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.

Awards and honors
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

     Regular season   Playoffs Season Team League GPGAPtsPIM+/– GP G A Pts PIM 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 NHL totals   1124  255  577  832  809  +10  80  18  41  59  62 SM-L totals   158  61  92  153  171  +66  41  17  22  39  64

International

 Year Team Event Result   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 WC totals   51  17  39  56  38 OLY totals   28  9  21  30  34 WCH totals   10  4  4  8  6 Int'l totals   89  30  64  94  78

References

Other websites

Saku Koivu on nhlfinns.com

Category:1974 births
Category:Living people
Category:Anaheim Ducks players
Category:Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy winners
Category:Finnish ice hockey centres
Category:Ice hockey people from Turku
Category:King Clancy Memorial Trophy winners
Category:Montreal Canadiens players
Category:Olympic silver medalists for Finland
Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Finland