPS (ice hockey), TPS (SM-liiga)
- **league**: National Hockey League, NHL
- **ntl team**: Finland
- **birth place**: Turku, Finland, FIN
- **career start**: 1992
- **draft**: 21st overall
- **draft year**: 1993
- **draft team**: Montreal Canadiens
- **career end**: 2014