Tonight, the Montreal Canadiens are playing the Anaheim Ducks in Montreal and that's not all, It's Saku Koivu's homecoming tonight,the first time since 2009 that he last played in Montreal.
Saku is a legend in Montreal: He overcame cancer in 2002 but came back in time for the final two games of the season, first european captian in team history & longest-serving captain in Canadiens history (tied with Jean Béliveau), led the Habs to a couple of playoff upsets, he sits at #10 on the list of the greatest NHL captians of all time in the March 2008 issue of impact magazine & he led them to a first-place finish in the eastern conference & northeast division in the 2007-2008 season.
The current Canadiens team are not the same without Koivu's leadership & play. He should have never left Montreal for Anaheim as UFA. Gionta will never be the captian Koivu was in Montreal.
Hope his number gets retired and wins a Stanley Cup before he retires.
Gionta is a fine hockey player so we'll see what he brings.
ReplyDeleteKoivu deserves a place in the Ring of Honor at the very least.
Koivu's departure is all the more grating considering they replaced him with Scott Gomez (who has seen better days and his production dip) and his monstrous contract. For the same prodution and leadership, the Habs could have kept Koivu; all for less money.
Whether they "needed" to sign him to attract other players like Gionta and Cammalleri is up in the air to me. It sounds like Cammalleri - the best signing that year - didn't need much prodding.