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“We favored him as a participant, no matter his final identify,” beginner scouting co-director Nick Bobrov says after Habs choose former captain’s son.
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Aatos Koivu plans to make a reputation for himself with the Canadiens.
That may be troublesome since his father, Saku, was once captain of the Canadiens and was one of the well-liked gamers in Montreal.
On Saturday, the Canadiens chosen the youthful Koivu within the third spherical (seventieth general) on the NHL Draft in Las Vegas.
Final season, the 6-foot, 170-pound centre posted 9-13-22 totals in 20 video games with the TPS U18 workforce in Finland earlier than transferring as much as the U20 workforce, the place he had 16-15-31 totals in 28 video games. Koivu, who turned 18 on June 22, additionally performed 4 video games with the TPS workforce within the Finnish Elite League with out registering a degree.
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Koivu was solely 3 when his father left the Canadiens after 13 seasons and signed with the Anaheim Geese as a free agent on July 8, 2009. His solely actual reminiscences of Montreal are of the Bell Centre and the household’s outdated dwelling on Nuns’ Island.
“I keep in mind so much with the Geese,” Koivu mentioned throughout a Zoom convention from Finland on Saturday after getting drafted. “I imply, I went to high school again in California and I keep in mind so much (from Anaheim, the place his father performed for 5 seasons). Not an excessive amount of from Montreal.”
Montreal followers can be excited to see the identify Koivu on the again of a Canadiens sweater once more, which might put extra strain on Aatos. However he’s not involved about that.
“I don’t assume it’s going to be harder in any manner as a result of I feel I can form of make a reputation for myself simply taking part in the way in which I can play and simply being myself and being the most effective participant attainable,” he mentioned. “In fact, persons are going to know who my father is and the place he performed and when. It’s all the time going to be that manner, positively in Montreal, and I don’t assume it’s a nasty factor and I feel I can simply form of make a reputation for myself there as nicely. It’s not going to be any totally different than some other gamers.”
Street to the Cup
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Will probably be, however Aatos is used to dealing with the strain of getting Koivu on the again of his sweater in his dwelling nation.
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“I didn’t actually really feel an excessive amount of strain,” he mentioned. “In fact, lots of people knew who my dad was and the place he performed. Positively from the opponents I heard so much from it and so they had been all the time yelling about my dad. But it surely’s form of simply one thing that I bought used to and it doesn’t actually hassle me any extra. … It pushed me to need to change into a superb participant myself and never simply be Saku’s son. Make a reputation for myself.”
Nick Bobrov, the Canadiens’ co-director of beginner scouting together with Martin Lapointe, believes the younger Koivu can try this.
“We favored him as a participant, no matter his final identify, so we’ll begin with that,” Bobrov informed reporters in Las Vegas after the seven-round draft was over. “He’s a late-blooming child. He began taking part in at U18 degree after which all the things got here actually quick at him. U20, nationwide workforce, TPS, professional video games in Liiga. So for a child who was smaller nearly a yr in the past and grew rapidly, there’s a number of progress potential.
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“Clearly, his dad taught him very nicely,” Bobrov added. “His habits are already professional. However the physique must develop and our job is to undertaking and undertaking the physique and undertaking the place the participant can get to in 5 years. So we felt that he’s simply scratching the floor and there’s much more to go. Pay attention, he’s been in a family the place strain was fairly frequent and the kind of individual his dad is and the household, this child is aware of what it’s all about and we felt he’d be comfy in that surroundings and he was a reasonably simple choose for us.”
Koivu determined to not attend the draft in Las Vegas after talking together with his father and his agent. They determined collectively it was higher for him to remain dwelling in Finland, the place he might proceed his summer season coaching as a substitute of flying backwards and forwards. He isn’t planning to attend the Canadiens’ improvement camp, which begins Tuesday in Brossard, for a similar purpose.
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Koivu watched the draft on TV together with his household, however couldn’t have a look at the display screen when it got here time for the Canadiens to make the seventieth general choose and he didn’t hear his identify get introduced.
“However my mother began to yell and he or she jumped and he or she was like: ‘Oh, my God! Oh, my God!’” Koivu mentioned. “After which I noticed my identify on the TV after which my dad jumped as nicely. He was super-happy.”
Koivu mentioned it’s an “unreal feeling” to now be a part of the workforce his father used to play for, including: “I’m super-happy. I can’t discover the phrases proper now to explain what I’m feeling.”
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