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Ducks land free-agent center Koivu
July 8th, 2009, 10:21 am · 14 Comments · posted by Dan Wood, Staff writer
UPDATE: Newest Duck Koivu likes the fit
The Ducks are set to announce shortly the signing of unrestricted free-agent center Saku Koivu to a one-year, $3.25 million contract.
Koivu, captain of the Montreal Canadiens the past nine seasons, will be reunited in Anaheim with his longtime friend and Finnish national team linemate, Teemu Selanne.
Koivu, 34, earned $4.75 million each of the past two seasons. He became available when the Canadiens undertook a dramatic off-season re-tooling plan.
Koivu is coming off a season in which he finished as Montreal’s third-leading scorer with 50 points, including 16 goals, in 65 games. He averaged 17 minutes, three seconds of ice time and was plus-4.
Koivu, who notched career-bests with 22 goals and 75 points in 81 games in 2006-07, figures to address the second-line void that has plagued the Ducks the past two seasons. He figures to play alongside Selanne, with center Ryan Getzlaf and right wing Corey Perry continuing to anchor the top line, and wingers Bobby Ryan and newly acquired Joffrey Lupul also available for top-six duty.
The first European-born captain in Canadiens history, Koivu wore the “C” longer than any player in Montreal’s storied history except for the legendary Jean Beliveau, who served as captain for 10 seasons.
Koivu was the club’s first-round pick in the 1993 NHL entry draft. He missed all but three games in 2001-02 after being diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, but made a dramatic return and led the Canadiens to a first-round upset of the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
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14 Comments
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Should be a good pickup
HUGE signing.
The Ducks didn’t find a 2nd line center, They created two 1st Lines.
Ducks have a very well-managed salary cap. Not too many teams with two quality goalies and significant space under the cap. Next year will be more a challenge though with Bobby Ryan and Jonas Hiller’s contracts ending.
I have to agree. Well said.
I would have rather them keep Beauchemin for a long term, but this is a good one year pick up for the Ducks.
Hopefully this will spark Selanne back into his 2005-07 self….
I hope the 2nd-line center curse stops with the Koivu signing. No one has made mention of Ebbett continuing a pretty decent year as the 2nd line C. I’m pretty confident the Ducks will find a way to hold on to B. Ryan and J. Hiller. I’ve been saying for two years that the Ducks should try and foresee cap issues and try to pursue I. Kolvachuk. His contract is over next year, he’s on the fence about staying in ATL, T. Selanne might be out after this season and Kolvachuck would definitely spread the scoring around if you move B. Ryan or C. Perry around the top two lines. I don’t think that Murray is done restructuring the team…i don’t see it as a rebuild because there’s still plenty of depth and talent…oh yah…we also need an AHL team!
Awesome. They kept talking and talking about it. I’m glad it’s done and we picked him up. What’s great is Koivu and Teemu are familiar with one another. Hopefully they can pick things up right away and put a lot of points up on the board. Even though the powerplay suffers with the loss of Prongs, we have more scoring depth than we did before. Now Teemu doesn’t have to worry about being a one man show on the second line anymore.
Koivu is an awesome player , great at face offs and two-way play , the most consistant forward in MTL last year , still shocked Gainey did not resign him . Would be great to see him on a line with Teemu .
I’m personally shocked about alot of what Gainey has done so far this summer, I figured they were gonna keep either Koivu or Kovalev..but he wanted change I guess.
The Ducks forward unit is looking impressive now, with a strong top two lines, balanced with veteran leadership/experience and young, emerging talent. Plus strong depth at forward is forming, as beyond the top 6, there is still Ebbett, Carter, Marchant, and Christensen, who all have strong potential to light the lamp. What the Ducks really need right now is a strong defensemen, who can score and quarterback the powerplay, someone like Matieu Schneider, who is still offensively strong, even for being 40. Maybe the Ducks can sign him, and still have cap room for resigning Rob or even bringing back Moen for a strong, checking line forward. This is a great signing, and whatever happens, im looking forward to this next year.
this is huge. the ducks have the best first two lines in hockey now…on paper….if they can execute and pick up one more proven D-man then they have to be considered in the top 3 in the west!
I was not happy with Murray not signing Beauchemin, but now we know he was going after Koivu. Great job GM!
Look for Teemu’s defense to improve with the acquisition of Koivu. Koivu is usually pretty responsible in front of his own net. This should rub off on Teemu.