Saku Koivu: By the Numbers

(Written on July 7th 2010)

Earlier this week, abit of controversy arose when Scott Gomez decided that beginning with next season he would wear the #11 for the Montreal Canadiens.
Some feel, like the GM, "why not", and some feel "how dare he" - in an oversimplified manner.

I am 29 years old. I remember the Stanley Cup run in 1993. I have a vague recollection of the runs in '89 and '86, however I was quite young then.

For me, and for those younger then me certainly, Saku Koivu was not only the best player we saw in our generation. He is the ONLY player we saw. Was he as good as we may think? maybe. Was he as mediocre as others think? perhaps.

Memory is a funny thing, people remember things how we want to. The only accurate record's are numbers. So, let's take a look, how does Saku Koivu stack up?

With 641 points, Saku Koivu ranks 10th on the Canadiens all-time scoring list. His 450 assists ranks him 6th. Whereas his 792 games with the Habs drops him down to 19th on the list of most games played.

It's very hard to compare eras, but that's what the numbers do. If you look at points per game, Koivu averaged 0.81 Points per game. The closest comparison to him in points-per-game would be "The Roadrunner" Yvan Cournoyer who averaged 0.89 Points per game. Those aren't identical numbers, but they are fairly close. I never saw "The Roadrunner" play, so all I can look at are numbers and contemporaries. I may be mistaken, however I do believe that Cournoyer played with multiple future hall-of-famers in his career, whereas no offense to Brian Savage, Richard Zednik, Dainius Zubrus, Juha Lind and Xavier Deslile - none of them will be mistaken for Hall-of-famers. In fact, Mark Recchi and Alexei Kovalev aside, I'd argue that Saku Koivu was never given first line talent to play with in Montreal. (Does Pierre Turgeon for 1 game count?).

Koivu was an undersized centreman charged with being the teams' #1 option on Power Play, Penalty kill, 5-on-5 offense AND often was asked to keep the other team's best forwards in check as well. In being asked to fulfill all of these roles Koivu was a target for other teams, leading to multiple injuries. After his first knee Injury (in his sophomore season, while leading the NHL in scoring) Koivu was asked to forego surgery and just re-hab the knee because the team needed him.

From 1995-2001 (with the emergence of Jose Theodore and Doug Gilmour filling in admirably) there was no player more important to the franchise than Saku Koivu. He often led the team in scoring - even while missing massive amounts of games.

Koivu made the players around him better. Brian Savage (0.62 Points per game with Habs, 0.35 PPG with others) Michael Ryder (0.66 PPG with the Habs, 0.55 PPG with others) Richard Zednik ( 0.57 PPG with Habs, 0.46 with others) Christopher Higgins (0.54 PPG with Habs, 0.25 PPG with others) and the list goes on.

Koivu's 7 Overtime game winning goals ranks 1st on the team since the league started tracking the stat.

Koivu's tenure as Captain is tied with Jean Beliveau as the longest in the 100 year history of the team.

Was he the greatest player the team ever saw? No. His contributions on and off the ice however show him to be the best player of his generation - bar none. The only thing missing from his resume is a Stanley Cup, and I do believe it could be argued that had he won that prize just once his number would be hanging in the Bell Centre rafters along with the other greats.

Should it be retired? maybe. Will it be? probably not.

For the people under the age of 30 however, Koivu's the best player we ever saw represent the team, so Scott Gomez has alot to live up to by comparing himself.