Montreal Canadiens

Koivu: Approbation and discord

The incongruity of the Saku Koivu era as captain of the Canadiens, was perfectly illustrated, by two events which occured within a 24 hour period this past week. Thursday night, in a virtual must win game against Tampa, Koivu lead the Habs to victory with his 5th game winning goal of the season. The accomplishment became somewhat overshadowed and tarnished, by an inflammatory article in the french media the following day. In an interview on RDS, Mike Riberio, a former Canadien accused Koivu of having it in for him, and in effect being responsible for his trade to Dallas. Riberio went on to question Koivu’s leadership capabilities. Since becoming the franchises 27th captain, and first European born captain in 1999, a duality of accomplishment and controversy has defined Koivu’s leadership of the Canadiens.

In some respects, Koivu is an anomaly, amongst his peers in his profession. Admiration, respect flows towards him in as much as he has accomplished off the ice as on. His heroic battle against Non Hodgkins lymphoma which was at an advanced stage, is an inspirational story on to its own. His ensuing charitable work, through his foundation to raise funds for early cancer detection equipment, will always ensure a reservoir of good will and respect for an individual who battled his disease with courage and grace. Koivu’s ensuing determination, to not only recover from cancer, but to resume his hockey career, enduring more physical and psychological pain, to accomplish his goal, is a remarkable and inspirational saga.

Ironically, despite the immense obstacles Koivu has over come off ice, the perceived inadequacies of his on ice captaincy of the Canadiens has also precipitated a discordant sound. Despite a very productive career,primarily, as a superb playmaker (Koivu is tenth all time point producer in Canadiens history) averaging 0.81 points per game, Koivu’s critics, point to his failure to lead the Habs to a Stanley Cup championship during his tenure of captain of the team. With a team of such rich history and tradition, Koivu as the dominant image of a team that has gone over 15 years without a Cup victory, facilitates a degree of resentment towards the Finnish captain. Never mind that Koivu is not responsible for the rather dubious trades and draft pick selections that were a principal cause of the organizations mediocrity for almost a decade. Critics, assail Koivu for his inability to elevate his game to such an extraordinary level that would propel the team to post season success. A certain percentage of the media, and fans compare Koivu to dominant centers around the league, such as Lecavalier, Crosby, Thornton, and find Koivu severly wanting in terms of abilities. Those comparisons, and ensuing criticisms gain momentum and perceive legitimacy based on the one obvious ommission on Koivu’s resume, no Stanley Cup championship. It is this one short coming that over shadows, all the admirable qualities that Koivu brings to the Canadiens. Although smallish in stature, his career has been characterized by fiesty, fiery competitive spirit, complementing great on ice elusiveness, puck handling skills and creativity. It is these very qualities which have unfortunately accelerated his progression into the inevitable decline in his abilities as he enters the twilight of his career. Koivu’s competitive spirit has propelled him to push himself beyond his natural limitations. On a team that prefers to play on the perhipery too much, Koivu will, will himself to take on severe punishment in the high traffic areas to generate offense. Despite his stature, he will positon himself in front of the oposition net, taking severe punishment to create scoring chances. He will battle tenaciously in the corners to regain puck possession. He will play with gritty determination, and committment to elevate his team. That style of play signifies leadership, more so than off ice oratory, which the reserved Koivu is not comfortable in participating in. The years of playing bigger than he is, leading a decade long team of mediocre talents, has taken a toll on the captain. His elusiveness, and quickness has diminished. (Knee surgery in 2000, has contributed to a dimunition of foot speed) He can no longer play at a continous frenetic pace. He now must be more judicious with his energy level. As an elder statesman in the league, he now picks his spots as to when to elevate his intensity surges, enabling him to separate from close checking opponents. Those bursts of energy, can no longer come at the same frequency as before. Over the past three seasons, prolonged 20 game slumps, with little production, have become the norm.Those underperforming segments, gain more attention, due to the fact that the supporting cast, is unable to lift their play to offset Koivu’s declining production in the down slope of his career. The burden, Koivu bares, , is in the most demanding hockey city in the world, which is thirsting for a Stanley Cup after a prolonged drought, the inability to constantly play beyond his limitations, is, to some, unacceptable.

Koivu, is the public face of the Canadiens. He was drafted by the organization in 1993, and while coaches, general managers and ownership has changed through one of the most turbulent decades of the franchise, number 11 has been a mainstay of the club. Critics, and suporters seem to examine Koivu from the same perspective, and yet come to completely different conclusions. A scoring streak, or a crucial game winning goal by Koivu is heralded of evidence of his competitive fire, and ability to deliver when it is needed most. Critics state that the captain does not deliver frequently enough, that it simpy magnifies his short comings as a consistent point per game producer and poor leadership, unable to make the Canadiens Cup champions.

The truth concerning Koivu and his value to the Canadiens probably lies in between the Saint Saku acolytes, and the Koivu critics. From a historical perspective in terms of tangible numbers, Koivu’s stats present him as a pretty solid productive centerman. Not necessairly worthy of elite number one line status, but a pretty efficent industrious above average number two line centerman. Similarly, the off ice intangibles coalesce between the extremes of absolute level headed fairness garnering unquestioned teammate support, and an individual with his own selfish agenda that disengages himself from teammates, and thus contributes to fractures in the dressing room. Like many of the Habs teams of the past 15 years, Koivu is an imperfect player. He never asked to be put on the same pedestal of Beliveau, Richard and the other Hab greats. Nonetheless, he has carved out a pretty compelling resume for himself.

After years of trying to elevate his teammates, it would somehow be fitting, in the sunset of his career, if others would assume the leadership of the team, and elevate their performance to a point that Koivu, could be a member of a Stanley Cup championship team in Montreal.