With their first pick on the second day of the NHL Draft, the Montreal Canadiens had to wait until round three to make their first pick, but they went back to the future, selecting Aatos Koivu with the 70th pick.
Koivu is the son of former Canadiens captain Saku, and is someone who surely will be a fan favourite regardless of how his career pans out.
Birthplace: Turku, FIN
Date of birth: June 22, 2006
Shoots: Right
Position: Centre
Height: 6’0”
Weight: 170 lbs.
Team: TPS (Finland)
Koivu’s taller than his father, and his development curve is what drove his rise up draft rankings. At the start of the season, he had yet to play a single game for Finland at the U18 level, and by the end of the year, he already had four senior Liiga games and was a solid contributor to Finland’s U18 World Championship team. The development also came with his size, going from 5’10”, 126 lbs to over 6’0″ over the last year. He still needs to increase his strength, but that can come with time as he grows into his frame. One knock on him is his performance in board battles and tendency to lose them.
He’s a prototypical centre in that he plays a full 200-foot game, can support both ends of the ice without the puck, and is always looking for the right thing to do. He will not take plays off. While his skating is average, his acceleration allows him to create and win races to pucks to get behind the defence.
Unlike his father, Aatos is known for having a great shot. He was able to become a weapon on the half-wall on the power play (aka the Ovechkin spot) and can release the puck off of either leg. The playmaking ability is not one of his assets, as he has not shown that part of his game as of yet but he does make short, smart passes in the offensive zone to try and open things up for his team. Some scouts, however, like the way he sees the play and say he’s better with the puck than without it.
On the other side, a lot of his production came on the power play which means that his impact at even strength left a bit to be desired.
The above chart shows the issues that Koivu had at five-on-five, but what does stand out as positive is his defensive plays, showing that if the production can catch up, there’s a solid foundation to work with. He’s an average skater but his motor and relentlessness means he can play quicker than you would expect.
Koivu was 86th in the consensus rankings, with a high vote of 64 from Chris Peters at FloHockey and a low of 118 at Dobbers Prospects, with Elite Prospects, Craig Button, Scott Wheeler, and Will Scouch not ranking him. Some fear that the development curve he had in the early part of last season didn’t continue to grow by the end of the season, but who knows what lies ahead and what skills can develop over time.
Obviously the family bloodlines will be the story of this pick, but there’s a player here that has an intriguing steep development curve, and counting out a Koivu is something a generation or more of Canadiens fans have learned not to do.
