Wild sign Captain Koivu for the long term
The Minnesota Wild have announced that they have extended forward, and team captain Mikko Koivu's stay with the team. The Wild and Koivu agreed to a seven-year deal worth $47.25 million, resulting in a cap hit of $6.75 million per-year. The Finnish star was also able to negotiate five signing bonuses and a no-trade-clause. The signing goes down as the richest in the history of the franchise.
Mikko Koivu
Koivu began his professional career with the Finnish team TPS Turku. He started playing for their junior development squad but was moved to the senior squad in 2000-01. Koivu was then taken sixth overall by Minnesota in the 2001 National Hockey League entry draft. Koivu then returned to Finland and played another three seasons with Turku, before coming over to North America.
Upon arrival Koivu joined the Wild’s American Hockey League affiliate the Houston Aeros for the 2004-05 season.
The following season he was promoted to the NHL, and played in 64 games recording 21 points. That year he was given a spot on Finland’s Olympic squad and helped the team to a Silver Medal.
In 2006-07 Koivu played the entire year with the Wild registering his first 20-goal season. The following campaign Koivu began to fill the role of the offensive powerhouse. With Marian Gaborik out for the season he led Minnesota in scoring with 67 points. Last year with the Wild Koivu kept his scoring touch up, notching 22 goals, and 49 assists for 71 points, while remaining the teams top scorer.
Minnesota’s Perspective
General Manager Chuck Fletcher was very eager to get a deal done with Koivu this summer. The 27-year-old Finn’s contract was due to come up at the end of the year, and the Wild were not interested in losing their top offensive player to free agency. The Wild are a team making a move away from the defensive game they had been playing since their inception, and Koivu is a big part of that. The captain brings a lot to the franchise as he can produce offensively but is not a liability in the defensive zone. Fletcher believes he has the pieces in place to be a contender in the very difficult Northwest Division. He knows he will get another productive year out of the ever improving Koivu, and must be hoping to get more out of Martin Havlat and Antti Miettinen.
The newly hired Fletcher had this to say of the recent signing:
“When I took the job my primary goal was to sign Koivu…After 15 months of planning how to go about this, today we were able to accomplish that. It speaks to the commitment Mikko has made to us. He showed strong interest signing with us and both parties are excited about moving forward together.”
Koivu’s Perspective
For Koivu this is an outstanding deal, he gets to stay with the team he captained last season. The Wild are still a young and very well managed. They always seem to be in the thick of things in a very difficult Western Conference, and Koivu with get several shots at the playoffs over his seven year contract. The contract itself is great for the tough centre . It is unlikely he would have been able to procure a contract of that size on the open market at the end of next season. He is also set for the rest of his career. This contract will take him to his 34th birthday, and assuming he is still playing by then he may have another reduced two or three year contract afterwards.
The signing works out for both sides, Fletcher managed to retain his captain and number one offensive threat, as well as avoided trying to resign him next summer. Koivu remains with the club that drafted him, and should continue to log first line minutes for the Wild in the years to come.
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