Minnesota Wild Fifteen Greatest Players: #2 Mikko Koivu
Mikko Koivu has played more games and scored more points than other player in Minnesota Wild history. His consistency has gotten him to the top of the franchise records, but it is all around game that truly makes him great.
Number two on our list is the player who has played the most games in the history of the Minnesota Wild and played the most seasons in a Wild sweater. Mikko Koivu has been a fixture in at the Xcel Center for 11 seasons and Wild fans have been always had a love/hate relationship with their captain despite his consistent play. He’s been nothing but solid as he brings excellent two-way play and the ability to score if need be. He’s a player who started his career in Minnesota and is well on his way to ending it there.
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Like many of the great Finnish players who have played in the NHL, Koivu earned his stripes in the Finnish elite league of SM-liiga. He played for his hometown team TPS Turku for his father Jukka who was the head coach, and followed the footsteps of his older brother former Canadiens captain Saku. Mikko put up good numbers while at Turku, but really didn’t set the scoresheet on fire. It was his size and potential that led the Wild to draft him very high with the sixth overall pick in the 2001 draft.
He’d play three more seasons with Turku before moving to North America to join the Houston Aeros in the AHL for the 2004-05 season. In Houston, Koivu would have his strongest scoring season of his young career tallying 20 goals and 28 assists. With such a strong performance it became a forgone conclusion that he would join the Wild for his first NHL season in 2005-06.
It didn’t take Koivu long to find his stride as he notched 58 points his second season in the league. That would be his first of an astounding six seasons over 50 points to include 2009-10 when he notched 71. Koivu has stood for consistency over his career by often time silently leading the Wild to six playoff appearances and their only Division Championship in 2007-08.
He’s been known as a player who does everything well. He’s a perennial leader in the faceoff circle who has never been below a 52% faceoff winning percentage, and he’s only finished in the negative in plus/minus in his career twice in 11 seasons. Also, his two-way play has been lauded many times as he’s received Selke Trophy votes in 7 different seasons. In this past season’s playoffs, he showed what he can do by stealing Game 5 from the Stars by scoring the equalizer late in the third followed-up by the winner 4:55 into OT.
A look at the Wild’s record book shows you even more the impact of Koivu. He’s the franchise leader in games played with 763, assists with 395, and points with 556. He is second in franchise goals with 161, second in plus/minus at +34, second in game winning goals with 27, and third in power play goals with 52. The other thing to mention is that he’s not even done yet, at the age of 33 he’s got a few more seasons to make it to the top some of those other categories.
| Rk | Born | Name | Pos | GP | G | A | P | PIM | +/- | PPG | SHG | GWG | G/GP | A/GP | P/GP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1983 |  | Mikko Koivu | F | 763 | 161 | 395 | 556 | 462 | 34 | 52 | 10 | 27 | 0.211 | 0.518 | 0.729 |
| 2 | 1982 |  | Marian Gaborik | F | 502 | 219 | 218 | 437 | 301 | 54 | 59 | 6 | 43 | 0.436 | 0.434 | 0.871 |
| 3 | 1984 |  | Pierre-Marc Bouchard | F | 565 | 106 | 241 | 347 | 178 | 15 | 29 | 0 | 19 | 0.188 | 0.427 | 0.614 |
| 4 | 1973 | | Andrew Brunette | F | 489 | 119 | 202 | 321 | 106 | -28 | 55 | 0 | 16 | 0.243 | 0.413 | 0.656 |
| 5 | 1984 |  | Zach Parise | F | 259 | 105 | 104 | 209 | 123 | 30 | 39 | 1 | 19 | 0.405 | 0.402 | 0.807 |
| 6 | 1973 | | Brian Rolston | F | 241 | 96 | 106 | 202 | 149 | 19 | 39 | 7 | 21 | 0.398 | 0.440 | 0.838 |
| 7 | 1985 | | Brent Burns | D | 453 | 55 | 128 | 183 | 325 | -21 | 26 | 0 | 13 | 0.121 | 0.283 | 0.404 |
| 8 | 1970 | | Wes Walz | F | 438 | 82 | 100 | 182 | 272 | 13 | 1 | 14 | 15 | 0.187 | 0.228 | 0.416 |
| 9 | 1984 | | Kyle Brodziak | F | 446 | 72 | 97 | 169 | 272 | -46 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 0.161 | 0.217 | 0.379 |
| 10 | 1985 | | Ryan Suter | D | 289 | 22 | 142 | 164 | 136 | 34 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 0.076 | 0.491 | 0.567 |
Source: QuantHockey.com
Say what you will about his perceived production, Koivu’s actual production for the Wild has been solid his entire career. He’s the pillar of consistency who just produces in ways that are seen and unseen. Captain Koivu is far from done as well and I’m sure we’ll see him do even greater things in the years to come.