Saku Koivu

Saku Antero Koivu (born November 23, 1974) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Koivu began his professional ice hockey career playing for TPS in the Finnish SM-liiga, beginning in 1992–93.

He posted ten points in his rookie season, including five points in the playoffs, to help TPS to a Kanada-malja championship.

Koivu was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, following his rookie season in the SM-liiga, as their first round selection, 21st overall.

After improving to 53 points the following season, he put up a league-high 73 points in 1994–95.

In addition to earning the Veli-Pekka Ketola trophy as league scoring champion, Koivu was awarded the Kultainen kypärä award as the players' choice for the best player and the Lasse Oksanen trophy as league MVP.

He went on to record 17 points in 13 post-season games that year to earn the Jari Kurri trophy as playoff MVP and win his second Kanada-malja trophy in three years with TPS.

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 ten of his 14 years with the club, which makes him the longest captaincy tenure in team history, tied with Jean Béliveau.

Koivu was the first European player to captain the Montreal Canadiens.

After two more seasons with TPS, Koivu moved to North America for the 1995–96 season to join the Canadiens.

In his first season, Koivu ranked fourth in scoring amongst NHL rookies with 45 points in 82 games.

The following season, he was amongst the NHL leading scorers (13 goals and 25 assists for 38 points) before suffering a knee injury on December 7, 1996, in a game against Chicago Blackhawks.

He missed 32 games that season but returned to finish with 56 points in 50 games.

The next two seasons, Koivu continued to miss time with various leg injuries.

In each year, however, he managed to play in more than 60 regular season games, scoring 57 and 44 points in 1997–98 and 1998–99 respectively.

He also served as captain of the Finnish national men's ice hockey team from 1998 to 2010, and was inducted into IIHF Hall of Fame in 2017.

With the departure of team captain Vincent Damphousse in 1998–99, Koivu was named the 27th captain for the Canadiens on September 30, 1999.

He also became the first European-born captain in team history.

His first season as captain, however, was cut short due to a dislocated shoulder that took him off the ice for 40 games.

Upon returning, he suffered another knee injury, resulting in a shortened 24-game season, in which Koivu recorded 21 points.

The next season, in 2000–01, Koivu sat out another 28 games after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, limiting him to 47 points.

After six seasons in the NHL, Koivu was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma, a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

on September 6, 2001, and missed nearly the entire 2001–02 season.

Koivu was on his way back from Finland with Canadiens teammate Brian Savage, who said he looked pale.

He was suffering serious stomach pains and vomiting and went to see the Canadiens' physician David Mulder, who, after several tests, discovered the cancer.

Koivu received large numbers of get-well e-mails and letters from fans and was also in touch with Mario Lemieux and John Cullen; hockey centres who had beaten cancer and made successful returns to the NHL.

Koivu was expected to be out for the season but made a remarkable comeback in time for the last few games.

Fans gave Koivu an eight-minute standing ovation when he skated onto the Molson Centre ice for the first time on April 9, 2002, in the team's 80th game of the season.

Koivu helped the team to gain a playoff spot and they went on to beat the top-seeded Boston Bruins in six games.

For his courage and off-ice team leadership while undergoing cancer treatment, he was awarded the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy following the 2002 playoffs.

He followed up in 2002–03 by scoring what was then a career-best 71 points (21 goals and 50 assists).

Koivu suffered further knee problems in 2003–04 and was forced to miss 13 games.

Koivu would return to the TPS squad during the 2004–05 NHL lockout, scoring eight goals and eight assists in 20 games.

During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, he returned to Finland to play for TPS, whose head coach at the time was his father, Jukka Koivu.

He was joined in Turku by Canadiens teammate Craig Rivet.

When NHL play resumed in 2005–06, Koivu returned to the Canadiens to tally 62 points in 72 games.

On April 26, 2006, however, during a home playoff game against the Carolina Hurricanes, Koivu sustained a serious injury to his left eye; Hurricanes forward Justin Williams attempted to lift Koivu's stick but instead struck him in the eye.

Koivu was rushed to the hospital, where he would remain overnight and for the remainder of the playoffs.

He remained out of the lineup for the rest of the series and underwent surgery to repair a detached retina during the off-season.