Accept Koivu for who HE is

Hkydude_77 · Member

Accept Koivu for who HE is

Saku11 · Senior Member

Who is bashing him?????

Nil d · Guru

Hkydude_77 wrote:

This year he's got 55 points in 63 games (right on his career average), he's 3 assists away from a career high, and most importantly HE (I repeat HE) has developed Chris Higgins. Higgins works hard (contagious from playing with Saku). Higgins is scoring at a torid pace since the Olympics (thanks to sweet passes from Saku). And Higgins scoring at a rapid pace, has had Saku thinking pass first, instead of shoot (which might not be a great thing, but one of our forwards has to pass the puck). Get off Saku's back. Appreciate him for what he is. If you want to bash him for not being the 100 point player all Montreal fans desperatley want, blame management for never giving him a legitimate power forward to play with or having a legit #2 scoring line behind him. Thankfully we have that #2 line now - just waiting for a #2 centre now.

Very good post, dude (at least we Saku-likers will like the post).

Point of information though: prior to this year, Saku's PPG was .80, This year he's at .87 - so quite a bit ahead of his career average. At this rate, this year will be his second-highest scoring total, despite missing some 10 games.

(And plouf will say that scoring is up 20% - I know it's up, but 20% seems a bit high. Anyone know for sure?)

But despite the recent slump, overall Saku has had a very good year. People crap on him for a bad 15-game stretch a while back, but forget he pretty much carried the team (offense at least) in the first 40 games, when no one else had anything going.

Key Lime · Guru

Hkydude_77 wrote:

Loads of Saku bashing on here. I've said this before, you have to understand a players talent and abilities in order to bash them. Is Saku a top flight #1 NHL Centre? Probably not. In the East over the years, he's had to go head to head with some big men with superior talent such as Joe Thornton, Mats Sundin, Lindros, Mario, Lecavalier/Richards, Joikienen and Arnott (when he was with the Devils) - not to mention the #1 pairing of D-men he faces every night. However, Saku is a very skilled player, and more importantly an awesome leader. He's the hardest worker every night on Montreal and doing so against guys 40lbs heavier and 6-7' taller. This year he's got 55 points in 63 games (right on his career average), he's 3 assists away from a career high, and most importantly HE (I repeat HE) has developed Chris Higgins. Higgins works hard (contagious from playing with Saku). Higgins is scoring at a torid pace since the Olympics (thanks to sweet passes from Saku). And Higgins scoring at a rapid pace, has had Saku thinking pass first, instead of shoot (which might not be a great thing, but one of our forwards has to pass the puck). Get off Saku's back. Appreciate him for what he is. If you want to bash him for not being the 100 point player all Montreal fans desperatley want, blame management for never giving him a legitimate power forward to play with or having a legit #2 scoring line behind him. Thankfully we have that #2 line now - just waiting for a #2 centre now.

Hkydude, I agree with you; however, you can't change the way someone feels about Koivu. Trust me, I've tried several times but some people are just hard headed. I just know one thing. Even if the Habs become a top contender in the next 2 years and Saks is leading the team... people will still not accept him for who he is. I really think it's a money issue. Most people don't like that he's getting paid a high salary but doesn't get 100 points per year. Like you said, it's not who he is. He gets that money for his hard work, leadership, loyalty to the organization, and all the other intangibles....but like I said I guess other people can not like him, that's fine, but when they crap on him...that's just ridiculous.

plouf · Guru

Scoring's up over 20%. That was a low estimate. Check it out on sports.yahoo.com/nhl, then click on statisics. Check out team goals. It'll give you the rankings for teams. Then go look at the past few years (just above the list, to the right, is a tool that lets you switch to other years). It's a BIG difference.

24 Rings · Guru

Accept Koivu for who HE is...the captain and the best player.

barry33 · Guru

The fact is this..in the new reality of the NHL, guys will get criticized who are the highest pai don the team, irregardless of who they are. The reason being that they take up so much cap space. Now obviously Gainey felt that Koivu was important enough to give 5 mill and a no trade clause to, even though he is in reality, a second line center. Now if Gainey goes out and get s aguy for the first line who can score, we will have a pretty good one/two combo.

Key Lime · Guru

barry33 wrote:

The fact is this..in the new reality of the NHL, guys will get criticized who are the highest pai don the team, irregardless of who they are. The reason being that they take up so much cap space. Now obviously Gainey felt that Koivu was important enough to give 5 mill and a no trade clause to, even though he is in reality, a second line center. Now if Gainey goes out and get s aguy for the first line who can score, we will have a pretty good one/two combo.

I'm convinced that one of Gainey's priorities is acquiring a #1 line top center. If he succeeds, our first two lines will give oppossing teams a lot of trouble.