Minnesota Wild Captain Mikko Koivu signs with TPS Turku of Finnish League -NHL Lockout Update
Minnesota Wild have lost one of their key players to the lockout as the veteran centre and captain, Mikko Koivu, signed on with TPS Turku of the Finnish hockey league on Monday, October 22, 2012, according to latest reports.
Koivu was learnt to have been waiting to decide on a number of options he had as an alternative to the hockey season being locked out and was willing to spend time and see the negotiation process between the National Hockey League (NHL) and Players’ Association
out. After realising that any significant progress to save the 2012-2013 regular season was not being made in recent meetings, Koivu finally decided to make the play.
The 29-year-old is a native of Turku, Finland, and joined his hometown team, as he was suspected to if needed to leave to play with a foreign league. He was picked up as the sixth overall by Minnesota Wild during round-one of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft and
has stayed loyal to the team ever since.
According to Matias Strozyk of Jatkoaika and Elite Prospects, the captain’s contract with his hometown club ranges till the end of November, giving him that extra cushion to see whether a the lockout has come to an end or not. There is no telling when the
lockout may actually see an end, but Koivu has kept his contract limited to stay on the safe side, unlike a number of players who plan on spending the entire season abroad.
At the moment, Mikko Koivu is signed on to a seven-year, $47.25 million contract with the Minnesota Wild, which he signed prior to the 2011-2012 NHL regular season and will make him an unrestricted free agent by the end of the 2017-2018 hockey year.
In 488 games played so far, Mikko Koivu has 361 points to his name, consisting of 108 goals, 253 assists and 334 minutes in penalty time for an accumulated plus-minus rating of 24 in the positive region.
It will be interesting to see Koivu’s performance overseas and hopefully, will be back for the NHL regular season once the lockout comes to an end since he is an integral part of the Wild squad.
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